[Libya Observer] The High Council of State (HCS) member Abdelrahman al-Shater said the French initiative to resolve Libya’s political impasse is for the interest of La Belle France and its aim to control Libya through its agents in the country.
Al-Shater told Italian Aki news agency that La Belle France’s initiative is an escalation on its part to conduct acts in Libya that would result in benefits for Gay Paree.
"La Belle France is hindering UNSMIL efforts in Libya, which sees that all Libyan parties should agree on a solution, and if such an act by La Belle France is done in Libya then the country will go for division and civil war." He remarked.
La Belle France proposed last week a new initiative to end Libya’s political crisis and invited Libyan stakeholders to an international conference in Gay Paree to be held on May 29.
La Belle France did not official announce the initiative, but sources disclosed that it would include commitment to Cairo meetings for the unity of the military institution and elections by the end of 2018.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018 00:00 ||
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[All Africa] A court in Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... has sentenced seven activists from the country's Anglophone minority to 10 to 15 years in jail on terrorism and rebellion charges, a defense lawyer said on Friday.
Among those charged was Mancho Bibixy, a radio presenter in the English-speaking Northwest Region. Bibixy was handed a 15-year prison term for "acts of terrorism, hostility against the homeland, secession, revolution and insurrection."
Bibixy and fellow activists were jugged Book 'im, Mahmoud! last year as part of a crackdown on an Anglophone independence movement by President Paul Biya's French-speaking government.
Bibixy's lawyer, Claude Assira, said the convictions "would only worsen the... Anglophone crisis."
'Targeted killings'
The convictions come a week after the US ambassador to Cameroon, Peter Barlerin, accused government forces of "assassinations, arson and looting" in the fight against Anglophone separatists. He called for a dialogue to end the 18-month separatist crisis in the country's English-speaking regions.
The Cameroonian government summoned Barlerin earlier this week to protest his remarks.
Cameroon's English-speaking population has long complained of discrimination in the majority French-speaking country.
In 2016, English-speaking teachers and lawyers in the two main English-speaking provinces -- the northwest and the southwest -- launched a peaceful movement to demand for reforms and greater autonomy.
The movement became an armed conflict last year following violent crackdowns by government forces.
The separatists want to turn the provinces into an independent nation named Ambazonia. They even declared independence in October 2017 after President Biya rejected demands for greater autonomy.
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05/27/2018 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] The start-up of the Arab world's first nuclear reactor‐in the United Arab Emirates‐has been delayed and should start operations between the end of 2019 and early 2020, the plant's operator said on Saturday.
Nawah Energy Company, the operator of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in the al-Dhafra Region of Abu Dhabi, said it "has completed a comprehensive operational readiness review" for an updated start-up schedule for the reactor.
The $24.4 billion Barakah power plant is the world's largest nuclear project under construction and will be the first in the Arab world.
"The results of Nawah's review forecast that the loading of nuclear fuel assemblies required to commence nuclear operations at Barakah Unit 1 will occur between the end of 2019 and early 2020," it said in a statement.
That much longer until radioactive materials are available in that part if the world, and radioactive waste generated and needing disposal.
[IsraelTimes] Government outlets loyal to reformist crown prince Mohammed bin Salman paint a rosy picture of Israeli ties, but despite Iranian threat many citizens use Twitter to loudly disagree
A recent headline in the Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat asked readers, "Do you stand with Iran or Israel?"
The writer, Abd al-Rahman al-Rashid, is a seasoned editor of Saudi Arabia’s government-sponsored publications, and al-Sharq al-Awsat is among the Arab world’s most prestigious newspapers.
Continued on Page 49
HT Don Surber
[Der Spiegel] Following diplomatic discord between Berlin and Riyadh, contracts for German businesses in Saudi Arabia have been drying up. Is the crown prince punishing them? Yes. Frau Merkel is facilitating Iran's armament for German economic reasons
Detlef Daues is a pioneer of the German small- and medium-sized companies that have made Germany what it is today: a prosperous nation with good international relations that stretch to even the farthest-flung corners of the world.
His Hannover-based virtual department store for original replacement parts, V-Line GmbH, services customers in countries like Mexico, the United States, Qatar and Oman in addition to others in East Asia. But 65 percent of Daues' revenues come from Saudi Arabia. "Came"
But currently, the once-positive relationship between Saudi Arabia and Germany has worsened. Six months ago, Riyadh withdrew its ambassador from Germany and he still hasn't returned. There has been little open discussion of the reasons behind the conflict, but for people like Daues in the business community, the rift is as plain as day. "For Germans, the doors in Riyadh have suddenly been closed," says one experienced businessman in the Saudi capital. Meetings with delegations from Germany that were set up before the crisis are being canceled. "Ooooh! That hurts," says Oliver Oehms of the German-Saudi Arabian Liaison Office for Economic Affairs in Riyadh.
Young crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS for short, appears to be "deeply offended" by the German government, says Daues, who adds that his information comes from confidants in Riyadh. Relations between the two countries began souring last November when then-German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel spoke of spreading "political adventurism" in the Middle East, a remark many thought was aimed at Saudi Arabia. The impression was widespread at the time that Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was being held against his will in Riyadh and that he was being strong-armed by the rulers there to step down.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2018 08:38 ||
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#1
Surber: "Old Europe's embrace of Iran has consequences. I believe the anti-Semitism inherent in socialism has much to do with this enabling of Iranist terrorism through Hamas and the like.
At any rate, the new leadership in Saudi Arabia, which supports Israel, will have none of this.
Which side are we on?
U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grennell tweeted on May 8, "As @realDonaldTrump said, US sanctions will target critical sectors of Iran’s economy. German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately."
Germans can trade with Iran or Saudi Arabia, but they no longer can do both."
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2018 8:47 Comments ||
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#2
And Germany granted asylum to one of Salman's detractors.
And Germany seems to be a friend of the Turk.
And Merkel is a toad. I know I wouldn't want to do business with a German company when Germans don't want to be Germans anymore.
[Ynet] The Ottoman Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Saturday it condemned as a "double standard" a decision by Germany to allow a rally by the pro-Kurdish opposition HDP party in Cologne ...the largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth populated city in Germany.... , having previously prevented ruling party politicians from campaigning there.
"This two-faced approach, which we condemn strongly, cannot be reconciled with democracy, the fight against terrorism and expectations of a normalization in Ottoman Turkish-Germany relations," the ministry statement said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/27/2018 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] At the end of a volatile week for the embattled Ottoman Turkish lira, President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... has called on Turks to convert to convert foreign currency savings into the country's currency.
The lira, which has fallen about 20 percent this year, hit a low of 4.93 against the US dollar on Wednesday, before The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... 's central bank raised its top interest rate by three percentage points to 16.5 percent in an attempt to help stabilise the currency.
The emergency rate hike, which helped reduce some of the losses, was followed up by the central bank also saying on Friday that it would allow some foreign currency debt to be repaid at fixed lira rates.
Speaking to supporters in the eastern city of Erzurum on Saturday, about one month before Turkey heads to the polls, Erdogan said: "My brothers who have dollars or euros under their pillow. Go and convert your money into lira. We will thwart this game together."
Ankara has repeatedly said the lira's fall was a "conspiracy" by unnamed foreign powers to weaken Turkey.
"If the financial sector plays such games to work against our investors and entrepreneurs, know that you will pay a steep price," Erdogan said on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Next up? Confiscation of foreign currency.
"Dollars are Gulenist"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2018 8:27 Comments ||
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#2
'Down with the Gulenist hoarders and wreckers, comrades!" Erdogan is following the Fascist model: you don't have to nationalize 'the means of production' if you can control it. Let the peasants believe that they have private property rights.
Not even close, Procopius2k. America has a national highway system, Adolf Hitler established the autobahn system. That does not mean that a national highway system is a mark of fascism. The key to fascism is that it is totalitarian. All, both high and low, feel the weight of the state on their necks, the scrutiny of their every move; under President Obama and the social justice warriors they did and do try to tend more in that direction than it used to, but on the other hand, there are now more outlets for free thought, free association, and free enterprise than there were a generation or two ago. Remember when the New York Times defined both what was reported and how? When books only came from the traditionally Progressive publishing houses? But now we have the entire range of political opinion and news available on the internet, and the following actually haooened:
[PowerLine] Shocking because it comes from the editors of the Harvard Crimson, and because the diversity they call for is ideological. The context is the release of a report by Harvard’s Presidential Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging. The report, predictably, was all about race and gender. The Crimson’s editors write:
[M]uch more work is needed in expanding the conversation and prioritizing ideological diversity on campus. Startlingly, just around 1.5 percent of respondents to The Crimson news staff’s survey of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences identify as conservative or very conservative, compared to 83.2 percent who identify as liberal or very liberal.
These statistics do not reflect America: 35 percent of Americans identify as conservative, 23 times the fraction of the faculty survey’s respondents, and 26 percent identify as liberal. This stark divide has harmful effects on the University’s ability to train our nation’s leaders, and it risks alienating current and potential conservative students. It has also likely contributed to the declining trust of Americans in higher education, which has deleterious effects.
[DAWN] The Foreign Office dismissed on Friday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s allegation about American diplomats being "treated badly" in Pakistain and noted that no specific complaints had been made by Washington.
"The Foreign Office has not received any specific complaints from the US side after establishment of the mechanism to resolve the issue, on treatment of the US diplomats in Pakistain," FO front man Dr Muhammad Faisal said at the weekly media briefing.
Secretary Pompeo had, while testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, said: "My officers, our State Department officers, are being treated badly as well, folks working in the embassies and consulates [and] in other places are not being treated well by the Pak government either."
Responding to these allegations, Dr Faisal said that all Pakistain-based foreign diplomats were being extended diplomatic privileges without any discrimination and were being facilitated as per international laws and norms as well as reciprocity.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Yah, we treat them just like we treat everybody
[DAWN] Pakistain Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Friday banned TV host and Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... member Dr Amir Liaquat from appearing on any TV channel in Pakistain for thirty days after ruling that he had violated several sections of Pemra Ordinance in a TV programme a day ago.
The media regulator, in a notification issued on May 25, stated that Liaquat, during his channel's Ramazan transmission on May 24, had "aired live, un-edited and without any delay" a video call from Gujrat wherein the caller had raised a controversial religious question.
Pemra notes that Dr Liaquat "merely for creating sensation and in order to achieve maximum rating", created "unwarranted drama on the basis of religion and hurt the sentiments of different sects and public on the lam".
After this incident, Dr Liaquat "quit the show, leaving the live platform for the guest Ulemas who exchanged quite harsh arguments," the notification adds.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Pakistain’s former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... has said had he been the president now, he would have released Dr Shakil Afridi in a "give and take" deal.
In an interview to Voice of America’s Greta Van Susteren, Musharraf also noted that relations between the United States and Pakistain were at their "lowest ebb" now.
"Well, with a deal, yes. With a deal," said the retired general when asked if he was the president now, would he release Afridi. "A deal, is a give and take. Yes, indeed it can be resolved. I don’t think it is such a serious thing that it cannot be resolved," he added.
Dr Afridi, who helped the CIA locate the late Osama bin Laden ... who used to be alive but now he's not... in Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... , has been in prison in Pakistain since 2011. On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged before a congressional committee that he would continue to work "diligently" to get Afridi out of prison.
US politicians have urged the Trump administration to bring Afridi to the United States where he is considered a hero.
Defending Pakistain’s position on Afridi, Musharraf said every nation had to make policies in accordance with its interests.
He acknowledged that Pakistain’s policy in this case was an "irritant to the United States but Washington would have probably done the same if faced with a similar situation. "Purely on the merits of the case, ... would you allow... a US citizen dealing with the ISI on a very, very sensitive issue of national importance to the United States?" he asked.
One possibility Musharraf indicated in the interview was exchanging Afridi for Mullah Fazlullah ...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan... . "We can resolve this irritant and exchange more accommodating stance from the United States... and Afghanistan because we have a terrorist sitting there, Fazlullah," he said.
"I suppose the United States also knows that he’s there."
Further exploring the possibilities for improving America’s relations with Pakistain, he urged Washington to listen to Islamabad’s grievances and advised Islamabad to pay attention to America’s complaints about the Haqqani network. "We need to sit down and resolve these issues," he said.
Washington claims that Pakistain has allowed the Haqqani network to use its territories for carrying out operations in Afghanistan and has greatly reduced its financial assistance to Pakistain over this issue.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018 00:00 ||
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The United States has increased the number of its troops in Iraq as opposed to a declared reduction of forces, a newspaper has claimed.
Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... i newspaper The New Arab quoted Iraqi military officials saying that U.S. forces in Iraq have increased, adding that the declaration of the reduction of those troops was "untrue". The officials said the U.S. has even intensified the presence of its intelligence operators on the Iraqi-Syrian borders, especially at Habbaniya and Ain al-Assad bases (Anbar), as well as in Balad (Salahuddin), Qayyara (djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... ), Erbil and Mosul.
The U.S. forces are now situated in two camps, one at the Iraqi Tanaf crossing, and the other near the phosphate mines south of Qaem, Anbar, the newspaper quoted the officials saying.
Last March, the Iraqi parliament obliged the government to set a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country after the military operations 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.... bully boyz ended last December.
The officials noted that those forces contribute to the rehabilitation of Iraqi artillery forces damaged by the war.
According to them, the latest Iraqi Arclight airstrikes on the Islamic State locations in Syria were carried out based on aerial photos provided by the Pentagon.
The U.S. has led an international coalition backing Iraqi forces against IS since 2014. The coalition declared late April the end of its land operations in Iraq, and shifting to training purposes. The Pentagon had said late 2017 it maintained slightly more than 8000 troops in Iraq.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/27/2018 00:00 ||
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi parliament will discuss in today’s session suggestions to cancel the results of the recent parliament elections and withdrawing confidence from the commission that ran them.
Baghdad Today quoted Jassem al-Bayyati, a parliamentarian described as "close" to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, saying Saturday that the chamber, based on an invitation by its chief for an extraordinary session on electoral breaches, will discuss revoking the election results and totally, or partially, withdrawing confidence from the High Electoral Commission.
He added that other suggestions on the table are limiting cancellations to the refugee and expatriate votes.
The parliament failed to convene for the same purpose last Thursday for lack of quorum.
Accusations of forgery flew after the end of votes on May 12th. Abadi’s office said the prime minister had referred to the Integrity Authority a violation by the High Electoral Commission related to its failure to hire a specialized firm to check and verify the soundness of electronic vote counters.
According to official result, Abadi’s al-Nasr list came third. First came Saeroon list, sponsored by Shia leader, Moqtada Tater al-Sadr ... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah... , a populist seeking to break away from Iranian influence and scathingly opposed to foreign military presence in Iraq. Second came al-Fatah, an alliance of former leaders of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces, the Shia-led troops that backed government forces campaign, under Abadi, to drive out 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 since 2014.
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05/27/2018 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Abandoning limitations on operating only in southern Syria, Jerusalem reportedly notifies Moscow it will now operate all across its northern neighbor; Arabic Sky News reports 21 people killed in Homs strike Thursday, 9 of them Iranian; Islamic republic's official press agency denies claim.
Israel has notified Russia of its decision to expand its "red lines"‐as it pertains to operations against Iran in Syria‐to the entirety of its northern neighbor's territory rather than just the southern portion of the country as it had so far, the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Saturday evening.
Israel initially offered no comment on the report by the London-based pan-Arab paper.
On a possibly related matter, Arabic-language Sky News reported that in the strike in the Homs province of Syria earlier this week‐attributed to the Israeli Air Force‐21 people were killed, nine of whom were Iranian. Sky News was the only outlet reporting the figures.
The claim was later refuted by Iran's official news agency IRNA, which stated the strike led to no Iranian casualties.
British-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Friday that the overnight strike‐seemingly by Israel‐targeted a base occupied by Hezbollah operatives and weapons caches.
The Dabaa base, according to the Observatory's report, also housed combatants belonging to other militias allied to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... , and that it was unclear whether the strike caused any deaths.
The pro-Hezbollah Lebanese daily al-Akhbar, meanwhile, reported that the strike was the most significant since the so-called "Night of Missiles"‐when 32 missiles were launched by the elite Iranian Quds Force earlier in the month, prompting a crushing Israeli response that reportedly left eleven Iranians dead.
Despite the Syrian army's claim that its aerial defense systems shot back at the missiles and jets, several hits to the airfield were documented, the paper further reported.
Al-Akhbar then went on to say no operational airborne activities were being launched from the base, but that it did house several storerooms and command centers. The region of the base was previously targeted by a tripartite American-British-French assault recently, after allegations it was being used to manufacture chemical weapons.
Rami Abdurrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Thursday that six missiles were fired at the Dabaa military airbase and its vicinity in southwestern Homs, hitting Hezbollah weapons caches.
The base is just north of the city of al-Qusayr, which Hezbollah overtook in 2013 from Syrian rebel forces. The city's capture marked a turning point in the Shiite terror group's involvement in the years' long Syrian civil war.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/27/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Looks like Israel got the f-35s about the right time.
[PRESSTV] Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... should still remain in hospital despite his "excellent" conditions, officials have said in the wake of rumors about his deteriorating health. If he's in "excellent condition" then why's he in the hospital?
Saed Sarahna, the head of Istishari Arab Hospital, where Abbas is being treated, said Saturday that the president of the Paleostinian Authority (PA) should still stay in the facility, which is located near the city of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
"His state of health is excellent but the doctors have not yet decided the date of his release," said Sarahna without elaborating in further details about Abbas’ treatment.
Earlier reports had suggested that Abbas, 83, who was hospitalized last Saturday for follow-ups on an ear surgery, would be discharged on Monday or Tuesday. Doctors, however, have yet to confirm those reports, which were based on statements by PA officials.
Another source close to Abbas said doctors would agree on a discharge date when the Paleostinian president fully recovers.
Paleostinian news agency WAFA said Abbas had resumed his normal activities as president, adding that he had spoken to a number of regional politicians to reassure them of his health. It also said Gong Xiaosheng, China's special envoy to the Middle East, visited Abbas in hospital.
On Monday, official media published pictures showing Abbas reading a newspaper and walking around the wards, an apparent attempt to reject reports suggesting his condition was worse than officially communicated. Some of those reports, which authorities dismissed as rumors, said Abbas had a severe inflammation in his ear while others suggested the PA leader, who is a heavy smoker, may have suffered from a stroke as he had consistent pain in his chest.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018 00:00 ||
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[Jpost] Cooperation with Israel, or Assad's propaganda?
Talal Naji, assistant secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine, accused Syrian rebels of collaborating with Israel during an interview Saturday with Hezbollah’s al-Mayadeen news network. The PFLP is allied with Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... According to Naji, after Assad’s forces overtook the Yarmouk Paleostinian refugee camp from rebels associated with Jabhat al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... and ISIS, it was discovered that the rebels had dug out old graves with the intent of locating the bodies of three Israeli soldiers who went missing during the 1982 battle of Sultan Yacoub and are presumed dead: Zachary Baumel, Yehuda Katz and Zvi Feldman.
The battle was between Israeli and Syrian forces during the first Leb war, and the bodies remained in the hands of the Syrian fighters. The battle took place when Israel tried to gain a foothold on the Beirut-Damascus highway before a cease-fire went into effect.
This is not the first time that Assad’s supporters have accused Syrian rebels of receiving support from Israel in an attempt to undermine their legitimacy. Pictures of Syrian rebels carrying medical supplies with Hebrew letters on them were published in the past, and The Wall Street Journal has even published an interview with Syrian rebels who admitted to having ties with Israel.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/27/2018 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Military official dismisses as 'sheer lie' report that 9 Iranians among 21 killed in Thursday raid on alleged Hezbollah weapons depot
Iran on Saturday denied any of its troops were killed in a suspected Israeli Arclight airstrike in Syria, after a report said nine Iranians were among the dead.
Reports that Iranians were killed in Thursday’s strike are "a sheer lie and quite baseless," the official IRNA news agency quoted an unnamed military official as saying.
The targets of the strike, which sparked large kabooms, were munitions depots belonging to the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group, located on an air base south of the city of Homs, according to the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, which also said the strikes were most likely carried out by Israel.
Sky News Arabic reported Saturday that 21 people were killed in the strike, including nine Iranians.
"Six missiles were fired at the Daba’a military airport and surrounding area in the western sector of Homs province, targeting Lebanese Hezbollah weapons warehouses," Rami Abd el-Rahman, director of the Observatory, told AFP.
The Observatory identified Israel as the likely perpetrator. "The missiles would have been fired by Israel," el-Rahman said.
The Israel Defense Forces refused to comment on the attack.
The Daba’a air base, also known as al-Qusair air base, and the surrounding area are known to be a stronghold for Hezbollah and Iran-backed militias. It was also reportedly struck by Israel in skirmishes against Syrian and Iranian forces on May 10.
A military source told state media that the incoming missile attack was intercepted. This is a common claim by SANA, including in cases where the outlet later acknowledged that strikes hit their target.
Conflicting accounts emerged about the exact number of missiles fired at the Syrian air base. Various Syrian and Lebanese outlets reported that it was between two and eight.
The military source did not identify who Syria believed had carried out the attack, though some Syrian media outlets assumed it was Israel, which has been conducting regular airstrikes in the country in recent years, more in the past few months.
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05/27/2018 00:00 ||
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[PRESSTV] Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says Leb stands at the forefront of the fight against the Israeli regime's extremism.
Rouhani on Saturday extended his congratulations to Lebanese President Michel Aoun ...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... ... on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of Leb’s Resistance and Liberation Day, which marks the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Arab country’s southern territory.
"Undoubtedly, Leb stands at the forefront of the fight against the Zionist regime’s extremism," the Iranian president said, adding that "convergence and unity in the golden triangle of the [Lebanese] government, army and resistance [front] have played a leading role in achieving this big victory."
He once again expressed Iran's strong support for the establishment of stability and peace in Leb.
The Israeli regime first invaded Leb in 1978 and later escalated the military operation into a full-scale offensive in 1982.
Following the 1982 offensive, known as the First Leb War, Tel Aviv refused to leave southern Leb and kept its military presence there in defiance of UN Security Council Resolution 425 that called on the regime to immediately withdraw.
However, ars longa, vita brevis... the Zionist enemy eventually buckled under the resistance put up by Hezbollah fighters and pulled out its forces from the occupied areas overnight on May 24, 2000, in what observers call a humiliating defeat for the regime in Tel Aviv and a glorious victory for Hezbollah.
During the 22-year entanglement with Leb, the Israeli military took heavy blows from Lebanese resistance fighters and reportedly lost some 900 of its soldiers. That works out to an average of 41 a year...
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05/27/2018 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) command has allowed soldiers serving since 2010 to return home after eight years of service.
All soldiers part of Recruitment Class 102 will be honorably discharged at the end of the month and allowed to return to civilian life.
Most of the soldiers part from this recruitment class had served in the provinces of Homs, Damascus, and Aleppo, which have been declared militarily safe.
With the latest victories in Homs and Damascus, the Syrian Army can now afford to discharge these soldiers from Class 102.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018 00:00 ||
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The federal government has placed thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children in the homes of sponsors, but last year it couldn't account for nearly 1,500 of them.
Steven Wagner, a top official with the Department of Health and Human Services, disclosed the number to a Senate subcommittee last month while discussing the state of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) that oversees the care of unaccompanied immigrant children.
Wagner is the acting assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. ORR is a program of the Administration for Children and Families.
CNN reported earlier this month that, in his testimony, Wagner said during the last three months of 2017, the ORR lost track of nearly 1,500 immigrant children it had placed in the homes of sponsors.
Wagner's statement has attracted more attention amid reports that immigrant children are being separated from their parents at the US border.
Wagner said the Department of Homeland Security referred more than 40,000 immigrant children to the ORR during the 2017 fiscal year.
After a stay in an ORR shelter, the majority of children are sent to live with sponsors who have close ties to the children -- typically a parent or close relative, Wagner said, though some end up living with "other-than-close relatives or non-relatives."
Between October and December 2017, Wagner told the subcommittee, the ORR reached out to 7,635 unaccompanied children to check on them. But the ORR "was unable to determine with certainty the whereabouts of 1,475 children," Wagner testified. An additional 28 had run away.
That's more than 19% of the children that were placed by the ORR. But Wagner said HHS is not responsible for the children.
"I understand that it has been HHS's long-standing interpretation of the law that ORR is not legally responsible for children after they are released from ORR care," Wagner said.
The office is "taking a fresh look at that question," he added. But if the ORR were to be legally responsible for the well-being of unaccompanied immigrant children, it would need a significant increase in resources.
A request for comment from HHS on Saturday has not been returned.
The ORR has a series of evaluations to determine if a sponsor is suitable to provide and care for a child. Those policies have also been enhanced since February 2016. Among the ORR's practices, it evaluates potential sponsors' relationship with the children and conducts background checks to ensure children are protected from human traffickers or smugglers, Wagner said.
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.
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Michel Aoun
