The Afghan security forces on Sunday launched a massive anti-insurgent operation in northeastern Badakhshan after the militants seized control of parts of the province.
The operation started in Raghistan district and will be extended to other areas until the insurgents are eliminated, said Badakhshan Police officials.
The operation has caused casualties to the Taliban, Badakhshan police Chief Sakhi Ghafoori said, before adding that at least eight insurgents, including two foreign nationals have been killed.
Two security force members also lost their lives, he continued.
"We are committed to clearing Badakhshan from insurgents," Ghafori said, adding that the forces also managed to retake control of several areas from Taliban.
Meanwhile, members of the provincial council welcomed the move by the security forces. They called on the security officials to install new security check posts in the key areas of embattled districts, especially Warduj and Raghistan.
"We one behalf of the people of Badakhshan warmly welcome the decision taken by the government," provincial lawmaker Abdul Bashir said, urging the government to not keep the offensive for short period.
In addition, some other Badakhshan locals expressed optimisms that the operation will force the insurgents to renounce violence and join the government peace process.
"The operation will put a huge pressure on insurgents and this will likely force them to join peace," said Ghawsuddin Rahman, head of Badakhshan peace committee.
Reports suggest that over 50 villages in Raghistan district are being controlled by the insurgent groups.
This year, Badakhshan was among the vulnerable provinces after the Taliban launched their spring offensive in April.
At least 70 Taliban insurgents have been killed and wounded during the past two weeks as a result of a military operation in Greshk district in southern Helmand province, local officials said on Saturday.
In addition, four Afghan police force members were also killed and seven others wounded.
Greshk district governor Mohammad Fahim Musazai said a number of areas have been retaken from the Taliban during the massive anti-insurgent operation in several districts.
"Insurgents have placed mines in the roads but our forces are clearing them and the operation is moving forward," he said.
The insurgent presence is now limited to a small town of Konjak in Greshk, he added.
The operation began after the insurgents carried out a coordinated attack on Greshk, seizing control of some areas, which were later re-taken by the forces.
Located in the south, Helmand has long been experiencing armed attacks and suicide bombings by the insurgents.
MOGADISHU -- Simple Heavily armed Shaboobs Al Shabaab militants have taken hostages at Mogadishu’s Sahafi hotel shortly after multiple car bomb attacks according to witnesses and officials, Garowe Online reports.
The militants launched the deadly assault in the early hours of Sunday morning. Volleys of gunfire and plumes of black smoke could either be heard or seen over the hotel popular with Somali government officials and foreigners.
Over a dozen people including lawmaker, security commanders, media workers and key figures have been confirmed dead in the ongoing siege. Shots are being fired sporadically in the vicinity of the hotel as security forces are trying to free those being holed up.
Lawmaker Abtidon Kofi is among dead while former Somali Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ahmed Abdisalan Haji Adan sustained wounds.
Sources in the city of Sirte tell Alwasat that ISIS executed a man by the name of Dirar Nuwair al-Gaddafi by gunshots.
According to the sources Dirar al-Gaddafi was a resident of the city and was sentenced to death by ISIS' "Islamic Court" after having an altercation with a Tunisian member of the terror organization. He was executed on Saturday.
Sources also confirm that ISIS has taken over Sirte's branch of Libya's Central Bank and have turned it into a station for the "Islamic Police".
According to those familiar with the branch, work there had stopped months ago under orders from the Central Bank's Governor, due to the deteriorating security situation and lack of liquidity in the city.
[AnNahar] The Chadian government said Sunday that soldiers repelled two attacks by 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... on army posts around Lake Chad, leaving 14 murderous Moslems dead.
"Two members of Boko Haram were neutralized and a third went kaboom!, wounding 11 civilians" during an attempted suicide kaboom on the Bougouma army post, the government said in a statement, referring to the Nigerian jihadist group.
Soldiers killed 11 Boko Haram members during a second attempted attack on the Kaika army post, also in the Lake Chad region, the statement said.
It said the situation had been brought "under control" without elaborating.
A triple attack on October 10 killed 41 people at Baga Sola, also near Lake Chad, where tens of thousands of Nigerian refugees and Chadians displaced by Boko Haram violence have sought shelter.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/02/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Boko Haram
Two contractors working for the United Nations have been detained in Yemen, a UN spokesman said on Saturday, but he declined to confirm that the pair were Americans.
"It concerns two contractors. I cannot confirm their nationalities," said UN spokesman Farhan Haq.
Haq said officials from the UN department of safety and security were dealing with the matter.
The US State Department said it was looking into reports that two US nationals were detained in Sanaa, which is under the control of the Houthi militia and its allies.
"We are aware of reports that two US citizens have been detained at Sanaa airport in Yemen," a State Department official said.
"The protection of US citizens overseas is one of the Department of State's highest priorities, including in these cases."
The State Department declined to provide more details, citing privacy considerations.
The United Nations is trying to organize peace talks between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Houthi militia, which are backed by forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
A Saudi-led coalition launched an air campaign in March to push back the Iran-backed Houthis and restore the authority of the government.
The United Nations is increasingly alarmed at the heavy toll on civilians, with 80 percent of the population in dire need of aid.
Gunmen killed two security officers in separate drive-by shootings in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, where jihadists are becoming increasingly active, security officials said on Sunday.
In the first incident, gunmen opened fire from a car at Major Meead Ali outside the building where he lives in the port city's Inmaa neighbourhood, one official said.
Gunmen shot dead Abdelwahed Ahmed of Aden's criminal investigation unit in a similar attack outside his home in Al-Mansura district, another security official said.
Meanwhile, the chief prosecutor of the neighbouring Lahj province, Saeed Abdullah, escaped an attempt to assassinate him in a similar way in Aden, a third security official told AFP.
Arab Coalition forces and their Yemeni allies have completed preparations to launch a final offensive against the Houthis to seize the southwestern town of Taiz, a Yemen government spokesman was quoted on Monday as saying.
“The operation to liberate Taiz will be launched within the next hours,” Rajih Badi said, quoted by the Saudi satellite TV news channel Alarabiya.
He said a large force has come from Aden to join coalition troops and Yemeni national army and resistance in the offensive, adding that more troops would come.
He said the coalition and their allies would take advantage of deep differences between the Houthis and forces loyal to deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
“There are deep rifts between the coup militias. This is quite evident in their contradicting statements,” he said.
In a related development, Yemen’s Masdar Online news network quoted military sources as saying the resistance in Taiz has taken delivery of armoured vehicles and other defense equipment supplied by the Saudi-led coalition.
It said the supplies are intended to bolster the resistance’s capability ahead of the offensive to eject the coup insurgents from all Taiz areas.
“These supplies are part of the coalition’s operation to bolster the Yemeni army and resistance.
“They came after the coalition jets dropped weapons twice to the resistance in Taiz last week,” a source said.
[IsraelTimes] Farid Adouche, who stabbed a Jewish man and assaulted a rabbi and his son, has insanity plea discredited by his mother
An Arab-Frenchie accused of assaulting a rabbi and his son after stabbing a Jewish man in Marseille was tossed in the slammer Book 'im, Mahmoud! days after his mother discredited his insanity plea.
Even his mother doesn't love him? Ouch.
Farid Adouche was charged with aggravated assault on Oct. 29, according to Michele Teboul, a leader of the Jewish community of Marseille. Five days earlier, hours after he allegedly assaulted Rabbi Acher Amoyal and his 19-year-old son near their synagogue and stabbed another 44-year-old man in the abdomen, he underwent a psychiatric evaluation.
Hours after? That's not the usual first step unless the miscreant has a history.
The stabbing victim suffered serious injuries.
Teboul, who heads the CRIF branch in Marseille, challenged Adouche's insanity plea after he said the assailant's mother said at a court hearing that her son was perfectly sane.
Amoyal said he heard the aggressor mumble something that resembles "Allah is the greatest" in Arabic before the attack. The rabbi told the Actualite Juive newspaper that the attacker seemed sane and hateful during the assault, which took place early on a Sabbath as Amoyal and the other two victims were returning from Amoyal's synagogue.
Teboul said the incident had temporarily undermined the community's trust in the local police and "worsened an atmosphere of fear which used to not apply to our community but is becoming a part of its reality."
Amoyal and the other victims said passers-by ignored the assault, opting to walk back to the synagogue rather than ask locals for help.
So both Jews and non-Jews chose not to get involved.
Adouche's labeling as criminally insane prompted considerable criticism in the French media, where some viewed it as a failure to address an anti-Semitic incident in a city where officials have boasted better coexistence than in Gay Paree and elsewhere in La Belle France.
[IsraelTimes] Attacks against asylum-seekers, migrant shelters see sharp increase recently as refugees surge into Europe
Violence against "Syrian"
...scare quotes added...
asylum seekers spiked over the weekend with police Sunday reporting three different attacks in which six Syrian refugees had to be treated for injuries in the hospital.
Two of the attacks, in Wismar and Magdeburg, were committed by groups of more than 20 persons who harassed and beat asylum seekers with baseball bats on Saturday.
Police in nearby Rostock said in a statement Sunday two Syrian men, who were not identified, were standing outside their shelter in Wismar on the Baltic Sea on Saturday night when a group of 20 persons approached them and started beating the refugees. The attackers fled and the two asylum seekers had to be taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries.
In Magdeburg, 30 persons beat up two 26-year-olds and one 35-year-old Syrian man, who also had to be treated in the hospital. Police detained one 24-year-old suspect.
In a third attack, a 26-year-old Syrian man was injured by pieces of glass when explosives were thrown against the window of his room in an asylum shelter in Freital in the eastern state of Saxony. The interior minister of Saxony, Markus Ulbig, sharply condemned the "cowardly and cold-blooded attack" and said a far-right motive was likely, the German news agency dpa reported.
In Sehnde near Hannover, a 43-year-old man was detained for allegedly committing an arson attack on a home of an asylum seeker family from Montenegro early Sunday. Nobody was harmed in the attack.
Several arson attacks were also reported on designated future asylum shelters across Germany, among them an empty hotel in Dresden and a former youth club in Castrop-Rauxel in western Germany.
Attacks against asylum-seekers and migrant shelters have increased sharply in Germany in recent months as refugees surge into Europe seeking to escape war and poverty and start a new life.
Germany's interior ministry said last week that there had been 576 crimes against refugee shelters this year so far, compared to 198 in all of the last year.
#3
New refugees Hansel und Gretel
Soon met a nice realtor: "Resettle!
You'll love the commute
To Berlin from this cute
Fixer-upper just-vacated shetl!"
[Hurriyet] One of two suspected jacket wallahs who were allegedly planning a kaboom on daily Cumhuriyet's Ankara bureau was determined to be the sibling of a wanted suspect of the Ankara bombing on Oct. 10.
One of the two suspects caught in Gaziantep was determined to be the sibling of one of the nine wanted suspects for whom an arrest warrant was issued in absentia for alleged ties to the Ankara bombing, daily Cumhuriyet reported on its website on Oct. 31.
Upon a notice that a bombing attack was going to take place, units from the Gaziantep anti-terror police branch closely monitored a vehicle with the two suspects inside. When the suspects realized they were being followed, they stopped the car at Gazi Muhtar Pasa Boulevard, stepped out of the car and threw a hand grenade at the police car, which did not detonate. The suspects expeditiously departed at a goodly pace on foot but were caught after a tag and were taken to the police department for interrogation.
Two suicide kaboom vests, explosives and a hand grenade were found inside the vehicle.
Daily Cumhuriyet's Ankara bureau address found
The address of the daily Cumhuriyet's Ankara bureau was found on one of the suspects, leading to the suspicion that the newspaper was the bombers' intended target.
One of the two suspects was identified as the sibling of Mehmet Kadir Cebeal, who is wanted for his part in the Oct. 10 Ankara bombing. Cebeal's finger prints were found at an ISIL cell house in Gaziantep.
Two suicide bombers detonated themselves on 10:04 a.m. on Oct. 10, only 35 meters apart in front of the Ankara main train station as people across the country gathered for a peace rally a few weeks before the snap elections on Nov. 1. One of the bombers was later identified as Yunus Emre Alagöz, the brother of Seyh Abdurrahman Alagöz who was the perpetrator of the July 20 Suruc attack that killed a total of 34 people. The identity of the second suicide bomber is still unknown but thought to be a foreigner, according to the Ankara prosecutor's office.
Including the two suicide bombers, 102 people were killed in the attack.
The prosecutor's office also said that an ISIL sleeper cell based in Gaziantep was behind the twin suicide kabooms in Ankara.
Police are investigating if the two suspects in Gaziantep have a connection to Ankara.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/02/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[NYT] The F.B.I. is about to introduce an interactive program it developed for teachers and students, aimed at training them to prevent young people from being drawn into violent extremism. But Muslim, Arab and other religious and civil rights leaders who were invited to preview the program have raised strong objections, saying it focuses almost entirely on Islamic extremism, which they say has not been a factor in the epidemic of school shootings and attacks in the United States.
The program, according to those who saw it at F.B.I. headquarters, called "Don't Be a Puppet," leads the viewer through a series of games and tips intended to teach how to identify someone who may be falling prey to radical extremists. With each successful answer, scissors cut a puppet's string, until the puppet is free.
PESHAWAR: A driver of a female additional session judge was killed in attack on judge’s motorcar on Sunday near Rana Deray area of District Swabi.
According to police control Swabi, two motorcyclists opened fire at the vehicle of Haripur Additional Session Judge Hina Khan near Rana Deray area, killing the driver on the spot, however, Additional Session Judge Haripur Hina Khan was not present in the car.
Police also confirmed that the mother of Hina Khan remained unhurt in the attack and. The driver was identified as Sarwar Shah. Soon after the firing incident, police reached on the spot and started search operation, an official of the police control added. He also confirmed that no arrest was made so far.
KARACHI: Four decomposed bodies were found off Superhighway in Gadap area of the metropolis on Sunday, said a police official.
Giving details, the official added that the bodies were recovered from an abandoned building of National Highway Authority near Edhi Village.
“The corpses are around at least one month old as they have turned into skeletons,” said Gadap City SHO Abdul Khaliq Marvat.
“They all appeared to be men.”
The bodies were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for post-mortem examination. The identities of the bodies will be ascertained after the examination.
Gadap is considered as one of the troubled areas in the metropolis where the bodies of ‘missing’ persons have been found in recent past.
QUETTA: The security forces on Sunday claimed to have killed six suspected militants in Balochistan's Kalat district, said a statement issued by Frontier Corps.
The militants belonged to a banned militant organisation, the spokesman for Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force, was quoted as saying.
The spokesman apprised that the militants were killed during an exchange of fire with the security forces in Kalat. A cache of weapons was also recovered from their possession, he added.
“Additional contingent of security personnel were called in Johan area of Kalat where the exchange of fire took place.”
The FC spokesperson said “security forces timely retaliated and killed six miscreants”.
The suspected militants were involved in incidents of target killings and bomb explosions in the area, the statement added.
The Spokesman said the dead militants were involved in targeted killings and bomb explosions in the area.
LAHORE: The first phase of local bodies’ elections in 12 districts of Punjab was held on Saturday in a generally peaceful atmosphere but amid mismanagement on the part of election authorities, with PML-N dominating the scene.
Two people were killed in Faisalabad in post-poll violence. One of them belonged to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the other said to be a supporter of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was attacked at the minister’s outhouse.
Earlier in the day, sporadic clashes between supporters of candidates on one hand and between supporters and police on the other were reported from all the districts. But there was no casualty as the ban on carrying and display of arms worked well and anyone found to be carrying weapons, particularly around polling stations, was immediately nabbed by police.
In Okara, PTI activists snatched ballot boxes from polling staff, brought them outside the polling station and destroyed the polled ballots.
Punjab government spokesman Zaeem Qadri said 27 incidents of violence were reported from all the 12 districts. Around 200 people were arrested, including a former PPP provincial minister Ashraf Sohna, who has recently joined the PTI.
A presiding officer, Mohammad Shareef, died of cardiac arrest soon after the voting process started in a union council of Gujrat. At some places, polling staff was manhandled by candidates.
Bali: Special police commandos have been provided for the security of the Indian officials who arrived here on Sunday to expedite underworld don Chhota Rajan’s deportation to India.
Special commandos of Indonesian police were already providing round-the-clock security for Rajan, who was arrested on his arrival from Australia last Sunday, sources said.
Security of the Indian officials as well as Rajan, one of India’s most wanted criminals, was enhanced due to the high threat perception to Rajan from rival gangs most notably of Dawood Ebrahim.
The Indian team, comprising CBI, Mumbai Police and Delhi Police officials, is also accompanied by elite commandos of Special Cell of the Delhi Police.
Mumbai-born Rajan, once a close confidant-turned-rival of underworld ganglord Dawood, has said that he is not afraid of Dawood, the prime accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.
Rajan was arrested on a Red Corner notice by Interpol after eluding law enforcement agencies for over two decades.
Out of these 75 cases, Rajan is facing four cases under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), one under Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and over 20 cases under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.
Rajan was travelling with the identity of Mohan Kumar with an Indian passport number G9273860 when he was apprehended at the airport in Bali after arriving on a Garuda Indonesia flight GA715 by Indonesian police on a tip off from Australian authorities, they said.
The 55-year-old underworld don was arrested in Bali on the basis of a Red Corner Notice from Interpol and following a tip off by Australian authorities to the police in Indonesia.
In the absence of an extradition treaty, the Indian authorities have already provided documents to their Indonesian counterparts about Rajan’s Indian identity to facilitate his deportation.
The sources said Rajan was in touch with various police officials for last six months seeking a passage to return to India as he feared for his life in Australia from Chhota Shakeel, a henchman of Dawood.
In 2000, there was an attempt on Rajan’s life when Dawood’s men tracked him down to a hotel in Bangkok but he managed a dramatic escape.
Islamabad An improvised explosive device (IED) exploded near a passenger train in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Sunday, killing at least four people and wounding 10, according to officials and media reports.
The device planted along the rail track was set off by remote control as the Jaffar Express was passing through the Dasht area of Mastung district of the province, which is plagued by a separatist insurgency involving ethnic Baloch militant groups.
The train was on a regular run from the provincial capital of Quetta to Rawalpindi near Islamabad. The injured were moved to hospitals in Quetta.
According to a bomb disposal unit, about eight kilograms of explosive was used in the blast.
A railway spokesman said the explosion damaged a carriage and part of the track, which was later repaired and traffic restored.
No one immediately claimed responsibility but officials suspected Baloch militants were behind the attack.
Militants have targeted government installations and security forces in the province from time to time for over a decade. Mastung is said to be one of the most sensitive districts of the province.
Provincial authorities say hundreds of insurgents have surrendered in groups this year as a result of persuasion and offers of government assistance to rehabilitate those who lay down arms.
The federal and provincial government have also initiated moves to engage in dialogue estranged Baloch leaders, including those living in self-imposed exile, in order to find a political solution.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Interior Ministry announced on Sunday, that seven people had been either killed or wounded in the explosion of an explosive device in central Baghdad.
The source said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, “a bomb exploded at noon today in Sheikh Omar District in central Baghdad, resulting in the death of one person and wounding six others.”
The source, who asked anonymity, added: “the security forces rushed to the scene and transported the wounded to a nearby hospital for treatment and the body of the dead man to the forensic medicine department.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi police announced on Sunday, that an armed group stole more than one billion dinars from the owner of a money exchange shop in eastern Baghdad.
The source said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, “Unidentified gunmen wearing military uniforms and driving civilian cars stopped today the owner of a money exchange shop as he was passing the road of Muhammad al-Qasim east of the capital Baghdad, and robbed him at gunpoint, stealing an amount of one billion and 200 million Iraqi dinars."
(IraqiNews.com) The ISIS organization has executed 12 children, after trying to escape from a training camp in the Iraqi city of Mosul, according to the Kurdistan Democratic Party spokesperson Saeed Mamouzini.
The Kurdish network Rouda quoted the media official of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Saeed Mamouzini as saying, “12 children, who had been training in al-Salam camp east of the city of Mosul, tried to flee, but they were arrested later and executed in al-Ghabat area in Mosul.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Interior Ministry announced on Sunday, that nine people had been either killed or wounded in the explosion of an explosive device north of Baghdad.
The source said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, “A bomb exploded at noon today in al-Kraat area north of Baghdad, resulting in the death of two people and injuring seven others.”
The source, who asked anonymity, added: “the security forces rushed to the scene and transported the wounded to a nearby hospital for treatment, and the bodies of the dead to the forensic medicine department.”
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – Anbar Operations Command announced on Sunday, that the security forces have crossed Albu Faraj bridge north of Ramadi, noting that the forces are advancing towards the center of Ramadi.
The pause for weather didn't last long.
The commander of Anbar Operations, Maj. Gen. Ismail Mahlawi said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, “The security forces managed, today, to cross Albu Faraj bridge north of the city of Ramadi,” noting that “those forces are advancing towards the center of the city.”
Mahlawi added that “there is a heavy bombardment by the Iraqi and international aviation on ISIS sites,” pointing to “the participation of the army artillery and rocket launchers in targeting ISIS hideouts.”
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – A security source in Anbar province announced on Sunday, that the Rapid Intervention Forces had cleansed six houses and killed a number of elements of the ISIS organization, including a sniper, east of the city of Ramadi.
The source said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, “The Rapid Intervention Forces had cleansed six houses in a proactive operation in Husaybah al-Sharqiya (7 km east of Ramadi),” adding that, “the force has been able, during the operation, to kill a number of ISIS terrorists, including a sniper.”
[IsraelTimes] Driver says incident, which maimed three Border Police officers, was a hit-and-run rather than vehicular assault
A Paleostinian man suspected of deliberately running over and injuring three Israeli Border Policemen Sunday turned himself in to security forces several hours after the incident.
The man, who claimed the incident was a hit-and-run rather than a vehicular assault, was handed over to the Shin Bet security service for interrogation.
One officer remains at death's door after the incident, which took place outside the Paleostinian village of Beit Anun, near Hebron in the West Bank.
He was transferred to the Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem, whereas two other officers, who sustained light injuries, were taken to the city's Shaare Zedek Medical Center.
A large number of Israel Defense Forces and police units had earlier combed the area for the car driver, who expeditiously departed at a goodly pace after being shot at by soldiers following the suspected attack.
Earlier on Sunday, IDF soldiers shot and killed a 29-year-old Paleostinian who lunged at them with a knife near Hebron, the army said in a statement.
The soldiers were not injured in the attempted attack, which also took place near Beit Anun.
The army said the incident occurred during a "violent riot" in the area.
[AnNahar] The army announced Sunday the arrest of a Lebanese man and a Syrian woman over two separate attempts to smuggle fuel and an electronic device to Lion of Islamgunnies positioned in the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal.
"Lebanese citizen Karim Abdul Hamid Ezzeddine was placed in durance vile Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! today at the Wadi Hmeid checkpoint in Arsal for driving a Mercedes truck without legal documents and trying to smuggle a quantity of gasoline in it to the gunnies who are present in the outskirts," the army said in a statement.
Separately, troops at the same checkpoint arrested Syrian national Moumena Khaled al-Abed on Sunday for attempting to smuggle two Wi-Fi Internet routers to the gangs.
The woman has confessed that her brother is a member of the jihadist 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, the army said.
Ever since the Syrian revolt erupted in March 2011, Arsal has served as a key conduit for refugees, gunnies and maimed people fleeing the strife-torn country.
Jihadists from al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front and the Islamic State are entrenched in the town's outskirts. In August 2014, they stormed the town and engaged in bloody battles with the Lebanese army following the arrest of a senior IS bad boy.
The jihadists withdrew after a ceasefire, but took with them several dozen hostages from the army and police four of whom have since been executed.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/02/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[AnNahar] A major Syrian rebel group is using dozens of captives in metal cages as "human shields" in the largest opposition stronghold on the outskirts of Damascus, a monitor said Sunday.
Jaish al-Islam ...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful... , regarded as the most powerful rebel group near the capital, has put regime soldiers and Alawite civilians it was holding in metal cages, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP.
The group then placed these cages in public squares in the Eastern Ghouta region in an attempt to "prevent regime bombardment", Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
"Jaish al-Islam is using these captives and kidnapped people -- including whole families -- as human shields," he said.
Government forces regularly bombard the Eastern Ghouta area, from where rebel groups fire rockets into the capital.
On Friday, at least 70 people were killed and 550 maimed in regime bombardment of Douma, a large town in the area.
A video published by opposition news outlet Shaam Network showed cages of men and women, about five people in each, being transported on the backs of three lorries through war-ravaged streets as young children rode by on bicycles.
Speaking to camera, both men and women asked government forces to stop shelling Eastern Ghouta.
"Your women are our women. If you want to kill my mother, you will kill them too," a dark-eyed teenage boy said outside one of the trucks.
Abdel Rahman said most of the civilians were kidnapped by Jaish al-Islam two years ago outside Adra al-Ummaliyah, a regime-held neighborhood in Eastern Ghouta.
A Jaish al-Islam front man was not reachable for comment.
Both regime forces and rebel groups have been criticized by rights groups for indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Syria's war, which has killed more than 250,000 people since it began in March 2011.
#4
Just be sure you don't offend them - that would be declared a war crime against the Geneva Convention by the Human Rights [Abusers] Groups and there will be hell to pay...
[Hurriyet] Air strikes by Turkish and U.S. aircraft in Syria on Oct. 31 killed more than 50 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) bully boyz and maimed around 30, state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) quoted security sources as saying on Nov. 1.
A senior government official told Rooters on Oct. 31 that Turkish jets had bombed ISIL targets in Syria, as before Turks prepared to vote in the Nov. 1 parliamentary election.
Six Turkish F-16 jets which took off from 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.... had been involved in the air strikes between 0900-1400 GMT on Oct. 31, as well as a drone belonging to the coalition, AA said.
It said the operation destroyed eight ISIL targets around 5 km inside the Syrian border near the Turkish province of Kilis. The operation was backed up by Turkmen forces on the ground in Syria, it added.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/02/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[ARA News] DAMASCUS – The radical group of Islamic State (ISIS) seized Sunday the key Syrian town of Maheen in southwestern Homs province, local sources reported.
Speaking to ARA News in Homs, media activist Khaled Homsi said that ISIS stormed the key town of Maheen, central Syria, and were able to kill at least 50 pro-regime troops.
“After taking control of Maheen, ISIS is now only 20 km far from the main road that connects the Syrian capital Damascus to the northern cities including Homs,” he added.
The extremist group confirmed in a statement on Sunday that its fighters seized “a strategic town linking south Syria with its north”.
Subsequent to taking over the historic city of Palmyra earlier this year, ISIS has been expanding its control over key areas in Homs province, including the key Christian village of Qaryatain.
In August, the militant group abducted about 220 civilians, including at least 60 Christians, after seizing the key town al-Qaryatain in the countryside of Homs, according to local activists.
Sadad, another nearby town, witnessed clashes between ISIS militants and pro-regime forces in the past 24 hours.
In the meantime, the U.S.-backed Syrian rebels, including the key Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), announced the battle for liberating the southern countryside of Hasakah, northeastern Syria.
This comes after the U.S. decided to send some 50 American special forces to back the rebels in the fighting against ISIS on the ground.
A new alliance of the Kurdish YPG forces and Syrian Arab rebel groups has been formed recently under the banner “Syrian Democratic Forces”, which released a statement on Saturday announcing the anti-ISIS battle for Hasakah.
Over the past few months, Syrian Kurds have been coordinating with the U.S.-led coalition forces in the fight against ISIS, and have lately gained Washington’s trust, which described them as the most effective partner on the ground against ISIS in Syria.
“Tens of thousands of fighters are prepared for this (anti-ISIS) fight, including the key Kurdish forces in northern Syria,” a local source told ARA News.
[ARA News] ALEPPO – Backed by Russian warplanes, Syrian regime forces on Sunday seized several strategic villages and towns south of Aleppo in northern Syria, subsequent to battles with al-Nusra Front (Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda) and other Islamic groups, military sources reported.
Islamist rebel factions withdrew from major areas south of Aleppo after Russian fighter jets intensified aerial bombardment on their locations.
Speaking to ARA News in Aleppo, rebel fighter Mustafa Suleiman said that the pro-regime forces were able Sunday to take control of key locations in southern Aleppo.
“The regime’s army took over the villages of Hamidi, Dadin, and Kafr Haddad Mount after fierce clashes with the Nusra militants and the al-Sham Rebels group. The rebels have been forced to retreat under heavy airstrikes by Russian warplanes,” he said.
This has enabled pro-Assad forces to gain control of al-Hader town as well, which holds strategic location on the highway connecting the Syrian capital Damascus to Aleppo.
Suleiman pointed out that the Nusra Front and al-Sham Rebels were able to destroy a tank belonging to the regime’s army on the military front of Mount Azzan in Aleppo’s south.
“The rebels have also destroyed a cannon caliber 57 on the military front of Khan Toman after hitting pro-Assad military vehicles with Tao missiles,” the source told ARA News.
“Syrian rebels clashed with Assad’s forces on the outskirts of Khan Toman and Sheikh Saeed sub-districts in a bid to liberate them from the regime.”
Over the past few weeks, pro-regime forces have been trying to break into the southern countryside of Aleppo, to secure more supply lines leading to the city.
[Ynet] The US-led coalition conducted nine air strikes against 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.... targets in Syria and 16 in Iraq on Saturday, the military said in a statement on Sunday.
In Syria, air strikes involving fighter, ground-attack and drone aircraft targeted two locations: six strikes near Mar'a and three strikes near Al Hawl, the statement said.
In Iraq, air strikes involving bomber, attack, ground-attack and drone aircraft targeted seven locations: near Al Huwayjah, Bayji, djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , Ramadi, Sinjar, Sultan Abdallah and Tal Afar, the statement said.
"All aircraft returned to base safely," the statement said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/02/2015 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Wash Times] A Green Beret war hero, whom the Army had banished from his Pentagon office for whistleblowing to Congress about what he considered a failed hostage rescue policy, has been cleared of wrongdoing and allowed to retire.
Lt. Col. Jason Amerine, no longer shunned and his security clearance restored, was honored Friday with a Legion of Merit at a Pentagon retirement ceremony.
He later announced the news on Facebook.
"When I began speaking to Congress in 2013, some form of retaliation was inevitable because our First Amendment right to speak to Congress is so often disregarded," he wrote. "It was Greek tragedy that a senior Army officer dragged the Army ignominiously into this by initiating the illegal investigation. The hostage issues I raised had nothing to do with the Army and everything to do with broken institutions at the agency level that refused to admit their faults. At least the fratricide was not lethal this time."
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.
[NYT] The F.B.I. is about to introduce an interactive program it developed for teachers and students, aimed at training them to prevent young people from being drawn into violent extremism. But Muslim, Arab and other religious and civil rights leaders who were invited to preview the program have raised strong objections, saying it focuses almost entirely on Islamic extremism, which they say has not been a factor in the epidemic of school shootings and attacks in the United States.
...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful...
[Wash Times] A Green Beret war hero, whom the Army had banished from his Pentagon office for whistleblowing to Congress about what he considered a failed hostage rescue policy, has been cleared of wrongdoing and allowed to retire.
