Posted by: Steve White ||
12/25/2016 00:32 ||
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#1
And the LORD spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it."[7]
#4
Indeed! Merry Christmas, and Happy Hannukah to our Jewish R'Burgers
Ditto:
And to give all the advice that I gave my sons and daughters-in-law........Have a Merry Christmas, and don't drink it all at once ;^)
We've had a good First Day of Hanakkah (spelling from my Jewish DiL) and Christmas morning. Much booze was exchanged.
15 yr. Dalwhinnie, Bowmore 12 yr., Elijah Craig small batch, Evan Williams Single Barrel, Glen Morangie Port Cask., Powell & Son Shiraz and all the fixings for Moscow Mules complete with the hand hammered mugs. 8^)
Yes we did go overboard but Nov. 8th so improved the mood.............................
Posted by: Barbara ||
12/25/2016 10:38 Comments ||
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#6
Alan C-
If you can find it, look for Defiant Rye from Catskill Distilling Company in Bethel New York. Outstanding. As the ice melts, every taste is new and delicious.
Also Deanston un-chill filtered single Highland malt, a new addition to my grass seed repertoire.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/25/2016 11:24 Comments ||
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#8
Christmas eve at Mom's with the G clan, and this AM for champagne and breakfast with the Daughter's clan (and even my ex...). Back home in jammies and gonna nap. Life is good
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/25/2016 12:47 Comments ||
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Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/25/2016 18:19 Comments ||
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#12
Merry Christmas, everybody!
For what it's worth, every single person I've encountered in the checkout lines over the past fortnight said 'Merry Christmas'. Funny how a Presidential election changes that attitude, especially in Massachusetts.
[Al Jazeera] Tunisia has jugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! the nephew of Anis Amri, the Berlin attack suspect, and two others linked to him, according to the North African nation's interior ministry.
The three suspects - aged between 18 and 27 - were arrested in a police raid on Friday in the central province of Kairouan, where Amri's home town is located, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Amri's nephew has confessed to Tunisian authorities that he had been in contact with his uncle via Telegram, a messaging service, and that Amri had asked him to join the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) group, the statement said.
The nephew has also said that Amri sent him money by post to enable him to travel to Germany, where the Berlin attack suspect was living at the time.
At least 12 people were killed when a truck drove into a Christmas market in the German capital on Monday.
Claims of incompetence
Amri was killed in Italia's Milan on Friday following a Europe-wide manhunt, prompting accusations of incompetence at German officials for allowing Amri to cross borders.
Germany's top security official has denied charges that authorities bungled an investigation into Amri, who had also been watched by security officials previously as he was suspected of terrorism and plotting a robbery to steal arms.
"To speak about a failure by the security authorities would be inappropriate," Thomas de Maiziere, interior minister, told Germany's Bild newspaper on Saturday.
"However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... we will of course analyse the case meticulously and release a corresponding report."
Amri, a 24-year-old, had been living in Germany as an asylum seeker. He was killed after he whipped out a rod and shot an Italian officer in the shoulder during a routine police check.
Hundreds of German Sherlocks are now investigating how Amri managed to flee the country after the attack and whether he may have had accomplices or a support network that helped him escape.
ISIS, also known as ISIS, grabbed credit for the attack.
In a video released by its Amaq website on Friday, a man it claims is Amri pledges allegiance to the head of the group and pledges Dire Revenge for Moslems.
Heightened security
Amri has been linked by German authorities to Abu Walaa, a preacher and the suspected head of an organization that provided logistical and financial support to ISIS from western Germany.
Abu Walaa, an Iraqi national, was arrested in November.
A front man for the Berlin police said Saturday that there would be an increased presence of uniformed and plainclothes officers on the city's streets over the Christmas holidays.
The 12 victims of Monday's attack include seven Germans, as well as an Italian, a Czech, a Ukrainian, an Israeli and a Polish national.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari says the army has seized one of Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... 's last bases in northeastern Borno state.
If confirmed, the claim would mark a key stage in the government's months-long offensive against the gang.
A long campaign in the 1,300sq km forest in Borno led to the "final crushing of Boko Haram snuffies in their last enclave in Sambisa Forest" on Friday, Buhari said in a statement on Saturday.
He congratulated his troops for "finally entering and crushing the remnants of the Boko Haram Death Eaters at 'Camp Zero', which is located deep within the heart of Sambisa Forest".
"The snuffies are on the run, and no longer have a place to hide. I urge you to maintain the tempo by pursuing them and bringing them to justice," he said.
The Nigerian army has defeated Boko Haram in the Sambisa forest, one of the jihadists' last remaining strongholds, President Muhammadu Buhari said Saturday. A campaign lasting for months in the 1,300 square-kilometre forest in northeastern Borno state led to the "final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists in their last enclave in Sambisa Forest" on Friday, Buhari said in a statement.
He congratulated his troops for "finally entering and crushing the remnants of the Boko Haram insurgents at 'Camp Zero', which is located deep within the heart of Sambisa Forest".
"The terrorists are on the run, and no longer have a place to hide. I urge you to maintain the tempo by pursuing them and bringing them to justice," he said.
The statement made no mention of the whereabouts of Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the Boko Haram faction based in the forest.
He's fleeing...
The military has said in the last few days that Boko Haram fighters are running away from the forest into surrounding areas and people have been told to be vigilant.
Boko Haram has killed more than 15,000 people, displaced over two million and kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children during a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Yemen’s armed and resistance forces were able to recapture several key areas within a district in the capital Sanaa.
Several areas including Telti al-Hamra, al-Madfoun and al-Talal from the Nihm district of Sanaa were liberated after more than a year of being held by Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... militias and forces loyal to ousted former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... Nihm has been subjected to fierce fighting from both sides attempting to control the district located east of the capital.
Meanwhile in Taiz, armed forces of the legitimate government of Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi were able to recapture a military hospital in a battle where Houthi militias incurred losses. Among them was key militia leader named Abu Assem.
The advancements come a day after Saudi forces were able to carry out a night-time operation in Jizan and Najran, after spotting Houthi and Saleh militias near the Saudi border, leading to the death of 30 Houthis.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] At least eight civilians died in an Arclight airstrike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition in the central Yemeni province of Ibb.
The Arclight airstrike hit a village in the western part of the province, Sputnik quoted a local source as saying.
All the victims are members of one family, the source added.
Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... has been since March 26, 2015 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led coalition.
Thousands have been martyred and injured in the attack, with the vast majority of them are civilians.
Riyadh launched the attack on Yemen in a bid to restore power to runaway ex-president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is a close ally to Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] Police’s Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit conducted Operation Ripple 24 at a house in Ashkona Purba Para area of Dhaka’s Dakkhinkhan yesterday which led to the capture of two female bully boyz and rescue of three children. Two others were killed in the raid ‐ a woman killing herself by detonating a boom jacket and a teenage boy whose cause of death remains unclear.
12am: CTTC teams arrive in Ashkona following a tip-off that wanted Lion of Islam Musa was staying in the house.
2am: The den on the ground floor of a three-storey building is identified by the CTTC.
A team of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) arrives at the spot.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Operation Ripple was conducted by the Fred G. Sanford SWAT team and collection agency.
[Dhaka Tribune] A female hard boy blew herself up during a police raid in a hard boy hideout at Dhaka’s Ashkona, marking the first time a woman acted in the capacity of a jacket wallah in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh’s new wave of violent hard boys, notably the New Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh outfit, are fielding an unprecedented number of female jihadists.
Yesterday’s fatal detonation of an explosive by a female hard boy during a 16-hour police raid on her hideout marked the first time a woman here has acted in the capacity of a suicide bomber.
Police said three women and four children were inside the hard boy hideout in Ashkona, near Uttara and that two women and two children surrendered before the final showdown.
According to Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) chief Monirul Islam, the female hard boy, clad in a burqa, came out of the flat with a seven-year-old girl around 12:20pm yesterday.
CTTC Additional DIG Sanowar added: "The woman came out with a girl and blew herself up chanting ’We will go to heaven.’"
Monirul confirmed the woman died in the kaboom. Police believe her to be the wife of hard boy operative Sumon, whose exact whereabouts and current operational status are unclear.
The blast injured the maiden, who is being treated at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, and two coppers.
The girl has been identified as Sabina. But the police yesterday could not confirm her parents’ identities.
The woman suicide-bomber and a teenage boy died in the raid.
Afif Qadri, the fifteen-year old son of hard boy financier Tanvir Qadri, died inside the apartment. The cause of his death has not been ascertained. Police are not sure whether a bullet took his life or whether he went kaboom! with a grenade.
No longer a man’s job
Terrorism is increasingly becoming an equal opportunity enterprise. Scores of women have been involved in hard boy activities during the recent wave of Islamist terrorism in Bangladesh.
The following is an account of known female jihadists encountered in recent police and law enforcement raids compiled by the Dhaka Tribune.
On May 8, Bogra police nabbed Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! Masuma Akter, wife of JMB’s Chittagong wing commander Raisul Islam Khan alias Fardeen, who was earlier killed while making bombs. Two other women were also caught with her.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[Hurriyet Daily News] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s Defense Minister Fikri Isik on Dec. 23 said he had information that three Turkish soldiers were kidnapped by Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) faceless myrmidons in northern Syria but added that other "comments" beyond this information were not confirmed.
"Up until now, we have information that three of our soldiers are kidnapped by DAES [ISIS]," said Isik during a meeting in the northwestern province of Kocaeli.
He added that Turkish forces along with Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA) fighters "cleared" the key location of al-Bab, Hospital Height, from ISISfaceless myrmidons but there were "more work to carry out."
Turkey for four months has been carrying out the military operation, Euphrates Shield, in support of FSA fighters in northern Syria, to secure its border from ISIS.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the entire 614th quadrant searched. The Green Lensman must be found!... 68 ISISfaceless myrmidons were "neutralized" during the ongoing Operation Euphrates Shield in Syria's al-Bab since Dec. 23, according to the Turkish military.
According to a statement issued by Turkish General Staff on Dec. 24, a total of 141 ISIS targets including a military headquarters were destroyed within the Operation Euphrates Shield.
The statement said that two FSA fighters were killed and one other was maimed in festivities with ISIS Lion of Islams.
The Turkish military usually uses the term neutralized to refer to dead or injured or captured Lion of Islams.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] ISIS in the besieged Iraqi town of Hawija obtained food and fuel through illicit trade deals with individual soldiers from the Hashd al-Shaabi, some of whom have been tossed in the calaboose ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... , according to Shiite commanders.
Hawija, 55 kilometres west of Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... has now been under siege from four sides for over two months, entrapping ISIS in the town.
There are no open travel routes between Hawija and djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... . However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... ISIS in the town was able to obtain food and fuel supplies through business deals with some individual soldiers of the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi, commander of the force said.
"Unfortunately, some undisciplined soldiers in collaboration with some local people had exploited a vacuum to transport food and other essential items on boats across the Tigris River to the east of Shirqat where Hawija, Riaz, and Rashad lie, selling them there for a very high price," Yazin Mashaan, commander of the Hashd al-Shaabi’s 55th brigade, told Rudaw.
Shirqat is some 50 kilometres northwest of Hawija, on the opposite side of the Tigris River.
Mashaan said that 25 people were arrested in connection with these illicit dealings in one operation alone.
"We confiscated a large amount of sugar, flour, and cooking oil when we arrested them. ISIS had paid them large amounts of money to get these items. These large sums of money had lured local people and some Hashd al-Shaabi fighters to jointly engage in these dealings," Mashaan detailed.
According to information obtained by Rudaw, two militia fighters from Hashd al-Shaabi’s special operation unit were involved in these business dealings with ISIS. The two have been arrested.
"My soldiers have committed treachery. They should therefore pay a heavy price," Wahida Mohammed, a Sunni woman commander of Hashd al-Shaabi’s special operation unit, told Rudaw.
She also said that some other soldiers are complicit in this, warning that the business is ongoing and a blind eye has been turned to it.
Living conditions are becoming increasingly difficult in the Hawija region where food prices are high. The cost of leaving is also high ‐ those who want to flee Hawija must pay ISIS or risk taking routes booby-trapped with explosives.
Commander of the Hashd al-Ashayeri militia, Sheikh Wasfi Asi, has based his forces in the Alam area south of Tikrit, 80 kilometres south of Hawija. He helps people fleeing the town.
"People wanting to flee from the ISIS rule in Hawija have to do so secretly if they do not want to pay for their escape. They often become victims of unfamiliar roads planted with bombs," he said.
For those who have money, "these people have to make a deal with ISIS to ensure a safe escape from the town. ISIS takes $300 from each person, transporting them to their last post using their own vehicles," Asi detailed. "Many people have reached us using this route."
Hawija people also flee to the Peshmerga fronts in Maktab Khalid and Kharabarut. They are taken to camps by Peshmerga vehicles after being searched and questioned. Most of them claim that they walked to reach the Peshmerga fronts, and some have been killed or injured by bombs planted on the roads.
Those who have made it to safety tell of a very difficult life under ISIS in Hawija.
"One kilo of sugar costs 70,000 Iraqi Dinars (IQD, about $60), and one case of flour costs 250,000 IQD in Hawija. These food items are very rare there," said Mahmud Ramazan, an Iraqi citizen who had given his car and his wife’s jewelry to his cousin who is an ISIS hard boy in return for a safe escape out of ISIS-held territory.
"We lived on the potatoes and the aubergines we harvested from our fields. Medicine is very rare, and it is sold by medical centers. ISIS was regularly taking head-tax from us," Ramazan said. He is from Rashada, southeast of Hawija, and currently lives in Daquq camp.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] A Christian movement that has forces engaged in the fight against ISIS threatened to withdraw its "heroes" from the battle zones if Baghdad fails to reveal information about the perpetrators of a deadly attack on Christians and Yazidis in the Iraqi capital late Friday night, killing 9 people.
"We strongly condemn the attack," said Rian Chaldean, Secretary General for the Babylon Movement, in a statement published on his Facebook account on Saturday. "Killing 8 Christians and one Yazidi resident was one of the most horrible terror crimes."
"We ask security in charge of Baghdad and police to disclose who’s behind the crime, and also arrest the criminals," Rian added in the statement, threatening to withdraw a number of its forces who are fighting ISIS in the country.
"If security officials failed to disclose the ones who committed the crime... we will withdraw some of our heroes from the battle zones against ISIS," Rian said, using an alternate acronym for ISIS.
The head of Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Foreign Relations Department condemned the attack.
"I strongly condemn killing of 8 Christians and one Ezidi(Yazidi) on Christmas Eve," Falah Mustafa, tweeted on Saturday. "My heart goes out to their families and loved ones."
The attack in Baghdad comes as Christians across Iraq were preparing for Christmas celebrations.
"We appreciate your gifts of Christmas at a time when terror acts are escalating, displacing Christians, making them evacuate from Babylon, Assyria and Hammurabi," Rian said in his statement.
The Babylon Movement is a Christian Chaldean group of fighters mostly embedded with Shiite forces, fighting ISIS south and west of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn....
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Muslim Gratitude™
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/25/2016 9:36 Comments ||
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[IsraelTimes] Three Israeli soldiers were lightly injured Saturday morning during riots in the West Bank village of Bayt Umar.
The unrest broke out during the funeral of a Palestinian terrorist whose body was returned to his family after being held by Israel for several months following an attack in October. Hundreds of Palestinians burned tires and threw stones at an IDF detachment during the funeral of Khaled Ahmed Alian Khalili. Khalili, 23, plowed his car into a group of Israeli police officers on October 31, injuring three. He was shot dead at the scene.
Israeli security forces responded to Saturday’s stone-throwing with riot control measures. A Border Police officer, IDF officer and soldier suffered minor injuries, Ynet reported.
Khalili’s was one of nine bodies of Palestinians killed carrying out attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians that Israel returned to Palestinian authorities on Friday. Five of the bodies were those of Palestinians from the flashpoint city of Hebron in the West Bank, an army spokeswoman said. They were returned a week after Israel handed Palestinian authorities the bodies of seven other Palestinians.
[Ynet] An Arab women in her thirties from east Jerusalem has been tossed in the slammer Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! , after raising the suspicion of security forces near the city's Hospice intersection. The woman was discovered to be in possession of a knife, after security forces noticed that she had her hand in her purse and was seemingly holding on to something that appeared to be a knife.
The woman admitted during questioning that she was planning on executing a terrorist attack
[IsraelTimes] An Israeli man was lightly-to-moderately maimed Friday evening after being stabbed in the West Bank settlement of Efrat, in the Etzion Bloc south of Jerusalem. Channel 2 News reported that the terrorist attacked the man as he walked with his wife outside their home inside Efrat, stabbing him twice in the back before escaping.
Paramedics treated the man at the scene and evacuated him to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Israeli security forces were conducting searches in the area for the perpetrator, and surrounded a nearby village where they believed he could be hiding.
An Israeli soldier was injured in a firefight that broke out in a Paleostinian refugee camp during an operation overnight Friday. The soldier, hurt during a raid in Nablus, suffered moderate wounds in his leg, according to the Walla news site. He was taken to a hospital for treatment, the army said. His identity was not immediately released for publication.
Israeli soldiers carry out nightly raids across the West Bank, routinely arresting suspects sought for low-level terror attacks and confiscating weapons and other contraband.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Powerful Kurdish PYD militia attacked headquarters and houses of leaders belong to Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa to force the mostly rustics group to comply by PYD policies before the start of Raqqa battle 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.... , sources said.
A military source talked to Zaman al-Wasl on condition of anonymity reported that gangs led by Abo Saleh Ahfad, Fayad al-Ghanim, Abo Haidar al-Naeemi, with help of military intelligence security of People’s Protection Units (YPG) and members of PYD have attacked houses of leaders and members of Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa in villages of Karmazah, al-Tiba, Jahjah, Midlij, Khirbat al-Jahsha, al-Faris and barriers Northern and Western of Ain al-Essa town. They placed in durance vile Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! 5 leaders, 9 members and took them to unknown place. The source mentioned that festivities are still since Thursday evening till the time of preparing the news.
The source added that YPG, affiliate of PYD aim from the attack to dissolve Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa, and force its leaders to comply to their orders by forcing it into a bone-breaking battle in order to turn it into a small battalion like those they formed to benefit of their Arabic names in the battle of Raqqa.
The source mentioned that the operation was sudden and surprising, the brigade’s members tried to avoid causing any losses, he mentioned that PYD’s militias are still seizing houses and headquarters, while the brigade’s fighters have stayed in alert status around the headquarter of Abo Issa and the security office and military council.
The military source mentioned that the act has been planed to for a while, when a prominent leader of PYD said in a meeting of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said: "we will push Arabs fight with each other and we will get out safely."
The first betray of PYD for its Arab allies was in 2015 when they ended al-Bakir battalion in Tal Tamer and Abo Rasin in Hasaka, while the second was in September 2016 when PYD attacked the headquarters of Liwa al-Tahrir in the village of Gunaitra in the town of Soluk northern of Raqqa.
Mahmood al-Hadi, head of political office of Thuwar al-Raqqa Front, confirmed to Zaman al-Wasl that Liwa thuwar al-Raqqa will launch a battle against the Islamic State to liberate the city after controlling it by the Islamic State since January 2014.
Democratic union party (PYD) leads the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces since 2015. It consists different military arms: people’s Protection Units (YPG), Women Protection Units (YPJ) , Sanadid forces, Syriac Military Council, Operation room of Borkan al-Furat, beside the collection of al-Jazeera brigades and Jaish al-Thuwar with al-Akrad front.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Syrian regime forces on Saturday have intensified its aerial and ground shelling on Wadi Barada valley northwest of the capital, causing cut in water supply after targeting al-Fija spring, activists said.
The heavy aerial bombing on an array of villages in a mountainous area near the Lebanese border seeks new forced displacement, local activists said as regime forces aim to have a rebel-free zone around the capital.
Regime helicopters dropped at least 26 barrel bombs on the valley where the al-Fija spring which supplies Damascus with water.
The Damascus water authority claimed Friday that it had been forced to cut water supplies coming into the capital and use reserves instead after rebels polluted the water with diesel.
The regime controls much of the surrounding territory and on Friday carried out aerial attacks and shelled the rebel-held area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
A military news outlet run by Syrian government ally Hezbollah said the rebels in the Wadi Barada valley had refused to leave the area and as a result the Syrian Arab Army began an offensive against them on Friday morning.
Through a series of so-called settlement agreements and army offensives, the Syrian regime, backed by Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, has been steadily suppressing armed opposition around the capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] ISIS killed 18 Syrian soldiers and allied snuffies in a series of attacks near Tayfur military airport in the eastern countryside of Homs province, the group's Amaq new agency said Saturday.
Saturday's corpse count come after 27 more fighters loyal to Bashar al-Asssad were killed in a series of ISIS attacks near Palmyra in the past 24 hours, activists said.
in the battleground of the eastern countryside of Homs.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ISIS began launching attacks on regime forces and their allies Thursday night and that festivities were ongoing.
ISIS targeted several villages with a majority population from al-Assad's Alawite clan, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, said Observatory head Rami Abdel-Rahman.
One of the attacks on al-Masoudiya village, the hometown of al-Assad’s first advisor, Bouthaina Shaaban, has also left 13 people killed and 15 more maimed, sources said.
The radical group that seizes swaths of territory in eastern Homs, including the historic city f Palmyra and gas-rich fields, has annoyed regime cerebration over Aleppo capture. Pro-regime activists said the risk of new ISIS advances may cause more causalities as ISIS shows stubborn.
The murderous Moslems were trying to "totally surround" the Tayfur military airport and "cut its supply route," said Abdel-Rahman.
ISIS took advantage of bad weather that halted regime’s air strikes by pressing more gains especially near the strategic military air base.
The opposition-aligned, Britannia-based Observatory said the base is located between the cities of Palmyra and Homs in central Syria.
The snuffies retook Palmyra in central Syria on Dec. 11, just eight months after the army backed by Russia drove them out.
Since then festivities have rattled the region and Monday attacks by ISIS on the Tayfur base killed at least 20 regime force members, according to the Observatory.
Palmyra is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and its recapture by ISIS gave the murderous Moslems a propaganda boost as they face assaults on two of their key strongholds ‐ Raqqa in Syria and Iraq's second city djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn....
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Russian jets stepped up strikes on several towns in rebel-held Idlib province and rural Aleppo two days after the evacuation of rebels from their last pocket in the northern city of Aleppo, rebels and residents said on Saturday.
They said at least eight strikes targeted Binish, Saraqeb and Jisr al Shaqour - main towns in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib. There were reports of several casualties, mainly among civilians.
Idlib province for months has been a target of Russia's heavy bombing campaign against rebel-held areas. It came even while the former eastern part of Aleppo under Lion of Islam control faced an escalation in aerial raids and shelling until its defenses collapsed and the rebels were forced to agree to an evacuation deal.
The regime army has hinted the next major campaign after its victory in Aleppo was to rout murderous Moslems in their stronghold of Idlib province, where mainly Islamist brigades operating under a coalition known as Jaish al Fateh are in control.
Residents and rebels said Russian and Syrian jets also staged heavy strikes on rebel-held parts of western and southern parts of rural Aleppo for the second day since the last rebels left their remaining pocket of territory in Aleppo city.
They raided the town of Khan al Asal, about 14 km (9 miles) west of Aleppo, with cluster bombs while several strikes hit Hreitan and Andan, according to a rebel fighter from Jaish al Mujahdeen. The nearby town of Atareb was also hit.
Although the Syrian army, with the help of Iranian-backed militias, was able to take full control of Aleppo city after Russia conducted hundreds of raids that pulverized rebel-held parts, large swathes of western and southern Aleppo countryside remain in rebel hands.
Rebels said they repelled an Iranian-backed militia assault on Saturday to gain ground in the Rashideen area, west of Aleppo city.
The Syrian army continued to comb areas in eastern Aleppo that fell under its control on Thursday. The Lebanese Hizbollah- run military news service said weapons caches left by murderous Moslems went kaboom!, causing two deaths and wounding scores.
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12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Syrian government forces have launched a new offensive against rebels on the outskirts of the city of Aleppo.
The fighting comes after claims by Syrian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
of at least three deaths due to opposition shelling of a district, and just two days after the Syrian army gained full control of Aleppo city.
At least six civilians were also killed on Saturday in air strikes on the rebel-held town of Atareb, west of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The SOHR, a UK-based information office that has been documenting human-rights abuses in Syria, said at least two children were among the dead.
The SOHR could not immediately specify who had carried out the air raids, but Russian and government warplanes typically carry out raids in Aleppo province.
An AFP correspondent in Atareb said military aircraft could be seen circling above the town and a nearby village throughout the day.
Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's Gazientep near the border with Syria, said the new wave of air strikes were concentrated on eastern, southern and northern outskirts of Aleppo, appearing to be aimed at keeping rebel forces away from the recaptured city.
"People are concerned because there are thousands of civilians who are still trapped on the outskirts of Aleppo, particularly those who have been evacuated from eastern Aleppo," he said.
"If the fighting continues, that could further exacerbate the situation."
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Jaish al-Islam ...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful... , alongside Faylaq al-Rahman, launched a Christmas offensive today that targeted the Syrian Arab Army's positions near the Hazrama Farms of the East Ghouta.
Following the mass mobilization of their forces yesterday, Jaish al-Islam chose to quickly strike the Syrian Arab Army's positions in the East Ghouta this morning.
Despite their best efforts to infiltrate the government's positions near the Hazrama Farms, Jaish al-Islam and their allies were ultimately repelled after a two hour long battle on Christmas Eve.
According to a military source in Damascus, at least ten Jaish al-Islam turbans were killed on Saturday, while the Syrian Arab Army claimed three of their own soldiers were KIA (killed-in-action).
The Syrian Arab Army's 105th Brigade of the Republican Guard is expected to launch a massive offensive in the coming weeks, as they attempt to recapture positions along the Harasta Highway.
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12/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Russian sappers continued mine clearance operations in the recently captured eastern districts of Aleppo, Saturday.
According to the Head of the International Mine Action Centre Igor Mikhailik "a workshop for production of improvised weapons" was found in one of the local schools.
"You saw the improvised missiles, land mines and today we found improvised antipersonnel mines with a direct casualty radius," Mikhailik reported from the site.
SOT, Igor Mikhailik, Head of International Mine Action Centre of the Russian Armed Forces (Russian):
"Russian sappers continue to work in the eastern blocks of the city of Aleppo. First of all, we pay attention to socially important objects. We are in a school that was used as a workshop for the production of improvised weapons by Lion of Islams. You saw the improvised missiles, land mines and today we found improvised antipersonnel mines with a direct casualty radius."
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army discovered the corpses of 100 soldiers inside a local school on Friday after their forces entered the strategic al-Sukkari District of east Aleppo.
The soldiers were reportedly taken hostage by the jihadist rebels of Harakat Nouriddeen al-Zinki and Harakat Ahrar al-Sham ...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014... during their four year rule over the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo City.
With the help of several social media users, al-Masdar News was able to identify some of the corpses of the fallen soldiers.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The so-called "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 al-Sham" (ISIS) transferred a large number of fighters from al-Bab City in eastern Aleppo to the Deir Ezzor Governorate, a military source informed al-Masdar on Saturday morning.
ISIS is expected to launch a massive offensive in the Deir Ezzor Governorate to kick-off the new year and close the gap on the remaining Syrian Arab Army (SAA) soldiers that are besieged inside this province located in eastern Syria.
For the Syrian Arab Army units in Deir Ezzor, this Islamic State offensive could not come at a worse time, due to the fact that they are still trying to recover the territory they lost to the terrorist forces in the eastern countryside of the Homs Governorate.
While the Syrian Arab Army is not experiencing any manpower shortages in Deir Ezzor, they are still full encircled without any outlet to retreat or receive necessary provisions.
If the Syrian Arab Army can manage to repel this offensive in Deir Ezzor, they will alleviate a lot of pressure on their forces operating in eastern Homs.
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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.
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.
...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful...
[ALMASDARNEWS] Russian sappers continued mine clearance operations in the recently captured eastern districts of Aleppo, Saturday.
An ammunition depot and several 
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army discovered the corpses of 100 soldiers inside a local school on Friday after their forces entered the strategic al-Sukkari District of east Aleppo.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The so-called "
