[Khaama (Afghanistan)] President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. has said Afghanistan wants an end to the undeclared war of Pakistain and the country’s tolerance towards a stable Afghanistan.
He made the remarks during a meeting with the youths, Civil, and Social activists of Southeastern Paktia province.
President Ghani further added that a stable Afghanistan is in the best interests of Pakistain, regional countries, and the whole world.
This comes as the Afghan and U.S. officials have long been claiming that the myrmidon and terrorist groups, particularly the Taliban ...Arabic for students... and the notorious Haqqani terrorist network, use their safe havens in Pakistain to plan and coordinate attacks in Afghanistan.
However, the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything... the Pak officials have repeatedly rejected the claims of the Afghan and U.S. officials.
In the meantime, President Ghani once again emphasized on regional cooperation for economic development and said economic development in Pakistain would not be possible without regional cooperation.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2018 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] La Belle France said on Tuesday there was no doubt Iran’s intelligence ministry was behind a June plot to attack an exiled opposition group's rally outside Gay Paree and it seized assets belonging to Tehran's intelligence services and two Iranian nationals.
"Behind all this was a long, meticulous and detailed investigation by our (intelligence) services that enabled us to reach the conclusion, without any doubt, that responsibility fell on the Iranian intelligence ministry," a French diplomatic source said.
The source, speaking after the government announced asset freezes, added that deputy minister and director general of intelligence Saeid Hashemi Moghadam had ordered the attack and Assadollah Asadi, a Vienna-based diplomat held by German authorities, had put it into action.
The incident was a plot "designed by those who want to damage Iran’s long-established relations with La Belle France and Europe," he said.
The plot targeted a meeting of the Gay Paree-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) outside the French capital. 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... ’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and several former European and Arab ministers attended the rally.
It unravelled after Asadi, an accredited diplomat in Austria, was placed in durance vile Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in Germany, two other individuals were detained in Belgium in possession of explosives, and one other individual in La Belle France.
On Monday, a court in southern Germany ruled the diplomat could be extradited to Belgium.
"We cannot accept any terrorist threat on our national territory and this plot needed a firm response," the diplomatic source said.
The asset freezes targeted Asadi and Moghadam. A unit within the Iranian intelligence services was also targeted.
The French government gave no details of the assets involved, describing its measures as "targeted and proportionate."
The diplomatic source said the freezes covered assets and financing means in La Belle France, although neither individual at this stage had any assets in the country.
"We hope this matter is now over. We have taken measures and said what we needed to say," the source said, suggesting Gay Paree was seeking to turn a page on the issue.
The intelligence ministry is under control of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
"We deny once again the allegations against Iran and demand the immediate release of the Iranian diplomat," an Iranian foreign ministry front man was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.
La Belle France had warned Tehran to expect a robust response to the thwarted bombing and diplomatic relations were becoming increasingly strained.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian spoke to their Iranian counterparts about the issue at the UN General Assembly after demanding explanations over Iran’s role.
An internal French foreign ministry memo in August told diplomats not to travel to Iran, Rooters revealed, citing the Villepinte bomb plot and a toughening of Iran’s position towards the West.
Gay Paree has also suspended nominating a new ambassador to Iran and not responded to Tehran nominations for diplomatic positions in La Belle France.
While not directly linked to the plot, the diplomatic source said a French police raid on a Shiite Moslem faith centre earlier on Tuesday was aimed at also sending a signal at Iran.
The deterioration of relations with La Belle France could have wider implications for Iran.
Hassan Rouhani’s government is looking to European capitals to salvage a 2015 nuclear deal after the United States pulled out and reimposed tough sanctions on Iran.
La Belle France has been one of the strongest advocates of saving the deal, which saw Tehran agree to curbs on its nuclear programme in return for a lifting of economic sanctions.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has said it expects renewed sanctions to hurt the Iranian economy hard.
[IsraelTimes] Tehran looking to mitigate anger in Gay Paree after officials say Iranian intelligence ordered attack on exiled opposition group near French capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal for acquittal filed by a police officer who was handed a life sentence for abducting a Pak-origin Belgian citizen for ransom.
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who headed the three-member bench, said that when defenders of the law become looters they should receive a harsh punishment.
"Why don't we turn the criminal's life sentence into a death sentence," asked Justice Khosa.
The prosecutor Mohammad Jaffar told the court today that the police officer, Mohammad Zubair, had kidnapped the Pak-origin Belgian citizen.
The trial court had sentenced the police official to life in prison for kidnapping the victim from Kharian and obtaining Rs200,000 in ransom. The Lahore High Court earlier upheld the trial court's sentence.
Justice Khosa observed that the traveller to Pakistain must have experienced a terrible shock, and added that the LHC had noted in its order that such a criminal should have received a greater punishment.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2018 00:00 ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...the political wing of the Pak Taliban... Sami (JUI-S) Chief Maulana Samiul Haq ...the Godfather of the Taliban, leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as Mullah Sandwich for his habit of having two young boys at a time... , also famous as the Father of the Taliban ...Arabic for students... , has proposed talks between the Afghan Ulemas and the Taliban group in a secret location.
According to a statement released by Madrassah Haqqania, a delegation consisting of Afghan Ulemas and High Peace Council representatives, met with Maulana Sami during their visit to Pakistain on Sunday.
"As the Taliban consider you as a teacher, we want your mediation between the Taliban and Afghan government," the statement quoted members of the delegation as telling the JUI-S leader.
Samiul Haq proposed a meeting of the scholars and the Taliban at a secret location without involvement of the Afghan government, Pakistain and the US, according to Daily Times.
"I think the Afghan rulers, former mujahideen leaders and the Taliban must agree on one point that is the withdrawal of the US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... forces and to liberate Afghanistan," Samiul Haq told the Afghan scholars, according to the statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2018 00:00 ||
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Basra (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi issued on Monday a decision, appointing Maj. Gen. Qassem Nazzal as new commander of Basra Operations.
The replacement decision came amid violent and popular protests in the province over poor services and high unemployment rates.
Under Abadi’s decision, former Basra operations commander Jamil al-Shamri will be transferred to the Defense University for Military Studies, while Maj. Gen. Rashid Falih will retain his post as Basra police chief.
A number of Iraqi parliamentarians, representing Basra, had urged sacking three ministers of Abadi’s cabinet, as well as dismissing the army commander in Basra over poor services.
Mass protests have been staged since July in central and southern provinces with protesters calling for better services like electricity, water, jobs and fighting corruption.
The Iraqi government claims that some infiltrators are involved in sabotage acts, however, protesters accuse security personnel of forcibly dispersing them and opening fire at them.
The developments come within a political crisis in the country as wide disputes occur among blocs that won in parliamentary elections, held in May, on the figure that will form the upcoming government.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/03/2018 02:23 ||
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#1
So now then can protest calling for better services like electricity, water, jobs and fighting corruption...and brutal beatings
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2018 14:43 Comments ||
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Over 70 non-combatants were killed, while more than 170 others were maimed due to acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict during the month of September, according to casualty figures recorded by the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).
A report by UNAMI issued on Monday said a total of 75 Iraqi non-combatants were killed and another 179 injured in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq in September .
"The figures include ordinary citizens and others considered civilian at the time of death or injury, such as police in non-combat functions, civil defence, personal security teams, facilities protection police and fire department personnel," the report said. "Of the overall figures recorded by UNAMI for the month of September, 71 ordinary non-combatants were killed. "
Baghdad came on top of the worst affected Governorate, with 101 civilian casualties (31 killed, 70 injured), followed by Anbar (15 killed and 37 injured) and Salahuddin (09 killed and 38 injured).
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.... continues to launch sporadic attacks across Iraq against troops. Security reports indicate that the turban group still poses threat against stability in the country. The group still has dormant cells, through which it carries out attacks, across Iraq like it used to do before 2014.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/03/2018 02:23 ||
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[ARABNEWS] The veteran secular Kurdish politician Barham Salih was elected on Tuesday as Iraq’s next president.
Salih, of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), faced a challenge from Fuad Hussein of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). But Hussein withdrew from the second round of voting in parliament on Tuesday.
His first act in the role was to assign Adel Abdul Mahdi, a veteran Shiite politician and former vice president, to form a government.
The selection of the president is the second step in forming a government and is usually the easiest because the two main Kurdish parties decided on a single candidate in advance.
The post of president is allocated to the Kurds under a 2005 agreement with Shiite and Sunni political forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2018 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] The number of civilians killed last month in Syria was at its lowest since the start of the conflict more than seven years ago, a war monitor said Monday.
A total of 139 civilians, including 58 children, were killed in conflict-related violence across the country in September, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said it was "the lowest monthly toll for civilians" since the start of the conflict in March 2011.
Of the 1,059 people who died last month, 436 were rebel fighters, 239 soldiers and allied militiamen, and 236 were jihadists. The identity of nine others was unknown.
The decline in the number of civilian casualties comes after months of Russian-backed government operations that saw Damascus reconquer significant territory.
It also coincides with a deal reached on September 17 by Russia and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... -- two of the main foreign brokers in the Syrian conflict -- aimed at averting a major assault in the northern Idlib region.
The province of Idlib is home to the last major rebel bastion in the country and aid groups had feared a full-blown regime offensive would spark suffering on a scale not yet seen since the start of the war.
Fighting is also ongoing in eastern Syria, where holdout jihadist fighters from the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group are defending their last pocket in the country.
The Britannia-based Observatory relies on an extensive network of sources across Syria, where it says close to 365,000 people have been killed since the start of the war.
More than 110,000 of them are civilians, it says.
The highest monthly number of civilian deaths the Observatory ever recorded was 6,657 in May 2015.
[IsraelTimes] Last week, Israel announced it completed preparations to open its sole crossing with Syria, marking a return to pre-civil war conditions
Syria’s sole crossing with Israel can now be reopened, four years after it was closed due to the civil war in the country, a Russian general said Tuesday.
The announcement came less than a week after Israel said its side of the Quneitra Crossing, located on the Golan Heights, was also ready to reopen.
"The border crossing is ready for opening and for launching operations. This comes due to a great effort carried out by the Armed Forces of the Syrian Arab Republic with the assistance of the Russian Aerospace Forces," said Lt. Gen. Sergei Kuralenko, deputy commander of Russian forces in Syria, according to the Russian Tass news agency.
The reopening of the Quneitra Crossing would restore conditions along the border to their status prior to the Syrian civil war, which broke out in 2011.
The crossing was shuttered in August 2014 following a number of attacks by Syrian rebels, which drove out the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... peacekeeping force that controlled the crossing, known as the UN Disengagement Observer Force, or UNDOF.
The peacekeeping force has slowly returned to the border between Israel and Syria in recent months ‐ a move welcomed by Jerusalem.
"UNDOF troops have started working and patrolling, with IDF assistance. This shows that we are ready to open the crossing as it was before. The ball is now in Syria’s court," Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said at the site on Thursday.
As Israel and Syria are technically at war, the Quneitra Crossing never saw regular, wide use. However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... the local Druze populations in Israel and Syria were permitted, on some occasions, to travel through it to visit family on the other side ‐ inspiring the 2004 movie "The Syrian Bride." The crossing had also been used to transport apples from Druze orchards in Israel to Syria.
Liberman stressed that Israel was demanding that Syria abide by "every single section" of the ceasefire agreement that ended the 1973 Yom Kippur War between the two countries and created a demilitarized zone along the border.
The defense minister said the decision to reopen the crossing does not change Israel’s relationship with the Syrian regime or its despotic leader, Bashir al-Assad, whom the defense minister called a "war criminal."
Initially, the crossing will mostly serve the UNDOF soldiers, allowing them to pass through for one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/03/2018 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] Syrian foreign minister said in remarks broadcast Tuesday that the Iranian ballistic missiles attack on hard boyz in eastern Syria the previous day was part of "legitimate" cooperation between the two countries to combat terrorism.
Walid al-Moallem’s comments came during a wide-ranging interview with the Beirut-based al-Mayadeen TV. The full interview is to air later in the day.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard launched six ballistic missiles as well as drone bombers into eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor province on Monday, targeting ISIShard boyz it blamed for an attack on a military parade in Iran last month.
The strikes were the second time Iran had used cross-border missiles inside Syria. Last year, Iran also struck in Death Eater positions in Deir Ezzor’s town of Mayadeen and following another attack, in Tehran, that was blamed on ISIS.
But Monday’s strikes come after Syrian government forces and allied Iranian-backed militias gained control of the strategic border town of Boukamal late last year, likely improving Iran’s intelligence and capabilities in the area.
The strikes were also seen as threat to Iran’s regional adversaries at a time when Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers unravels.
"The Iranian missiles are in the framework of combating terrorism," said al-Moallem.
The Syrian government and its allies, as well as the US-led coalition are separately battling ISIS, which still controls a sliver of land along Syria’s border with Iraq.
The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war in Syria, said the strikes killed eight people in Hajjin, a town still controlled by ISIS. It was not clear if all the killed were Death Eaters, the Observatory said, adding that one of the missiles hit a house that had been seized by ISIS.
The US military’s Central Command acknowledged that Iranian forces conducted "no-notice strikes" in the area Monday and said it was assessing the damage. The coalition said no coalition forces were in danger.
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10/03/2018 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) attack on eastern Syria this week resulted in the death of 40 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.... (ISIS), Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajzadeh, the commander of the IRGC’s aerospace forces, said on Tuesday.
According to Hajzadeh, the IRGC was operating on information that was received from the Quds Forces in Syria.
"We had a successful operation and in our other operation against terrorist groups in Kurdistan Region," Hajzadeh said, as quoted by state-owned IRNA.
"The information we received by the IRGC Ground Force was so helpful," he stated.
Hajzadeh said that the Quds Forces relied on information from their drones because they could not physically scout the area due to the U.S. military presence in the eastern part of the Euphrates River Valley.
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10/03/2018 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian sky "will be safely protected after Russia’s supplies of S-300 missile defense systems," Foreign Minister Walid Muallem told Al Mayadeen television on Tuesday.
The minister said the Israeli Arclight airstrikes in Latakia on September 17 were "aimed to prolong the Syrian conflict" and "undermine success in the liberation of Syria, achieved by the government army assisted by its allies".
Muallem, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said that in rebuffing the attack on Latakia, Syrian air defense weapons had brought down more than two thirds of Israeli missiles. "Our anti-aircraft gunners showed that they are capable of defending Syria against the Israeli aggression," he stressed.
A Russian electronic surveillance Il-20 plane was downed over the Mediterranean Sea late on September 17 when it was flying back to the Russian airbase at Syria’s Hmeymim.
According to the Russian defense ministry, the plane was shot down by a missile from a Syrian S-200 air defense complex when it was firing at four Israeli F-16 aircraft attacking targets in the Latakia governorate. The Israeli pilots actually used the Russian plane as a cover exposing it to Syrian missiles, the ministry stressed. Fifteen Russian servicemen who were onboard the plane were killed.
Following the incident, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on September 24 that Russia planned to supply S-300 missile defense systems to the Syrian army within two weeks
The S-300 is an air defense missile system able to eliminate advanced aircraft, including planes using stealth technology, medium-range ballistic missiles, tactical and cruise missiles, and also airborne early warning and control (AWACS/AEW&C) aircraft and reconnaissance and strike systems.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
The S-300 is an air defense missile system able to eliminate advanced aircraft, including planes using stealth technology, medium-range ballistic missiles, tactical and cruise missiles, and also airborne early warning and control (AWACS/AEW&C) aircraft and reconnaissance and strike systems.
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.
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
the 
[IsraelTimes] Last week, Israel announced it completed preparations to open its sole crossing with Syria, marking a return to pre-civil war conditions
