Hi there, !
Today Tue 12/06/2016 Mon 12/05/2016 Sun 12/04/2016 Sat 12/03/2016 Fri 12/02/2016 Thu 12/01/2016 Wed 11/30/2016 Archives
Rantburg
531715 articles and 1856004 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 65 articles and 215 comments as of 15:30.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
IS uses female suicide bombers in Sirte
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
2 15:06 Zenobia Floger6220 [] 
0 [] 
7 22:54 newc [] 
0 [1] 
1 02:09 Skidmark [] 
1 02:10 Steven [] 
0 [1] 
0 [2] 
2 07:34 Heriberto Greper9897 [] 
1 11:19 Pappy [] 
0 [] 
1 01:32 g(r)omgoru [] 
1 02:55 Skidmark [1] 
3 12:42 Skidmark [] 
1 12:43 Skidmark [] 
0 [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
3 23:53 Skidmark []
2 02:02 Skidmark []
0 []
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
3 05:50 Besoeker []
1 16:33 Grins Snese4215 [2]
0 [1]
Page 3: Non-WoT
2 23:59 Skidmark []
10 12:44 Skidmark [2]
3 13:02 Skidmark []
0 []
1 06:19 Shipman []
9 17:45 Procopius2k []
0 []
0 []
3 11:23 Steve White []
4 08:56 Mullah Richard []
8 13:10 Raj []
1 06:06 Shipman []
12 19:40 JohnQC []
1 06:22 Shipman []
4 13:12 Airandee []
2 08:00 Besoeker []
23 23:00 newc [3]
2 20:14 Frank G [2]
1 02:30 Skidmark []
Page 4: Opinion
1 18:45 JohnQC []
3 23:51 Bangkok Billy [2]
1 18:43 JohnQC []
2 18:39 JohnQC []
0 []
2 10:06 AlmostAnonymous5839 []
6 20:28 NoMoreBS []
0 []
Page 6: Politix
23 21:01 rjschwarz [1]
12 23:54 One Eyed Speaking for Boskone7919 [1]
8 14:14 AlanC []
18 18:51 gorb [1]
0 []
8 18:29 JohnQC []
5 18:53 Bright Pebbles [2]
11 16:17 Glenmore in Mt Vernon []
-Land of the Free
Campus attack could be latest terror case in heartland state
[FoxNews] Authorities are investigating terrorism as a possible motive in the car-and-knife attack on the Ohio State University campus, the latest in a series of cases involving young men who apparently became radicalized in the heartland state.

Christopher Lee Cornell a.k.a. Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah, 22, a Cincinnati-area native faces sentencing Monday for a plot to assault the U.S. Capitol in support of the Islamic State group. Munir Abdulkader, 22, of the Cincinnati suburb of West Chester Township, was sentenced Nov. 23 to 20 years for an IS-involved plot to kill a military veteran and attack a police station.

In Columbus, Aaron T. Daniels, 20, was arrested in early November at the airport on his way, authorities said, to fly to Libya to fight for the Islamic State.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/03/2016 12:28 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Especially them Amish boys.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/03/2016 14:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Be cautious! Those Amish are liable
To act unpacifically tribal.
You'll trigger a rampage
Of ignorant outrage
If you should mishandle their Bible.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 12/03/2016 15:06 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Badakhshan To Be Cleared Of Insurgents In Winter
[Tolo News] Security officials in Badakhshan on Friday said they will launch a large-scale military operation to eliminate forces of Evil in the northeastern province in the upcoming winter season.
Way more "we're gonnas" than "we dids."
"We have prepared plans for military operations. We will clear 90 percent of Badakhshan of forces of Evil in the next three months," said Gul Mohammad Bedar, deputy governor of the province.
"Yeppers. We're really gonna do it!"
Meanwhile,
...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde...
Security chief of Badakhshan's Police Headquarters, Mohammad Nabi Bayan, said the coming winter season is a good opportunity to eradicate Death Eaters.

"The upcoming winter [season] is a good time for launching military operation. We will carry out a large-scale military operation to clear the province of terrorists. Insurgents cannot stand against security forces in the province," he said.

A number of army commanders in Badakhshan meanwhile said the winter mission will be backed by the Afghan National Army (ANA) helicopters.

"We have warned forces of Evil to quit insurgency and join the grinding of the peace processor before we launch our military operation; otherwise, they [militants] will be eliminated. The Afghan National Army choppers will also take part in the mission," said Ghulam Sakhi Kaftan, commander of ANA's 4th Regiment in Badakhshan.

The remarks come after reports that many parts of Yumgan and Warduj districts in Badakhshan are still under control of the Taliban.

Posted by: Fred || 12/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Insurgents cannot stand against security forces in the province," he said.

Except they have, for quite a while.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/03/2016 2:09 Comments || Top||


More than 380,000 Afghans Return from Pakistan in 2016
[AnNahar] More than 380,000 registered Afghan refugees have returned from Pakistain this year, the highest number since 2007, the United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
said Friday, adding it handed out $135 million in cash assistance in the last three months alone.

Fears of a crackdown on refugees in Pakistain along with a doubling of the UN's cash grant for voluntary returnees to $400 saw a surge over the border after July this year, the UN has said.

"These are unprecedented numbers we did not anticipate. In October alone some 148,000 returned, which is the highest number of returns in one months (sic) since August 2005," Duniya Aslam Khan, a front man for UNHCR, told AFP.

At one point UNHCR was processing an average of 5,500 refugees per day, she added. Estimates suggest that a further half a million unregistered refugees may also have returned this year, though the figure could not be verified by officials.

The returnees face an uncertain future in an Afghanistan still torn apart by decades of war, where a record half a million people were internally displaced by the fighting in 2016, according to UN figures.

The mass migrations are draining local resources, especially in safer urban areas, officials have said.

UNHCR said Friday the voluntary repatriations will be halted from December 1 for a routine winter break, resuming in March. The break will also allow the agency time to mobilise additional resources, Khan said.

UNHCR had estimated just 50,000 refugees would return in 2016, based on trends from previous years.

Khan said some 1.34 million registered refugees still reside in Pakistain. A further half a million undocumented refugees are also estimated to still be in the country, making Pakistain one of the largest refugee-hosting nations in the world.

Pakistain has extended a deadline for the refugees to leave its territory from March 2017 to December next year.

Some Afghan refugees have been sheltering in Pakistain for decades, first fleeing over the border after the Soviet invasion of 1979.

Some 4.2 million Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan voluntarily under the UNHCR-funded Voluntary Repatriation programme since 2002.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Basically the Paks are using refugees as a weapon. I've heard of this tactic being used someplace else, but darned if I can recall where...
Posted by: Pappy || 12/03/2016 11:19 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Kenya to finish Building Wall Along Somali Border
Silly Kenyans -- haven't their betters educated them that walls don't work?
The fencing of three kilometres of the Kenya-Somalia border is complete after the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) took over its construction over two months ago.

The project, initiated by the Ministry of Interior in 2015 as a wall project, has since been switched to wire fencing along the porous border. Concrete poles joined with barbed wire, wire mesh and razor wire have been erected on the three kilometre stretch.

The project which was initiated after the April terror attack on Garissa University College stalled after the National Youth Service (NYS) personnel working on it downed their tools due unpaid dues.

Speaking while inspecting the ongoing works on Thursday, Maj Gen K T Chepkuto from the KDF Engineering Department said a stretch of 30 kilometres will be complete in the next four months.

“We will do the first 30 kilometres within the stipulated time since people are energised,” he said.

He said KDF is working closely with the Somalia National Army (SNA) to ensure the work is done peacefully.

“The only possible challenge could be from Bulahawa but SNA are working with us to ensure the project progresses swiftly,” he said.

Mandera Governor Ali Roba lauded the progress made in two months. Earlier, he had questioned the national government’s commitment in securing the county.

“We are happy with the progress of the security sensitisation programme as visible work has been done unlike in the last two months when we visited the site,” he said. He said the fencing is not intended to lock anybody out of Mandera but it is about security by restricting human access only through identified entry and exit points.

“We want our brothers from Somalia to do business with us through the customs border and we can be able to keep unwanted elements of society out,” said Mr Roba.

Mr Roba said the county’s concern is fencing the 30-kilometre stretch between Mandera Town and Somalia’s Bulahawa.

“Our request was reenergising and expediting the work for the first 30 kilometres to secure Mandera Town and there is hope for us,” said Mr Roba.

He said once the Mandera Town stretch is covered, terrorists will not be able to access Mandera.

Lafey MP Isaack Shaaban, a member of the parliamentary security committee said the progress is commendable.

“We would wish to have borderless countries in Africa to enable trade but due to challenges posed by Somalia, we are safeguarding Mandera,” said Mr Shaaban.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab

#1  But that's raaaaacist! Oh well, never mind.
Posted by: Steven || 12/03/2016 2:10 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Nigeria court rules Sheikh Zakzaky must be released 'immediately'
[Iran Press TV] A Nigerian court has ruled that Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, the incarcerated
You have the right to remain silent...
leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), should be released unconditionally.

The Abuja division of the Federal High Court of Nigeria on Friday also ruled that Zakzaky's wife, Zeenat, should be released.

Justice Gabriel Kolawole said the court had come to the conclusion that the Shia holy man and his wife "have been kept against their desires, thereby resulting in the breach of their rights to liberty."

The judge also stated that he had ordered the "immediate release" of the two "because the family house in Zaria was destroyed between December 12 and December 14, 2015."

The prominent holy man and his wife were taken into custody on December 14, 2115, after deadly festivities between the supporters of the IMN movement and Nigerian troops.

Nearly 350 members of the Shia movement were killed in the festivities. The sheikh was brutally injured and his house was reportedly destroyed by the army in the incident.
Posted by: Fred || 12/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Down Under
Australia Passes Bill to Detain Terrorists Indefinitely
[AnNahar] High-risk terror offenders in Australia may now be kept in jail even after serving their sentences, under legislation passed Thursday that strengthens laws to tackle the threat posed by turbans.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull flagged the move in July, prompted by the frequency and severity of attacks around the world.

It will allow Attorney-General George Brandis to apply for an extension 12 months before a sentence expires.

For this to happen, the Supreme Court would need to be satisfied that the offender poses an unacceptable risk of committing a serious terrorism offence if released into the community.

"This bill strengthens the ability of our security agencies to continue to detain somebody if they've committed serious terrorism offences... and they have not been rehabilitated," Justice Minister Michael Keenan told parliament.

"We are not going to allow people who haven't been rehabilitated in prison to be released and then go on to harm our fellow Australians."

The law is similar to arrangements already in place for sex offenders and extremely violent individuals in some states. There would be regular reviews and reassessments.

The passing of the High Risk Terrorist Offenders Bill was opposed by the Greens and Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm, but had enough support to pass through the upper house Senate.

Leyonhjelm argued it was an unacceptable erosion of civil liberties.

"We should not be able to effectively impose life imprisonment on someone who was not originally sentenced to life imprisonment," he said.

Keenan said that since September 2014 when Australia's terror alert level was lifted to high, 55 people had been charged as a result of 24 counter-terrorism operations.

"Currently we have 40 people before the courts for terrorism-related offences," he added.

"We've also had four attacks in Australia during this period, and because of the great work of our counter-terrorism authorities, we have stopped a further 11 attacks."
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  High-risk terror offenders in Australia may now be kept in jail even after serving their sentences

I understand Sheriff Joe is available for limited engagements.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/03/2016 2:55 Comments || Top||


Europe
Gunman on the loose after seven hostages were seized in Paris travel agency
  • [Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Seven hostages are being held by an armed assailant

  • A man with a gun was seen running into the Asieland agency soon after 6.30pm

  • Jerome Coumet, the mayor of the 13th arrondissement, has described it as an armed robbery attempt gone wrong

  • France is currently under an official state of emergency after a series of terror attacks
Posted by: Fred || 12/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Denmark to pull fighter jets out of İncirlik
Demark announced on Dec. 2 that it would not extend a six-month mission for seven F-16 jets deployed at the İncirlik Air Base in the southern Turkish province of Adana, currently participating in the U.S.-led coalition’s fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The seven jets, four of them operational at any one time, were seeing combat and also were flying surveillance and reconnaissance missions over Syria.

Denmark has also provided the coalition with a C-130J transport aircraft and 400 military personnel, including 60 special forces troops. According to the Danish government, the transport aircraft will also be withdrawn from the operation.

“We have decided to withdraw the Danish fighter jets as planned,” newly-named Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said, according to The Local website.

“Instead of extending the mission we are sending an additional 20 to 21 troops,” Samuelsen added.

Defense Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen also said the new troops would bring engineering and construction skills to the operation.

“They will train Iraqi forces in, among other things, de-mining operations and will help our current contribution within training,” Frederiksen said in a statement.

Back in June, Denmark dispatched seven F-16 jets and 120 military personnel to Turkey. The jets had first begun bombing ISIL targets in August.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Danes get it.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/03/2016 1:11 Comments || Top||

#2  The seven jets, four of them operational at any one time

Sounds like a third world.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/03/2016 1:29 Comments || Top||

#3  g(r)om, what's normal operational status for USAF or IAF or any other competent group?

Doesn't sound to my inexpert self terribly bad.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/03/2016 7:26 Comments || Top||

#4  There is a diff between "operating" and "operational"
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/03/2016 7:41 Comments || Top||

#5  One wonders if the author understood the military nuances of the word "operational". I bet he meant - 4 were available to be tasked for sorties at any given time, the others in reserve.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/03/2016 8:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Or down for required maintenance.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 12/03/2016 10:12 Comments || Top||

#7  So what to do about the two deadlined? It will be stripped before it makes it to port probably.
Posted by: newc || 12/03/2016 22:54 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Detroit: New indictment against terror suspect
Moved to P. 2: WoT Background/Politics because a search of the Rantburg archives revealed this is a continuing court case, not the initial arrest.

-- trailing wife at 4:10 pm.m ET
[DetroitNews] The FBI believes Detroit terror suspect Sebastian Gregerson and a Maryland imam are involved in a conspiracy to commit violent jihad in support of the Islamic State, according to sealed federal court records obtained by The Detroit News.

Detroit terror suspect Sebastian Gregerson was indicted Thursday on a new charge alleging he bought explosives and planned to use them to kill people in an unspecified attack.

The new indictment, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, reveals publicly what was alleged in sealed FBI search warrant affidavits obtained in September by The Detroit News.

The indictment, however, does not repeat allegations that a Maryland imam being investigated by the FBI financed part of Gregerson’s weapons arsenal of grenades, AK-47s, handguns, rifles, a shotgun and thousands of rounds of ammunition. In the sealed affidavits, an FBI counterterrorism investigator said agents believed Gregerson and Maryland Imam Suleiman Bengharsa were plotting violent jihad.

The indictment adds two new charges, including receipt of explosive materials with intent to harm — a 10-year felony.

The investigation emerged July 31 when Gregerson, 30, aka Abdurrahman Bin Mikaayl, was arrested in Monroe after allegedly buying fragmentation grenades from an undercover FBI agent and amassing an arsenal of weapons.

The grenades contained 26 ounces of TNT and another explosive similar to the type used by underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in the failed Christmas Day 2009 terror attack aboard a Detroit-bound airliner.

After receiving the grenades, Gregerson was immediately arrested, according to the FBI. He is being held without bond at the federal prison in Milan pending trial.

The investigation spans at least three states and focused on allegations Gregerson was plotting an attack in support of the Islamic State.

In an exclusive September interview with The News, Bengharsa of Clarksburg, Maryland, laughed away most of the FBI’s allegations, which he called “ridiculous,” and denied being an Islamic State supporter.

“No, no, no, that is absolutely untrue,” Bengharsa, 59, said during a phone interview with The News in September. “It might appear that way. I am an advocate of the United States and the West getting the hell out of the Middle East and the Muslim world.”

Gregerson’s court-appointed lawyer David Tholen has said his client is merely a gun enthusiast, hunter and survivalist who has no criminal record. The firearms in question were bought legally, he added.

He also challenged the government to file terror charges if agents believed Gregerson was plotting an attack.

“I have asked the government to provide me with the information supporting the new charges,” Tholen wrote in an email Friday to The News. “I really cannot comment until I have reviewed that information.”
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/03/2016 07:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Imran Farooq murder: ATC issues arrest warrants of three suspects
[DAWN] An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Islamabad on Friday issued arrest warrant of three suspects allegedly involved in Imran Farooq murder case.

Arrest warrant of Kashif Khan Kamran, Muhammad Anwar and Iftikhar Hussain were issued by the ATC on the request of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

FIA had plead that three alleged suspects were directly involved in killing of senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
(MQM) leader Imran Farooq.

According to the documents available with Dawn.com, the FIR against the above mentioned suspects was registered in September 2010.

Last month, Khalid Shamim, a key suspect in the murder of Dr Imran Farooq, confessed to his role in the murder and alleged the increasingly hugeAltaf Hussain
..The head of MQM in Pakistain, who has lived in London and hasn't laid eyes on Pakistain since Caesar made corporal. Judging from the size of him,he may be a Hutt...
was also involved.

"September 16 was chosen as the date for Farooq’s murder as it was meant to be a gift for Altaf Hussain on his birthday," said Shamim in his confessional statement.

He added that a sum of 25,000 pounds were sent to him through Iftikhar Hussain, which were spent on travel arrangements.
25,000 pounds will pay for some pretty nifty hotels and air travel.
Posted by: Fred || 12/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Pakistani troops will respond with 'full force' to Indian ceasefire violations: COAS Gen Bajwa
More saber-rattling. Will the Heathen Hindoo take Lahore this time?
[DAWN] Newly-appointed Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on Friday said that Pak troops will respond to ceasefire violations by Indian troops along the Line of Control (LoC) with 'full force', according to a statement released by Inter-Services Public Relations.

During a visit to the 10 Corps Rawalpindi and troops at forward locations along the LoC, Gen Bajwa said, "Each violation of any kind must be responded to with full force in the most effective manner."

The Army chief was briefed on the security situation at the LoC "in view of recent violations and escalation by Indian troops and Pakistain's own response," the ISPR said.

The COAS said India's 'aggressive posture' aims solely to divert the world's attention away from 'atrocities' being committed by Indian troops in held Kashmire.

Posted by: Fred || 12/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Trump team takes issue with Pakistani version of phone talk
[DAWN] The Trump transition team has issued its own version of the Sharif-Trump telephone call, saying that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
and US president-elect Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
did have a ’productive conversation’ on Wednesday, but it lacked the "flowery language" included in the Pak version of this talk.

"President-elect Trump and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif spoke ... had a productive conversation about how the United States and Pakistain will have a strong working relationship in the future," said the Trump transition team in a rare readout of his conversation with a foreign leader.

"President-elect Trump also noted that he is looking forward to a lasting and strong personal relationship with Prime Minister Sharif," the statement added.

An unidentified adviser to the Trump team said the Pak readout of the talk had "committed the president-elect to more than what he meant".

Other members of the Trump team, quoted in media, pointed out that the Paks overplayed Mr Trump’s offer to play "a role" in resolving Pakistain’s disputes with India.

Posted by: Fred || 12/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  There were early rumors of a Trump vist, thank dawg it's evidently paki-prop.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/03/2016 6:00 Comments || Top||

#2  I think Trump has already learned that it is foolish to trust Pakistan.
Posted by: Heriberto Greper9897 || 12/03/2016 7:34 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Nearly 2,000 Members of Iraqi Forces Killed in November, 1,600 Peshmerga Killed Since Start of Mosul Offensive
An estimated number that may prove to be significantly higher,
[AnNahar] Close to 2,000 members of the Iraqi security forces were killed in November across the country, along with hundreds of civilians, the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
said Thursday.

The figure increased threefold from October, when tens of thousands of forces launched a huge assault to retake the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group's last major Iraqi bastion of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
According to the U.N. mission in Iraq's monthly tally, 1,959 Iraqi forces were killed last month and at least 450 others maimed.

The toll includes members of the army, police who are engaged in combat, the Kurdish peshmerga, interior ministry forces and pro-government paramilitaries.

The U.N. statement also said at least 926 non-combatants were killed, bringing to 2,885 the number of Iraqis killed in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict last month.

The spike in casualties comes as a major offensive to retake the IS stronghold of Mosul, Iraq's largest military operation in years, enters its seventh week.

The number of members of the Iraqi forces killed released by the U.N. for October was 672.

The highest number of civilian deaths recorded in November was in Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, with 332, the U.N. figures showed.

The U.N. explained it had few reliable figures for the western province of Anbar, which has seen continued IS-related violence in recent weeks, and suggested that real casualty figures were likely higher.

The government in Baghdad and the authorities in the autonomous Kurdish region rarely divulge casualty figures during a military operation. The ongoing Mosul offensive is no exception and the myriad forces involved have remained mum on losses within their ranks.

Burials at the main Shiite cemetery of Najaf however, as well as partial figures provided by local officials across the country and the number of obituaries posted on Facebook pointed to significant losses among the security forces.

1,600 Kurdish peshmerga killed in Mosul offensive: Spokesman

[AlAhram] A total of 1,600 Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters have been killed since the start on October 17 of a huge offensive to retake the jihadist bastion of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, a front man said Thursday.

Close to 10,000 peshmerga were also maimed in the six weeks of fierce fighting to oust the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(IS) myrmidon group from Iraq's second city, said Halgord Hekmat, front man for the autonomous Kurdish region's peshmerga ministry.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  What is that? A 10 per cent loss rate?
Posted by: Tennessee || 12/03/2016 0:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Remember, when listening to hajji figures to knock off at least one zero to get a more accurate picture of what is going on.
Posted by: Nguard || 12/03/2016 9:20 Comments || Top||

#3  So when we read no one(0) has a winning engagement strategy ...
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/03/2016 12:42 Comments || Top||


Sunni tribesmen battling Islamic State demand federalism in Iraq
[AlAhram] As mortar bombs landed ever closer, Sunni tribal fighters preparing to attack 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 seemed more preoccupied by the failures of Iraq's political class than the Death Eaters trying to kill them.

The men - and one woman - from the Lions of the Tigris unit gathered on Wednesday in Shayyalah al-Imam, a village near djinn-infested Mosul
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Diversification: Iran ‘made $100 million’ off German ship builders in past decade
Now we know.
[IsraelTimes] After revelation that Islamic republic holds shares in Israeli submarine constructors ThyssenKrupp, financial records said to show Tehran was paid hefty sums.

Iran may have raked in around $100 million in profits from shares it holds in a German shipbuilding company that provides submarines to the Israel Navy, Haaretz reported Friday evening.

Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth reported earlier Friday that a company owned by the Iranian government holds 4.5 percent of Germany’s ThyssenKrupp.

Following that report, Haaretz inspected ThyssenKrupp’s financial records, and found that over the past decade the company had handed out dividends to its shareholders amounting to around €2 billion ($2.1 billion at current exchange rate). With 4.5% of the company’s stock, the Iranians would have received approximately $96 million from ThyssenKrupp over the past 10 years.

The German company has been at the center of a scandal in Israel over its provision of submarines and other services to Israel Navy.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit last week ordered the police to look into allegations that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal lawyer, David Shimron, used his close relationship with the premier to push Israel to purchase several submarines from ThyssenKrupp, award the company a contract for naval vessels to defend Israel’s gas fields, and allow it to build a shipyard in Israel. Shimron was a representative of the company in Israel.

Channel 2 television said that the police inquiry -- which is not yet a full-blown investigation -- would focus not on the multi-billion-shekel purchase of three Dolphin submarines from the Germany company, which has dominated the headlines, but rather on a separate 2014 Defense Ministry tender for naval ships, also involving ThyssenKrupp, to protect Israel’s Mediterranean natural gas field.

According to Yedioth, the Iranian investments in ThyssenKrupp began in the 1970s, during the era of the Shah. Tehran invested some $400 million in the German company, giving it a 24.9% share that was inherited by the Islamic regime when it took over Iran in the 1979 revolution. The newspaper pointed out, however, that at this time, ThyssenKrupp was not building Israeli submarines, but was instead focused on the steel, automotive and elevator industries.

ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, the current incarnation of the conglomerate, was created in 2005, when ThyssenKrupp acquired shipbuilding company Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft.

By the beginning of the new millennium, the Iranian investment in ThyssenKrupp, via the Iran Foreign Investments Company, was so significant that its deputy economy minister, Mohamad-Mehdi Navab-Motlagh, sat on the company’s board. But according to a Financial Times report in 2004, the German company "bowed to US pressure" and removed him from the board.

The US, under then-president George W. Bush, had two years earlier declared Iran to be part of the "Axis of Evil," along with Iraq and North Korea. According to the FT report, which cited sources close to the company, the US government "told the German conglomerate that it would be blacklisted if it renewed [Navab-Motlagh’s] position."

At around the same time, the FT said, "ThyssenKrupp was forced to pay a vastly over-inflated sum to the Iran Foreign Investment Company to reduce its holding to below 5 percent."

In its report, Yedioth quoted a 2016 interview by Dr. Farhad Zargari, the current managing director of the Iran Foreign Investments Company, in which he confirms the investment in ThyssenKrupp.

"We own shares in important companies such as British Petroleum, ThyssenKrupp, Siemens, Adidas, and many other big brands," Zargari told the Business Year website, which describes itself as a "leading research firm and publisher of annual economic resources on national economies."

"One of IFIC’s significant roles is to create a bridge between Iran and other countries with our investments, in order to pave the ground for knowledge and know-how transfer," he said. "We feel more secure investing in European and other developed countries compared to less regulated countries."
No doubt.
According to its website, IFIC has investments in 18 countries, 57% of which are in Europe. It also has holdings in South America, Africa and Asia.
One hopes the CIA is aware of this...
The Defense Ministry said in response to the report that it was not aware of Iranian involvement in the company, Yedioth said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  One hopes the CIA is aware of this

Now, when it appeared in Israeli press, they do.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/03/2016 1:32 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
ISIS tells supporters to quit messaging apps for fear of US bombs
[Ynet] ISIS has told its members to stop using internet-based communication apps like WhatsApp and Telegram on smartphones, suspecting they are being used by the US-led coalition to track and kill its commanders.
Smart.
Until recently, the hardline group used such apps to chat with members and supporters outside its main areas of control in Syria, Iraq and Libya -- including, say French officials, the assailants who staged attacks across Gay Paree a year ago, killing at least 130 people.

"If you get onto the programs like WhatsApp and Telegram or others from djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, and get in touch with a person being tracked, the crusaders will start thinking about you ... assessing your importance and identifying the locations of the (Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
) centres by following you," said an article in the group's weekly newspaper, al-Naba, published online.
Very smart. Except the main thing ISIS does to attract the soft-headed is be that kewl, app-using communicator who seduces the girlz and boyz to come out and play. Take them off the air and the attraction disappears.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Well thankfully that will also reduce the number of instances of cyber-bullying.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/03/2016 12:43 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
38[untagged]
7Govt of Pakistan
5Islamic State
3al-Shabaab
2Govt of Pakistain Proxies
2Moslem Colonists
2Taliban
2Govt of Iran
1Govt of Syria
1Commies
1Arab Spring
1Houthis

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

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

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

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

Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2016-12-03
  IS uses female suicide bombers in Sirte
Fri 2016-12-02
  Aussie, French warships intercept arms for Houthis
Thu 2016-12-01
  'IS-linked' Ohio university attacker lived in Pakistan for 7 years: NYT
Wed 2016-11-30
  ISIS claims responsibility for Ohio State attack
Tue 2016-11-29
  Iranian small boats train weapons on US Navy Helicopters
Mon 2016-11-28
  Ohio State Stabbing: Somali Refugee (stabber) Killed
Sun 2016-11-27
  Iraq's parliament passes law legalising Shia militias
Sat 2016-11-26
  Fidel Castro dies aged 90
Fri 2016-11-25
  Suicide truck bomb kills about 100 in Iraq, mostly Iranian pilgrims
Thu 2016-11-24
  Wayne State University police officer dies after being shot in head
Wed 2016-11-23
  ISIS ‘resisting till their last breath’ in Sirte, Libya
Tue 2016-11-22
  ISIS claims responsibility behind Kabul mosque bombing that left 32 dead
Mon 2016-11-21
  Turkey’s Erdogan warns NATO on sheltering ‘terrorist’ plotters
Sun 2016-11-20
  Three Pakistani Men Apprehended in U.S. at Arizona Border
Sat 2016-11-19
  Taliban shadow governor among 11 killed in North of Afghanistan

Better than the average link...



Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
3.94.99.173
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (14)    Non-WoT (19)    Opinion (8)    (0)    Politix (8)