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Iraqi airstrike kills ISIS Top Dawgs
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
First Afghan Super Tucano pilots declared 'combat ready'
[Janes] The US Air Force (USAF) has graduated the first class of Afghan pilots to be assigned to the Embraer-Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft, the Air Combat Command (ACC) announced on 18 December.

Eight Afghan Air Force (AAF) pilots were passed out and declared to be ready for combat operations during the ceremony, which was held at the home station of the 81st Fighter Squadron at Moody Air Force Base (AFB) in Georgia. These crews have completed just under a year of training, and will be redeployed to Afghanistan with their new aircraft in January 2016. The pilots are the first of 30 who will be trained by the 81st Fighter Squadron over the next three years.

Although training has reportedly progressed well, the programme suffered a setback earlier this month when two of the Afghan pilots absconded from Moody AFB on 11 December. They have yet to be found.

The AAF is scheduled to receive 20 Super Tucanos (with an option for a further 20) to replace the service's current Mil Mi-35 'Hind' helicopters that are due to be retired as the Super Tucanos enter service in January 2016 (although in October it was announced that Afghanistan is looking to procure new Mi-35s from Russia).

Powered by a single 1,600 SHP Pratt & Whitney PT6A-68/3 turboprop engine, the Super Tucano carries two 12.7 mm machine guns (200 rounds each) in the wings, and can be configured with additional underwing weaponry such as 20 mm cannon pods, additional 12.7 mm machine guns, rockets pods, precision-guided munitions, and/or 'dumb' bombs of up to 1,500 kg. It has a seven-hour endurance, and can operate from semi-prepared air fields.

Once in service, the Super Tucano will augment the machine gun and rocket-equipped Mi-17 'Hip' MD Helicopters MD 530F Cayuse Warrior, and possibly new Mi-35 helicopters in the ground attack and fire- support role.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ah see day still lookin for dem two dat done arr ewe en en oh eff tee.
Posted by: JHH || 12/28/2015 16:07 Comments || Top||

#2  COMBAT READY?

two 12.7 mm (~.50 cal) machine guns (200 rounds each)
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/28/2015 22:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Hella good visibility at least.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/28/2015 23:26 Comments || Top||


Troops Still Waiting For Orders To Launch Helmand Operation
[Tolo News] Embattled Afghan cops in the southern province of Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
said Sunday they are still waiting for orders from the central government to launch military operations in various parts of the province.

The security forces have warned that more areas in the province could collapse to the Taliban unless a quick and decisive action is taken to eliminate the Taliban.

TOLOnews correspondents Wali Arian and Abdullah Hamim who are embedded with troops in the volatile province report from the battlefield that security forces have raised their concerns about the deteriorating situation and lack of orders.

Forces on the ground have said that the Taliban even poses a threat to Lashkargah -- the capital of the province.

"The situation is critical here. Taliban operate in many villages around here. Last night Taliban attacked our base," an Afghan National Army soldier on the frontline told TOLOnews.

"We are still waiting the order for war - right now there is no problem in terms of military hardware, we have heavy weapons. But we are waiting orders," another soldier said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the abandoned silver mine, the water was up to Jack's neck and still rising. And then he smelled the smoke...
security forces in Nad-e-Ali district have also said that they too are awaiting orders to launch a decisive operation against Taliban in the area.

"There is three to four kilometer distance to the center of the province and there is no other security belt except this," an officer of the Afghan border police said.

"So far we have not received the order to launch an operation. The order for an operation is related to the high level officials and does not belong to us; we have to obey orders. We joined the army to serve and defend and move ahead and not slide backwards," another soldier said.

Helmand province, once a Taliban stronghold in the south, has been under frequent attack by the Taliban over the past fourteen years -- reportedly because of it being a good income provider as it is the key poppy growing area in the country.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  The General Staff meets in the Souk.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/28/2015 13:44 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen is 70 Percent Under Government Control
[AAWSAT] Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi said that 70 percent of Yemeni territory is under the control of the legitimate government.

FM al-Mekhlafi also told Asharq Al-Awsat, “Current ground status is under the legitimacy’s dominance, given that 70 percent of land is under the government’s control, which is a crushing defeat for the insurgents.”

When asked about the Geneva negotiations that will resume on Jan. 14, al-Mekhlafi said, “There are international guarantees coming from the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council on forcing the other party to take steps toward building up trust so that deliberations can continue, among the guarantees given was the release of detained politicians, especially Yemen’s Defense Minister Mahmoud Salim Subaihi, President Abd Rabbuh Hadi’s brother along with others, the halt of all the media prodding, and to commit to the cease fire.”

He also stressed on all guarantees to be carried out before the new round of discussions resume on Jan. 14, so that well intentions are reserved and they can prepare for the uphill phase after. If the date is reached with none of the above mentioned demands being achieved, questions on why they should be participating in the discussions will rise.

On the subject of international commitment to work on the trust build process and the Houthis complying to this phase’s requirements al-Mekhlafi confirmed: “We have indeed attained international promise that these cases will be followed up with guarantees given by the United States of America, Britain and other Security Council permanent members. Houthis are obliged with carrying out those guarantees, and have agreed principally on carrying out these tasks; however no true measures have been taken on the subject.”
Posted by: badanov || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  OTOH FARS NEWS AGENCY: 50,000 YEMENIS PREPARING TO ATTACK SAUDI ARABIA.

US mil intervention???

Bammer "red line"???

* Also from SAME > WESTERN DEFENSE SOURCES: SAUDI LEADERS SPLIT OVER YEMEN WAR.

ARTIC = SAUDI ARABIA at risk of COLLAPSE widin 2-3 years [circa Year 2017-2018].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/28/2015 1:37 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Mirpur flat was bomb-making training centre, say investigators
[Dhaka Tribune] The flat on the fifth floor of a building in the capital's Mirpur 1 from where seven men were held in connection with krazed killer activities on Thursday was used as a centre that provided training in making bombs, said Sherlocks.

Detective Branch (DB) sources said at least 10 Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
The JMB is said to be the youth front of Al Mujahideen, the parent organization that began working toward establishing Bangladesh as an Islamic state in the mid 1990s which remains obscure even today. Other organizations, such as Jama'atul Jihad, JMB, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), Hizbut Tawhid, Tawhidi Janata, Islami Jubo Shangha, Islami Shangha, Al Falah A'am Unnayan Shanstha and Shahadat-e al Hiqma are believed to be part of the Al Mujahideen network. The JMB at its peak was reported to contain at least 100,000 members, and an alleged 2,000-man suicide brigade, few of whom actually exploded. JMB allegedly received financial assistance from individual donors in Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Libya. Reports have claimed that funding of JMB by international NGOs like Kuwait based Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage (RIHS) and Doulatul Kuwait, Saudi Arabia based Al Haramaine Islamic Institute and Rabita Al Alam Al Islami, Qatar Charitable Society and UAE-based Al Fuzaira and Khairul Ansar Al Khairia. The top leadership of JMB was captured in 2005 and hung in 2007, which pretty much shot their bolt.
(JMB) members were trained in the flat.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh


MK-11 sniper rifle found at JMB den
[Dhaka Tribune] Detectives seized a state-of-the-art sniper rifle and army uniforms and badges among other things by busting a JMB den in Chittagong's Hathazari upazila yesterday.

The drive was conducted on the basis of information given by three Chittagong University students -- all from the physics department -- incarcerated
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
in different parts of the port city a day before.

Police are saying that this is the first time they had recovered an MK-11 sniper rifle from Lions of Islam in country. It is a powerful semiautomatic American made sniper rifle used by the US Navy that can destroy any target within a 1,500-yard radius.
Only if the person pulling the trigger is in the habit of hitting the center of the littlest circle on the target, though. Otherwise it will hit something 1,5000 yards away, but probably not the intended target.
The seizure list also includes 250 MK-11 rifle bullets, 12 sets of army uniform, a rank badge of an army major, nameplates, magazines, five kilograms of power gel, 10 detonators, a huge cache of bomb-making materials, Jihadi books, confidential organizational documents of JMB
Whee! Lots more arrests to follow!
and maps.

The arrestees -- all members of the outlawed holy warrior organization Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
The JMB is said to be the youth front of Al Mujahideen, the parent organization that began working toward establishing Bangladesh as an Islamic state in the mid 1990s which remains obscure even today. Other organizations, such as Jama'atul Jihad, JMB, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), Hizbut Tawhid, Tawhidi Janata, Islami Jubo Shangha, Islami Shangha, Al Falah A'am Unnayan Shanstha and Shahadat-e al Hiqma are believed to be part of the Al Mujahideen network. The JMB at its peak was reported to contain at least 100,000 members, and an alleged 2,000-man suicide brigade, few of whom actually exploded. JMB allegedly received financial assistance from individual donors in Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Libya. Reports have claimed that funding of JMB by international NGOs like Kuwait based Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage (RIHS) and Doulatul Kuwait, Saudi Arabia based Al Haramaine Islamic Institute and Rabita Al Alam Al Islami, Qatar Charitable Society and UAE-based Al Fuzaira and Khairul Ansar Al Khairia. The top leadership of JMB was captured in 2005 and hung in 2007, which pretty much shot their bolt.
(JMB) -- are Naimur Rahman alias Nayon, 25, Faisal Mahmud, 26, and Md Sawkat Rasel, 26, said sources from the Detective Branch (DB) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP).

This comes just three days after police in Dhaka busted a major explosives workshop set up by JMB Lions of Islam in an apartment in Mirpur.

 Page 4 column 4 MK-11 sniper rifle

Babul Akhtar, additional deputy commissioner (ADC) of Chittagong DB, told the Dhaka Tribune: "DB raided the house of one Ishaq in the Jaynab Colony area [in Hathazari] at midnight and conducted the drive until 5am to recover the arms and ammunition."

The three Lions of Islam had been arrested on information given by JMB men in jug. Naimur and Rasel were nabbed from the city's Panchlaish area and Faisal from Nalapara on Saturday.

He also said Fardin, chief of JMB's Chittagong chapter, rented the three-room house on the ground floor of a building in the Jaynab Colony of Hathazari some months ago. Fardin introduced himself as Nafis, a businessmen, and said he would live there with his wife and a child. The house was being used as an armoury for JMB and the place for coordinating the root-level activities of the outfit.

Chittagong DB Sub-Inspector (SI) Sontosh Chakma told the Dhaka Tribune: "Fardin alias Noman is also a student of physics at Chittagong University. The three members arrested on Saturday got involved with the holy warrior organization on Fardin's encouragement."

The SI also said: "Fardin maintained contact with JMB through Facebook, e-mail and other Internet platforms."

A diary that detectives recovered during yesterday's drive says that Fardin got his "training" from the JMB in 2010.

On October 5, police busted another JMB den in the port city's Khoaj Nagar area and arrested five JMB Lions of Islam and seized nine handmade grenades, a foreign-made pistol, and 120 bullets.

On the following day, one of the Lions of Islam was killed in a grenade kaboom when detectives took him to conduct another drive in the city's Oxygen area.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh

#1  Where did they get these? Something from when Iraqi forces ran like sissies when ISIS took Ramadi?
Posted by: gorb || 12/28/2015 2:32 Comments || Top||

#2  five kilograms of power gel

Wonder what that was for.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/28/2015 8:12 Comments || Top||

#3  They may have had a demanding goat.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/28/2015 13:45 Comments || Top||


Baghmara bomb similar to Mirpur grenades
[Dhaka Tribune] The remains of the bomb that went off in the Baghmara Ahmadiyya mosque on Friday have similarities with the hand grenades seized from a JMB den in Dhaka's Mirpur, an investigator has said.

Seeking anonymity, a member of the police team investigating the mosque blast told the Dhaka Tribune that the outer shell of the bomb is a GI pipe connector.

Galvanised Iron or GI pipes are generally used in water supply networks. The use of GI pipe connectors in making bombs was unheard of until now.

The investigator also said that one end of the connector was sealed and the other end had a two-inch opening.

Asked about kind of substance used in the bomb, Abul Kalam Azad, investigating officer of the Baghmara blast, said that they had sent samples to the Department of Explosives in Dhaka. Azad also said that he did not know anything about the similarities.

Three days ago, during a 14-hour drive in a residential apartment in Dhaka's Mirpur, a joint team of law enforcers seized 17 handmade improvised grenades along with a huge cache of bomb-making parapharnalia.

Sources said after the drive that the seized bombs were similar to those that were set off in the middle of a Shia procession preparation in Dhaka in October. These improvised grenades have pins just like military grenades but do not go off if the pin is removed; they explode only after hitting a hard surface.

Until yesterday, local police have made very little progress in the probe into the mosque blast, with why the attack was made and who did it still unknown.

Investigators are also not sure whether it was a suicide kaboom or if the bomb went of accidentally.

Baghmara residents have told Dhaka Tribune's Kamrul Hasan, who is now in the area, that they had seen two unknown people standing outside the mosque and they quickly fled the area after the blast.

Police are still to identify the young man who was carrying the bomb and got killed in the kaboom. Finger print samples have been sent to the office of Police's Special Branch in Dhaka who will match the samples with the information stored in the government's National ID database.

Meanwhile,
...back at the palazzo, Don Smilzo looked for an avenue of escape. The only window opened a hundred feet above the moat. The nearest of the hired assassins hold a bloody axe.
The window was looking better all the time....

Quantum Foundation yesterday administered the burial of the dead attacker at the Hatemkha graveyard in the Rajshahi city as the young man was still to be identified.

Yesterday, Mubassirul Islam, national Ameer of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at of Bangladesh, visited the mosque and the three people who got injured in the kaboom.

"An outsider carried out the attack in order to destablise and create division in the country's Muslim community," he said.

Urging the government to find the criminal mastermind behind the attack, Mubassirul said: "The law enforcement agencies have some successes but they will have to show greater efficiency in fighting the murderous Moslems and exposing them."
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Captured ISIS fighter says 'trained in Turkey, ISIS thinks it's safer here than Syria'
Turkey is training Islamic State terrorists in a camp disguised as a training ground for the Free Syrian Army, a 20-year-old jihadist captured by the Kurdish YPG told Sputnik. The prisoner said Ankara's help to the "moderate" Syrian opposition is not as innocent as portrayed.

Captured by the Kurdish People's Protection Unit (YPG) fighters in Northern Syria in November, Abdurrahman Abdulhadi, a Syrian national-turned Daesh (Islamic State) fighter, says he was trained in Turkey before receiving his first assignment with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

The YPG maintains external security in the three Democratic Union Party (PYD) run areas, and is fighting Islamist groups, primarily Jabhat al-Nusra and IS. The PYD, an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey, has effectively been ruling parts of Syria after government troops were forced to withdraw from the areas in 2012. With special permission from the local Kurdish authorities, Russian journalists received first-hand testimony that Turkey is "a friend" of Islamic State.

"They only appear to be enemies, however, they are friends," the 20-year-old Abdulhadi, whose brother, Til Berak, is still fighting for IS told Sputnik Turkey. While Turkish nationals constitute only about "10 percent" of jihadists he had come across, the prisoner said Turkey is actively training Islamic State fighters.

"In August 2014, I was training in the Turkish town of Adana with one of ISIL's Emirs," Abdulhadi said, adding his month-long training was completed with 60 other fighters in a camp "not far from the airport."

The captured IS soldier said military training was conducted by two officers and one of them only "spoke Turkish, so another one had to translate for him."

"Once a week we had shooting classes where we were taught to use Kalashnikovs, machine guns and other arms," the 20 year-old said. "We were trained in Turkey because ISIL's command thought it was safer here than in Syria because of the bombardments there."

While the camp was officially declared to be one of the training grounds for the Free Syrian Army, the YPG prisoner says, "all sixty of those who were there were ISIL members."

"These were Syrian citizens, many of whom arrived in Turkey in search for a job initially, but later joined Daesh," he explained.

After completing his training, Abdulhadi was tasked with escorting Syrians who wanted to join the jihadists.

"After I finished the training, I went to one of the districts in the Turkish town of Adana. My task was to meet the newly arrived recruits from Syria. After the training we sent them to the Turkish town of Urfa. From there the recruits were transferred via Turkey-Syria border crossing back to Syrian Raqqa. And from there further across Syria," Abdulhadi explained, saying this was the only assignment he received from his "emir" during the deployment in Syria.

Besides helping to train recruits, the IS prisoner says he was deployed in Syria for brief periods. He was eventually captured in the village of Tal Afer on November 1.

The prisoner also revealed that IS is now receiving ammunition in trucks disguised as non-military cargo. He said that such low-level fighters as him have no idea where the arms come from.

"Weapons were brought to us in civilian cars, not in military ones because fighter jets might have bombed them. ISIL is now mostly using civilian vehicles. I've heard they put vegetables on top of boxes with ammunition, so that war planes do not spot them."
Posted by: gorb || 12/28/2015 14:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  While the camp was officially declared to be one of the training grounds for the Free Syrian Army, the YPG prisoner says, "all sixty of those who were there were ISIL members."

And Sy Hersh is dismissed as a kook.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/28/2015 15:38 Comments || Top||


Russian Defense Ministry accuses Pentagon of imitating fight against Islamic State
The Pentagon, refusing to transfer the data on terrorist targets in Syria to the Russian military, continues to fight against the Islamic State terrorist group "in word only", Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters on Monday.

He thus commented on a recent statement by the Pentagon spokesperson Michelle Baldanza who confirmed that the US military did not intend to share with Moscow the information on IS targets until Russia changes its policy towards Syrian President Bashar Assad. "We are not going to cooperate with Russia on Syria until they change their strategy of supporting Assad and instead focus on ISIL (IS)," Baldanza said.

"The hackneyed thesis has once again confirmed that the Pentagon will fight against IS in word only, instead of taking real action," Konashenkov said. "The statement by the US Defense Department spokesperson Michelle Baldanza about the [US side's] refusal from any cooperation in the fight against Islamic State is a broken record, and it's high time to change it," he said.

The Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said that at last week's news briefing of the chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff, General Sergey Rudskoy, the military presented data on changes in the routes of illegal transportation of oil by the Islamic State militants.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the new routes run through the north-western regions of Iraq, which "are in the focus of constant attention of the United States." "We publicly told our American colleagues that it is necessary not to discuss the IS activities in Iraq, but to take real action to block the terrorists' sources of income in the region," Konashenkov said.

On December 25, Sergey Rudskoy told journalists that Russian intelligence found almost 12,000 tank/delivery trucks on the Turkish-Iraqi border near Zakho, where the 'eastern' oil smuggling route used by the Islamic State terrorist group runs. "As of the time the imagery was shot, there were 11,775 tank and delivery trucks on both sides of the Turkish-Iraqi border in the vicinity of Zakho, with 4,530 of them in Turkey and 7,250 in Iraq," he added. "It is worth mentioning that oil extracted both in Iraq and in Syria is smuggled via the checkpoint there," he added.

The Defense Ministry had said previously that the Russia-banned Islamic State's eastern oil smuggling route led from the oilfields in Syria's northeast and Iraq's northwest to Turkey via the border towns of Kara Chokh, Cham Khanik, Tavan and Zakho. Since the beginning of the operation in Syria, Russian aircraft have taken out around 2,000 tank trucks operated by the militants. "Thirty-seven oil wells and refineries operated by the terrorists and 17 tank truck convoys hauling oil products have been eliminated over the last week," Rudskoi said.

The Russian military launched an air operation against the militants with the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria on September 30 by request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Russian air task force in Syria included over 50 aircraft, including Su-34 (NATO reporting name: Fullback) and Su-24M (Fencer) tactical bombers, Su-25 (Frogfoot) attack aircraft, Su-30SM (Flanker-H) multirole fighters and Mi-8 (Hip) and Mi-24 (Hind) helicopters. The Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement in mid-November that it would focus its strikes on the oil production, storage, refining and transportation facilities controlled by Islamic State militants.
Posted by: gorb || 12/28/2015 14:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  it is necessary not to discuss the IS activities in Iraq, but to take real action


They didn't hear about the new narrative?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/28/2015 15:22 Comments || Top||

#2  On December 25, Sergey Rudskoy told journalists that Russian intelligence found almost 12,000 tank/delivery trucks on the Turkish-Iraqi border near Zakho

Per Zero Hedge (which I will not link to,) those trucks are loaded with 'Iraqi Kurdish oil'. Supposedly there's IS loads intermingled as well in what supposedly is a lucrative racket.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/28/2015 15:48 Comments || Top||


Europe
Denmark seeks revision of UN refugee convention
[Beirut Daily Star] Copenhagen: Denmark's centre right-wing prime minister on Sunday said he would seek a revision of the UN Refugee Convention, as Europe faces its worst migration crisis since World War II.

"If this continues or gets worse... we will get to the point where we'll have to talk -- and Denmark won't be able to do it alone -- about adjusting the rules of the game," Lars Lokke Rasmussen told TV2 television.

The Danish premier, whose Venstre party rules with the backing of the anti-immigration Danish People's Party (DPP) in parliament, said the 1951 treaty should be revised in order to clarify the rights of refugees in the first country they fled to.

"If someone seeking shelter from war has lived for two or three years in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, should he then go to Europe and seek asylum there? As they stand today, the rules allow people to do that, but we are going to have a discussion about that," he told the Danish television channel.

The prime minister believes the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, of which Denmark is a member, should lead an effort to modify the convention, which came into law just six years after World War II ended.

The Danish government's policies on migrants have triggered global controversy, most recently with a plan to seize migrants' valuables and cash.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Germany recruits 8,500 teachers for child refugees
[Beirut Daily Star] Germany has recruited 8,500 people to teach child refugees German, as the country expects the number of new arrivals to soar past the million mark in 2015, Die Welt daily reported Sunday.

With some 196,000 children fleeing war and poverty entering the German school system this year, 8,264 "special classes" have been created to help the new arrivals catch up with their peers, Die Welt said, citing a survey carried out in 16 German federal states.

"Some 8,500 additional teachers have been recruited nationwide," the daily said.

According to Germany's education authority, 325,000 school-age children reached the EU country in 2015, amid Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II.

Germany expects over a millon asylum seekers this year, which is five times more than in 2014 and has put a strain on its ability to provide services to all the newcomers.

"Schools and education administrations have never been confronted with such a challenge," Brunhild Kurth, who heads the education authority, told Die Welt.

"We must accept that this exceptional situation will become the norm for a long time to come."

Heinz-Peter Meidinger, head of the DPhV teachers' union, said Germany will in fact need up to 20,000 additional teachers in order to cater for the new numbers.

"By next summer, at the latest, we will feel that gap," he said.

Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The female teachers will be wearing hijabs, right?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/28/2015 2:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Do they really think the 'refugees' will sent their little Jihaldi Darlings to a non Muslim school? The refugees will demand, and likely be granted Islamic school.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/28/2015 8:51 Comments || Top||

#3  No, Syrian families with small children are actually the least religious. Many come from an urban, middle class background and certainly harbor no jihadist ideas.

The earlier their children receive a proper education, the better.

According to German police Syrian families cause almost zero trouble (troublemakers are rather from Afghanistan, Kosovo or North Africa).
Posted by: European Conservative || 12/28/2015 16:16 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
US military drafting 'new narrative' for ISIS war
[TheHill] The U.S. military is seeking to craft a “new narrative” for the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), in part to push back on the growing perception that President Obama does not have a strategy.
The poor darlings.
Military officials on the Operation Inherent Resolve task force have recently formed a working group to formulate a "new narrative," defense officials told The Hill.
Remember the old days, when the military wargamed strategies and tactics against clear objectives? Life was so much simpler then.
Separately, the Joint Staff has drafted its own messaging document. The steps are preliminary, and are part of a larger effort to better communicate the U.S.'s military strategy amid heavy criticism from Republican presidential candidates who say Obama is losing the battle against the terrorist group.

It is not clear who is overseeing or directing the effort, which appears to be internally driven within the military. Still, the focus on messaging is in sync with the White House, which has said it needs to do a better job communicating the ISIS strategy to the public.

Obama earlier this week in an interview with NPR suggested that the administration has not done enough to publicize progress in the ISIS war. The White House has undertaken a flurry of activity over the past month to highlight the military campaign against ISIS.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Monday rejected the idea that weak messaging is to blame for rising public fears about terrorism. The issue was not with "a communications plan" to defeat ISIS but rather over the need for a "comprehensive plan to destroy this enemy and protect our homeland," a statement from Ryan’s office said. But the administration clearly disagrees.

The task force's near-term plan is to get the new narrative done within the next several weeks, to present to Army Gen. Sean McFarland, the U.S. commander overseeing the ISIS war.

The messaging effort comes as the U.S.-led coalition is seeing some success in Iraq. Iraqi forces retook the Beiji oil refinery from ISIS in October, Kurdish peshmerga forces retook Sinjar from ISIS in November, and Iraqi forces are on the brink of retaking Ramadi.

Those successes have been muted, however, by ISIS terrorist attacks in Paris in November and a mass shooting in San Bernardino in December where one of the attackers had pledged allegiance to ISIS.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  More lies.
Posted by: jvalentour || 12/28/2015 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  So his plan is to lie more.

And form focus groups in the hope to be able to find some common ground...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/28/2015 0:43 Comments || Top||

#3  "Don't worry I've got everything under control..."

or

"I've directed my Secretary of Defense to throw himself under the bus and take the blame..."
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/28/2015 1:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Legacy(s).

In the worst-case, CAN A OWG-NWO MARXIST-COMMIE-GLOBALIST AMERIKA UNDER OWG + NAU + RELATED SUCCESSFULLY CONTROL THE GLOBAL ISLAMIST-JIAHDIST NUCLEAR CALIPHATE???

Similarly, IS A SOLE SUPERPOWER USA STILL A SUPERPOWER IFF IT BOTH UNILATERALLY PULLS OUT OF EAST ASIA + GIVES UP 1/2 OF THE PACIFIC TO MILPOL OR GEOPOL RIVALS + WANNABES, + ALSO UNILATERALLY PULLS OUT OF EUROPE, ETC. + GIVES UP 1/2 OF THE ATLANTIC TO SAME.

The Guam Locals I've talked with, to include University Professors, say "NO".

What sayeths the Burg, Net, + Amerika!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/28/2015 1:31 Comments || Top||

#5  Because an army of defense of islam will not conquer how FUC&ed up it IS.
Posted by: newc || 12/28/2015 1:39 Comments || Top||

#6  Hey Private, Run out to that field and grab a F@*Load of strawmen, put them on the duce and a half, and deliver them to 1600 PEN Avenue in DC, mmmmmkay?
Posted by: newc || 12/28/2015 1:41 Comments || Top||

#7  Will this refurbished narrative end up with greater numbers of ISIS dead?
Posted by: gorb || 12/28/2015 2:29 Comments || Top||

#8  Narrative is everything!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/28/2015 2:35 Comments || Top||

#9  From the Onion?
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 12/28/2015 4:38 Comments || Top||

#10  the Joint Staff has drafted its own messaging document.

It is phrasing like this that disgusts and therefore turns off any normal productive person. SAHMs, plumbers, auto-repair people, etc. KNOW what this means and recognize it for the pseudo-intelligent babble that it is.

People who seriously use this type of language are automatically discounted as worthless.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/28/2015 7:57 Comments || Top||

#11  First step in preparing the preliminary draft: find all "conservative" and replace with "Islam" and find all "republican" and replace with "ISIL"
Posted by: Airandee || 12/28/2015 8:19 Comments || Top||

#12  Fire up the Mission Statement Generator
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/28/2015 9:06 Comments || Top||

#13  More hashtag war symbols coming up.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 12/28/2015 12:07 Comments || Top||

#14  New narrative: "We win. They lose."

Hey, it worked before. Or we could go with an update of the Halsey Narrative: "When we're through with them, the Japanese language will be spoken only in Hell." (Which, fortunately for all, did not entirely work.)
Posted by: Matt || 12/28/2015 14:15 Comments || Top||

#15  The spin-machine started up before the holidays. ABC News, The Washington Post, AyPee, Rooters, Slate, etc. have all been slathering on articles and opinion pieces about how the President has been unfairly treated and how he's being magnanimous about it:

"President Obama sees his current poor ratings in polls as stemming from a failure to communicate. Aides say that he plans to spend more time next year explaining his policies and describing what he has been doing both to defeat ISIS abroad and to stop acts of terrorism at home."

Hence the "new" narrative.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/28/2015 15:58 Comments || Top||

#16  You'll probably find that the authors will shortly "retire".
Posted by: KBK || 12/28/2015 16:52 Comments || Top||

#17  I think the new narrative will be Hansel and Gretel. The Three Billy Goats Gruff is another possibility.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/28/2015 23:29 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Iftikhar Chaudhry launches his party
[DAWN] Former chief justice of Pakistain Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry launched on Friday a political party namely 'Pakistain Justice Democratic Critic Party (PJDCP)'.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, he said the PJDCP would welcome only non-corrupt people, adding that the party's aim would be to solve people's problems.

Mr Chaudhry, 66, said his party would work on a 25-point agenda, including in the sectors of health and education and land reforms. Provision of justice to the common man would be the basic manifesto of his party, he added.

The ceremony was attended by lawyers, civil society activists and others.

Earlier, the ex-CJ had said that he would announce his political party and manifesto on Dec 25.

Iftikhar Chaudhry was appointed 18th chief justice of Pakistain by then president retired Gen Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
on June 30, 2005.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Hurriyat ready for talks
[Daily Excelsior] The moderate separatist group in Jammu and Kashmire today urged the top political brass of India and Pakistain to ensure that "rabble-rousers" in both countries are not allowed to vitiate the "atmosphere of peace" emerging after the recent thaw in Indo-Pak relations.

The Hurriyat Conference headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq hoped that the leadership in both the countries will carry forward the grinding of the peace processor in a "bold way" and resolve all outstanding issues including Kashmire. It also said that it would not shy away from talks with the Government, adding that any dialogue should be "with an open mind and heart".

Keenly watching the developments, Mirwaiz Farooq, who is also a Muslim religious head, feels that the Friday meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Pak counterpart Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
in Lahore has given a fresh hope not only to people of the two nations but to the entire South Asian region.

"I only hope that the process, which has been initiated after many speed breakers, gains momentum and both nations sit together and find solutions to all the outstanding issues including Kashmire by involving the Kashmiri people," the Mirwaiz said here.

He, however, expressed apprehension that radical elements, who are inimical to peace in the region, would try and make desperate attempts to sabotage the grinding of the peace processor.

"Both the Prime Ministers are democratically elected and have a strong mandate in their respective countries. If they are to carry forward a grinding of the peace processor and take historical steps, it is important that the process has broad support from the political opposition and general public in both countries.

"Any party or group that stands in the way of attempts to achieve peace are enemies of the people of South Asia. The leadership in India and Pakistain should invite and involve all the stakeholders -- especially the people of Kashmire -- to contribute and be a part of this process.

"The rabble-rousers should be reined in so that issues can be addressed and peace becomes the order of the day in the South Asian region," he said.

When asked that certain separatists groups including his one time ally Syed Ali Shah Geelani were considered as hawks, the Mirwaiz said, "Everyone in Kashmire supports meaningful dialogue and engagement. My point is simple that we in the Hurriyat Conference believe that Kashmire is a political issue which needs to be resolved through dialogue "

"We in Hurriyat Conference would like to walk an extra mile for ensuring that grinding of the peace processor can succeed. I have said it many times that we wish to see Kashmire as a bridge of friendship between India and Pakistain rather than a bone of contention," the Mirwaiz said.

To a question whether the Hurriyat Conference was willing to talk to the central leadership, he said, "We have never shied away from dialogue aimed at addressing the Kashmire issue be it with India or Pakistain.

"We held talks with the then Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh as well as Pervez Musharaf and even gave some suggestions in order to move forward. Hurriyat would not shy away from any serious process aimed at resolving the Kashmire issue involving all stakeholders"

To a question about statements from Union Ministers that talks with Hurriyat would be held within Indian Constitution, the Mirwaiz claimed it was Vajpayee who spoke of holding unconditional talks under the ambit of 'insaniyat' and vowed that India "shall not traverse solely on the beaten track of the past".

"Talks need to be held with an open mind and heart," the Mirwaiz said. (PTI)
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Jalawla families return to bomb-free homes and Peshmerga protection
[RUDAW.NET] ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - More than 155 families have returned to the town of Jalawla a year after it was liberated by Kurdish Peshmerga forces, a local official said.

The families were allowed to return home after their houses, streets and roads were declared safe by bomb disposal engineers.

The town in northern Diyala was taken by 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) bully boyz August last year but Kurdish forces regained the town three months later.

"After bomb disposal teams cleared the neighborhood of Azadi of landmines and booby traps laid by ISIS during the battle for the city, 155 families managed to retuen to the city," the mayor of Jalawla Yaqub Lihebi told Rudaw.

The radical bully boyz had rigged many homes and public places with explosives during their brief control of the town.

"We assisted these families to return home by restoring public services to the town's neighborhoods including electricity, water and roads," the mayor added.

Previously, 83 families, mostly Arabs had returned to their villages in the outskirts of Jalawla.

With ISIS gone from most of Diyala, Peshmerga Brigadier. Najmadeen Omer, said that his forces and the Kurdish security maintain a heavy presence and patrol the area "to protect Jalawla from infiltrating ISIS hard boys,"
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Hundreds of women executed in Mosul, sentenced by Sharia court
[RUDAW.NET] ERBIL, Kurdistan Region- A report by the Nineveh police department on 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) crimes in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
says that up to 837 women have been executed by the Lion of Islam group since its takeover of Mosul.

Commander of the Nineveh police Zanuon al-Sabawi, said at a presser that the women have been executed in various forms.

According to al-Sabawi, most of the women victims were former candidates to the Iraqi parliament , provincial council members, and public employees.

He added that municipality workers and staff members of the election commission were also among those executed by ISIS.

The women and other victims of ISIS of the local population are believed to have been sentenced by the Lion of Islams' Sharia court that has condemned to death for alleged charges of disloyalty to the caliphate, espionage or un-Islamic behavior.

The group has also been responsible for killing and enslaving hundreds of Kurdish Yezidi women in Shingal and parts of the Nineveh plain.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Every time something like this happens, the western liberal defenders of Islam should be made to answer for it.
Posted by: Pearl Uligum8612 || 12/28/2015 11:35 Comments || Top||

#2  No war on women here... Move along... -Hillary
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/28/2015 12:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Sorry, Pearl. They don't vote Democrat; they don't matter.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/28/2015 15:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Western "feminists" (spit) don't care - the dead women (a) weren't white, (b) didn't go to the "right" schools, (c) couldn't advance the "narrative," and (d) weren't their friends.

Did I mention spit?
Posted by: Barbara || 12/28/2015 16:23 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IDF increasing fight against ISIS in Sinai
[Ynet] ISIS-Sinai Province
...previously known as Ansar Bayt al Maqdis, a much more interesting name...
has become the terrorist group's most effective branch in the Middle East; Military Intelligence believe that an attack is likely be carried out in one of the towns near the Sinai border.


The IDF has increased its intelligence-gathering efforts over the last couple of months on the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
's Sinai branch.

Military Intelligence has added 'heavy' and classified operative layers to its efforts to increase and improve the collection and monitoring of Islamic State's Sinai Province, which accuses Israel of supporting and assisting the Egyptian army in its war against its murderous Moslems - sufficient grounds for them to target the IDF.

In the past year, since the faceless myrmidons in the Sinai Peninsula abandoned al-Qaeda and swore allegiance to Islamic State, the Sinai Province has become not only the most effective ISIS branch in the Middle East, but also one of its most compartmentalized.

The organization, which has thousands of armed murderous Moslems - most of them locals - has recently started enjoying millions of dollars in aid from abroad.
The organization, which has thousands of armed murderous Moslems - most of them locals - has recently started enjoying millions of dollars in aid from abroad and is able to carry out daily attacks against the Egyptian army. It is based and trains on a high level of secrecy, which makes it difficult for intelligence agencies to even single out its leader.

Recently, ISIS-Sinai Province has posted videos in which it calls for carrying out attacks against Israeli targets. The threat has not been translated into any concrete warnings, but Military Intelligence is working under the assumption that ISIS's attack will take place without intelligence warning, and even if there is a warning, it will only come a short time before the attack.

Most of the IDF and Shin Bet's monitoring of the Sinai is technological, due to the difficulty of using human agents to penetrate deep into the Jihadist groups. These groups are operating in a vast area of about 25 to 30 thousand square kilometers in the heart of the peninsula, an area that is largely mountainous with topographical conditions that create difficulties in photographing or tracking Islamic State's trainings, headquarters and weapons warehouses.

Israel has admitted publicly only once to having helped the Egyptian Army in the Sinai Peninsula, when it sent a surveillance aircraft to try and locate the remains of the Russian plane that crashed on its way from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg.

Despite its focus on terror in the West Bank, and the fence that was completed last year along the Sinai border, the IDF has not lowered its guard along the 220 kilometer border from Kerem Shalom to Eilat: special ops forces remain on alert alongside regular army battalions. Three weeks ago, a surprise drill took place in the Southern Command to practice scenarios of large-scale attacks on Eilat and Nitzana.

In recent months, the Caracal Battalion has been training in built-up areas, practicing scenarios of ISIS attacks on one of the border villages.

On the Syrian border, the sole Islamic State branch is less significant than that of its Sinai equivalent. The Shuhada al-Yarmuq, who pledged allegiance to ISIS, have only tens or hundreds of bad boys. They have been busy over the past year fighting Jabhat al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-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 .. ...
which is affiliated with al Qaeda, considered the most significant jihadist group in the Syrian Golan.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran's Rouhani says it's up to Muslims to correct Islam's image
[DAWN] Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that Muslims must improve the image of their religion, which has been tarnished by the violence of hardliner groups such as 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....
,

"It is our greatest duty today to correct the image of Islam in world public opinion," Rouhani told a conference on Islamic unity in Tehran in a speech broadcast by state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
.

His remarks were rare for a leader of Iran, which considers itself an authority in the Islamic world and often blames the "enemies" of the religion for problems in the Middle East.

"Did we ever think that, instead of enemies, an albeit small group from within the Islamic world using the language of Islam, would present it as the religion of killing, violence, whips, extortion and injustice?" Rouhani said.

Rouhani, a relative moderate, said Islamic principles opposed violence and the extremism of groups such as Islamic State stemmed from "narrow-mindedness and a lack of moderation".

Rouhani criticized Muslim countries for "being silent in the face of all the killing and bloodshed" in Syria, Iraq and Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
- conflicts in which Iran plays a role.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  What did he say in Farsi?
Posted by: Raj || 12/28/2015 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm feeling faint, where are the salts?
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/28/2015 1:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Start with your own rhetoric, Rouhani.
Posted by: gorb || 12/28/2015 2:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Nope. It's up to the rest of us to knock you back into 7th century.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/28/2015 2:37 Comments || Top||

#5  I think your novel uses for tall cranes pretty much cements opinion on your understanding of Islam.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/28/2015 8:01 Comments || Top||

#6  I think your novel uses for tall cranes pretty much cements opinion on your understanding of Islam.

I think if the reset button were hit on Islam and it was restarted, they'd end up in pretty much the same place after a century or two.
Posted by: gorb || 12/28/2015 10:45 Comments || Top||

#7  Century, gorb? I'd give 'em a month, tops.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/28/2015 11:11 Comments || Top||

#8  Rouhani also accused Muslims of forgetting their common enemy — Israel — as they get distracted by atrocities committed by the Islamic State.

Something Rooters and Dawn left out.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/28/2015 11:25 Comments || Top||

#9  I imagine this rallying of the silent peaceful majority will result in Muslim demonstrations against ISIS all over the Muslim world.
Posted by: Hank || 12/28/2015 14:36 Comments || Top||

#10  That won't happen, Hank, even if you say it twice. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara || 12/28/2015 16:14 Comments || Top||

#11  My current image of Iran is that it is a fundamentalist country that supports terrorism, suppresses women and executes homosexuals. I believe that my image is accurate. Improving that image would involve actual change altering the reality of Iran not rhetorical or superficial modifications. Interestingly my image of Saudi Arabia is not much different than my image of Iran. My impression of Pakistan is actually worse because I perceive that country to be smellier ... but that perception is totally subjective and not based on any direct observation. I can easily be convinced that Iran and Saudi Arabia are just as smelly.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/28/2015 23:47 Comments || Top||


War in Syria and the Middle East SITREP December 25th, 2015 by Rambo
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What this crap is doing here?
Posted by: Lionel Thoth9784 || 12/28/2015 0:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Because this site and the SITREP link are both dedicated to informing people about the War on Terror.

You did get the memo, didn't you?
Posted by: Raj || 12/28/2015 1:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Moved to P. 2: WoT Background

The blogger's background, as he describes it at length. A complex man, clearly one who would not comfortably join me at dinner.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/28/2015 8:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Nor, of a certainty, would his commenters.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/28/2015 8:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Tea anyone?
Posted by: Shipman || 12/28/2015 13:48 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Al-Baghdadi says U.S. and Russia failed to weaken ISIS, threatens Jews in new statement
"Neener, neener, nee-ner!"
[ARA] His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us...
, the supreme leader of 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....
(ISIS) bully boy group, said in an audio message released on Saturday that Arclight airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition and Russia have failed to weaken his group.

Al-Baghdadi said that his self-declared Caliphate is "doing well", promising his followers with victory over their enemies.

"Be confident that God will grant victory to those who worship him, and hear the good news that our state is doing well," the ISIS alleged Caliph said in an audio message released online by pro-ISIS media outlets.

"The more intense the war against it, the purer it becomes and the tougher it gets," he said.

Al-Baghdadi also mocked the recently announced Saudi-led Islamic alliance against "terrorism", considering the member states of the alliance as enemies of Islam.

ISIS leader also warned Israel saying: "We are getting closer to you every day."

Threatening Israeli Jews, al-Baghdadi said:"You will hide behind trees and stones from the fighters of our state."

Concluding his audio message, ISIS leader urged Muslims worldwide to prove their commitment to their Islamic duty and join the fight.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  As per ZERO HEDGE, the response from ordianry or mainstream Muslims to AL-Baghdadi's call to Global Jihad ala Twitter ranks a mighty "not so much", perhaps more popularly aka "thanks, but no thanks"???

* See ZERO HEDGE > ISIS HEAD'S CALL TO GLOBAL JIHAD ... HERE ARE SOME MUSLIM RESPONSES.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/28/2015 1:23 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
24[untagged]
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4Taliban
4Houthis
3Govt of Pakistan
3Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
2Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
2Boko Haram
1Commies
1Jaish al-Islam (MB)
1al-Shabaab
1Govt of Iran
1Govt of Iraq
1Govt of Syria

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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In no particular order...
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2015-12-28
  Iraqi airstrike kills ISIS Top Dawgs
Sun 2015-12-27
  Syrian Rebels Mourn Loss of Leader, Name Replacement
Sat 2015-12-26
  One Killed as Bomb Blast Rocks Ahmadi Mosque in Bangladesh
Fri 2015-12-25
  30 ISIS Bad Guys die in Fallujah
Thu 2015-12-24
  ISIS troops forced out of Ramadi
Wed 2015-12-23
  Driver Shouting 'Allahu Akbar!' Runs Down 11 French Pedestrians
Tue 2015-12-22
  Tunisia dismantles cell recruiting women for Islamist militant
Mon 2015-12-21
  Afghanistan: Taliban 'take centre of Helmand district'
Sun 2015-12-20
  Terrorist and Hezbollah commander Samir Kuntar... Tango Uniform
Sat 2015-12-19
  Yemen Government Forces Capture Capital of al-Jawf Province as Peace Talks Go on
Fri 2015-12-18
  Over 800 migrants try to storm Channel Tunnel in France: Official
Thu 2015-12-17
  30 Dead in Boko Haram Attack on Three Nigeria Villages
Wed 2015-12-16
  Top Saudi, UAE Commanders among 150 Forces Killed in Yemen Tochka Attack
Tue 2015-12-15
  Breaking: L.A. School District shut down due to credible terror threat
Mon 2015-12-14
  40 die in Damascus airstrikes

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