[VOA News] Since September 2017, al-Shabaab ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... hard boyz have overrun four Somali government military bases, killing more than 60 soldiers and seizing large quantities of weapons. Now, a military assessment by the Somali government found some of the troops manning these bases are completely unarmed.
The "Operational Readiness Assessment" conducted by the government found that approximately 30 percent of the soldiers in the bases do not have weapons. The evaluators said some units also lack medium and heavy weaponry, and some are "undermanned."
On Tuesday, Somali Defense Minister Mohammed Mursal Sheikh Abdirahman acknowledged the army's shortcomings.
"There are some who are not armed. We are working to complete their equipment but a majority of them have weapons," he said in an exclusive interview with VOA's Somali service.
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[AlAhtam] A Cairo criminal court handed preliminary death sentences to 21 people on Tuesday who were convicted in a court case dubbed by local media "the Damietta terror cell case."
The court’s preliminary death verdict is scheduled to be referred to the country’s grand mufti for a consultative non-binding opinion, as per Egypt’s penal code, and a final verdict will be rendered on 22 February for all 28 defendants in the case.
The defendants were charged with joining an outlawed group that aims to obstruct state institutions from carrying out duties, targeting private and public property, planning to assassinate police and military personnel, manufacturing bombs, and embracing terrorist thoughts.
The case dates back to May 2015, when the Egyptian interior ministry said it had nabbed Please don't kill me! 12 members of a terror cell in the city of Damietta, which is about 200 kilometres north of the capital.
The police said the defendants placed bombs outside the city’s cop shoppe and under gas pipelines in a nearby village.
The defendents would be the volatile young members of the Moslem Brotherhood who decided they didn’t have to play nice after President Morsi was driven from office, and were strongly encouraged in this belief by their more respectable elders.
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[IsraelTimes] Niger national targeted 'whites,' was also angry about 'US attacks against Moslems'.
Any excuse would do when the need to kill fell upon him.
A grocer from Niger
...we still don’t know his name, but we do know he is from the Moslem Hausa/Fulani community of northern Nigeria and sold smoked meat from a cart. So he comes from a community with a long tradition of raiding and murdering for fun and profit...
who knifed a Danish couple in Gabon shouting "holy shit! Allahu akbar" came to the capital two days before the attack and had been stalking the pair, a prosecutor said Monday.
Saturday’s attack on the Danes, who were in the West African state filming for National Geographic, was "premeditated," Libreville prosecutor Steeve Ndong Essame Ndong said, adding that the man had lived in Gabon for 19 years.
He said the 53-year-old came to Libreville on Thursday "with the aim of committing this cowardly act ’against whites,'" adding that it was not clear if the attacker was acting alone or for a group.
The man said in his first statements that he "acted in retaliation for US attacks against Moslems and America’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital," Defense Minister Etienne Massard said.
The Danes were stabbed while shopping for souvenirs in a popular tourist market in the heart of the capital. The man sustained severe injuries in the back and neck but his life is not in danger.
Police have made several arrests and 38 West Africans are in jug.
Gabon, a small French-speaking former colony with 1.8 million inhabitants, has so far been spared the Islamist-inspired attacks that have taken place in some neighboring countries.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement, Abdul Malik al-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 ... announced a new deterrence equation in retaliation to the US-Saudi aggression, stressing that the range of missiles was expanding and the upper hand shall be for the Yemeni forces.
Addressing Yemenis on Tuesday evening in a televised speech marking a thousand days of aggression, Sayyed Houthi said Yemenis will never surrender to the murderers of women and kiddies. "Enemies will not be able to take away our freedom, and weaken our willpower," he said.
The Ansarullah leader vowed that a thousand days of bombing with internationally banned weapons will be versus to a thousand days of resistance. "Aggression’s brutal policies only increased our belief in our choice, to resist and remain steadfast."
Addressing the aggression coalition against Yemen, Sayyed Houthi said: You bombed Sanaa, we shall bomb Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. You attacked the Yemeni presidential palace in Sanaa, our ballistic missiles will reach al-Yamama Palace in Riyadh.
"The range of our missiles will continue to expand, and we shall have the upper hand, God Willing!" Sayyed Houthi warned.
"Civilian and religious sites have been targeted in 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... within the three years of Saudi war. The Saudi regime does not shy from pounding anything which has to do with Yemen," he said, adding that "aggressors have, nevertheless, failed to force Yemenis into submission," he underlined.
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[ZEENEWS.INDIA] Even as China continued to block the listing of Pakistain-based Jaish-e-Mohammad ...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat... chief Masood Azhar in the UN-designated list of international terrorists, India and the US discussed procedures for pursuing designations against terrorist groups and individuals through domestic and international mechanisms.
The discussion came up at the inaugural India-US Designations Dialogue that was held here on Monday and Tuesday.
An identical statement issued by both the governments said the dialogue was to discuss increasing bilateral cooperation on terrorism-related designations.
"The establishment of this mechanism reflects shared Indian and US commitments to strengthen cooperation against terrorist threats," it said.
"The Indian and US delegations exchanged information on procedures for pursuing designations against terrorist groups and individuals, through domestic and international mechanisms. They also discussed best practices for effective implementation of the designations."
The statement said Washington would host the second India-US Designations Dialogue next year.
The meeting assumes significance after China said last month that due to the lack of consensus at the UN Security Council committee, the application seeking a ban on Azhar has been rejected.
Beijing has for the second time vetoed the proposal which was first moved by India at the Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council in March last year.
It did the same to a US proposal backed by La Belle France and Britannia, first blocking it in January and then put a technical hold for three months in August. A new resolution will have to be moved now.
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[DECCANCHRONICLE] US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... has asked Pakistain to take "decisive action" against terror groups operating on its soil, as he unveiled America's new National Security Strategy.
The US will also encourage Pakistain to continue demonstrating that it is a responsible steward of its nuclear assets, the National Security Strategy (NSS) said.
Mandated by the Congress, Trump on Monday released his first NSS, according to which the US has asked Pakistain to intensify its counterterrorism efforts.
"We have made clear to Pakistain that while we desire continued partnership, we must see decisive action against terrorist groups operating on their territory. And we make massive payments every year to Pakistain. They have to help," Trump said in his remarks as he announced the NSS.
Pakistain has received more than USD 33 billion from US since the 9/11 terror attacks.
"We will press Pakistain to intensify its counterterrorism efforts, since no partnership can survive a country's support for bandidosfaceless myrmidons and hard boyz who target a partner's own service members and officials," it said.
The NSS links its efforts to build trade and investment ties with Pakistain with improvement in security.
The Trump administration has been talking tough with Pakistain after it came to power, but has stopped short of taking any action against it even though the Pak leadership have shown reluctance in taking decisive actions against terrorist groups.
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[HINDUSTANTIMES] Pakistain’s National Security Advisor Nasser Khan Janjua has accused the US of siding with India and warned of a possible "nuclear war" due to the delicate security situation in South Asia.
"The stability of the South Asian region hangs in a delicate balance, and the possibility of nuclear war cannot be ruled out," Janjua was quoted by the Pak media as saying at a seminar in Islamabad on Monday.
"India has been stockpiling a range of dangerous weapons as it threatens Pakistain continuously of conventional warfare," he told the seminar on the the "National Security Policy ‐ Vision for Pakistain" that was organized by the Center for Global & Strategic Studies (CGSS).
Janjua said special efforts are needed to maintain balance in South Asia, which is a "mistake away" from a major catastrophe.
India-Pakistain ties are at an all-time low following a string of terror attacks last year that were blamed on Pakistain-based groups such as the Jaish-e-Mohammed. The two sides have also had intense exchanges of fire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmire, putting a 14-year-old ceasefire under pressure.
Janjua, who rarely speaks in public on security issues, contended the US had chosen to side with India against Pakistain while ignoring Islamabad’s "enormous sacrifices in the fight against terrorism".
"India is being given priority over Pakistain in Afghanistan, something that will shape the political and strategic dynamics of the war-torn country," he said in remarks that were described by the Pak media as unusually candid and blunt.
Janjua also accused the US of conspiring with India against the China-Pakistain Economic Corridor as part of its policy to counter Chinese influence in South Asia.
"The US-India alliance has an identical stance on the Kashmire issue, and America frequently gives India preference over Pakistain," he said.
Pakistain’s top civil and military leadership has been irked by growing pressure from the Trump administration to crack down terror groups based on the country’s soil ‐ an issue that was raised during recent visits to Pakistain by secretary of state Rex Tillerson and defence secretary Jim Mattis.
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Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi families continue to return to their home regions in Anbar after their liberation 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.... myrmidons, officials were quoted saying Tuesday.
Alsumaria News quoted Hussein Ali, mayor of Rawa, saying that a number of families began returning to Rawa, west of Anbar, the last city Iraqi forces recaptured from Islamic State.
He said the families were thoroughly vetted by security authorities.
Meanwhile, ...back at the dirigible, the pilot and the copilot had both hit the silk.
Jack! Cynthia exclaimed. Do you know how to drive one of these things?
Jack wiped some of the blood from his knuckles.
No, he said. Do you?... more than 170 families returned to homes at Hit and Obaidi areas, also west of the province.
Mazen Khaled, an advisor to Anbar governor, told Baghdad Today that 172 families were returned home to Hit and Obaidi from refugee camps in the province.
Recently, the International Organization for Migration said 1.3 million Iraqis had been repatriated to their home regions, driving the total since Islamic State myrmidons’ emergence in 2014 up to 2.4 million.
Suleiman al-Jumaili, Iraq’s planning minister, said Sunday that Iraq has suffered destruction from the war against IS that is worth USD47 million.
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Sense begins to reappear. There are consequences to that kind of nonsense.
[IsraelTimes] Some Arab countries refused to hold an emergency summit in order to discuss the decision of Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a senior Paleostinian official says.
"We requested an Arab summit over Jerusalem. Some Arab countries refused," says Muhammad Shtayeh, a senior Paleostinian official and Fatah central committee member, in an interview with the PA’s official TV station.
Shtayeh adds that just five heads of state attended the Organization of Islamic Countries meeting held in Istanbul last week to discuss the Jerusalem issue.
He doesn’t specify which Arab countries refused to hold a summit.
More sense and, it is no doubt hoped, therefore fewer consequences.
[Ynet] Indonesia's vice president said on Tuesday that calls for a boycott of US goods over President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... 's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel were misguided - not least because of the country's reliance on US technology.
There have been a series of protests in the world's biggest Moslem-majority country since Trump's controversial move this month to reverse decades of US policy.
At a rally of about 80,000 people on Sunday, the Indonesian Ulema Council, a body of Moslemholy mans, called for a boycott of US and Israeli products if Trump did not revoke his action.
BLUF:
[Free Beacon] The Obama administration began covertly supplying weapons to moderate Syrian rebel groups in 2013 to combat the Assad regime. President Donald Trump ended the secretive CIA operation in July, but a publicly known federal program to arm the Syrian Democratic Forces against ISIS remains in place.
The report found no evidence of SDF weapons falling into the hands of ISIS.
CAR said all of the weapons purchased by the United States were manufactured in European Union states, raising the prospect that the Pentagon violated international contracts.
"At the very least, the diversion of weapons documented in this report has eroded the trust that exporting authorities placed in the recipient governments," the authors wrote. "At worst, the diversions occurred in violation of signed agreements that commit recipient governments not to retransfer materiel without the exporter's prior consent."
Though the terrorist group often showcased American-made weapons presumably seized from Iraqi security forces in its propaganda videos, the majority of arms captured by ISIS came from Russia and China.
Roughly 90 percent of weapons and ammunition deployed by ISIS were manufactured in China, Russia, and Eastern European countries, with Moscow and Beijing accounting for more than 50 percent, according to the report. By comparison, NATO-produced weapons and ammunition accounted for 3 percent and 13 percent of ISIS's arsenal, respectively.
[The Hindu] As Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... seeks to reassert his authority in Idlib, the only remaining Province in Syria where his forces have almost no presence, he may be aided there by deep fractures within al-Qaeda, which dominates the region.
A recent wave of detentions and a spate of violence within al-Qaeda have also raised fears of an all-out war between Death Eaters in the heavily populated Province near The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... as Mr. Assad’s forces make their push.
Tensions inside Idlib have been on the rise for months, reflecting a power struggle between hard-line imported muscle loyal to al-Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, and its more moderate Syrian members. The tensions worsened in late November after a wave of detentions by an al-Qaeda-linked group against more myrmidon, mostly non-Syrian members.
The detentions, ordered by Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Haya’at Tahrir al Sham (HTS), were the clearest indication yet of the sharp divisions within the international terror network. They also come as al-Golani appears to be edging closer to Turkey.
Ahmad Hamade, a Syrian Army colonel who defected early in the conflict, said that HTS is more tolerated in northern Syria. In fact, many HTS fighters were members of the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... , the mainstream rebels fighting to topple Mr. Assad, he said.
Asad Kanjo, an opposition activist from Idlib who currently lives in Britannia, said that the divisions within al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria are the result of al-Golani trying to market himself as a Syrian leader who has no links to the international terror network.
"This is a purely Ottoman Turkish move. Turkey wants the Syrian branch (HTS) to cut all links with the international organization," Mr. Kanjo said, paving the way for al-Golani to join the political process.
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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.
the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
...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...
[DECCANCHRONICLE] US President 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
