NATO officials in Afghanistan have said the Taliban is struggling with a number of major issues mainly a financial recession, the rising number of casualties and serious disagreements over their leadership.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that they and Afghan forces must be prepared for any situation amid the ongoing war in the country.
Stoltenberg said that the Taliban used all potential to occupy major territories in Afghanistan, but the Afghan security forces have foiled their attempts to determine their objectives in major Afghan strategic locations.
NATO believes that the Taliban has been fractured internally and there is no unity within the group over a single leader acceptable to all.
"There is going to be continued fighting in Afghanistan and we have to be prepared also for surprises. But the thing the main message is that the Afghan army and the Afghan security forces have proved very capable, very determined," Stoltenberg said.
"Taliban have suffered from financial challenges number one, number two they do have leadership challenges in terms of figuring out who is really going to be their leader, and number three they have absolutely suffered a lot of casualties this year," said Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, a spokesman for the NATO-led Resolute in Afghanistan.
According to political analysts, those countries sponsoring terrorism are trying to strengthen the presence o Daesh and al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan.
"Terrorism backers in international level have realized that the Taliban is no longer usable. They want to use Daesh and al-Qaeda as an alternative in Afghanistan," said political analyst Ahmad Saeedi.
#1
The Taliban have always been an arm of the criminal enterprises that exist in AF. Once we leave, a LOT of contract money and easy to steal loot dries up.
We paid the Taliban for the privilege of fighting them...and they fought us back in some cases to make sure they created the demand...
Assadullah Omarkhail, the governor of Kunduz province on Friday alleged that certain elements within government including ministers and lawmakers are exploiting the illegal armed groups in the province to sue their personal interests.
According to Kunduz governor, the number of illegal armed men operational in the province are estimated around 5,000 with majority of them involved in a number of horrific crimes such as drug trafficking, kidnapping and creating chaos in the society.
He said elements with the ARG (presidential palace) and Qasr-e-Sapidar (CEO's palace) are supporting these individuals to follow their personal motives.
"One side of government rejects them (illegal armed groups) while the other corners of the government supports them," Omarkhail said.
He stated that the presence of illegal armed groups in the area has left major implications on the security and stability.
"Even we were directed from the center and high level places to give their weapons back. Individuals have made the calls including lawmakers and ministers," he said.
Meanwhile, a number of Kunduz lawmakers in the Wolesi Jirga (Lower of House Parliament) also confirmed the presence of illegal armed groups in the volatile province.
"Kunduz suffered human tragedy twice in a year, but illegal armed groups were not behind it; it was the Taliban. Increase on the number of the Taliban and lack of large scale operation for clearing the area of the armed opponents have raised concerns and chaos among the people of Kuneduz," said Abdullah Qarloq, a lawmaker.
The United Arab Emirates is flying warplanes out of a remote airbase near Marj, according to a widely-consulted international defence publication.
IHS Jane’s says that the UAE is operating propeller-driven AT-802U light aircraft, helicopters and surveillance drones from the Al-Khadim airport to the south-east of Marj and Jardas Al-Abid.
The publication has produced a photograph dated 23 July 2016 which it says shows six AT-802s (also known Air Tractors because the US aircraft was originally developed for crop spraying), two Black Hawk helicopters, two drones and an Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft. The image is credited to Airbus Defence and Space satellite imagery.
Jane’s wrote that at the start of the year there was little development at the airfield. Indeed a Google Earth shot from 2004 shows a runway and aprons but no sign of any buildings whatsoever. The lack of runway tyre marks suggested that the airport, which has the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) code “HL59”, had never been used. Given the steep hillsides not far away from the part of the wadi by which it sits and its isolation from any urban area it is hard to understand why the airport should be there. However under Qaddafi, all airports had a dual civil and military role.
Jane’s said that in March changes began when new buildings and an aircraft dispersal area was seen in satellite imagery. By June there were hangers under construction.
The report refers to a photograph on social media at about this time which it said shows an AT-802 Air Tractor “which had been modified by the US company IOMAX so that it can carry an electro-optical pod, guided bombs, missiles rockets and guns”. It noted that it was unclear where the photograph had been taken.
All the aircraft types are listed as being used by the UAE. However, Jane’s does not describe how it has made its positive identification of the nationality of the planes at Al-Khadim.
The Jane’s report appeared yesterday a day after armed forces commander-in-chief Khalifa Hafter arrived in Abu Dhabi for talks with UAE defence minister Mohammad Al-Bawardi.
There has so far been no reaction to the article from Hafter’s HQ in Marj nor from the UAE government.
The US embassy in Mauritania said Friday it had received information about "near-term" attacks targeting Americans in the capital Nouakchott, urging its nationals to remain alert.
The warning came in the wake of appeals by the Islamic State (IS) group for its followers to carry out attacks across the world, the statement said, urging Americans to be vigilant especially when "frequenting locales associated with Westerners".
"The US government has received information that terrorist groups are planning to carry out near-term attacks against places where US citizens congregate in Nouakchott," said a statement on the embassy's Facebook page.
"When going out, avoid being part of large, highly visible groups of Westerners and avoid sitting in areas that are easily visible from the street. Be particularly alert when frequenting locales associated with Westerners," it advised Americans.
Contacted by AFP, a Malian security source said: "Even if nowhere has zero risk, one should not worry excessively about the current security situation in the country.
"We believe we are in control of the situation, both on our borders and within the country, where dangerous groups are closely monitored," added the source, requesting anonymity.
In September the government denied that a suspected Islamist militant cell uncovered by the authorities had pledged allegiance to IS, describing the group as "amateurs".
Several Islamist militant with links to IS have been convicted in the Islamic republic, in the Maghreb region of western north Africa, which suffered repeated attacks in the 2000s, including deadly kidnappings.
Mauritania jailed three men for between five and 10 years for links with IS in June 2015, with the court shown a video in which all three pledged allegiance.
Well, they would, would't they?
JEDDAH: Yemeni government on Friday said Houthis failed attempt to attack Makkah undermines regional stability and proves they are a menace to world stability.
“We seek peace and they seek war; we look for the stability of Yemen and the region, and they look for destruction and sedition, and reaffirm they are a menace to the world peace,” Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdel-Malek Al-Mekhlafi said on Friday, adding that the deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the Houthi militias are seeking a regional war to implement their plans offensive to Arabs and Muslims, and show that those "criminal gangs" have no respect for the sanctity of Islam.
"This criminal act is additional proof that the Houthis are the tool Iran is using to destroy Yemen and its neighboring countries," he said.
Seperately, the Yemeni government on Friday denounced and condemned in the strongest and harshest words the blatant ballistic missile attack on Makkah by Houthi and forces of ousted Ali Abdullah Saleh, describing the assault as a clear violation of all international norms and values, and human ethics and morals.
“This irresponsible act reveals the true face of the Houthis and proves their sectarian nature driven by Iran, through its puppets in the region, which has been campaigning for a sectarian incitement recently against Saudi Arabia,” a Yemeni government official said in a statement sent to Arab News yesterday, adding that the attack and the recklessness of Houthi militias and Saleh forces reflect their association with the destructive Persian scheme against Arabs and all Muslims as well as sacred Muslim shrines.
He pointed out that the Yemeni people and government reject and condemn this flagrant and criminal assault by the Houthis against the feelings of millions of Muslims, adding that Yemen fully supports and stands in solidarity with Saudi Arabia and its wise leadership in confronting anyone trying to compromise its security and stability, or dare to target the religious shrines.
The official called on all Arab and Muslims states to support Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s government, the legitimate government that is being internationally recognized, and the Arab coalition in their efforts to restore the hijacked legitimacy from the putschists and those supporting them, in aborting their dangerous plans deemed destructive for the present and the future of the Arab and Islamic nation.
“We urge the UN, the Security Council and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to immediately mobilize efforts and take strict measures to put an end to Iran’s blatant interventions through their tools to sabotage the region, and not just issue statements of condemnation or denunciation,” he said.
The official pointed out that the Houthi militias confirm through this behavior, in addition to their previous attempts to target ships in the Strait of Bab Al-Mandeb undermining the freedom of international maritime movement, and their daily crimes against Yemenis, that it is still determined to proceed with its subversive and destructive disregard of all the international community’s binding decisions aimed at putting an end to the suffering of the Yemenis and ending the war sparked by the rebel group.
He said the restoration of the legitimate state by ending the coup, and the application of the terms of reference agreed upon locally and internationally for a political solution, based on the GCC initiative and the outcomes of the National Dialogue and UNSC Resolution 2216, is the only way to address the perils of the Houthis at the local, regional and international levels.
#2
"They're not at all like Nazis! What, you smile?
Have Muslims ever shrilly shrieked "Sieg Heil,"
Or idolized their human boss, himself,
Or placed a madman's book on every shelf?
Their uniforms get hardly any starch,
And surely you'll have noticed how they march?
Their call to prayer sounds nothing like a werwolf,
And half their kids were never named for Adolf!
Please look beyond the shadow of your steeple
At all the happy, loving Muslim people:
Diversity, embracing every race
To spread their faith through all the earth, and space.
So, slander not these saints of civic virtue,
Or else, my friend, I certainly shall report you!"
I'd better heed self-blinding Polyphemus:
No Muslim is, or ever was, extremist.
Not quite the innocent, love-sick philosophy student she has been claiming to be.
[DailyMail] Varvara Karaulova was deported back to Moscow after being stopped at the Turkish-Syrian border en route to see fanatic Airat Samatov but told him secret services were bugging him
The usual Daily Mail collection of photos at the link. She looks just like a sweet young thing.
A Russian student who travelled to Syria after falling in love with an ISIS jihadi online has admitted that she tipped him off that secret services were seeking to trap him. Varvara Karaulova, 20, was stopped at the Turkish-Syrian border en route to see fanatic Airat Samatov, and when she was deported back to Moscow she agreed to help the FSB with a sting operation on him.
He and his accomplices are feared to be recruiters of potential women jacket wallahs.
But Karaulova told the jihadi that the secret agents were bugging their conversations, she admitted to the judge after appearing in court.
She now faces up to ten years in jail if convicted of seeking to join a terrorist group called Badr which includes many ethnic Chechens from southern Russia.
Earlier she and her family claimed that packing lace lingerie and bed linen for her trip proved she was not travelling to Syria to become a terrorist or even a suicide bomber, but because she loved 36-year-old Samatov who she had only met online. She told how after she was halted at the border and reunited with her parents, she ended her plans to go to Syria because although she loved Samatov,she loved her mother and father more and did not want to 'hurt' them.
The woman then agreed to assist the FSB by continuing to talk to the suspected terrorist on the internet, knowing that her conversations were being monitored by the FSB. But then she tipped him off via a messenger service that the secret service were trying to compromise him, she admitted.
Prosecutors say she also used various other names online to hide her identity in chatting to the Lion of Islam, and was actively plotting another attempt to reach Syria.
Prosecutors say she also used various other names online to hide her identity in chatting to the Lion of Islam, and was actively plotting another attempt to reach Syria.
She told the court as she wept: 'I felt very lonely, I loved him, I missed him very much.
'At that moment I was sure that he was concerned about me. '
'At first I just wanted to tell that I was okay, but then I just could not stop.'
In one message to her, he told her: 'I wish I am sent to Russia to blow up something.'
Yet she also admitted that earlier, before her trip, when Samatov had disappeared for two months she abruptly went through an online 'wedding ceremony' with another jihadi. He sent her £200 for a trip to Syria before Samatov reappeared and demanded she return to him, which she did.
She added: 'I was missing Samatov. He asked me to forgive him for another girl he had at this time. I was desperate for him to call me to join him.'
Prosecutors told the court she had undertaken physical and combat training and 'was, for that reason, capable of fulfilling any tasks.'
Yet according to her testimony she had a naive and starry-eyed view about ISIS, despite being a high-flying A-grade university student. She claimed she had not followed the news and was attracted to travelling to meet her jihadi boyfriend because 'ISIS is a country that cares for its people.'
Under questioning from the judge, she said: 'People don't smoke there nor drink alcohol.'
She testified: 'It is a country where the main goal is not to make money but to care for people and children'
Denying she was being recruited as a suicide bomber, she said: 'A woman is treated like a treasure.
'She is valued for her brain and abilities and not only for her beauty.'
Claiming in court she was motivated only by love, she said: 'I have not joined anything.
'I am not a terrorist and I was certainly not going to become one.
'When these words about suicide bombers are uttered, I don't know even what word to choose. It's impossible even to listen to all these things.'
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/29/2016 01:22 ||
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#1
'I am not a terrorist and I was certainly not going to become one
No honey, you were just going to be a 'pass-around'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
10/29/2016 8:18 Comments ||
Top||
#2
In one message to her, he told her: 'I wish I am sent to Russia to blow up something.'
North Korea may have been testing an intercontinental ballistic missile on Oct. 15 and 20, rather than a medium-range missile as U.S. and South Korean authorities have assumed, American pundits speculate.
The failed launches took place at an air base in Kusong in remote North Pyongan Province. At the time, South Korean and U.S. military authorities said they "presume" the missiles, which exploded in mid-air, were of a medium-range type usually called "Musudan," which can fly an estimated 3,500 km to reach the U.S. base in Guam in the western Pacific.
But the pundits disagree. "We think it is important that people consider the possibility that this was a KN-08 [ICBM] test," the Washington Post quoted Jeffrey Lewis, at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in California, as saying.
"Lewis and his colleagues found burn scars after each missile firing, showing where the hot exhaust scorched the pavement and grass," the daily said Wednesday. "These big burn scars are much bigger than what had been seen after Musudan tests, and the fact that they happened on the other side of the country added to suspicions about the kind of missile being tested."
"The possibility of a KN-08 cannot be ruled out," John Schilling, an aerospace engineer who frequently writes about the North’s missiles, told the daily.
The U.S. Strategic Command "twice misidentified three missiles that North Korea launched in September," Lewis said. "We still think people are being too quick to jump to the conclusion that this was a Musudan. Even if it's only 50:50, being shocked half of the time is still bad."
U.S. officials first presumed three missiles the North fired on Sept. 5 to be short-range Rodong missiles but later concluded they were mid-range Musudan missiles.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/29/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] The Danish ex-editor who commissioned the Mohammed cartoons that triggered deadly protests a decade ago on Friday accused the Jyllands-Posten newspaper of trying to silence him, saying it had let "the jihadists" win.
In a book to be released on Monday, titled "De besatte" ("The obsessed"), Flemming Rose accuses the paper’s management of hypocrisy, claiming it backed him in public while doing everything it could to silence him in private.
"The drama and tragedy is that the only ones who have won are the jihadists," he told the weekly Weekendavisen newspaper.
Rose said that rules for what he could say and write about the controversial cartoons and related subjects had been outlined in a 2011 agreement proposed by former editor-in-chief Jorn Mikkelsen, the former chief executive of the company that owned the paper, Lars Munch, and the company’s former chairman Jorgen Ejbol.
Among the rules were a ban on taking part in TV and radio programs and refraining from commenting on the cartoons.
Rose, who left the paper last year, also said he had been accused of being "deeply disloyal" and "obsessed" with the debate prompted by the cartoons.
"You have grandchildren, don’t you think about them?" Ejbol is alleged to have said in 2015 after Rose agreed to interview the Dutch and anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders at a public event.
Jyllands-Posten’s owner, JP/Politikens Hus, did not comment on the book, but Munch, now the group’s chairman, said in a statement that "it wasn’t about Flemming Rose, it was about the safety of more than 2,000 loyal employees."
Rose was the culture editor of the right-wing Jyllands-Posten in 2005 when he commissioned 12 satirical cartoons of the Islamic prophet, triggering deadly protests in some Moslem countries.
The cartoons were also published in 2006 in French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo ...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe... , where Islamist gunnies killed 12 people last year.
Rose, 58, still lives under police protection because of death threats made against him, and there have been numerous foiled terror plots against Jyllands-Posten, which has had to take extensive security measures.
AFAIAC, Lynch's decision to invoke the fifth implies she has admitted that she has done something criminal. Were I king, she would be out of a job. The same would go for all government workers who invoke the fifth. Ever.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch is declining to comply with an investigation by leading members of Congress about the Obama administration's secret efforts to send Iran $1.7 billion in cash earlier this year, prompting accusations that Lynch has "pleaded the Fifth" Amendment to avoid incriminating herself over these payments, according to lawmakers and communications exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.) initially presented Lynch in October with a series of questions about how the cash payment to Iran was approved and delivered.
In an Oct. 24 response, Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik responded on Lynch's behalf, refusing to answer the questions and informing the lawmakers that they are barred from publicly disclosing any details about the cash payment, which was bound up in a ransom deal aimed at freeing several American hostages from Iran.
The response from the attorney general's office is "unacceptable" and provides evidence that Lynch has chosen to "essentially plead the fifth and refuse to respond to inquiries regarding [her] role in providing cash to the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism," Rubio and Pompeo wrote on Friday in a follow-up letter to Lynch, according to a copy obtained by the Free Beacon.
The inquiry launched by the lawmakers is just one of several concurrent ongoing congressional probes aimed at unearthing a full accounting of the administration's secret negotiations with Iran.
"It is frankly unacceptable that your department refuses to answer straightforward questions from the people's elected representatives in Congress about an important national security issue," the lawmakers wrote. "Your staff failed to address any of our questions, and instead provided a copy of public testimony and a lecture about the sensitivity of information associated with this issue."
"As the United States' chief law enforcement officer, it is outrageous that you would essentially plead the fifth and refuse to respond to inquiries," they stated. "The actions of your department come at time when Iran continues to hold Americans hostage and unjustly sentence them to prison."
The lawmakers included a copy of their previous 13 questions and are requesting that Lynch provide answers by Nov. 4.
When asked about Lynch's efforts to avoid answering questions about the cash payment, Pompeo told the Free Beacon that the Obama administration has blocked Congress at every turn as lawmakers attempt to investigate the payments to Iran.
"Who knew that simple questions regarding Attorney General Lynch's approval of billions of dollars in payments to Iran could be so controversial that she would refuse to answer them?" Pompeo said. "This has become the Obama administration's coping mechanism for anything related to the Islamic Republic of Iran--hide information, obfuscate details, and deny answers to Congress and the American people."
"They know this isn't a sustainable strategy, however, and I trust they will start to take their professional, and moral, obligations seriously," the lawmaker added.
In the Oct. 24 letter to Rubio and Pompeo, Assistant Attorney General Kadzik warned the lawmakers against disclosing to the public any information about the cash payment.
Details about the deal are unclassified, but are being kept under lock and key in a secure facility on Capitol Hill, the Free Beacon first disclosed. Lawmakers and staffers who have clearance to view the documents are forced to relinquish their cellular devices and are barred from taking any notes about what they see.
"Please note that these documents contain sensitive information that is not appropriate for public release," Kadzik wrote to the lawmakers. "Disclosure of this information beyond members of the House and Senate and staff who are able to view them could adversely affect the diplomatic relations of the United States, including with key allies, as well as the State Department's ability to defend [legal] claims against the United States [by Iran] that are still being litigated at the Hague Tribunal."
"The public release of any portion of these documents, or the information contained therein, is not authorized by the transmittal of these documents or by this communication," Kadzik wrote.
Congressional sources have told the Free Beacon that this is another part of the effort to hide details about these secret negotiations with Iran from the American public.
One senior congressional source familiar with both the secret documents and the inquiry into them told the Free Beacon that the details of the negotiations are so damning that the administration's best strategy is to ignore lawmakers' requests for more information.
"Every Obama administration official and department involved in the Iran Deal appear to be running for cover," the source said. "Like we feared, the [Iran deal] is turning out to be a disaster and Iran is emboldened in its aggression. Evidently Attorney General Lynch and the Department of Justice have decided 'refusal to cooperate' is their best strategy. But this is dangerous and ultimately won't protect them from anything."
#2
FBI's Comey's breaking from Lynch regarding Hillary shows he now knows these people are going down and he is not going down with them. I think he finally woke up or is gambling on Trump winning.
#3
For senior political officials, Pleading the 5th should be grounds for immediate resignation and/or impeachment.
If Congress had any guts and any sense of its true constitutional duty as a "check and balance", there would be an immediate demand for resignation, with a threat of impeachment if not complied with.
#4
there would be an immediate demand for resignation, with a threat of impeachment if not complied with.
Today, it is sad to say, it seems politics is not about country or right and wrong anymore--it is about partisan politics, power, lots of money and Party. It's going to take awhile to flush this problem.
#7
"making holder look good"!!! How is that possible?
Posted by: Roger ||
10/29/2016 17:16 Comments ||
Top||
#8
The answer is simple then. Taking the fifth or not answering in the capacity of a government employee should result in immediate removal, a permanent ban on holding any government position with loss of all pension and retirement benefits.
Duhok – Radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) is conducting “scorched earth” policy in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, officials said on Friday.
According to the United Nations, a humanitarian crisis broke out in Mosul and other parts of Nineveh Governorate amid an ongoing offensive by the US-backed Kurdish and Iraqi forces against ISIS.
Humanitarian organisations warned that fumes from burning stockpiles of sulphur dioxide, and oil wells that have been set ablaze, have led to further suffering for civilians in northern Iraq.
“Due to the ISIS’ scorched earth policy, [Iraqi] civilians are experiencing near-suffocation and respiratory illnesses,” the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said.
The agency reported that the environmental pollution is adding “complexity and danger” to the humanitarian crisis in Mosul.
ISIS militants have set more than 15 oil wells on fire in the Qayyarah suburb, northeast of Mosul, Iraqi army officer Karrar al-Saadi told ARA News.
“The burning of crude oil led to the release of toxic fumes and gases, causing casualties among civilians as well as Iraqi forces,” the official reported.
According to the UNEP, burning crude oil is releasing a wide range of pollutants, including soot and gases that cause skin irritation and shortness of breath.
On 23 October, a chlorine gas leak originated from a water plant affected by the fighting in Mosul countryside, caused dozens of casualties among civilians.
Last week, a toxic cloud plume spread for dozens of kilometres after stockpiles of sulphur dioxide stored at the Mishraq Sulphate Factory caught fire, causing over 1000 cases of suffocation in Qayyarah, Ijhala, and Makhmour, the UNEP reported.
Posted by: badanov ||
10/29/2016 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
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#2
JohnQC - its the eternal military triangle. The more you have of one these the less you need of another. Time, Money, Blood. Choose.
This is a massive operation against a dug in and prepared force scattered over a large area, which has booby-trapped and mined the areas it retreats from. Militarily this is not a simple operation. Its going to take months at a minimum.
Erbil – The United States embassy in Baghdad issued a security warning to US citizens of kidnap threats for NGOs’ staff riding in aid convoys for Mosul, northern Iraq.
“U.S. Embassy Baghdad has received reports of attempts to kidnap U.S. citizen nongovernmental organization staff riding in vehicle convoys to provide aid to Mosul, Iraq,” the US embassy said.
"And not all of the kidnappers are Iranian."
“Militants demanded to see passports for all travelers in convoys and searched specifically for U.S. citizens,” according to the statement.
It’s unclear which group has threatened US citizens, but in the past US citizens have been kidnapped by Iranian-backed Shia militias in Iraq.
In January 2016, three US citizens were kidnapped by Iranian-backed Shia militias. They were eventually handed over to the US embassy.
“As a reminder, U.S. citizens should maintain a heightened sense of security awareness and take appropriate measures to enhance their personal security at all times when living and working in Iraq,” the US embassy said.
Saudi Arabia is prepared to join a US-led international coalition preparing an operation to isolate Daesh militants in the Syrian city of Raqqa, Arab Coalition spokesman Maj Gen. Ahmed Al-Assiri told Alarabiya.net.
Assiri expressed Saudi Arabia’s willingness to take part in the operation if it was asked to do so.
“The Kingdom is committed to the fight against Daesh in Syria as part of an international coalition, including air sorties delegated to it, whether from within the kingdom or via its warplanes stationed at the Turkish Incirlik base,” he told the website.
The US-led coalition intends to start an operation to retake Daesh’s de facto capital of Raqqa.
With regard to ground operations, Assiri said that the international coalition agreed in a meeting in Washington to rely on local Syrian forces and would provide air coverage for them.
He also noted that Saudi Arabia’s air force participated in US-led airstrikes against Daesh in Syria and has flown 201 sorties since 2014.
When asked if Saudi Arabia is interested in joining the ongoing battle to retake Mosul, Assiri said the Kingdom never took part in any operations in Iraq, citing that it cannot be involved in operations in which the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization forces are involved.
Posted by: badanov ||
10/29/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
No, thank you. And we ain't fighting for you in Yemen either.
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.
[IsraelTimes] The Danish ex-editor who commissioned the Mohammed cartoons that triggered deadly protests a decade ago on Friday accused the Jyllands-Posten newspaper of trying to silence him, saying it had let "the jihadists" win.
A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
