[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A prominent former Afghan jihadi leader Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf ...Afghan Salafist warlord, owned by Saudi Arabia. He was the guy who invited al-Qaeda to come into Afghanistan and make themselves at home... has been hospitalized in Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... with preliminary reports suggesting he has suffered a heart attack.
Sources close to Sayyaf have said he is in a better condition and is currently undergoing treatment.
Sayyaf is an influential political and jihadi leader and is one of the prominent critics of the Taliban group and other hard boyz fighting in the country.
Reports regarding his submission to the hospital due to heart attack come as he survived numerous attacks in the past.
His residence came under rocket in mid-May 2016 but no casualties were incurred to him while numerous other rockets landed close to his residence few earlier than that.
The attack on residence followed weeks after he criticized the Talibs group and dismissed their so called jihad as a move against the principles of Islam.
He has been continuously reaffirming his hard stance against the krazed killer groups and call on bad boy groups last month to end slavery for the outsiders.
He insist that the bad boy and terrorist groups fighting in the country should not brand their insurgency as Jihad, emphasizing that killing of children, women, destroying houses and committing other horrific crimes are not a holy war.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
May inoperable coronary microvascular disease become your ticket to paradise.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. in reaction to the coordinated suicide kabooms in Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... said the group is attempting to boost the morale of their fighters following the death of its most big shot Mullah Abdul Salam and the recent defeats the group sustained in the battleground.
Condemning the attacks in strongest words, President Ghanis said the terrorist groups once again attempted to spread fear and terror in Kabul city.
"Following the death of the terrorist group leader Mullah Abdul Salam in Kunduz and back to back defeats on the battleground, the group is attempting to boost the morale of its fighters by conducting terrorist attacks in crowded areas," he added.
President Ghani further added that the Afghan nation endorsed support in one voice to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces during the national day of the defense forces.
He said the Afghan forces are on the frontline in the fight against terrorism more than any other time to eliminate them in all parts of the country.
The Taliban group grabbed credit behind the attacks conducted in Police District#6 and Police District#12 on Wednesday afternoon.
The latest information disclosed by the officials show at least 16 people bit the dust and more than 50 others were maimed although the casualties toll could further rise.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
attempting to boost the morale of their fighters
Senior African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) officials met in Nairobi on Tuesday to review its activities and draw up a budget that will guide the operations of the mission in 2017. The five-day conference which has drawn participants from the African Union (AU) will come up with a detailed plan and budget.
The Special Representative of the AU Commission Chairperson (SRCC) for Somalia Francisco Madeira said the meeting will go a long way in helping the mission achieve its objectives.
“This is where we are going to plan in detail what each of our units and clusters is going to do or intends to do in the years to come,” he said in a statement issued in Nairobi.
Madeira said the pan-African body’s mission is finding it increasingly difficult to fund a number of programs, owing to what he called donor fatigue.
“Not all project plans could be implemented, either because we dreamt so much and thought we could do everything and thus lost so much sight or we trusted our partners so much that we thought they would fund everything,” he said.
It might be cheaper for the donors if the AU soldiers stayed home and staged coups instead...
Madeira, who is also the head of the mission, noted that it is time the donors considered themselves as partners in resolving the crisis in Somalia.
“Donors think stabilizing Somalia is a task of the African Union so they get fatigued. Donor fatigue shouldn’t arise. It’s the duty of all of us to make Somalia a functional state. Let’s be partners,” he said.
Among issues being discussed at the Nairobi meeting include support for political processes, security sector, stabilization and recovery, protection of human rights and gender process.
Boy howdy, how is it that no one thought of these things before?
What is gender process?
It's something you worry about in civilized countries, if ever...
Also on the table is how AMISOM should facilitate access to recovered areas and secure main supply routes. Madeira said AMISOM was forced to devise austerity measures to cope up with the low funding.
The new Somali government has developed a National Development Plan 1017-3020 2017-2020 but the country still faces challenges in combating negative clannism, solidifying the rule of law and human rights, countering violent extremism, and engendering the rights of women and girls.
AMISOM Force Chief of Plans Salifu Yakubu painted a security atmosphere that is fluid, largely due to the unpredictability of the situation. Al-Shabaab, he noted, has been weakened but still has the capacity to attack. This militia “remains resilient” and has resorted to asymmetric warfare.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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Egypt’s Borg El Arab Airport authorities arrested a Russian passenger on March 2 who had an improvised explosive device (IED) and was intending to board a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul, Egypt Independent reports citing a source in the airport in Alexandria.
Airport authorities were suspicious of a strange item in the passenger's luggage, seen via X-ray, the source said, adding that a bomb squad was summoned to inspect the item which was discovered to be an IED.
Thus is demonstrated the vastly improved security of Egypt's commercial airports.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
was it a clock?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2017 11:04 Comments ||
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Vowing to plant their flag in China and that blood will "flow in rivers", a video released this week purportedly by the Islamic State group shows ethnic Uighur fighters training in Iraq, underscoring what Beijing sees as a serious threat.
China is worried that Uighurs, a mostly Muslim people from western China's Xinjiang region, have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight for militant groups there, having travelled illegally via Southeast Asia and Turkey.
Seems like everyone who fights for ISIS gets there via Turkey...
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the killing of a Chinese hostage in 2015, highlighting China's concern about Uighurs it says are fighting in the Middle East.
Hundreds of people have been killed in Xinjiang in the past few years, most in unrest between Uighurs and ethnic majority Han Chinese. The government blames the unrest on Islamist militants.
The Iraqi arm of Islamic State has released a half-hour long video purportedly showing Uighurs training, as well as some images from inside Xinjiang, including Chinese police on the streets. One shot that shows Chinese President Xi Jinping gives way to flames in front of a Chinese flag.
"Hey, brothers! Today, we are fighting with infidels across the world! I'm telling you this: Come and live here! Stay strong!," one of the fighters says, according to Uighur speakers who analysed the video for Reuters but declined to be identified.
"We will certainly plant our flag over America, China, Russia, and all the infidels of the world," it says.
In another scene, a man chanting in Uighur says: "Our land of sharia has been constructed with spilt blood."
The video then shows pictures of people who were said to have become "martyrs", and identified as "al-Turkistānī", or men from Turkestan, the name many Uighurs use for Xinjiang. One of the men speaking has an accent from Yarkand, close to the old Silk Road city of Kashgar in Xinjiang's southern Uighur heartland, one of the people who reviewed the video said.
Another fighter refers to the "evil Chinese Communist infidel lackeys".
"In retaliation for the tears that flow from the eyes of the oppressed, we will make your blood flow in rivers, by the will of God!" he says.
The video, released this week by the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant groups online, also showed two bloody executions of unidentified people.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday he was not aware of the video and had not seen it.
"But one point is very clear. We oppose any form of terrorism and proactively participate in international cooperation to crack down on terrorism," Geng told a daily news briefing.
"We have long said that East Turkestan forces are a serious threat to China's security and we are willing to work with the international community to jointly crack down on East Turkestan separatist and terrorist forces," he said.
The government says foreign militants have stirred up tensions in Xinjiang, where it says it faces a determined campaign by separatists who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. However, many rights groups and exiles doubt the existence of a coherent militant group in Xinjiang and say Uighur anger at repressive Chinese policies is more to blame for the unrest.
Both reasons, of course, may have a role.
China denies any repression in Xinjiang.
Rian Thum, a Uighur specialist at Loyola University New Orleans, said the Uighurs in the video were presented in the style of Islamic State propaganda.
"To me, the video says more about Islamic State tactics, propaganda, and ideology than it does about the relationship between Uighurs and the Chinese state," Thum said.
Well Thum, since the Uighur fighters are training with ISIS...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
China, for all their anti Islamic actions, is still anti Iran sanctions. This is probably for commercial reasons.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/03/2017 1:35 Comments ||
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#2
uighers attack the chinese state, it's the last mistake they'll ever make
this is a country that harvests organs by executing political prisoners.
terrorism doesn't work on a state that doesn't care about human rights. they just execute your family then you.
#6
No question the Uighurs have guts in abundance. Against the Chinese state today, they're likely to be wasted. It's too big, too organized, too flush with cash (both to buy off opposition via quota hires and to fight Uighur rebels) and too ruthless (as in the entire family might end up in the gulag en route to shallow graves as a result of deliberate malnutrition). If they're to have any chance of success, they'll need to bide their time until major ructions in the Chinese political scene, such as an armed conflict between multiple Chinese factions in the course of regime collapse.
NORWAY "The Gastronomical Capital of the World."
Six Syrian "refugees" who have been granted temporary residence in Modum in Buskerud for two years, are not satisfied with the quality of housing they have been offered by the municipality, writes the local newspaper Bygdeposten.
The residences in question are flats that are usually reserved for students, who are quite happy to live in the up to 20 square meter flats in Sevalstunet, but the six Syrian men, aged 20 to 33, refuse to sign contracts to stay there. Instead they want to receive a house each.
Gratitude to the community that takes care of them is not the first one senses, writes the newspaper. The only English speaking of the six is also a lawyer. He claims moral rights:
- It is unfair when others get houses or apartments. We still live at a reception center but we want to get on with life. Get a fresh start as soon as possible, said Abdulhadi Alkhalaf (31).
- We still live at a reception center but we want houses, explains the 31-year-old.
The local newspaper writes that the six seem sane, but that antennas apparently are not what they have the most of:
- Reception center is reception center, house is house. We do not want to seem unhappy and demanding, but we are very impatient to move on, says Abdulhadi Alkhalaf.
The municipality, however, has no obligation to treat them with higher standard than they have been offered, and says that they are obligated to get them "roof over their head," which has been done.
The Refugee Service expresses understanding that it is a big transition for Syrians from the upper social level to live in a flat, but points out that they have heating, water, electricity, a kitchen and a washing machine, and that the residences are located close to public transportation.
Imagine being 20 years and Norwegian-ish, and you could simply get a house for free. Or even a flat. That would be great!
#8
how can they get 2 wives and 16 children if they only live in a flat
come on respect their religion
I mean they believe that a 6th century warlord rode a flying white horse to jerusalem and back in a night via heaven where he talked to Moses and Jesus.
The top U.S. commander in the campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) argued on March 1 that the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), does “not pose a threat to Turkey.”
“Of those YPG fighters, I’ve talked to their leaders and we’ve watched them operate and they continually reassure us that they have no desire to attack Turkey, that they are not a threat to Turkey, in fact that they desire to have a good working relationship with Turkey,” Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend told a Pentagon news briefing, speaking remotely via video conference.
“And I have seen absolutely zero evidence that they have been a threat to, or have supported any attacks on, Turkey from Northern Syria over the last two years,” he added.
Turkey regards the PYD and YPG as terrorist organizations due to their links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), but the U.S. sees them as a reliable partner in their fight against ISIL in northern Syria. The U.S. mainly supports the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is comprised mainly of YPG militia and some Arab forces, in the anti-ISIL coalition.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Then why do we still tolerate Turkey as a NATO member? Just asking.
Walls work? Who knew -- other than the Israelis, the Turks, the...
A concrete wall built to stop illegal crossings along Turkey’s border with Syria in the provinces of Hatay, Kilis and Gaziantep has dramatically reduced attempts to stage illegal crossings and conduct border smuggling, a Turkish colonel responsible for border security has stated.
The total 2,044 detected smuggling attempts in 2015 fell to just 77 in 2016 in his 169-kilometer area of responsibility, Colonel Alparslan Kılınç from the First Border Regiment Command told reporters in Kilis.
The number of detected illegal crossings has decreased 45 percent, from a total of 12,183 in 2015 when clashes were intense on the Syrian side of the border to 8,531 in 2016, Kılınç said.
In the same section of the Syrian border, there were 2,423 smuggling attempts in 2013, 3,474 in 2014, 2,044 in 2015, and 77 in 2016. However, in the first two months of 2017 there have been only four smuggling attempts, Kılınç stated.
In 2016, 210 third country nationals, mostly made up of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) members but also including 49 Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD) members, were captured while attempting illegal crossing in his regiment area, the colonel stated.
Work on the construction of modular walls on Turkey’s border with Syria is ongoing. In some sections, the area just behind the wall construction is mined and protected by ditches and reinforced cage wire barriers. In other areas there are patrol units of border guards, backed by first and second degree forbidden military zones.
Overall, a modular concrete wall is planned to be built across 826 kilometers of Turkey’s 900-kilometer border with Syria. After works conducted by the Prime Ministry’s Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ), more than 350 km of the wall has been completed so far.
A wall was constructed in a 90 km section of the border in the 1st Border Regiment Command, while a 79 km section is planned to be completed within three months, Kılınç also stated, adding that 11 old-style outposts will be renewed. He said the temporary military security zones also contributed to preventing illegal crossings and smugglers.
The border is also monitored by daytime and thermal cameras installed in towers reaching 20 meters in height, while security beyond the wall is monitored through cameras in towers mounted on armored vehicles. Any fugitives trying to cross the border with stairs or tunnels are caught by security forces, Kılınç said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder if it's affecting the flow of undocumented war materiel from Turkey to Syria?
[IsraelTimes] For 2nd time in 3 weeks, mosque in trouble for online video calling Jews killers, denying Jewish connection to Israel.
Police have been asked to investigate a newly found video hate sermon against Jews, the second complaint against the same mosque in three weeks.
The video, released online Tuesday by the Middle East Media Research Institute, shows Sheikh Wael al-Ghitawi in November, 2014, delivering a sermon at the Al Andalous Islamic Center in Montreal’s St. Laurent borough against the "people who slayed the prophets, shed their blood, and cursed the Lord."
Just luck he wasn't caught procuring for ISIS or explaining why it's a good idea to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom. But before that idiot phone caller from wherever, nobody but MEMRI and those who pay attention would care.
In his sermon he said that "The [Jews] were disrespectful towards the prophets. They cursed them, maligned them, tortured them, lashed them, banished them from their homes, and even killed them. They killed the prophet Yahya, cutting him in two. They killed other prophets as well."
The imam also rejected any Jewish rights to Jerusalem, saying that "Jerusalem is Arab and Islamic. It is our land, the land of our fathers and forefathers. We are the people most entitled to it. We will not forsake a single inch of this land."
He said that the Jews of today are not the same people mentioned in scripture, but "Tartars, Turkish Mongols, who lived in a land called Khazaria."
"If you examine the annals of history, you will see that the Jews do not have any historical right to Paleostine," he said.
"This is a bizarre strain of radical propaganda," Rabbi Reuben Poupko, of the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, or CIJA, told the National Post. "It appears in the writings of Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", and other groups like it and claims to debunk Jewish history," he said.
He said that he did not feel that these views were endorsed by the wider Moslem community, but their "presence in this mosque needs to be investigated."
Early last month, in an August 2014 video released on YouTube, a different imam from the same mosque is seen calling on Allah to "destroy the accursed Jews" and that they be killed "one by one."
In reaction to that video, the mosque characterized that imam’s phrasing as "clumsy" and "unacceptable."
In another development, CIJA issued a statement condemning a bomb threat Wednesday against Moslem students at the Montreal’s Concordia University.
Just weeks after six Moslem worshippers were bumped off at a Quebec City mosque, "the pathology of hate persists," Poupko said in a statement co-signed by other Jewish community leaders.
[Washington Examiner] Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is hopping mad about media reports disputing his assessment that the U.S. special operations raid in Yemen last month yielded "vital intelligence."
Aides say Mattis is particularly upset about an NBC News report suggesting that so far none of the intelligence gathered in the raid, which cost the life of Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens, has proven to be either "actionable or vital."
"That is inaccurate," said a senior Pentagon official, who said while much of the intelligence is still being exploited, the cache of seized computers, cell phones, and hard drive has already produced leads as to where other al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula terrorists were located in Yemen, and their contacts.
The official said the raid was considered worth the risk of sending U.S. ground forces because AQAP has a history of plotting, inspiring, and exporting terror to America and the West, and because the U.S. has no military presence on the ground.
#1
Don't make Sec Chaos angry. You won't like it when he's angry.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/03/2017 10:31 Comments ||
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#2
perhaps a few Obama REMFs need to lead the ground attack on Raqqa, alone?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2017 10:44 Comments ||
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#3
The rot Obama seeded in government is everywhere, nowhere more that DOD, DOJ and the intel community. A good surgeon knows to cut deep to stop the gangrene. They need to be unemployed now!
#4
Trump has been saying the Media are lying (when it is provable). Media is now saying Trump's people are lying (when there is no way the Media would know one way or the other).
I'm not sure the media really gets how to get out of their hole in the public perception because they keep digging and will take their Democrat friends down with them.
[AnNahar] A U.S. federal judge in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, on Wednesday agreed to release on bail the widow of the gunman who killed dozens of people at an Orlando nightclub last year.
U.S. magistrate Donna Ryu set bail at $500,000 for Noor Salman pending her trial on two charges related to the assault by her husband Omar Mateen ... the Afghan-"American" who decided he was a soldier of the Caliphate and shot fifty unarmed people to death in a Florida gay bar he used to frequent... on the Pulse gay nightclub in Florida that killed 49 people.
Prosecutors had argued that Salman, who was tossed in the clink ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... in January in connection with the massacre, should be kept behind bars because she posed a threat to society. They have until Friday to appeal the judge's decision.
She's also a flight risk no matter how much bail she posts.
In handing down her ruling, Ryu said there was no proof Salman had any connection to 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.... jihadist group or had exhibited myrmidon views.
She also said there was no evidence Salman posed a risk of flight or a danger to the community.
"I agree with the pretrial service recommendation and find that Ms Salman has rebutted the presumptions of both risk of flight and danger to the community and that she can and should be released pursuant to strict conditions that will reasonably mitigate those risks," Ryu said.
She ordered the 30-year-old, who had a four-year-old son with Mateen, to wear an electronic monitor while living with her maternal uncle in northern California, where she grew up.
The ruling essentially puts Salman under house arrest, allowed to leave only for court appearances, to meet her attorneys or for medical appointments for her and her son, Ryu said.
Salman, whose case is being prosecuted in Florida, faces up to life in prison if convicted of the charge of assisting her husband in his bid to help a terrorist organization.
She also faces up to 20 years in prison on the second charge of lying to Sherlocks.
Police killed Mateen in a shootout. During the attack, he had called dispatchers to pledge allegiance to the Islamic State group.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard
(D-Hawaii since 2013)
said that The United States should stop aiding Syrian opposition groups affiliated with Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorist groups.
"For years, our government has been providing both direct and indirect support to these armed Death Eater groups, who are working directly with or under the command of terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS, all in their effort and fight to overthrow the Syrian government. Our bill [HR608] does a simple thing and it says that our tax payers dollars should not be used to provide arms, money, intelligence or other types of support to Death Eater groups who are working with, allied with terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS," Gabbard told the RT broadcaster, referring to Takfiri groups.
That pretty much leaves the Kurds and their allies.
The Stop Arming Terrorists Act (HR608), which prohibits the use of federal agency funds to provide assistance to any individual or group affiliated with terrorists, was introduced to the Congress in January.
The bill accused the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of arming groups allied with the al-Qaeda terrorist organization in an effort to overthrow the Syrian government of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... In January, Gabbard traveled to Syria with a fact-finding mission, which included a meeting with Assad and a trip to Aleppo, liberated from turbans in late 2016.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Funny the congresswoman did not mention the Iran deal or surrender to Cuba.
[Bloomberg] The threat to U.S. airports from terror groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State is expected to grow because of instability in parts of the Middle East and Asia, a former high-ranking intelligence official said Thursday.
The focus on fighting Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has allowed al-Qaeda and its offshoots to "rebound" in countries including Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan, said Michael Morell, former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
At the same time, as Islamic State loses territory in Syria and Iraq, the tens of thousands of its fighters who poured in from other countries will leave, and some will try to infiltrate the U.S., Morell said.
"The threat is actually going to get worse over the next several years," Morell said in an appearance at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Aviation Summit in Washington.
While the threat emanates from groups based in the Middle East and Asia, Morell said more than 80 percent of the people arrested by the FBI on terrorist-related charges in the past three years were U.S. residents, and the majority of them were citizens.
[Iraq News] Crude flows from Iraq’s northern Kirkuk fields resumed on Thursday after being halted for several hours when Kurdish forces stormed a facility in protest at the Iraqi government’s oil policy, several sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Kurdish forces stormed the facility early on Thursday, saying they were searching for explosives planted 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.... murderous Moslems whom Iraqi forces are fighting with the backing of a U.S.-led coalition.
But a Kurdish official later said the facility had been seized to put pressure on Baghdad to build an oil refinery in Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... and that Kurdish forces would shut down oil flows again unless their demands were met within a week.
"What we did today was a warning bell to the government," said Kurdish official Aso Mamand. "It’s not fair for Kirkuk’s oil to be sent to other provinces whilst Kirkuk is suffering a crisis."
Oil officials and security sources in Kirkuk said the Kurdish forces had not withdrawn from the facility, but had allowed pumping to resume via a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
Kurdish peshmerga forces took full control of Kirkuk city and the surrounding area in 2014 when Islamic State murderous Moslems overran around one third of Iraq and the army’s northern divisions disintegrated.
But Iraq’s state-run North Oil Company (NOC) now operate the oil fields in the region, which were pumping around 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) into the pipeline before the shutdown, the NOC executive said.
The forces that seized the facility, located around 15 km (10 miles) west of Kirkuk, are loyal to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party, which is dominant in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[Iraq News] The Chief of Staff of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, Lieutenant General Jamal Mohammed, announced on Thursday, that the Peshmerga forces will not withdraw from the areas that they liberated from 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.... , before the start of the battle to liberate djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... Mohammed said in a press statement, "Peshmerga forces will not withdraw from the areas that they liberated before October 10, 2016 (the start of the battle to liberate the city of Mosul)."
"Peshmerga sacrificed nearly 2000 deaders and 12 thousand casualties in the war against the Islamic State. The withdrawal of Peshmerga from these areas is not negotiable," Mohammed added.
Mohammed also pointed out to the importance of preparing new agreement between Erbil and Baghdad, after liberating Mosul, on the situation of the city that includes more than 300 thousand Kurdish persons.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] In recent months, Strip’s rulers said to arrest hundreds of Salafis, prompting them to strike at Israel and draw IDF retaliation.
The spate of recent rocket attacks against Israel from Gazoo are reportedly the result of increased tension between Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", and murderous Moslem Salafist groups in the Strip.
According to a report Thursday in the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, Hamas has nabbed
Continued on Page 49
About 35 local boat captains simulated swarming attack maneuvers in fishing boats rigged with machine guns while fighter jets, attack helicopters, and the A-10 "Warthog" simulated attacks from above in the Choctawatchee Bay, Florida.
The Air Force at Eglin Air Force Base organized the simulation, called Combat Hammer, to address one of the more pressing threats to the US navy -- attacks from swarming fast-attack craft.
In the Persian Gulf, Iran has repeatedly used small, agile attack craft to harass US Navy ships in dangerous encounters that could lead to a broader conflict in a moment's notice.
US Navy ships have had to go as far as firing warning shots at approaching vessels, but that was before Iranian-backed Houthi militants used a suicide boat laden with explosives to kill two aboard a Saudi Arabian Navy vessel off the coast of Yemen.
The Navy was already aware of the threat posed to their large, multimillion-dollar ships by small, cheap ships -- but the January Houthi attack demonstrated the threat was even more acute.
The Air Force's annual Combat Hammer exercise sought in part to answer the question of how the Navy would deal with a large mass of erratic attack craft -- and that involved A-10 Warthogs firing inert 30-millimeter rounds at unmanned ships. I find the test being conducted to be more interesting than the results.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Some of my favorite craft took years to defend to find it's other defense spectrum?
A-10 is not going anywhere.
#2
...As much as I love the Hog, keep in mind though is that all it will take is a few hand-held SAMs to make the day most unpleasant. I trust and hope the USAF is taking that into account.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/03/2017 4:48 Comments ||
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#3
Not the up armoured Kenmore 32 cubic foot side by sides with ceramic coated metal lettuce crisper drawers!
#9
I think one of the reasons they aren't used on carriers are the turbofan engines. I'm no expert on those, but I do remember reading that it takes a bit to get that type of engine up to full exhaust volume (spooling up?) which usually occurs during their movement down a runway. I do remember thinking, while seeing an A-10 during takeoff, that they don't ramp up to speed very quickly like a conventional jet.
The fan outputs would have to be up to almost full volume before the catapult activated. Don't know how that would work on a short flight deck.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/03/2017 11:57 Comments ||
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#10
OH-58s were used with success on individual IRGC craft in the past.
I think in this case, it's a matter of dealing with small-attack-craft swarms. There are potential sea-based options, but...
Let the Holy Warriors of Is-slime be exterminated by the 'hog!
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/03/2017 14:51 Comments ||
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#13
@ Mullah: Lockheed S-3s used big ol TF-34 Turbofans;
Pilots simply firewall the throttle(s) and when everything is shaking at the perfect pitch, he/she salutes the Cat Oficer who directs the punching of the Holy Button; and down the track they go, Zero to flying in 200 feet.
Turbofans would just take a bit longer to wind up than pure jets (no more pure jets; all in the name of fuel mileage).
but even the mighty Lawn Dart uses a 'Fan.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/03/2017 15:40 Comments ||
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#15
The A10 has already been trialed off a Enterprise class boat. (i.e., they actually took one off from and landed on it.)
The problem is the lower frame has no provision for the stiffeners required to cat launch or add a tailhook, and the landing gear needs to about twice as strong as it is. It was originally tested against the 'painted deck' on the strip at NAS Virginia Beach (just like Doolittle), and was then tried out on the Forrestal during sea trials in the '90's. Took dang near the entire deck to take off and land, but it happened. Another problem would be the air refueling fittings; AF and Navy drouges aren't compatable (they did that on purpose).
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/03/2017 17:03 Comments ||
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#16
AF and Navy drouges aren't compatable (they did that on purpose).
Ed seriously what possible reason could they have for that? The only thing I can think of is that different fuels needed and this is a safety thing like diesel vs gas nozzles at the gas station but that don't make much sense either.
#17
The mechanical details of the connection drouges is complex; basically you have to have an interlock with check valves on both ends of the connection, with a male/ female plug that will lock when pushed together, and release and close when pulled apart. Everybody burns JP4, basically kerosene.
The Navy systems have the male plug on the receiving aircraft; it's the round nose on the end of the refueling arm you may have seen in photos of A6's, and the fold out arms on F14's and F18's.
The Air Force boomer system uses the male fitting on the end of the sending boom arm, with a female fitting on the receiving aircraft. There are 'hybrid' tankers out there, notably KC130's and KC135's with the proper refueling kits, that can refuel AF planes from a boom on centerline, and Navy planes on shuttle hoses trailed from reels on the wingtips. Note that everybody's helicopters use the Navy system, if the copter does air refueling at all. It's common to see Pave Low (spec ops) helicopters deployed in tandem with an MC130, that provides air refuel, radar coverage, and com links.
The basic reason the two systems are not compatable is to keep the other blue suits from poaching your refueling assets
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/03/2017 19:42 Comments ||
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#18
Sorry for going on like that. The logistics of support units and what the Navy calls 'UnRep' is something I find fascinating.
It's why I'm one boring dude.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/03/2017 19:52 Comments ||
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#19
#18 Sorry for going on like that
No apollys. I find this background stuff fascinating. It's an example of what makes the 'burg such a valuable resource.
[Iraq News] A U.S.-allied militia in northern Syria said on Thursday it would hand over villages on a front line where it has been fighting Turkish-backed rebels to Syrian government control, under an agreement with Russia.
The villages will be surrendered to the Syrian government in the coming days, an official in the Manbij Military Council told Rooters. An earlier statement by the council said the villages would be handed to Syrian border guards.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told news hounds in Ankara the report was false, but added there was an agreement with Russia that Syrian government and opposition forces should not fight each other in that area.
The villages west of the city of Manbij have been a focus of fighting between the Turkish-backed rebels and the Manbij Military Council, the U.S.-allied militia, since Wednesday.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said this week Manbij was the next target of Ankara’s campaign in northern Syria following the capture of nearby al-Bab from 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.... last week.
"We will move towards Manbij after the al-Bab operation is completed, but the operation has not started yet. We know that the U.S. special forces are in that region, and we want the YPG to leave Manbij as soon as possible," Cavusoglu said.
The Manbij Military Council is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed group of militias that includes the powerful Kurdish YPG group. The SDF captured the area around Manbij from Islamic State Death Eaters last year.
Turkey’s campaign in Syria is aimed at driving Islamic State from its border and at preventing expansion in the area by the YPG, which it regards as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is waging an insurgency against Ankara.
Cavusoglu said Turkey did not want the United States to continue cooperating with Kurdish groups and added that Turkey had repeatedly warned it would strike Kurdish Death Eaters if they remained in Manbij.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
So the US fights Assad and terrorists haha and then Assad gets back his land awesome tactic never saw that coming!
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... on Wednesday threatened to strike Syrian Kurdish militia forces if they do not withdraw from Manbij, a former bastion of ISISTakfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... group that has been taken over by predominantly Kurdish forces.
"We have said before we will strike the YPG if they do not retreat" from Manbij, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told journalists, referring to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units.
The YPG, which Ankara considers a "terrorist" organization, is backed by the United States as the most effective fighting force on the ground in the battle against ISIS.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned Denmark’s ambassador over a new attack on the Iranian embassy in Copenhagen, warning the envoy that lack of "serious and deterrent action" on such recurring incidents could damage the ties between the Islamic Theocratic Republic and the Scandinavian country.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Thursday that the Danish ambassador has been summoned to the ministry to voice "strong protest" at the second attack in less than two months on Iran’s diplomatic mission in Copenhagen.
According to the front man, "six hostile elements" attacked the Iranian embassy in a "suspicious move" on Wednesday evening.
The Danish envoy was reminded that such incidents are in violation of internationally-accepted norms and of Denmark’s own laws, Qassemi said, chiding the Danish government for its "weak performance in ensuring the security" of the embassy building and its staff.
The Danish ambassador was also told that recurrence of such attacks along with lack of serious and deterrent measures would not only "seriously bring into question the Danish government’s determination" to counter the anti-Iranian moves, but also could damage Tehran and Copenhagen’s growing relations and "will definitely entail a proportional reaction" from Iran, Qassemi added.
He went on to say that the Danish envoy has slammed the incident as "unacceptable" and pledged to relay Iran’s protest to his government as soon as possible and report back to Tehran.
In a similar incident on January 19, "four anti-revolutionary elements" had scaled the walls of Iran’s embassy in Denmark, entered the mission’s courtyard, put up profane placards and forced down the Iranian national flag from the flagpole.
Danish police locked away ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... six people after that attack, describing them as four Iranian expatriates seeking asylum in Sweden and two others holding Swedish residency.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Turkish president said Ankara has not seen that Washington had any clear plan of liberating the ISIS-occupied Syrian city of Raqqa.
The United States does not yet have a clear plan for the liberation of the Syrian city of Raqqa from the ISIS terrorist group (outlawed in Russia), Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... said Thursday.
"I cannot say that the new [US] leadership has a clear plan regarding Raqqa. During the visits to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... of the head of the US Joint Staff and the director of the CIA, steps, which we can call preliminary, have been taken in this process," Erdogan said, as quoted by the Haber7 broadcaster.
He added that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) should not participate in the operation, calling it "unacceptable."
On Wednesday, the commander of the US-led coalition against ISIS said he expected Syrian Kurds to take part in the liberation of Raqqa.
The city of Raqqa is the ISIS stronghold in Syria. Turkey and the Kurdish troops have voiced their plans to liberate the ISIS-occupied city.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
I think there is a clear plan but some hesitation in applying the ceramic glaze.
#2
Why should we have a "clear plan", O Wise Sultan? Isn't our real objective the attrition of ISIS assets? Occupying land and/or determining who rules Syria when the dust settles, not so much...
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Syria on Thursday said that the representatives of the gangs (’opposition’ High Negotiations Committee) are taking UN-backed peace talks "hostage" over its refusal to include terrorism on the agenda, insisting the HNC would be responsible if negotiations fail.
"Progress in the Geneva round must not be held hostage by the Riyadh platform", lead Syrian negotiator Bashar al-Jaafari told news hounds, referring to the Saudi-backed HNC, vowing the opposition "will be responsible for any failure of the Geneva talks."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
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[Iraq News] Most of commanders within 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.... supreme leader’s inner circle have been killed, with holy warriors’ numbers in Iraq’s djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... no more than 2000, according to a commander of the U.S.-led coalition against the holy warrior group.
" In fact, almost all of His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us... ’s inner circle has been killed in the last six months, six to nine months; have been killed with precision strikes by the coalition. So that’s big shots", said Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.
"We assess right now that there’s somewhere between 2,000 plus or minus in and around western Mosul, including the area out to Tal Afar," Townsend told news hounds at a Pentagon briefing via a conference call from Baghdad late Wednesday, adding that the total of IS hard boyz in both Iraq and Syria stands between 12,000 and 15,000.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
Perhaps the heart donor search isn't going so well after all.
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.
Afghan Salafist warlord, owned by Saudi Arabia. He was the guy who invited al-Qaeda to come into Afghanistan and make themselves at home...
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
[IsraelTimes] For 2nd time in 3 weeks, mosque in trouble for online video calling Jews killers, denying Jewish connection to Israel.
The Stop Arming Terrorists Act (HR608), which prohibits the use of federal agency funds to provide assistance to any individual or group affiliated with terrorists, was introduced to the Congress in January.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Turkish president said Ankara has not seen that Washington had any clear plan of liberating the 
