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Iraq PM Denies Attack Plan as Tensions Rise with Kurds
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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Afghanistan
5 Taliban die in Jawzjan
At least five Taliban insurgents were killed in clashes with Afghan security forces in northern Jawzjan province on Wednesday night, local officials confirmed on Thursday.

In addition, four other insurgents were wounded.

The clash took place in Faizabad district of the province after the Taliban attacked police check posts. “The clash continued for nearly four hours,” provincial police chief, Gen. Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani said.
“Three security forces were also wounded in the clash,” Jawzjani said.

However, he did not provide more details about the incident.

The Taliban has not yet commented over the clash.
Posted by: badanov || 10/13/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Somalia's top military chiefs resign, no reason given
[REUTERS] Two of Somalia’s highest-ranking military officials have resigned, state outlets said on Thursday, in moves that could deal a blow to the war-torn Horn of Africa country’s efforts to fight Islamist krazed killers.

Somalia has been at war since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew dictator Siad Barre and then turned on each other.

For a decade, the weak U.N.-backed government has also been fighting alongside African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
troops against Al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
, which aims to topple the government and impose its own strict interpretation of Islam.

On Thursday, state-owned Radio Muqdisho said the army’s Chief of Defence Forces Ahmed Jimale Gedi had stepped down and Defence Minister Abdirashid Abdullahi Mohammed had submitted his resignation to President Mohammed Abdullahi Farmaajo’s cabinet.

"The Cabinet appointed General Abdiweli Jama Hussein ... after Ahmed Jimale Gedi resigned on Thursday," the radio station said, adding that Mohammed’s bid was also accepted.

Radio Muqdishu did not disclose the reasons behind their decisions. Neither the officials themselves nor government spokespeople were immediately available for comment.

Al Qaeda-allied al-Shabaab was driven out of the capital Mogadishu in 2010, but their deadly attacks remain one of the main obstacles to stability in the chaotic nation, which lies along one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.

Somalia’s rebuilding efforts have also been hampered by clan rivalries. Rival regions still sometimes take up arms against each other.

Posted by: Fred || 10/13/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Egyptian Police arrest suspect in priest's murder
[AlAhram] Egypt's interior ministry announced on Thursday evening the arrest of a man supsected of the killing of one priest and injuring another in a northeastern suburb of Cairo earlier that day.

According to a statement released by the ministry, security forces tossed in the calaboose
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
Ahmed El-Sonbaty as a suspect in the murder of Coptic Orthodox priest Samaan Shehata and the assault upon another, Beyman Moftan.

The late Shehata served as archpriest at St. Julius Church in El-Fashn, Beni Suef. Injured priest Beymen Moftan administers the El-Malak church in Matay, Minya.

The statement added that the suspect attacked both Shehata and Moftan in El-Salam city, where the suspect used to live, and that authorities were able to locate the weapon he allegedly used to attack both men.

Though no motive has yet been revealed, the interior ministry stated that 40-year-old El-Sonbaty is unemployed and was charged earlier this year for assaulting his father and setting his house on fire.

The prosecution is currently investigating the incident.
Another Al Ahram article adds:
Bishop Astafanous of Fashn, Biba and Samasta said the attacker was an "extremist" with a criminal record.
And from Ynet:
Security officials say the attacker struck the priest's head with a cleaver.

Attacks on Egypt's Christians, who account for about 10 percent of the country's 94 million people, have surged in recent months, with a series of suicide kabooms claimed by the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group killing more than 100 since December.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/13/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
13 Killed in South Yemen Clashes
[AnNahar] Four soldiers and nine rebels were killed in southern 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...
on Wednesday, army sources said, as festivities flared in the last rebel pocket in mainly government-held Shabwa province.

The deaths came in Bayhan district as troops responded to a rebel offensive, the sources told AFP.

Bayhan is the sole district of Shabwa still held by the rebels, who control neighboring Baida province and most of northern Yemen.

Both provinces have also been targeted by a long-running U.S. drone war against al-Qaeda, which has taken advantage of the conflict between the government and the rebels to consolidate its presence.

Despite the military intervention of a Saudi-led coalition in 2015, the government's authority is still largely confined to the south and areas along the Saudi border.

More than 8,500 civilians have been killed in the conflict since the intervention began, according to World Health Organization figures.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/13/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Family Freed From Afghan Hostages Refusing to Return to US
[Townhall] The White House announced the negotiated release of an American woman and her family Thursday, all of whom had been held hostage in Afghanistan by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network since 2012.

Caitlin Coleman, 32, was traveling with her Canadian husband in Afghanistan when they were kidnapped. She was pregnant at the time and had two more children in captivity.

"Today they are free. This is a positive moment for our country's relationship with Pakistan," President Trump said in a statement. "The Pakistani government's cooperation is a sign that it is honoring America's wishes for it to do more to provide security in the region."

But things took a bizarre twist Thursday afternoon when officials said the woman’s husband, Josh Boyle, was refusing to leave the country.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/13/2017 03:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Haqqani Network

#1  Caitlin Coleman, 32, was traveling with her Canadian husband in Afghanistan when they were kidnapped. She was pregnant at the time.....

Proof of Life stupid. I feel very sorry for the children, but no more effort or tax dollars spent on this bunch please.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/13/2017 3:18 Comments || Top||

#2  From the article:

Boyle was previously married to the sister of Omar Khadr, a Canadian man who spent 10 years at Guantanamo Bay after being captured in 2002 in a firefight at an Al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan.

The Canadian-born Khadr was 15 in 2002 when he tossed a grenade in a firefight that killed U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, a special forces medic.

One U.S. official told The Associated Press that Boyle was nervous about being in "custody" given his background.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/13/2017 6:01 Comments || Top||

#3  But Boyle is refusing to board an American military plane in Pakistan waiting to take them home, fearing he'll be arrested, a U.S. official said.

Boyle was previously married to the sister of Omar Khadr, a Canadian man who spent 10 years at Guantanamo Bay after being captured in 2002 in a firefight at an Al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan.The Canadian-born Khadr was 15 in 2002 when he tossed a grenade in a firefight that killed U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, a special forces medic.


So the Boyle (insert Muslim name here) family thought they had immunity to traipse through Afg-Pak. Or was their purpose to offer themselves up for ransom?

I hope the US or Canadian govs didn't pay one cent for these fuqwads (they do have a Muslim name).

Posted by: Guillibaldo Ulavish2533 || 10/13/2017 8:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Make the Fuqwads buy their own tickets back. The American taxpayers already wasted several hundred thousand dollars sending a military transport for them.
Posted by: Guillibaldo Ulavish2533 || 10/13/2017 8:08 Comments || Top||

#5  Boyle and his wife have been described as innocents and "harmless hippies" by Canadian authorities.

One U.S. official told The Associated Press that Boyle was nervous about being in "custody" given his background.

Are they complicit in something, have Stockholm syndrome or just useful idiots who have gone beyond their usefulness?

I feel sorry for the kids as well.

Posted by: JohnQC || 10/13/2017 8:16 Comments || Top||

#6  Wait a second, is the the same Khadr that recently recieved $8million in cash from the Canadian government? Because it sounds like Boyle's former brother-in law was THAT Khadr.
Posted by: Charles || 10/13/2017 9:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Then let them stay.
But tell them that they're on their own from this point forward.
Posted by: ed in texas || 10/13/2017 9:41 Comments || Top||

#8  #6 Wait a second, is the the same Khadr that recently recieved $8million in cash from the Canadian government? Because it sounds like Boyle's former brother-in law was THAT Khadr.
Posted by Charles
Yep, that Khadr...the same one that killed SFC Speer. This bunch of "tourists" are enemies.
Posted by: Tennessee || 10/13/2017 12:07 Comments || Top||

#9  The wicked flee when no man pursueth.
Posted by: Iblis || 10/13/2017 13:20 Comments || Top||

#10  His ex wife isn’t much better than her brother
Boyle married Zaynab Khadr in 2009. He was 25, she was 29. It was the third marriage for Zaynab. The first two were arranged: her first husband was sought as a conspirator in a bombing of the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan; Osama Bin Laden was one of the guests at her second wedding in Afghanistan.
Posted by: John Frum || 10/13/2017 13:29 Comments || Top||

#11  As with Bergdahl, the back story is important.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 10/13/2017 17:08 Comments || Top||

#12  Maybe he'd feel better if we threw in a sex change?
Posted by: gorb || 10/13/2017 17:20 Comments || Top||

#13  What does a doughboy change to?
Or two?
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/13/2017 18:45 Comments || Top||


#15  At 4pm local time, US officials informed Pakistani intelligence and at 7pm, the family was rescued in Kurram, 165 miles across the border from Kabul where the couple was kidnapped in 2012.

Reports of whether the captors survived are conflicting. Boyle said they were murdered after saying 'kill the hostages'.

The family was hiding in the trunk of the car and were removed. They were placed on a Pakistani military helicopter and were taken to the US embassy in Islamabad.

US officials tell a different story and suggest that the family had been in Pakistan for two years before they were rescued.

The discrepancy is significant - the US has accused Pakistan repeatedly of harboring and enabling terrorist networks.

Residents in Kurram said they had seen drones flying above them for days before the rescue. Pakistani officials say they ambushed the vehicle that was transporting the family and shot out its tires to bring it to a sudden halt.

Unnamed US and Canadian officials however say the family had been in the country for years and that Pakistani officials were aware of their presence there.

'It means Pakistan could have released them far earlier... But due to the tension with the US they felt it was the right moment,' one source said.

A senior Taliban commander also denied the military's account to AFP, saying the militants had released the hostages of their own volition.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4977868/Freed-Taliban-hostage-s-father-slams-Canadian-husband.html
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 10/13/2017 20:14 Comments || Top||

#16  Maybe a biscuit, with jelly.
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/13/2017 21:23 Comments || Top||

#17  I can’t even...
Posted by: Thomose Spawn of the Antelope4762 || 10/13/2017 22:03 Comments || Top||


Pakistan: Election Commission Denies Registration Of Party With Ties To Lashkar-e-Taiba
[WORLDVIEW.STRATFOR] Pakistain's Election Commission banned on Oct. 11 the Milli Moslem League (MML) from registering as an official political party, Hindustan Times reported. The MML is a new political party backed by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba
...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
‐ a terrorist group that has been blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. Saeed is under house arrest and has a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head. The head of the Election Commission told MML attorneys that because the party has ties to Lion of Islam groups, it cannot be registered.
Posted by: Fred || 10/13/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraq
Iraq PM Denies Attack Plan as Tensions Rise with Kurds
[AnNahar] Iraq's prime minister on Thursday denied an attack on the Kurds was imminent, in a bid to defuse tensions that had prompted Kurdish peshmerga fighters to temporarily seal off road links with the rest of the country.

"We are not going to use our army to fight our people or to make war on our Kurdish citizens or others," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said.

"Our duty is to preserve the unity of our country, to implement the constitution, and to protect citizens and national forces," he told a meeting of tribal leaders from the western province of Anbar.

The rise in tensions came two weeks after Kurdish voters overwhelmingly backed independence in a non-binding referendum that the central government condemned as illegal.

Iraqi Kurdish forces closed the two main roads connecting Arbil and Dohuk with the northern city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
for several hours, a Kurdish military official said.

"The closure was prompted by fears of a possible attack by Iraqi forces on the disputed areas," held by Kurdish forces but outside the autonomous Kurdish region in the north of the country, the official said.

Kurdish authorities said late Wednesday they feared Iraqi government forces and allied paramilitary units were gearing up to launch an assault on the autonomous region.

"We're receiving dangerous messages that the Hashed al-Shaabi (paramilitary forces) and federal police are preparing a major attack from the southwest of Kirkuk and north of Mosul against Kurdistan," the Kurdistan Regional Government's Security Council said.

- 'We are fighting a single enemy' -
Security sources said Thursday that Iraq's elite Counter Terrorism Service and Rapid Response Force had deployed more forces near peshmerga positions around Rashad, a village some 65 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of Kirkuk city.

The oil-rich province of the same name, areas of which took part in the referendum, is disputed between the Kurds and Baghdad.

Iraq's Joint Operations Command, which groups all pro-government forces, played down the tensions, expressing confidence that dialogue would resolve the problem.

"Our mission is clear: we are fighting a single enemy, ISIS," Brigadier General Yahiya Rassul said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group.

"All that interests Iraqis... is to liberate our country and beat the terrorist group," he said. "We do not forget the role played by the peshmerga."

He said Iraqi government forces had previously operated close to peshmerga lines near the northern city of Tal Afar.

Asked if there had been movements of Iraqi forces close to peshmerga positions, Colonel Ryan Dillon, front man for the U.S.-led coalition battling IS in Syria and Iraq, said: "We don't see that."

The coalition has worked with both peshmerga and Iraqi pro-government forces in the battle to oust IS from areas of Iraq it seized in mid-2014.

"Our mission is clear -- to defeat ISIS," Dillon said.

"We have done that throughout Iraq. We will support the Iraqis in the same way we have in the last three years to make sure that ISIS is defeated."

- Ties cut -
Central authorities severed ties between the Kurdish autonomous region and the outside world after the referendum by cutting international air links.

Neighboring The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and Iran, which fear that Iraqi Kurdish moves towards independence could fuel demands from their own sizable Kurdish communities, have also threatened to close their borders to oil exports.

An Iraqi court on Wednesday ordered the arrest of senior Kurdish officials responsible for organizing the referendum, saying they had done so "in contravention of a ruling by the Iraqi supreme court."

The warrant is likely to prove toothless as Baghdad's security forces do not operate inside Kurdistan, but it could stop the officials leaving the region.

Iraq has also launched a probe into Kurdistan's lucrative oil revenues and pledged to expose "corrupt" officials in the region who might have illegally monopolized the market.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/13/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


ISIS Bad Guy dies in Salahuddin
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) The pro-government paramilitary troops have killed an Islamic State militant who was attempting to target the troops in north of Salahuddin, a security source said.

Speaking to Baghdad Today, the source said “al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) killed an IS suicide attacker in north of Salahuddin. Troops are still looking for others.”

The intelligence of PMFs, according to the source, indicated “several IS suicide attackers beseiged in a tunnel at Makhoul mountains.”

Federal Police announced, late September, liberation of eastern Shirqat, the group’s holdout in north of the province. 225 militants had been killed since the launch of operations in Shirqat.
Posted by: badanov || 10/13/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Baghdad Bomb and Bullet Bulletin


8 wounded in bombing attack in Tarmiyah

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Eight persons were wounded on Thursday in a bomb blast in north of Baghdad, a security source said.

“An IED went off near stores in al-Falahat village in Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, leaving eight persons wounded,” the source told Baghdad Today.

Moreover, “unknown gunmen robbed a civilian’s vehicle threatening his with weapons in al-Ebeidi region, east of the capital,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. “They [gunmen] stole it and ran away.”

1 dead in bomb attack in Falahat neighborhood

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) One person was killed when an improvised explosive device exploded on Thursday north of Baghdad, according to police sources.

Alsumaria News quoted the source saying that an IED fitted beneath a civilian vehicle in Falahat neighborhood went off, killing the driver immediately.

A monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), which excludes security members deaths, said 196 civilians were killed, while 381 others were wounded due to violence and armed conflicts during the month of September. The fatalities included 10 foreign nationals. Baghdad was the most affected province with 37 deaths and 157 injuries.
Posted by: badanov || 10/13/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
More slain Maute, Abu men recovered from battle zone
[NEWSINFO.INQUIRER.NET] Government security forces recovered 24 remains suspected to belong to pro-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....
holy warriors following aerial bombings and ground assaults that lasted until late Tuesday.

The recovery of the bodies, including one that appeared to be a foreigner, from two locations inside the main battle area brought to 64 the number of bodies and skeletal remains recovered this week alone.

Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, commander of the military’s Western Mindanao Command, said the 24 bodies were found in two buildings that button men from the Maute group and their allies occupied.

But in a presser in Camp Aguinaldo on Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Restituto Padilla Jr., spokesperson for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said 22 cadavers were recovered, some of whom were suspected to be remains of leaders of the Maute group.

"We are also interested to find out if there are prominent people ... killed. This is the reason why we are asking the PNP (Philippine National Police) to conduct the DNA testing faster to identify [them], because one or two of them might be the leaders of this group," Padilla said.

AFP chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Año had announced in September that the Maute brothers‐Abdullah, Madi and Otto‐had been killed in the fighting.

However,
women are made to be loved, not understood...
another brother, Omar, and Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
leader Isnilon Hapilon were believed to still be alive, Año had said.

Galvez said firearms were found near the bodies retrieved recently.

"They are all confirmed members of Maute and Abu Sayyaf [groups]. There were no indications they were civilians or hostages," Galvez told news hounds.

He said they were expecting to find more bodies inside the main battle area as soldiers continued to move toward areas occupied by button men spread out in about 4 hectares in Marawi.

About 800 Maute fighters have been killed since the fighting started here on May 23, military officials said.

At least 159 soldiers and 47 non-combatants were killed as the government engaged holy warriors who laid siege to Marawi.
Posted by: Fred || 10/13/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Maute group (IS)

#1  Recover? Let em rot where they fell
Posted by: Frank G || 10/13/2017 8:38 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
300-400 IS Jihadists Left in Syria's Raqa
[AnNahar] Between 300 and 400 Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group jihadists remain in their one-time Syrian bastion of Raqa where a Kurdish-Arab force is fighting to seize full control, its U.S.-led coalition backer said Thursday.

"We are looking at approximately 4,000 civilians who remain in Raqa, and a matter of 3-400 remaining ISIS (IS) fighters," coalition front man U.S. Colonel Ryan S. Dillon told a news conference in Baghdad.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, have taken control of around 90 percent of the city from IS since they broke into it in June.

Officials from Raqa Civil Council -- a provisional administration set up by the SDF -- are trying to negotiate the safe passage of civilians from remaining IS-held areas.

"We have seen a trend of ISIS surrendering over these last months, about four to five per week ... including emirs and leaders," said Dillon, adding that others were captured to blend in with departing civilians.

Civilians Pour Out of Syria's Raqa as Bombing Intensifies

[AnNahar] Dozens of desperate civilians streamed out of battlefront districts of Syria's Raqa on Thursday after a ferocious resumption in bombardment against Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group holdouts in the city.

U.S.-led air strikes have helped the Syrian Democratic Forces oust IS from around 90 percent of the group's one-time bastion, but hundreds of jihadists and civilians are still believed to be holed up near Raqa's city centre.

Early Thursday morning, dozens of people -- mostly women and kiddies -- crossed the front line in Raqa's central al-Badu district and were transported by SDF forces to a row of one-room concrete warehouses on the western edge of the city. Many of the children were without shoes, their tiny feet covered in dirt after they fled their battle-scarred neighbourhoods on foot.

Haggard-looking men of all ages -- most of them suffering wounds to their legs or head -- had been syphoned off into a separate area for questioning.

Several residents told AFP that air strikes and artillery fire had resumed with a vengeance on Wednesday night after several days of relative calm.

"It was quiet for two or three days, and all we could think about was just going outside," said Nisrine, a 20-year-old Raqa resident originally from Aleppo.

She, her one-year-old son, and her neighbour Aya had been trapped inside their apartments in al-Badu for so many days she had lost count.

"But when the bombardment started up again, it was even worse than before," Nisrine said, her black face veil hiding everything but exhausted brown eyes.

- No sleep -
This week, officials from the Raqa Civil Council -- a provisional administration set up by the SDF -- were working to secure the safe passage of civilians from remaining IS-held areas.

SDF field commanders told AFP the front lines had been quiet in recent days apart from sporadic strikes.

The U.S.-led coalition backing the SDF's offensives said it carried out no air raids around Raqa on Monday and six on Tuesday. By comparison, it conducted 24 strikes around Raqa on Wednesday.

"The bombing stopped, there was supposed to be a truce and surrender. But then I don't know what happened and the artillery started again," said Abdullah al-Ali, a dazed Raqa resident in his twenties who escaped Thursday morning.

An older man with wiry salt-and-pepper hair and gauze over one eye said warplanes had largely spared al-Badu from bombing over the past three days.

"But last night, we didn't sleep at all from the air strikes and artillery," he told AFP as he waited to be taken to a mosque in a western suburb of Raqa that had been turned into a reception centre.

Since 2014, Raqa has served as the de facto Syrian capital of IS' self-styled "caliphate."

The SDF has squeezed jihadists into a sliver of territory near Raqa's heart ahead of a final push to fully recapture the city.

But Rojda Felat, who is leading the SDF's assault on Raqa, said the assault has been delayed by the outpouring of civilians in recent days.

"Over the past few days, we've liberated around 1,000 people including around 250 today," she told AFP on Thursday.

"We are preparing to enter the final week (of fighting), but the massive exit of civilians prevented this," she said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/13/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  "I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I’ll kill you all." Mad Dog Mattis
Posted by: Hupeting Sforza8196 || 10/13/2017 1:39 Comments || Top||

#2  That's only 6 or so mass graves.
Posted by: Frank G || 10/13/2017 7:22 Comments || Top||


Trouble in jihadist paradise as Al-Qaeda attacks ISIS in central Syria
[ALMASDARNEWS] The al-Qaeda linked Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham rebel faction launched a big attack in central Syria, Thursday, targeting 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....
’s (ISIS) positions inside the Hama Governorate.

HTS began the assault by launching several attacks at the villages of Abu Kahf, Abu al-Ghayr, Hisnawi, and Talihan in the northeastern countryside of Hama.

The al-Qaeda group would ultimately retake control of these villages after killing more than ten Islamic State Death Eaters and destroying two armored vehicles in this Hama pocket.

Since the morning, intense festivities have been reported between these former allies, as HTS looks to expel the Islamic State from this rural region.
Posted by: Fred || 10/13/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syrian Army Combat Summary
The Syrian Army units further advanced in al-Mayadeen city in the course of continued military operations against ISIL terrorists in Deir Ezzor.

SANA reporter said that army units carried out intensive operations against ISIL terrorists’ hideouts in al-Mayadeen city in the southeastern countryside, establishing control over al-Tibeh village that is adjacent to the city and advancing into al-Mayadeen neighborhoods from the western part, particularly al-Baloum neighborhood, the Industrial area and al-Madajin,

The reporter added that fierce clashes erupted between the army units and ISIL terrorists in the direction of Khsham-Hatla east of the Euphrates River and the fronts of al-Orfi and al-Sinaa in Deir Ezzor city, killing or injuring many of the terrorists.

The army’s Air and Artillery forces destroyed fortified positions and vehicles for ISIS in the cities of Mohassan and al-Mayadeen, the villages of Buqrus, al-Jneineh, al-Husseiniyeh, Hatla, Saalou, Zeban, Hawaej Zeban, al-Boleil, al-Salehiya and the neighborhoods of Kanamat, al-Hamidiyeh, al-Sheikh Yaseen, Khasarat and al-Ardi, the reporter said.

Local sources in the southeastern countryside of Deir Ezzor reported that ISIS terrorists executed three people by slaughtering them in al-Intilaq roundabout in al-Bokmal city, a day after a civilian was killed and his body was hung at al-Hissan village’s roundabout in the northwestern countryside.

Media reports mentioned that the Syrian army and allies managed to besiege Qaryatin town in Homs countryside, regaining control over swathes of territories in its vicinity from ISIL terrorists.

Source: Al-Manar Website and SANA
Posted by: badanov || 10/13/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


al-Nusra group launches rocket attacks in Aleppo
Al-Zahraa town in Aleppo northern countryside was targeted by Nusra Front terrorists’ rocketry attack which inflicted losses.

Source: Al-Manar Website
Posted by: badanov || 10/13/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Syrian regulars continue attacks into Mayadin
BEIRUT: Syrian opposition activists say regime troops are pushing deeper into a Daesh stronghold in the country’s east, the town of Mayadeen.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said clashes with militants intensified in the morning hours on Thursday in the town, as government forces advanced into the western and northern neighborhoods of Mayadeen, which lies on the Euphrates River.

The observatory said troops were able to cut off the road linking Mayadeen and the town of Boukamal on the border with Iraq.

“Regime forces, led on the ground by Russian forces, took control of at least four neighborhoods of Mayadeen,” observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The state news agency SANA confirmed that regime forces had re-entered Mayadeen.

Abdel Rahman, whose organization relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said Russian forces are “overseeing military operations, taking part in the fighting and carrying out airstrikes.”

The fresh advance by regime forces come in spite of reinforcements of around 1,000 men Daesh received from Iraq, according to the observatory.

The latest Russian-backed regime push has isolated the terrorists defending Mayadeen, cutting off the main road to their stronghold of Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border, and leaving the Euphrates River as their only escape.

Opposition activist Mozahem Al-Salloum said the fighting is fierce and that it will likely take time to rid Mayadeen of Daesh.

Meanwhile, between 300 and 400 Daesh terrorists remain in their one-time Syrian bastion of Raqqa where a Kurdish-Arab force is fighting to seize full control, its US-led coalition backer said Thursday.

“We are looking at approximately 4,000 civilians who remain in Raqqa, and a matter of 3-400 remaining ISIS (Daesh) fighters,” coalition spokesman Col. Ryan S. Dillon told a news conference in Baghdad.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, have taken control of around 90 percent of the city from Daesh since they broke into it in June.

Officials from Raqqa Civil Council — a provisional administration set up by the SDF — are trying to negotiate the safe passage of civilians from remaining Daesh-held areas.

“We have seen a trend of ISIS (Daesh) surrendering over these last months, about four to five per week ... including emirs and leaders,” said Dillon, adding that others were captured trying to blend in with departing civilians.
Posted by: badanov || 10/13/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Rebel group launch attacks against ISIS in Daraa
Daraa (Syria News) The Syrian rebels carried out a wide offensive, on Thursday, on the Islamic State headquarters, in the western countryside of Daraa, sources told Qasioun News.

The sources informed that the Syrian rebels attacked the headquarters of the Islamic State group in the area of al-Yarmouk Basin, in the western countryside of Daraa, in order to force the terrorist group to break the siege imposed on the Iraqi town of Heet.

Factions of the Syrian rebels bombarded the Islamic State headquarters located in the areas of Jalin, Sahm al-Golan, Adwan, Tal Ashtara, Libyan brigade and Galin camp, in western Daraa, using heavy artillery and rockets.

It is noteworthy that the Islamic State allied Jayesh Khaled Ibn al-Waleed militia managed to retake large areas of land in al-Yarmouk basin, last year, after clashes with the militias belonging to the rebels.
Posted by: badanov || 10/13/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2017-10-13
  Iraq PM Denies Attack Plan as Tensions Rise with Kurds
Thu 2017-10-12
  British jihadi Sally Jones killed by US drone strike fleeing ISIS hell
Wed 2017-10-11
  Bangladesh arrests top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami
Tue 2017-10-10
  Nusra Front, Islamic State clash in Syria's Hama province
Mon 2017-10-09
  Syrian rebels capture ISIS HQ in Deir Ezzor
Sun 2017-10-08
  Two Saudi guards killed in attack on royal palace in Jeddah
Sat 2017-10-07
  Driver 'deliberately mows down pedestrians' outside London Museum
Fri 2017-10-06
  Iraqi premier claims victory against Islamic State in Hawija
Thu 2017-10-05
  3 Special Forces Troops Killed and 2 Are Wounded in an Ambush in Niger
Wed 2017-10-04
  Daesh defense line collapses in Hawijah as Iraqi forces liberate more villages
Tue 2017-10-03
  Key ISIS member Qari Zahid killed in US drone strike in East of Afghanistan
Mon 2017-10-02
  Terror Attack in Las Vegas - Mass Shooting - Updated 50+ dead, 400+ wounded
Sun 2017-10-01
  Kurdish secession bid in Iraq threat to entire region: Hezbollah chief
Sat 2017-09-30
  Islamic State sets oil wells on fire, urges militants evacuate villages in Hawija
Fri 2017-09-29
  Lebanon Military Tribunal sentences Takfiri preacher to death

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