[An Nahar] Somalia's northeastern Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... region said Monday it had cut all relations with the central government in Mogadishu, raising the prospect of further fractures to the already war-torn nation.
In an official statement, Puntland accused the internationally-backed government in the capital Mogadishu of undermining the federal constitution and of ignoring "national reconciliation" efforts.
It also accused Mogadishu of rejecting the fair "sharing of power, resources and foreign aid" among Somalia's multiple regions.
"Puntland government hereby suspends all cooperation and relations with (the) Federal Government of Somalia," an official statement read.
Relations would only be restored if Mogadishu "restores and adheres to the country's genuine provisional federal constitution", as well as consults over security issues and ensures a fair distribution of international aid across Somalia, it added.
There was no immediate response from Mogadishu.
Semi-autonomous Puntland, which forms the very tip of the Horn of Africa along the Indian Ocean coast and the Gulf of Aden, has recognized the government in Mogadishu but runs its own affairs in the region.
Central government, backed by a 17,700-strong 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... force, is struggling to impose its rule over regions following the pushing out of Islamist Shabaab fighters from parts of southern Somalia.
Puntland is only one of several Somali regions to oppose central control, from the breakaway republic of Somaliland along the Gulf of Aden, to statelets such as Jubaland in the far south, where rival warlords claim control.
While relatively stable compared to southern Somalia, Puntland also hosts pirate gangs on its coastline as well as multiple militia forces, while the al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab operate in its rugged Golis mountains.
Puntland's leaders first declared it an autonomous state in 1998, seven years after the collapse of Siad Barre's regime in Mogadishu touched off a cycle of civil unrest which has yet to end.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Tunisia's ruling Ennahda party leader Rashid Ghannouchi raised the prospect of a referendum as a way out of the country's political crisis, in an interview published Monday by Belgian daily Le Soir.
"It's a fact that in Tunisia there are two 'streets'," Ghannouchi said, referring to demonstrations for and against the ruling cabinet following Ennahda claims that 200,000 people rallied Saturday in support of the embattled Islamist-led government.
That march followed regular protests repeated on Monday that have been staged since the liquidation in February of opposition politician Chokri Belaid in a crisis further stoked by the killing of MP Mohamed Brahmi, rubbed out outside his home on July 25.
A coalition of opposition parties has called for a rally on Tuesday -- the six-month anniversary of Belaid's liquidation -- to demand the departure of the government and the dissolution of the National Constituent Assembly.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Two Lebanese suspects alleged to be members of Hizbullah and on trial in Nigeria on terrorism charges told a court Monday they were harshly interrogated by Israeli agents after their arrests.
Mustapha Fawaz, Abdallah Thahini and Talal Ahmad Roda were jugged You have the right to remain silent... in May after the discovery of an arms cache in a residence in the northern Nigerian city of Kano.
They have been accused of plotting attacks against Western and Israeli targets in Nigeria and have denied the charges.
An Israeli embassy front man did not immediately respond to requests for comment when contacted by Agence La Belle France Presse.
Fawaz testified on Monday that, after his arrest in Abuja, a security official told him "some European friends" wanted to ask him questions.
"I was taken to an interrogation room where I met three Israeli Mossad agents," Fawaz told the court in response to questions by his lawyer.
Fawaz said one of the interrogators identified himself as a Mossad agent. He said they were "crude and nasty."
"They handcuffed my hands behind my back for days. I lost count because they did not allow me to sleep for several days," Fawaz said, denying membership in Hizbullah.
"They asked if I have any weapon in Abuja ... They asked if I have been asked to do any operation in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world," Fawaz said.
He said further: "During the 14 days of interrogation, I was interrogated by six Israeli Mossad agents and one masked white man.
"I was interrogated in Arabic. I asked to be interrogated in English, but they refused.
Why would a native Arabic speaker demand to be interrogated in other than his native tongue?
Most of them are weak in English. They are not Europeans, but Israelis."
If they were weak in English, they were most certainly not Israelis, who start studying English by fifth grade.
Fawaz said no Nigerian official was present during the sessions.
"They asked me about my link with Hizbullah, but they concentrated more on Leb -- whether I knew if there are weapons stored in the south of Leb or the identities of people who have been trained by Hizbullah," said Fawaz.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Yemen has released the names of 25 wanted al-Qaeda suspects and said they were planning terrorist attacks in the capital Sanaa and other cities across the country. Unfortunately, all the names are either "Abdullah" or "Mohammad." Go figure.
A statement Monday from the Interior Ministry said the men were going to target foreign offices and organizations and Yemeni installations.
No indication if they, also, got their information from the New York Times in full frisson mode.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] One more prosecution witness yesterday testified before a Dhaka court that HuJI Founded in 1984 by Fazlur Rehman Khalil and Qari Saifullah Aktar. The Bangla branch was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden. Recruits come mostly from Deobandi madrassahs. HuJI and Fazlur Rehman Khalil are signators of bin Laden's declaration of war on the west. leader Moulana Tajuddin used to visit the residence of his brother Abdus Salam Pintu, former deputy minister of the immediate past BNP government.
Earlier, on Sunday, another prosecution witness gave an identical statement before the same court.
Both Pintu and Tajuddin are accused in the August 21 grenade attack cases.
Pintu was tossed in the calaboose Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! earlier and he is now in jail custody, while Tajuddin is a runaway accused in the cases.
In his deposition before the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 yesterday, Constable Al Mamun said he was deployed at Pintu's Dhanmondi government residence as a security guard form July 23, 2002 to July 6, 2004.
Tajuddin used to visit Pintu's residence with some of his accomplices, Mamun said.
"We did not obstruct him (Tajuddin) from visiting the residence as Pintu did not give any direction to us in this regard," Mamun added.
The witness further said from newspapers, television and people he later came to know that Tajuddin along with Harkatul Jihad al Islami leader chief Mufti Abdul Mannan were involved in Death Eater activities.
Mamun was later cross-examined by the lawyers of 28 accused. Cross-examination of the witness will be continued till August 18.
A grenade attack was carried out on August 21, 2004 when the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums.. , now prime minister, was addressing a party rally at the Bangabandhu Avenue.
Hasina narrowly escaped death ending up with an ear injury. But 24 leaders and activists of her party were killed, including late President Zillur Rahman's wife Ivy Rahman, and 300 others injured.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] The High Court verdict declaring illegal Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... 's registration with the Election Commission as a political party will remain in force as the chamber judge of the Supreme Court has turned down Jamaat's petition for stay on the verdict.
Political parties not registered with the EC cannot contest national elections.
The Chamber Judge, Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik, yesterday rejected Jamaat's petition, saying that there is no logical ground in the petition for staying the HC verdict. And even the petitioner's counsel did not place any arguments in support of the petition.
The judge said Jamaat could move a regular appeal before the apex court against the verdict after getting its full text, and the court will decide on the whole matter.
Jamaat's lawyer Tajul Islam told The Daily Star that they would submit a fresh stay petition with the SC along with a regular appeal against the HC verdict.
On August 1, a three-member special HC bench by a majority view declared Jamaat's registration illegal and unlawful, and of no legal effect. It gave the verdict upon a writ petition.
Yesterday, the Jamaat counsel prayed to the apex court chamber judge either to adjourn hearing of the petition or to drop it from the hearing list, saying that senior counsel for Jamaat Abdur Razzaq was not in the court.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Esquimeau village Jack was learning how to rub noses with Nootka's wife...... the writ petitioners' lawyer M Amir-Ul Islam, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Additional Attorney General MK Rahman opposed the contention arguments of Tajul Islam, and prayed to the court to reject the stay petition.
They mentioned that Jamaat filed the stay petition soon after the HC delivered the verdict.
Jamaat is now trying to stay away from the petition, which is an unfair practice, they said.
They also argued that there is no merit in the stay petition and therefore, it should be rejected.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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There are now more than two million people in North Korea with mobile phones. According to Naguib Sawiris of Egypt's Orascom Telecom, which has the mobile phone license in the isolated country, the number of subscribers hit the landmark in May this year.
Perhaps we could put that NSA/FBI technology to work and start pushing text messages to the Norks. Nah, that would be insensitive...
North Korea launched mobile phone services in conjunction with a Thai company in 2002 in the Rajin-Sonbong special economic zone near the Chinese border. But use was restricted following a massive explosion at Yongchon Station in North Pyongan Province in April 2004 that allegedly targeted a train carrying then leader Kim Jong-il. Shrapnel from a mobile phone were found at the scene of the blast, prompting security officials to believe a mobile phone was used to detonate the bomb.
In 2008, North Korea set up Koryolink with Orascom. The number of subscribers stood at only 1,600 in the first year but rose to 100,000 in 2009, 500,000 in May 2011 and a million a year later.
Mobile phone users are not just concentrated in Pyongyang but now scattered evenly throughout the 15 major cities and around 100 smaller towns. Party members and other influential or wealthy people are the main clients. High-ranking officials often own two or three mobile phones each, while their children in high school have handsets too.
Chinese-made mobile phones, including ones from Huawei, are mostly used, but party bigwigs favor Motorola and Nokia. A mobile phone costs US$150-300. The latest touch-screen phone costs $350 and between $20 to $30 is paid upfront for activation, according to defectors.
Mobile phones sold legally in North Korea feature not only voice and video calls but also text messaging, video recording and even games, but international calls are blocked. Phone calls are also prohibited with foreigners living in North Korea.
However, North Korean merchants doing business along the Chinese border or informants make calls to other countries on handsets smuggled in from China. One source said North Korea recently decided to allow international calls in Rajin-Sonbong in a bid to attract foreign investment, but this has yet to go into effect.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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Yeah, but where are they going to get the electricity to charge them, eh?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/06/2013 6:28 Comments ||
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These are the top tenth or so of the country. They have electricity just fine, just like they don't eat bark soup; that's for the serfs.
The government is apparently resigning itself to the permanent closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex after North Korea failed to respond to a proposal of what Seoul called "final talks."
Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk on Monday told reporters the government will wrap up a review early this week of whether to tap into the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to compensate manufacturers who lost their business in the complex.
On Sunday, Seoul warned its patience with North Korea over a date for fresh talks about the Kaesong Industrial Complex is running out.
So far 109 out of 123 South Korean manufacturers that operated in the complex have applied to the government for W270 billion (US$1=W1,114) in compensation for losses resulting from the North's closure of the industrial park. Once they get the money, they must cede ownership of their factories to the government for disposal, so the payouts more or less seal the closure.
Government sources say a committee overseeing the fund will make its decision as early as Tuesday.
The ministry spokesman said the companies have to decide whether or not to accept the compensation payments, which will be made within three months of their application. Applications have been coming in since May. However, the government has apparently been unable to decide whether to shut off water and power supply to the industrial park, which would spell the end for the cross-border project.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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And plenty of notice given in case (HINT,HINT someone should want to keep it open)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/06/2013 0:23 Comments ||
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...During a private dinner..., the serving SecDef, Leon Panetta, told Hagel of an up-until-then secret, $10 billion arms deal between the United States, Israel, and two Arab countries that could amount to a strategic game-changer in the region. The terms of the deal were all but settled, but Hagel would need to be the closer, Panetta told him. Hagel's job was not only to seal the arms deal with Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, but in so doing help put the "special relationship" the United States and Israel have long enjoyed back on track.
After getting that tasker from Panetta, Hagel dove in... Hagel has kept his eye on the prize: using the arms deal to rebuild a relationship with Israel that has foundered over the years. That triggered a series of "firsts," as senior U.S. defense officials call them: Hagel's first trip to an ally, after Afghanistan, was to Israel; the first foreign defense minister he called after being sworn in at the Pentagon was Israel's, the gregarious Ehud Barak; Hagel called Barak's successor, Moshe "Boogie" Ya'alon, on the Israeli's first day on the job; Ya'alon's first overseas trip as defense minister was to Washington. And as Hagel and Ya'alon sat beside one another on a helicopter tour of Israel earlier this year, the two former soldiers called each other "Chuck" and "Boogie." Foreign Policy magazine uses the word 'mensch' in the article title to describe Hagel. 'Mensch' is a german/yiddish word meaning 'man' but with a connotation that the person is good guy as opposed to an 'unmensch' or 'unmentsch' who would be a bad guy.
How nice that they are using Yiddish terminology for one party in relationship for which the language is Hebrew. I believe it was in the 1920s or so when that question was resolved in Israel, it being concluded that Yiddish is a language of exile, Hebrew the language of independence. It is utterly symptomatic that the Foreign Policy editor, working for a magazine owned by the Washington Post Company, would make that kind of mistake.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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But can Chuck save his own USDOD dept. from the Sequester ...
* STARS-N-STRIPES > PENTAGON SEQUESTRATION
REVIEW PAINTS A DIRE PICTURE.
China.
* SAME > [US] SENATOR SEEKS A CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR [loss of USN's] BAHRAIN BASE.
[An Nahar] Pakistain is investigating possible al-Qaeda involvement in a major jailbreak in the country's Death Eater-plagued northwest that freed nearly 250 prisoners, security officials said Monday.
Dozens of heavily-armed hard boyz last week stormed a prison in Dera Ismail Khan ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... , close to Pakistain's lawless tribal areas on the Afghan border, in a well-coordinated assault that left 13 dead.
The Pak Taliban grabbed credit. But on Saturday global police agency Interpol said it suspected al-Qaeda was involved in the raid and in other prison breaks in eight countries, including Iraq and Libya.
Al-Qaeda and the Pak Taliban have close ties -- gunnies from the global terror network have hideouts in Pakistain's tribal areas -- and a security bigshot told Agence La Belle France Presse the link was under scrutiny in the jailbreak probe.
"Involvement of al-Qaeda is one the factors that we cannot rule out at the moment," the official said on condition of anonymity.
He said "such attacks are always carried out with involvement of two type of groups, one which plans and the other which executes".
The Dera Ismail Khan breakout came a week after hard boyz stormed two prisons in Iraq, freeing at least 500 inmates including senior Al-Qaeda leaders.
"Jailbreak is something that requires a lot of planning and is not an easy task. Now we have to determine who were the planners, controllers and operators", said the official.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] High alert has been declared in Pakistain's Islamabad for fear of a major terror attack, CNN reported. Security around military facilities has been beefed and helicopters are searching for suspects from the sky.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PAK ARMY TROOPS KILL FIVE INDIAN ARMY SOLDIERS ALONG LOC | INDIAN ARMY POST AMBUSHED ALONG LOC, CASUALTIES FEARED - THE TIMES OF INDIA.
Pakistan doing a "North Korea"???
VERSUS
Also from the TIMES OF INDIA ...
* DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN GROWING STRONGER IN [India's] NORTHEAST, BANGLADESH.
* LASHKAR [LeT, etal.] RADICALIZES ROHINGYAS TO WAGE WAR ON INDIA.
[An Nahar] Iran's supreme leader on Monday appointed Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad to the Expediency Council, the country's top political arbitration body headed by an avid critic of the outgoing president.
Oh good. It wouldn't do to let a man like that sit idly by, twiddling his thumbs. Such men become dangerous.
In announcing the appointment, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised Ahmadinejad's "worthy efforts" as president.
"Considering the profuse experience you gained during eight years of worthy efforts, I appoint you as a member of the Expediency Council," read a statement posted on Khamenei's website
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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announced on Sunday that it will not negotiate over the abduction of the Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria's Aazaz before the release of female prisoners nabbed Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! by the Syrian regime.
"We gave the international committee in the presence of Lebanese diplomats the names of 370 women incarcerated Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! in Syria to swap with two pilgrims," the Brigade said in a released statement posted on its official Facebook page.
It added: "The Syrian regime claimed it has 127 detainees only, and we expressed out consent to this."
"However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... Iran's party (Hizbullah) started stalling and sent fighters to Aleppo and its countryside and intensified the bombing of that area. It also negotiated the release of the abductees with parties whose presence we do not acknowledge and suggested deals that do not mention the female prisoners."
The Brigade stressed: "We only negotiate over the release of these women and any talks with (Syrian president Bashar) Assad's regime are done through the international committee tasked with this mission."
"If Iran's party wanted us to release two pilgrims before the Fitr holiday, it should rush and free the female detainees."
On July 19, a number of women incarcerated Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! by the Syrian regime were released, including several whose names are on a list set by the kidnappers of Lebanese pilgrims in Aazaz.
The release, however, did not contribute to free any of the pilgrims.
Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped in Syria's Aleppo region in May 2012 as they were making their way back by land to Leb from pilgrimage in Iran.
Two of the captives have since been released, while the rest remain held in Aazaz.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
the Northern Storm Brigade named themselves to highlight that they were against Assad's operation Northern Storm, the operation to retake Aleppo.
the NS brigades captured some Shia (the Assad forces say the Shia were pilgrims, the NSbrigades think they may have been advance agents of the Hezbollah)back in the summer of 2012
earlier this summer Sen McCain met some of the NSBrigade people who in turn are part of the FSA coalition
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/06/2013 0:24 Comments ||
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Are those the ones who turned out, most embarrassingly, to be connected to Al Qaeda, lord garth?
yes, in late may 2013, mccain met with, among others, Mohammud Nour, a big shot in the NSBattalion which is allied w al Nusra front and al Nusra in turn is an al Qaeda franchise of sorts
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/06/2013 9:58 Comments ||
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Thank you, lord garth. It is a pleasure knowing people who know things. :-)
[An Nahar] Hizbullah deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem ... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies... reiterated his calls for a national unity cabinet, stating also that the resistance's weapons cannot be compared to arms used on the streets.
"The arms of the resistance are in the interest of Leb and this has been proven on ground," Qassem said during an Iftar banquet on Saturday.
He elaborated: "These weapons prevent Israel from launching any attack against Leb because we have a resistance that is ready to defend the country,"
"Weapons are a tool that can be used for good or for evil purposes. It could serve the country's interests or work against them. What matters is how weapons are used and what are the goals behind the possession of arms."
Qassem continued: "For those saying that weapons used on the streets aim at confronting the resistance's weaponry we tell them they are mistaken."
"The owners of street weapons are known, same as those financing the possession of these arms, training people, and easing their movements between Leb and neighboring countries."
"You will not succeed in defeating the resistance's weaponry by making this comparison," Qassem stated. "The resistance's arms are far more noble and important and will not be present on the streets."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The army intelligence was tasked on Monday with carrying out the preliminary investigations in the Daraya blast, reported LBCI television.
It said that State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr the military intelligence to conduct the investigations.
Abdul Latif al-Dakhakhni, an Egyptian and his brother Mohammed were killed and a Syrian identified as Mohammed Hasan Masaoud were gravely injured in the Iqlim al-Kharroub town of Daraya on Sunday when the bomb they were preparing accidentally went kaboom!.
"They were colourblind, Jim."
"Dr. Quincy, how do you do that!"
The dead men are the sons of Daraya mosque Imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Dakhakhni who is married to a Lebanese and has been living in the village for a long time.
A security source told As Safir newspaper Monday that Abdul Latif al-Dakhakhni is a follower of Salafist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir who has gone into hiding over the deadly festivities between his supporters and the Lebanese army in the southern city of Sidon.
The source said the Sheikh is in jug. Investigators are questioning him over maps locating the targets of the kabooms that they were plotting and al-Nusra Front flags found in his residence.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Syrian Defense Minister Fahd al-Freij visited army troops in Khaldiyeh, a Homs district the army won back from rebel control in late July, state news agency SANA said on Monday.
The general conducted "a tour of Khaldiyeh, where he visited the army units that had restored security and stability in the neighborhood," SANA said.
The army's takeover of Khaldiyeh, in the central city of Homs, came after an intense month-long campaign of daily air and artillery shellings.
Like other districts under rebel control in Homs, Khaldiyeh had been under a suffocating army siege for more than a year.
The army's takeover of Khaldiyeh was its second military success since June when it captured the rebel-held town of Qusayr in Homs province with help from Hizbullah.
Freij's visit comes a day after Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... said the country's crisis could only be solved by "striking terror with an iron fist".
Homs city, dubbed by rebels the "capital of the revolution", straddles a route linking Damascus to the Mediterranean coast and the Alawite hinterland of Assad's Alawite minority community.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Fugitive Islamist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir on Monday appeared in a new audio message -- the second after the Abra battle -- in which he lashed out at Hizbullah chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... and noted that Iran "has turned itself into an enemy of the Arabs."
"Attacks against us are countless and do not need any evidence. They have attacked us in our institutions, centers and mosques, and their evil has targeted our brothers in Syria, contrary to what (Nasrallah) claimed about turning Iran and the Shiites into the enemy instead of the Zionists," Asir said.
"Iran -- with its hateful, criminal Velayat-e Faqih (Iran's form of Islamic rule) policy -- has cooperated with the Great Satan™ (the U.S.) to slaughter us in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it gave you (Hizbullah) the green light to occupy Leb through your weapons and lately the mask has fallen in Syria ... Iran has proclaimed itself as the enemy of the region," the runawayholy man, on the run since the army overran his Abra headquarters on June 24, added.
Criticizing Nasrallah's Quds Day speech, Asir accused the Hizbullah leader of seeking to rally Shiites behind his rhetoric "after the mask fell off in the region."
"Enough with using Paleostine for your own interests, as Paleostine is cursing you, just like (Syria's) Qusayr and Homs did," Asir added.
The Islamist holy man also blasted Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... , accusing him of "resorting to blind incitement" and of "using his spiteful media outlets night and day to incite against the Sunni community."
Asir attributed Aoun's "incitement" to his "lust for presidency" that was "blocked by (former premier) Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. "Remember how he has incited against the Syrian revolution and how he has stood by the butcher against the victim and how he is still justifying the crimes of Nasrallah and his murderers who entered Syria to slaughter its people, especially in Qusayr and Homs," Asir added.
"When the fire reaches the Christian areas, Christians must hold Aoun accountable for these stances," he went on to say.
Asir accused the army's Commando Regiment commander Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz, Aoun's son-in-law, of inspecting the conflict zone in Abra in the wake of the festivities to "steal the limelight" and "because of his ambition to become the next army commander."
The runawayholy man also launched a tirade against ex-PM Saad Hariri and "some al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... leaders who did not hesitate to fight me and distort my image."
"What was the harm I caused you that prompted this campaign? Ever since we rallied in downtown Beirut in support of our beleaguered brothers, Saad Hariri and his associates started to describe me as an bad turban," Asir added.
"What happened in Abra was the normal result of the fierce war waged against us by the al-Mustaqbal movement. Why was this ferocious war waged against Ahmed al-Asir? Once through pressuring journalists to distort my image, once through contacting the Saadnayel Municipality to ban my demo and another through (Sidon MP) Bahia Hariri telephoning some muftis and telling them 'we want to besiege al-Asir,'" he went on to say.
Asir also criticized Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... and Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... over "cursing" him as part of their "cajolery and blandishment," noting that he is "confident" that their supporters "do not approve of such a behavior."
In his previous audio message on July 4, described the deadly Sidon festivities as a plot aimed at ending his presence.
According to an army statement, the festivities erupted after gunnies loyal to Asir attacked a checkpoint near his mosque in "cold blood" and "for no reason."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Syrian opposition claims chemical weapons used in army assault on town near capital, post videos of victims
Video can be seen at link -- as usual, click on the article title. I've posted this on page 2 because it is a report from the rebels, which means it might as easily be a lie as the truth, and I'm not clever enough to distinguish which it might be.
Bashir al-Assad's forces used chemical weapons in an assault on Douma, a suburb of Damascus, Al-Arabiya reported Monday. Quoting Syrian opposition sources, the report said that many were hurt in the strike but this could not be confirmed by other sources. Videos supposedly documenting the victims receiving medical care were posted on the internet.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats grabbed his rosco... Al-Jazeera ... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS... reported that dozens were maimed in a Syrian army attack on the cities of Adra and Douma. Some 30 Syrians injured in the attack on Adra are being treated for respiratory problems in a field hospital.
Last week, the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... announced that Syria will allow UN inspectors to visit three sites in the country to check suspected use of chemical weapons by both army forces and rebels. A UN delegation met with Syrian officials two weeks ago.
Also Monday, Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... said in a report that the Syrian military is firing ballistic missiles into populated areas where it is battling rebels, killing hundreds of civilians in recent months.
The U.S.-based group said it has investigated nine apparent missile attacks that killed at least 215 people, half of them children, between February and July. The most recent attack HRW investigated occurred in the northern province of Aleppo on July 26, killing at least 33 civilians including 17 children.
HRW activists visited the sites of seven of the nine attacks and found no apparent military targets nearby, the group said. Ole Solvang, a senior researcher with HRW, said it's impossible to distinguish between civilians and fighters when firing missiles with wide-ranging destructive effects into densely populated areas.
"Even if there are fighters in the area, you cannot accurately target them and the impact in some of these cases has been devastating to local civilians," Solvang said in a statement.
The HRW called on Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... to stop indiscriminate attacks.
[BLOOMBERG] Hassan Rohani's appointment of Mohammad Javad Zarif as his foreign minister suggests the new Iranian president would like to break the 34-year impasse between the Islamic Theocratic Republic and the U.S.
Zarif, 53, a fluent English speaker who earned his doctorate at the University of Denver, is a former ambassador to the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... who has been involved in several secret negotiations between the U.S. and Iran over the past 20 years.
"He'll be an excellent face for Iran, but his ability to steer policy depends on what latitude the Supreme Leader gives him," said Ryan Crocker, a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, who has met Zarif on several occasions. "Iran's condition is an excellent reason for diplomacy, he said.
Rohani, 64, who took his oath of office yesterday, said the U.S. and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... should drop sanctions imposed to stop the country's nuclear enrichment program. Over the past year, the sanctions have crippled Iran's economy, sending inflation above 40 percent while the national currency the rial has lost more than 50 percent of its value against the dollar.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
"US Educated" does not mean moderate, nonradical Islamist, or even intelligent. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Racial Distribution/CAIR) is "US educated"
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/06/2013 14:19 Comments ||
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[Ynet] The US State Department closed its embassies in four sub-Saharan African nations as part of a heightened security alert, days before the 15th anniversary of al-Qaeda's bombings of American diplomatic missions in Kenya and Tanzania.
Those two embassies targeted in the August 7, 1998 attacks were rebuilt as more heavily fortified structures away from populated areas where they would be less vulnerable to attack. Those embassies remain open, but the diplomatic missions in Rwanda and Burundi, which border Tanzania to the west, and the island nations of Madagascar and Mauritius were ordered closed.
[Ynet] Norway's Foreign Ministry says it has restricted public access to 15 of its embassies in the Middle East and Africa, including its post in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... The move follows the decision by the US to close diplomatic posts in 19 cities in the Mohammedan world amid fears a major terrorist attack was in the works. Britannia and Germany have also closed their embassies in Yemen.
#4
Vlad wouldn't be at all happy with The Champ if Hellfire's started turning up in Syria.
No more than the Russkis when Stingers arrived in Afghanistan. However I suspect Vlad would be, let's say, livid if they showed up in Chechnya - Dagestan - Ingushetia.
It's obvious the clowns in the WH never played Diplomacy. You have to pick the right moment and location when your 'alliance' with someone else has to end. You go big or you go home. AQ popping a couple of those up in those areas dear to Vlad's heart would make the diplomatic disaster of the Zimmerman Telegram look adroit by comparison. The Benghazi arms running thing with AQ could be right up there at the level of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand to kick off this century's list of top man made disasters.
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.
[An Nahar] Somalia's northeastern 
[An Nahar] Two Lebanese suspects alleged to be members of Hizbullah and on trial in Nigeria on terrorism charges told a court Monday they were harshly interrogated by Israeli agents after their arrests.
[Bangla Daily Star] One more prosecution witness yesterday testified before a Dhaka court that 
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as 
[Bangla Daily Star] The High Court verdict declaring illegal 
There are now more than two million people in North Korea with mobile phones. According to Naguib Sawiris of Egypt's Orascom Telecom, which has the mobile phone license in the isolated country, the number of subscribers hit the landmark in May this year.
The government is apparently resigning itself to the permanent closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex after North Korea failed to respond to a proposal of what Seoul called "final talks."
[An Nahar] Pakistain is investigating possible al-Qaeda involvement in a major jailbreak in the country's
The general conducted "a tour of Khaldiyeh, where he visited the army units that had restored security and stability in the neighborhood," SANA said.
[An Nahar] Fugitive Islamist 
Michel Aoun
Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
Samir Geagea
... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means 
[BLOOMBERG] Hassan Rohani's appointment of Mohammad Javad Zarif as his foreign minister suggests the new Iranian president would like to break the 34-year impasse between the 
