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Iraqi forces massing to break into Mosul airport
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 11/12/2016 13:56 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mom?
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 11/12/2016 23:47 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghanistan suicide bomb kills at least four at Bagram airbase
[Guardian] At least four people have been killed and 18 wounded after a Taliban suicide bomber dressed as a labourer blew himself up at a Nato airbase in Afghanistan.

The attacker was reportedly standing in a queue with labourers at Bagram airfield north of Kabul on Saturday when he detonated the explosives.

"An explosive device was detonated on Bagram airfield resulting in multiple casualties," the Nato-led mission to Afghanistan said in a statement. "Response teams at Bagram continue to treat the wounded and investigate the incident."

Waheed Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Parwan provincial governor, said the bomber detonated a suicide vest after entering the heavily protected site, the largest US base in the country.

Sediqqi said four people had been killed and 18 wounded. There was no immediate word on the identity of the victims.

The attack, responsibility for which was claimed by the Taliban, underlines the foreign policy challenge that will face US president-elect, Donald Trump, when he takes office in January.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/12/2016 08:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Will it never end ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/12/2016 8:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't know. Ask the mayor of any medium to large American city.
Posted by: Tiny Chuger2930 || 11/12/2016 9:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Two U.S. service members and two American contractors were killed by a suicide bomber early Saturday on Afghanistan's Bagram Airfield, the U.S. military said. Sixteen American troops and one Polish soldier were wounded in the blast.

The attack was carried out by "an apparent suicide bomber," Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Saturday in a written response to the incident. It occurred around 5:30 a.m. local time. NBC News reported the explosion struck as military personnel and others were gathering for a "fun run" organized in conjunction with Veterans Day, a detail that is certain to raise questions about the Americans' security posture at one of the few remaining U.S. installations in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Knuckles Whaising3001 || 11/12/2016 20:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Dammit. Thank you, Knuckles Whaising3001. They died to keep us safe. Here's hoping President Trump turns this around.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/12/2016 23:00 Comments || Top||


Police officer arrested months after handing over security posts to Taliban
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] An officer of the Afghan National Police (ANP) forces was tossed in the clink
You have the right to remain silent...
months after he handed over a number of the security posts to the Taliban holy warriors.

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said the police officer was arrested by the operatives of the counter-terrorism directorate.

MoI further added that the officer was arrested from the vicinity of southern Uruzgan province where he handed over the security posts after establishing links with the Taliban earlier in September.

According to MoI, the police officer managed to escape the area after handing the posts, weapons, and ammunition to the Taliban holy warriors.

The detained officer was handed over the attorney general so that he can be tried for his involvement in handing over the security posts and working for the Taliban group, MoI added.

The anti-government armed Death Eater groups including the Taliban forces of Evil have not commented regarding the report so far.

Uruzgan is among the relatively volatile provinces in southern Afghanistan where the Taliban forces of Evil recently launched a major attack to take control of the historic provincial capital of the province.

Posted by: Fred || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Europe
Kosovo holds ISIS suspects over plot to attack Israel soccer match, commander sought
[Ynet] Kosovo-born Lavdrim Muhaxheri named as the ISIS-affiliated terrorist commander who planned a multi-pronged attack that also would also have attacked Israelis competing in Albania soccer game.

Lavdrim Muhaxheri, known by his nom de guerre Abu Abdullah al Kosovo, is the ISIS leader behind the terrorist organization that sought to attack Israeli players at the World Cup qualifying soccer game in Albania on Saturday.

In recent years, he has been active in Syria and Iraq with different terrorist organizations, and he recently has been planning a series of attacks in the Balkans.

Israel's Counter Terrorism Bureau issued a travel warning on Tuesday urging Israelis not to attend a World Cup qualifying game in the city of Elbasan in Albania on Saturday after four ISIS-affiliated suspects were tossed in the calaboose
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
in the country who were allegedly targeting the game.

Four Moslem suspects were arrested last week in the city of Shkodër, which was the original host city of the Israel-Albania World Cup qualifying game. According to Albanian security forces, the four suspects were arrested following a tip from the Israeli Mossad.

Intelligence researcher Ronen Solomon from the Intellitimes blog traced the terrorist infrastructure that, according to him, is headed by Muhaxheri, a Kosovo citizen who went to Syria for the first time in 2012 after having earlier served in NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
in Afghanistan. There he joined Jabhat al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-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 .. ...
, al-Qaeda's branch in Syria.

A year later, he returned to Kosovo, where he joined the activities of the local Islamist community and began recruiting myrmidons. Later, like many others, he left al-Nusra and joined ISIS. There, according to assessments, he is a commander of Albanian fighters. Many hundreds of fighters have come to ISIS from the Balkans.

This week, Kosovo prosecutors revealed that security forces arrested seven persons on Friday on suspicion of planning to carry out terrorist attacks on Balkan soil on instructions from Syria. Prosecutors also claimed that the suspects, who were arrested in three different cities, had connections in neighboring countries that include Albania and Macedonia.

What is common amongst all seven is their connection to Muhaxheri. "During September and October, he gave them instructions for the attacks," the prosecution claimed.

They added that the attacks were supposed to be carried out in the Balkans but were to start in Kosovo. "They wanted to create a foothold in the region for ISIS, and one of them had already spent some time fighting for the organization in Syria."

Solomon's investigation revealed that in October 2013, Muhaxheri was documented for the first time in ISIS operations and appeared in their videos, including beheading ones. In one video, he is filmed saying, "We will conquer Jerusalem, Jews."

In August 2014, his name was added to Interpol's wanted list, and since then he has been wanted for terrorist acts and belonging to the organization. In 2015, he was seen in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, and his current location is unknown.

It seems that the arrest of the four members of the Albanian organization took place at the height of their planning, according to assessments, for an operation that was to be carried out simultaneously in different locations in the Balkans.

According to the investigation, another major player in the organization is a local radical holy man who is also under arrest. He has made videos that he posted to YouTube and Facebook accounts in Albanian that are identified with ISIS.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/12/2016 04:08 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


The Grand Turk
Government official dies in bomb attack
[al-Manar] A bomb blast in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast has killed a local government official and wounded at least two other people, authorities said Friday.

The explosion that state-run Anadolu news agency blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) tore through the area near a government building in Derik on Thursday.

The PKK, which has waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, has resumed attacks on security forces since the rupture of a fragile ceasefire last year.

Muhammet Fatih Safiturk, who served as sub-prefect as well as mayor of Derik, was tasked by the government with running the area as part of a vast effort to replace local authorities suspected of PKK ties.

He “was martyred early Friday by wounds sustained in a PKK terrorist attack on his office a day earlier,” provincial authorities said in a statement.

After the attack security forces apprehended 20 people in the area and they were being held for questioning, Anadolu reported.

Ankara has replaced a string of local elected leaders in the Kurdish majority southeast, which the government says is part of its effort to battle the PKK.

Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), on Sunday said it was pulling out of parliament after nine of its MPs including the two co-leaders were arrested in an unprecedented crackdown.

The arrest on Friday of the MPs, including party leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, added to tensions as Turkey wages a relentless battle against Kurdish militants and deals with the aftermath of a July 15 failed coup.
Posted by: badanov || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  so... a recall vote, hmmm?
Posted by: Frank G || 11/12/2016 11:17 Comments || Top||

#2  After the attack security forces apprehended 20 people in the area

Odd, it's usually ten times that.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/12/2016 13:27 Comments || Top||


Turkey arrests five more HDP officials, German FM to visit Ankara
[RUDAW.NET] Turkish authorities tossed in the slammer
You have the right to remain silent...
5 officials of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Saturday in a joint operation in Diyarbakir and the capital Ankara over terrorism charges.

The Turkish police raided the houses of two advisers to the HDP MPs in the Turkish parliament over terrorism charges, one of them the adviser to the party’s co-chair Figen Yuksekdag.

This later was followed by arrests of two more HDP advisors, the party’s general advisor and another parliamentary advisor.

The police are now looking for another HDP official to arrest him.

The HDP co-leaders and other party politicians were detained early on last Friday as part of what the Turkish government described as a counter-terrorism investigation.

As of last Saturday nine HDP MPs, including the two co-chairs, have been remanded in jug, three were released on bond and authorities issued arrest warrants for another three. They are facing accusations of terrorism and suspected ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Posted by: Fred || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


India-Pakistan
TV channel office attack: two ‘IS’ men arrested
[DAWN] LAHORE: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of police claimed to have locked away
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
two members of a Death Eater organization involved in attacking the bureau office of a private news channel in Sargodha last year.

Some unidentified attackers had hurled a grenade at the Sargodha bureau of Express News channel on Dec 7, 2015 in which a security guard was injured and the building was also damaged.

A CTD front man said their team in Sargodha conducted a raid near Chungi No 9 and arrested two suspected members of the Death Eater 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 and recovered two hand grenades, kaboom, four detonators, one pistol and a cycle of violence.

The suspects were identified as Zeeshan Mehboob and Zahidur Rehman who were shifted to some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location for interrogation.

He said a case was also registered against the suspects at the CTD Police Station.

Last year, the Lahore office of Din News and Faisalabad
...formerly known as Lyallpur, the third largest metropolis in Pakistain, the second largest in Punjab after Lahore. It is named after some Arab because the Paks didn't have anybody notable of their own to name it after...
office of Dunya News were attacked in which three employees were maimed.

On Nov 30, unidentified gunnies attacked a Dawn News Digital Satellite News Gathering van in Essa Nagri, Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
leaving one staffer injured.

The attacks were widely condemned by all sections of society and journalist organizations had announced protests.

Posted by: Fred || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Rangers say Jundullah chief killed in Sakran
[DAWN] QUETTA: Security forces claimed to have killed the chief of murderous Moslem group Jundullah’s Pakistain chapter in an operation at a village close to the Sindh-Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
border in Lasbela district in the early hours of Friday morning.

Acting on a tip-off from intelligence agencies, the Frontier Corps
...a provincial paramilitary force. Total manpower is about 80,000. They are tasked to help local law enforcement in the maintenance of law and order, and to carry out border patrol and a..the Antwerp-based Salafist organization that had campaigned to introduce Sharia law to Belgium before single-handedly making Belgium the highest per capita supplier of jihadis to Syria in Europe. There was a big trial in Antwerp in 2015, but most of those convicted were in absentia...nti-smuggling operations....
, Sindh Rangers and police arrived at Goth Dilpul in the Sakran area, close to the Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
northern bypass, and raided a house in a village on Sakran Road. During an hour-long shootout, Arif alias Saqib Anjum, the chief of Jundullah Pakistain and the nominated naib emir of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Sindh, was killed, a Rangers spokesperson said.

A senior police officer told Dawn that a child was injured in the shootout. Security personnel took the child and a woman, living in the house, into custody and shifted them to Karachi.

Official sources said a large cache of arms and ammunition was seized from the house that Arif had been using as a hideout. "Dozens of hand grenades, AK-47 rifles, rockets and over 1,000kg explosives were seized from the house... They had been packed into four big plastic drums and buried underground," sources told Dawn. The house was being used as a "factory" for improvised bombs.

They said two people had purchased a land in the Goth Dilpul area for one million rupees and two houses and a compound had been constructed on it about three months ago. "The man killed in the encounter had been living at one of the houses with a woman and a young girl for three months."

Arif had criminal masterminded several suicide kabooms in Karachi and Balochistan. He had been planning terror attacks at the Rangers headquarters and the police’s Special Security Unit headquarters in Karachi, the spokesperson said. He was said to have been involved in an attack on the vehicle of then Karachi corps commander Gen Ahsan Saleem, a suicide attack on the Muttahida Majlis Amal leader and Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam
...the political wing of the Pak Taliban...
chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ...
, in Quetta, the liquidation of Bilal Sheikh, chief security officer of former president Asif Ali Zardari, and attacks on religious minority communities.

Posted by: Fred || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jundullah


Militants killed in Manghopir were involved in Safoora carnage: Rangers
[DAWN] KARACHI: Pakistain Rangers, Sindh, has claimed that three suspected Lions of Islam killed in an ’encounter’ on the outskirts of Manghopir late on Wednesday night were involved in the killing of 82 people, including members of the Ismaili community and security personnel.

Sharing information about the three Lions of Islam with the media on Thursday, a spokesperson for Rangers said that one of them had links with the holy warrior Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(IS) group and was directly involved in the 2015 Safoora incident in which 46 members of the Ismaili community, including 16 women, were massacred.

The spokesperson identified him as Mohammad Hussain alias Mistri Pathan and said he had links with both the IS and Al Qaeda. Mohammad Hussain was one of the bandidos faceless myrmidons who attacked the bus in which members of the Ismaili community were travelling that fateful day, he said, adding that he had climbed onto the bus through the driver’s door and opened indiscriminate fire on passengers.

The spokesperson said Mohammad Hussain was also involved in the killing of some coppers. He killed two coppers in Hyderabad in September 2014, the spokesperson said, adding that he was also involved in cases of extortion and robberies. In October 2014, he along with his accomplices had looted Rs1.9 million from a bank in Hyderabad.

Posted by: Fred || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


One killed, two injured in Karachi's suspected sectarian attack
[DAWN] A student was rubbed out and two others injured in a suspected sectarian attack in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar area on Friday evening.

"Three students were on their way on a cycle of violence when armed pillion-riders attacked them in a deserted street in Block-4 of Guilistan-e-Jauhar and fled," said Gulshan SP Dr Fahad Ahmad while speaking to Dawn.

One of the students, Murtaza, departed this vale of tears while being shifted to a hospital.

The injured identified as Shahid Ali and Ihsan Ali were admitted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), confirmed Dr. Seemin Jamali, head of the emergency department.

"The dead and injured belonged to the Shia community and it appeared to be murder incident," added the police official.

Initial reports suggested the victims were students of University of Karachi and Dow University of Health Sciences and were returning from a coaching centre.

Police claimed to have launched a targeted operation against criminals involved in sectarianism and other crimes in various areas of Karachi earlier this week.
Posted by: Fred || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


Iraq
Karemlash Honeycombed with Underground Tunnels
Mosul- Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have reportedly killed 16 ISIS hardliners in Bashiqa, Nineveh. The militants had been staying at a city hideout, awaiting the opportunity to make it past Peshmerga checkpoints to join the fight in Mosul.

Iraqi Security Forces units of the 9th Armored Division made an advance towards villages of Abbas Rajab and Al-Nomaniyah, toward Nimrud, the Joint Operations Command said, later announcing that Abbas Rajab had been officially retaken.

Nimrud was the one of the great centers of the ancient Middle East. Founded in the 13th century BC, it became the capital of the Assyrian empire, whose rulers built vast palaces and monuments that have drawn archaeologists for more than 150 years.

Karemlash, an ancient Assyrian town in northern Iraq located less than 29 Kilometers south east of Mosul, recently freed of ISIS-hold by the ISF, has been turned into a minefield.

As Asharq Al-Awsat reporters attempted taking a tour of the former ISIS stronghold, they were accompanied by army detail for both security and guidance.

The dislodged terror group had randomly planted explosive mines throughout the town. Before the ISIS takeover in summer 2014, Karemlash was considered one of the most beautiful towns of Nineveh’s valley in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Villages recaptured from ISIS over the past three weeks by the Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi army forces on the road to Mosul have been honeycombed with tunnels, many of them booby-trapped.

ISIS militants had dug an entire network of underground tunnels, which have been used as a safety bunker from coalition air raids – more so the underground passages were also a part of the hardliners’ street fighting strategy against ISF units.

Although ISIS extremists had been successfully driven out of Mosul’s Karemlash, they had left the town in a regrettable and hazardous state. The once Iraqi attraction had been close to burnt to the ground with all the fighting, not to mention the arbitrary minefields that make it all the less safe for civilian life’s immediate return.

In the past three days, commanders say Iraqi forces have faced the hardest fighting of the offensive as they entered Mosul, made worse by extensive tunnels that are allowing ISIS fighters to appear seemingly out of nowhere, attack, then retreat to the hidden bunkers.

ISIS didn’t invent the tactic. Tunnels have been used in warfare for thousands of years, especially valued in asymmetric guerilla war.

In Karemlash, Iraqi Christian militias uncovered cramped earthen burrows used by ISIS fighters to hide from surveillance drones, artillery shells and US-led airstrikes.

The tunnels were dug into a hill that covers an archaeological site of an ancient Assyrian city.

ISIS also commandeered the Saint Barbara convent and dug deep tunnels through the floor of the chapel. The village marks the site where Alexander the Great fought the Persian emperor Darius in 331BC.

Some tunnels go for hundreds of meters. The earth is hard-packed and laced with rocks and the passageways illuminated with electric lights. Iraqi troops have found weapon caches, small kitchens, food pantries and rooms stacked with explosives.

To conceal their digging from drones and satellites, ISIS fighters usually hid the soil.

The longest tunnel discovered so far stretched for almost 10km at the edge of Mosul, according to Iraqi commanders, dug by ISIS cadres with help from civilians probably forced to shovel.
Posted by: badanov || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Super SugarBear to the Courtesy Desk please, Honeycomb hideout found.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/12/2016 14:59 Comments || Top||


ISIS used chemical weapons in Qayyara, report
[RUDAW.NET] ISIS Lions of Islam launched chemical weapons attacks on Qayyara in the weeks after Iraqi forces retook control of the town, a new report from Human Rights Watch
... During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, HRW received a pledge from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, of which George Soros is Chairman, for general support totaling $100,000,000. The grant is being paid in installments of $10,000,000 over ten years.Through June 30, 2013, HRW had received $30,000,000 towards the fulfillment of the pledge....
confirmed.

The attacks, in September and October, "caused painful burns to at least seven people consistent with exposure to low levels of a chemical warfare agent known as ’vesicants,’ or blister agents," reads the report published Friday.

The town of Qayyara, 60 kilometres south of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, was liberated by Iraqi forces in late August.

Launching the chemical weapons is one of many tactics designed for maximum damage and casualties that ISIS has employed as it loses territory.

As the Lions of Islam retreated from Qayyara, they set at least five oil wells on fire and left crude oil oozing through the town’s streets, burning homes and coughing thick smoke into the air.

In Mishraq, two people died and hundreds were treated for respiratory ailments after ISIS set fire to a sulfur plant in a last stand for that town.

The krazed killer group has famously rigged homes and ordinary objects with hundreds of improvised explosives designed to create havoc for the liberating forces and returning civilians.

"As ISIS fighters flee, they have been repeatedly attacking and endangering the civilians they left behind, increasing concerns for residents of Mosul and other contested areas," said Lama Fakih, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Middle East director.

Reports indicate that ISIS dug trenches in Mosul and filled them with crude oil, ready to set on fire as part of their defence of the city.

In the investigation of the chemical attacks in Qayyara, residents told Human Rights Watch that the attacks occurred when Iraqi forces were in full control of the town and they believed the Lions of Islam were trying to force the civilians to retreat with them.

In the first of three attacks documented by the monitoring group, a projectile landed in the garden of a family’s home on September 21, "oozing a liquid that caused burns and blistering to two family members and two coppers who helped them remove it."

The second attack took place on October 6 when a projectile struck in front of a café, severely burning two fighters in the area.

The third attack, on October 10, saw a refinery worker burned and blistered after a projectile landed in front of a refinery.

An independent expert contacted by Human Rights Watch, Keith B. Ward, concluded that the victims had been exposed to a blistering agent such as sulfur mustard. Further investigation is needed to conclude the agents used in the attacks, the report noted.

The use of such blister agents is a war crime under international law.
Posted by: Fred || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraqi forces launch new offensive, pushing deeper into Mosul
[RUDAW.NET] After a couple of days of calm, focusing on clearing explosives and pockets of ISIS fighters from liberated areas, Iraqi forces have resumed their push into djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
on Friday afternoon.

"After some days of calm, we launched a new attack this afternoon against the Karkukli neighbouhood," Mountadhar Salem, a commander with the Iraqi counter-terrorism forces, told AFP.

Karkukli is located in eastern Mosul, west of Gogjali where Iraqi forces began their push into Mosul city itself.

Friday is the 26th day of the Mosul offensive.

From ARA News:
Erbil – The US-led coalition said on Friday that ISIS has lost 4 per cent of territory in Iraq, and 2 per cent of territory in Syria with ongoing operations in Raqqa and Mosul.

“This means the group have now lost 56% of the territory they controlled in Iraq in August 2014, and 27% in Syria, as they are continually defeated on the battlefield. Key losses in October include the town of Dabiq in Syria, as well as areas near Ar Ramadi and Hadithah in Iraq,” the US-led coalition said in a statement.

A map released by the coalition showing ISIS areas of influence, indicated ISIS territorial losses —30,000 to 32,000 square kilometres of the territory it had dominated in Iraq and 11,500 to 12,500 square kilometres of the territory it dominated in Syria—since August 2014.

“Daesh [ISIS] probably has a presence and freedom of movement in much of the unpopulated areas depicted on the map, but we cannot determine its level of influence in these areas. These estimates are subject to change because of the dynamic nature of the conflict,” the coalition said.

In the meantime, the US anti-ISIS envoy Brett McGurk said: “ISIS’s ‘caliphate’ is crumbling month-by-month. 56% [of territory] retaken in Iraq. 27% in Syria.”

McGurk added that they are working now on transition after the election of the new president Donald Trump.

“I had the privilege of working with President Bush during the transition to POTUS and now orderly transition begins to new President-Elect,” he said.

“This democratic transition process is what makes our country great & our enemies — ISIS terrorists — will have no chance to breath,” the American envoy said.

“Operations are ongoing now towards Raqqa and Mosul with seventy new airstrikes in the last 48-hours alone.”

Mosul offensive pushing more Iraqi civilians into Syria

Geneva (UN) – Amid the intensification of the military offensive against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq’s Mosul city and the resulting displacement of civilians, the United Nations human rights wing said Friday that it has received reports that Iraqi civilians are also fleeing into Syria, which itself is reeling under a five-year long conflict that has displaced millions of Syrians and left hundreds of thousands trapped in besieged cities.

“We have received reports that Iraqi civilians from rural areas around Mosul city have been arriving in Syrian governorates of Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor and al-Hasakah,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told journalists at the UN Office at Genevan Friday.

“They reportedly left, after the Iraqi Security Forces and allied armed groups captured the areas, fearing they would be seen as affiliated to ISIS,” she added.

OHCHR further said it also received reports that several hundred Iraqi civilians are in a “dire humanitarian situation” in Rajm al-Sleibi in the Syrian governorate of al-Hasakah (on the border with Iraq), which is under the control of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

These people include those who have fled the current Mosul fighting and those who had earlier crossed into Syria from Iraq.

Reports have also been received that in the ISIS-controlled Syrian governorate of Raqqa, newly arrived families have been housed at the entrance to Raqqa city, in the neighbourhood of al-Mashlab, which is under the strong control of ISIS.

“We are concerned that [such] ISIS tactics […] endanger the civilian population […] – namely taking civilians hostage and planting improvised explosive devices in civilian houses and residential neighbourhoods,” said Ms. Shamdasani noting possible ground operations by Kurdish and other forces as well as airstrikes by the US-led Coalition.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Syria continues to deteriorate and according to reports, civilians – including women and children – continue to become casualties in air and ground-based strikes as well as lose their lives in want of medical treatment, said the UN human rights arm.

From al-Manar: Iraqi Counter-terrorism Units Enters into Qadesiyya Neighborhood in Mosul
Iraqi anti-terror units managed on Friday to enter into the Qadesiyya neighborhood in the city of Mosul, local media outlets reported.

A security source told Al-Forat News agency the counter-terrorism units are still battling to clear the area from the terrorists of the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) takfiri group.

Earlier on Thursday, commander of the anti-terrorism forces, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Ghani al-Asadi, had confirmed that the security forces have a wide experience in dealing with all methods of ISIL terrorist group, adding that ISIL has lost its fighting spirit since several months after losing many of the occupied areas.

“ISIL cannot withstand before the attacks of the Iraqi security forces,” Asadi stressed.

Iraqi forces launched a wide-scale operation to retake Mosul on October 17, with federal and Kurdish regional forces closing in on the city from three sides.

Pro-government forces later began an advance on the town of Tal Afar, which commands the city’s western approaches, with the goal of cutting the Takfiris off from territory they control in neighboring Syria.

Yet more from al-Manar: Elite Iraqi Troops to Resume Mosul Push
Troops of Iraq’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service will resume their offensive against the Takfiri ISIL group in east Mosul on Friday after several days of relative quiet, an officer said.

The battle to retake the city, the insurgents’ last major bastion in Iraq, is now in its fourth week, and while troops have pushed into the built-up area, there are weeks, if not months, of fighting still to go.

“After a few days of quiet, we will start a new attack this afternoon on the Karkukli neighborhood,” Lieutenant Colonel Muntadhar Salem said, referring to an eastern district of Mosul.

“We’ll start this attack from our positions in the Al-Samah neighborhood,” he added.

Iraqi forces launched a huge operation to retake Mosul on October 17, with federal and Kurdish regional forces closing in on the city from three sides.

Pro-government paramilitaries later began an advance on the town of Tal Afar, which commands the city’s western approaches, with the goal of cutting the Takfiris off from territory they control in neighboring Syria.

ISIL overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained significant ground.
Posted by: Fred || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Twin bomb attacks kill 4, wound 10 in Baghdad
[RUDAW.NET] Two kabooms north and south of Baghdda killed four people, including two Iraqi soldiers on Friday, an Iraqi official told Rudaw.

A roadside kaboom hit an army convoy in Tarmiyah, 60 km north of Baghdad, killing two Iraqi soldiers and wounding another two, an official from the Iraqi interior ministry who asked not to be named told Rudaw. He added that another kaboom south of Bagdad targeted a grocery market in the Yousifiyah sub-district, killing two civilians and wounding another eight.

No group has grabbed credit for either attacks.

The Iraqi and Kurdish forces have launched a major offensive against 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 to reclaim djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, the second largest Iraqi city and the stronghold for the bully boy group.

Since the launch of the Mosul offensive more than three weeks ago, the ISIS bully boyz scaled up their kabooms in various parts of the country.

Last Sunday the group grabbed credit for two kabooms in south of Mosul Sunday in Tikrit and Samarra which killed at least 21 people.
Posted by: Fred || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Street fighting in civilian populated Mosul neighborhoods
[RUDAW.NET] The Iraqi Counter Terrorism forces (ICTF) face strong resistance put up by 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 as they make their way into djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
's eastern neighborhoods, Rudaw’s Ranja Jamal who is embedded with the Iraqi forces reported from Al Zahra neighborhood on Friday.

The holy warrior group which is still in control of most parts of the city, in particular the right bank of the Tigris river, have used sniper fire and boom-mobiles to stop the advance of the counter terrorism special forces who come from the east, Iraqi commanders told Rudaw.

The Iraqi War Media Office reported on Friday that the Iraqi forces from all fronts are clearing the areas that came under their control in the last few days, but indications on the ground point to continued festivities in almost all neighborhoods, including Al Zahra.

Jamal reported Friday afternoon that the elite ICTF are making an attempt to enter Qadisiya neighborhood where they are engaged in street-to-street fighting with the ISIS bully boys.

The Iraqi government has urged the Mosul residents to stay in their homes, as the result many are caught up between both sides.

Some residents in the newly liberated Intisar neighborhood interviewed by Rudaw on Friday complained of lack of fuel and flour while lined up to receive some food items distributed by the Iraqi forces.
Posted by: Fred || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraqi army denies it killed, drove tank over a ‘child soldier’
[RUDAW.NET] The Commander of Nineveh Operations denied that its forces executed and then drove a tank over an alleged ISIS child soldier as could be seen in a video that went viral on social media on Friday.

The video shows some men in military uniform apparently in a desert who interrogate a terrified child.

One of the men is heard speaking in Iraqi Arabic saying that the child is an ISIS myrmidon , but the child appeals for his release. "Release me," the child says, "I did nothing."

Then one of the men drags him away several meters and puts him in front of a tank.

"How is it ISIS?" a man is heard asking as the child, now completely in front of the tank, seems to have sustained some injuries in both of his legs and is unable to move. Then the tank driver is ordered to run over him, but first one of the men shoots him multiple times.

The video then shows the child flattened as the tank drives over his body.

The video is not in good quality, but it shows one of men in military uniform with badge of a flag apparently in green, white and black, the same colors of the Iraqi flag.

Rudaw cannot independently verify the video, nor can it tell where or when it took place.

"We confirm here that the video belongs to the ISIS mobs and it becomes clear through analyzing the scene which show individuals who wear non-military clothes different from that worn by the Iraqi army," Major General Najim al-Jabouri said in a statement published by the Iraqi War Media Office on Friday night.

"It also becomes clear from the type of the guns as shown in the scene which is the same guns used by ISIS myrmidons. Also confining the video to a limited area is to avoid showing the landmarks of the area." the statement added.

Jabouri said the release of the video comes in the context of what he called "the misleading media," and called on the media, and the rights organizations to first verify such videos before making accusations.

The video comes at a time when a report by the Amnesia Amnesty International on Thursday called on the Iraqi government to investigate reports that "fighters wearing Iraqi Federal Police uniforms tortured and extrajudicially executed residents in villages they captured south of djinn-infested Mosul,"
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in response on Thursday that he holds Amnesia Amnesty International responsible for "endangering the security" of Mosul citizens by publishing "false information" regarding "unlawful killings" in some liberated areas around the city.

"The truth is that they were local residents who killed ISIS myrmidons." Abadi said.

The Iraqi prime minister said reports like this make Mosul residents flee their homes.
Posted by: Fred || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1  It was only an APC!.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/12/2016 22:31 Comments || Top||


Iraqi forces massing to break into Mosul airport
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraqi forces are currently in position to take over djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
’s main airport south of the city, security officers have confirmed.

Media sources have also confirmed on Friday that a key 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 Syria (ISIS) leader was killed in battle as Iraqi special forces pushed deeper into Mosul on despite heavy resistance the murderous Moslem group using civilians as cover, in half a dozen city neighborhoods seized in the last 10 days.

The campaign, nearly four weeks old, is the most complex military operation in Iraq in the 13 years of turmoil since the US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Security forces and army infantry divisions, backed by a US-led air force, are preparing to move on southern and northern districts of Mosul in coming days, to step up pressure on the myrmidons.

Posted by: Fred || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Southeast Asia
Abu Sayyaf abducts six Vietnamese seamen
[Anadolu] Six people are reported to have been kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf from a Vietnam-flagged boat in sea-lanes off the southern Philippines. Commander Jerome Cayabyab of the Zamboanga Coastguard Station said that at least ten gunmen had boarded the cargo vessel and seized six people, including five officers, near Sibago Island off Basilan island province early Thursday.

Cayabyab confirmed that among those abducted were the boat captain, chief mate, second and third officer, the ship's petty officer and another able-bodied seaman.

He said the incident took place around dawn, but was reported to the coastguard around 7 a.m. by the captain of a boat that provided initial assistance to those who remained aboard. An injured electrician was shipped to a nearby hospital with an injury to his right arm and was immediately given medical attention. Cayabyab said, "The gunmen shot him when he run as they were about to take him."
Posted by: ryuge || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf


Thai militants shoot Buddhist toddler in the stomach
[Kkhaosod] Police on Friday blamed the shooting of a man and his 3-year-old son at their home in southern Thailand on separatist militants.

Prapan Laipraditporn and his son, Peerapat, were relaxing on the front porch of their home when gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on them with M16 rifles. The two were later sent to hospital where they’re expected to recover.

Patcharapon na Nakhon, chief of the Takbai police department said, "We believe the incident is related to unrest in the region," referring to the secessionist campaign Muslim insurgents have waged in the far South for over a decade.

Patcharapon believes the rebels targeted Prapan and his son because they are Buddhist civilians and therefore "soft targets".

A bullet grazed Prapan across his back while his toddler son was shot in the stomach, the police chief said, though he said both were making good recovery.
Posted by: ryuge || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hizbullah Shells Nusra Militants in Arsal Outskirts, Inflicting Casualties
Meanwhile, back on the Lebanese border Hizb'allah once again shoots its biggest guns at the several bad guys holed up on the opposite ridge.
[AnNahar] Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
fighters on Friday bombed Death Eaters from al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-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 in the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal, inflicting casualties, Hizbullah's al-Manar TV reported.

"Islamic Resistance jihadi fighters have targeted a gathering of Nusra Front gunnies in the Dahr al-Hawa area in the outskirts of the northern Bekaa town of Arsal, causing deaths and injuries in their ranks," al-Manar said.

Al-Nusra has recently rebranded itself as Fateh al-Sham
...formerly al-Nusra, the current false nose and mustache of al-Qaeda in the Levant...
Front after announcing a severing of ties with the global jihadist network al-Qaeda.

Militants from the group and the rival 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....
jihadist group are entrenched in areas along the undemarcated Lebanese-Syrian border and the army regularly shells their posts while Hizbullah and the Syrian forces have engaged in festivities with them on the Syrian side of the border.

The two groups overran the town of Arsal in 2014 before being ousted by the army after days of deadly battles.

The retreating Death Eaters kidnapped more than 30 Lebanese soldiers and coppers of whom four have been executed and nine remain in IS' captivity.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/12/2016 04:28 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Syrian rebels launch new attack on Al-Bab
Beirut- Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters taking part in the Euphrates Shield Operation have reached the entrances of al-Bab city, one of the main ISIS strongholds in northern Syria.

The terrorist organization has prepared its fighters to confront any FSA attack by encircling the city with a large ditch planted with mines, a leading Syrian opposition military officer told Asharq Al-Awsat, saying the upcoming battle is difficult, but would end within 10 days.

A Commander with the Euphrates Shield operation, Mustafa Sijari, said that opposition fighters were now seven kilometers away from al-Bab city, adding their arrival was delayed as a result of the presence of a large number of civilians in the area.

“We have called on them to leave quickly,” he stated.

Sijari told Asharq Al-Awsat: “We know that the battle would not be easy, particularly that the organization uses explosions, and it has completed all the preparations to confront our attack by encircling the city with a large ditch and calling on its top fighters to defend the city.”

Sijari asserted that the Turkish role is limited to offering logistic support. “There are no Kurdish fighters in the operation against the terrorist organization. We, the Free Syrian Army, lead the battle,” he said.

The commander spoke about information confirming that ISIS fighters might hand over the city of al-Bab to regime forces or members from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units in case they feel the FSA are about to control the city.

A German news agency quoted on Thursday sources as saying that opposition fighters had controlled the villages of Sheikh Alwan, Maqale’ al-Boushi and Hadath and were now located on the outskirts of al-Bab city.

Ara News said that armed opposition factions had quickly advanced in ISIS-controlled areas northwest of the countryside of northern Aleppo.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Armed Forces said Syrian opposition forces gained control of the village of Sheikh Alwan of the Al-Rai town.

The statement said two ISIS terrorists were killed during clashes with FSA forces.

It added that the Turkish army has hit 92 ISIS targets and another PKK/PYD target in northern Syria.
Posted by: badanov || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Syrian rebels shell Aleppo during Friday prayers
[al-Manar] Terrorist groups have shelled on Friday the besieged town of Foua in the northern countryside of the Syrian province of Aleppo, targeting the worshipers participating in Friday Prayers, killing two civilians, including a child, and injuring several others.

The martyrs are child Abdullah Youssef Haj Moussa and the young man Omar Abdul-Hamid Omar, while the injured are the children Mohsen Mohamad Dib Mahmoud, 6 years, Ahmad Moteea Amin, 11 years and Wael Nadim Haj Hassan, 14 years, in addition to Raghdaa Ismael Hallaq, 33 years, and Youssef Sawwah Baghous, 20 years.

The cannon shells that targeted the town were launched from terrorist-held neighboring Banash city.

Source: Hezbollah Military Media Center
Posted by: badanov || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


RFNS Kuznetsov air wing begins flight operations in Syria
[al-Manar] Russia’s aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, has for the first time launched combat jets on flights over Syria, scouting out the city of Aleppo ahead of anticipated strikes.

Its force of Sukhoi Su-33 and Mikoyan MiG-29K strike fighters took to the skies early on Wednesday on what the Russian Ministry of Defense says were scout missions.

The Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier is currently in waters between Crete and Syria, accompanied by the nuclear- powered Peter the Great missile cruiser and several other ships and submarines. This is the Russian navy’s largest deployment since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Posted by: badanov || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ensign Togo Smith notes in his (outlawed) diary that the Russian fleet is between two choke points.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/12/2016 15:03 Comments || Top||

#2  And I was thinking "they gotta make it back to port sometime..."
Posted by: Pappy || 11/12/2016 19:36 Comments || Top||


Syrian rebels capture 50 localities from ISIS in Raqqa
Raqqa – The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have liberated more than 50 villages and farms from ISIS since the start of the battle for Raqqa last Sunday, military sources reported on Friday.

Also, the SDF on Friday captured the town of al-Hurriya in northern Raqqa, while the forces started to move into the Haysha town–which represents the main ISIS stronghold in northern Raqqa.

The SDF troops have cleared dozens of villages in the area stretching from the towns of Suluk to Ain Issa, in northern Raqqa, as the first phase of the Euphrates Wrath Operation nears completion.

The SDF forces now control an area measuring approximately 25 km² of Raqqa Governorate, pushing ISIS back into the key city of Raqqa.

SDF Field Commander Egid Gabani told ARA News that their forces have liberated most of the villages in the northern countryside of Raqqa.

“Our forces have advanced with a depth of 25km into Raqqa, liberating most of the villages in the northern countryside. ISIS is only present in the Haysha town, which is besieged completely by our [SDF] forces. As soon as the roads are cleared of explosives, we’ll storm the final headquarters of ISIS there,” the SDF commander said.

Ibrahim Mihemed, an SDF fighter, told ARA News: “Our specialised teams are now dismantling explosives in the Hisha suburb in order to clear the roads for a further SDF advance.”

Supported by the US-led coalition, the SDF launched on November 6th the Euphrates Wrath Operation to liberate Raqqa–de facto capital of the ISIS self-proclaimed caliphate. The campaign’s ultimate goal is the isolation and capture of Raqqa city.

Noteworthy, SDF factions participating in the Euphrates Wrath Operation include Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), Syriac Military Council, Raqqa Revolutionaries Battalion and Tel Abyad Revolutionary Brigade. These ground forces are being bolstered by the US-led coalition, which is providing air support and advice from US military experts.

Video report at the link
Posted by: badanov || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


SDF: First phase of Raqqa campaign complete
[RUDAW.NET] The first phase of the Raqqa campaign has been completed, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Friday.

In the first phase of the campaign, the SDF "liberated 50 villages and 50 farms, plus they liberated 150 families and killed 150 ISIS gangsters, and liberated 550 square kilometres of territory," reads an announcement from Simko Derik, a commander of the Wrath of Euphrates operation, posted on the offensive’s Facebook page.

The military operation to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa from ISIS, ousting the bad boy group from their de facto capital, was launched on Sunday on two fronts north of the city, from the towns of Saluq and Ayn Issa, by a coalition of forces fighting under the SDF flag.

The offensive began with 9 brigades, including Kurdish forces, Christians, Turkmens, and many Arab brigades from the Raqqa area.

The United States’ aim is to have a "predominantly Arab and Sunni Arab force" retake the city, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford said earlier this week.

The SDF commander Derik said that the force has completed preparation of four training courses for people from Raqqa wanting to join the SDF. These forces will join the campaign in the second phase of the operation to seize the city.
Posted by: Fred || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Terror Networks
The Beatings Will Continue: Iraqi Edition


ISIS executes scores in Mosul

GENEVA/BAGHDAD: Daesh fighters have executed scores more people around Mosul this week and are reportedly stockpiling ammonia and sulfur in civilian areas, possibly for use as chemical weapons, UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.

A mass grave with over 100 bodies found in the town of Hammam Al-Alil was one of several Daesh killing grounds, Shamdasani said, citing information gleaned from sources on the ground including a man who played dead during a mass execution.

Public executions were being carried out for “treason and collaboration” with Iraqi forces trying to recapture the city, or for the use of banned mobile phones or desertion.

People with explosive belts, possibly teenagers or young boys, were being deployed in the alleys of Old Mosul, while abducted women were being “distributed” to fighters or told they would be used to accompany Islamic State convoys, she said.

It said that in another incident, the extremists on Wednesday reportedly shot to death 20 civilians in the Ghabat Military Base on charges of leaking information. Those bodies too were hung at various traffic intersections in Mosul, with notes stating that they had “used cell phones to leak information.”

The reports were the latest evidence of Daesh exactions on civilians as it retreats into dense urban quarters of Iraqi’s second largest city.

The UN human rights office has also cited new details as proof that the Daesh group is using chemical weapons as Iraqi government forces try to oust its fighters from the city of Mosul.

Amid concerns about Daesh’s use of human shields in the city, rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said four people died from inhaling fumes after Daesh jihadists shelled and set fires to the Al-Mishrag Sulfur Gas Factory in Mosul on Oct. 23.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Shamdasani said reports indicated the terrorists had stockpiled “large quantities” of ammonia and sulfur that have been placed in the same areas as civilians. She said international law requires protection of civilians near such chemicals.

UN officials say about 48,000 people have now fled Mosul since the government campaign began Oct. 17.

Booby traps
Iraqi troops inched have ahead in their battle to retake the northern city of Mosul from the Daesh group on Friday.

Exchanging small arms and mortar fire with Daesh positons, the special forces entered the Qadisiya neighborhood, advancing slowly to avoid killing civilians and trying to avoid being surprised by suicide car bombers, said Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil.

Regular army troops control 90 percent of the Intisar neighborhood, said one officer, but progress had slowed because “the streets are too narrow for our tanks.” He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.

Iraqi troops are converging from several fronts on Mosul, the second-largest city and the last major Daesh holdout in Iraq. Kurdish peshmerga forces are holding a line north of the city, while Iraqi army and militarized police units approach from the south, and government-sanctioned Shiite militias guard western approaches.

The Kurdish commander responsible for military operations at the formerly Daesh-held town of Bashiqa said his forces are still working to secure the northern Iraqi town.

Gen. Hamid Effendi told The Associated Press on Friday that large numbers of booby-trapped explosives remain in the town. He estimated the unexploded bombs could number more than a thousand.

He said most of the more than 100 Daesh fighters have been killed in combat, but that injured fighters likely remain in defensive tunnels built by the militants.

Effendi said he hopes the town will be fully secured by Saturday, but it will take longer to clear all the unexploded bombs. For that reason, civilians will not be allowed into the town in large numbers for at least a week.

ISIL Executes 60 Iraqis in Mosul

[Al Manar] Terrorists of the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) takfiri group reportedly shot dead more than 60 people this week and hung some of their bodies from poles after alleging they had collaborated with Iraqi troops, the United Nations said Friday.

The UN human rights office has raised alarm over hundreds of grotesque atrocities allegedly committed by ISIL as Iraqi forces have pushed their nearly month-long offensive to retake Mosul, the last terrorist bastion in Iraq.

“On Tuesday, ISIL reportedly shot and killed 40 civilians in Mosul city after accusing them of ‘treason and collaboration’ with the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF),” rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement, using another acronym for the ISIL.

“The victims were dressed in orange clothes marked in red with the words: ‘traitors and agents of the ISF’. Their bodies were then hung on electrical poles in several areas in Mosul city,” she added.

Abu Saif, a resident of eastern Mosul, told AFP by telephone that he had seen bodies strung up in the city along with signs that read “agent” and “traitor”.

He did not have an exact count of the total number of bodies, but said he saw between 30 and 40.

“The Daesh organisation gathered people in some of the streets of Mosul and publicly executed a number of people of various ages, some of them by gunfire and others by beheading,” he said, using an Arabic name for ISIL.

According to the UN, a 27-year-old man was reportedly killed in public in central Mosul Tuesday for using a mobile phone, which ISIL has banned in areas it controls.

And on Wednesday, ISIL slaughtered another 20 people at the Ghabat Military Base in northern Mosul after accusing them of “leaking information,” the UN statement said.

“Their bodies were also hung at various intersections in Mosul, with notes stating: ‘decision of execution’ and ‘used cell phones to leak information to the ISF'”, the statement added.

All of the killings apparently followed rulings by the so-called “courts” established by ISIL.

Conclusively verifying the details of massacres allegedly perpetrated by the terrorists since the US-backed Mosul offensive began, has been a challenge for UN investigators amid the chaos of the fighting and the threat of reprisals against sources.

Shamdasani said Friday that one recent source was a man who pretended to be dead during a massacre and contacted UN staffers after escaping. She did not specify which incident the man had survived.
Posted by: badanov || 11/12/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
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4Sublime Porte
2Lashkar e-Jhangvi
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2Arab Spring
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1Thai Insurgency
1Abu Sayyaf
1Boko Haram
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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
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trailing wife
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2016-11-12
  Iraqi forces massing to break into Mosul airport
Fri 2016-11-11
  Iraqi forces capture Zahar district of Mosul
Thu 2016-11-10
  30 al-Qaeda fighters die in security operation in Yemen
Wed 2016-11-09
  Two ‘LJ militants’ held for killing Amjad Sabri, army personnel
Tue 2016-11-08
  German police arrest five in raid on 'IS network'
Mon 2016-11-07
  74 die in rebel Aleppo offensive
Sun 2016-11-06
  Human Shields, Barricades Slow Iraqi Advance Into Mosul
Sat 2016-11-05
  Ten-member jihadi cell linked to ISIS 'led by fundamentalist preacher was planning attacks on Sydney'
Fri 2016-11-04
  12 Die In Rocket Attack At Faryab Wedding Ceremony
Thu 2016-11-03
  Top Haqqani network commander killed in Paktika province
Wed 2016-11-02
  Mali: One branch of Mourabitounes pledges fealty to ISIS
Tue 2016-11-01
  300 Syrian "Cubs of the Caliphate" said killed fighting for IS in Mosul
Mon 2016-10-31
  19 Lashkar-e-Taiba Terrorists Killed In Airstrikes In Afghanistan
Sun 2016-10-30
  Dozens die as Syrian Army convoy is hit
Sat 2016-10-29
  Turkey launches crackdown on Kurds, cuts internet

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