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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Paktika Villages Collapse To The Taliban
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
Hekmatyar’s party close to final declaration on peace deal with govt: Sources
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Sources close to Hezb-e-Islami led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil...
have said the party is close to a final declaration on peace deal with the Afghan government.

The sources have told RFE that the negotiations regarding the peace deal have concluded and preparations are underway for a final declaration.

A front man for the High Peace Council of Afghanistan Mohammad Amin Muzafari has also said they expect to conclude the peace deal with Hezb-e-Islami.

He said a peace agreement containing 25 articles has been prepared with the mediation of High Peace Council.

This comes reports emerged earlier suggesting that the party has issued new impossible-to-meet demands to sign a peace agreement with the Afghan government.

According to the reports, the new demands included cancellation of pacts with the United States, a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops and that it be signed by a new government.

The new demands were made as Hekmatyar had earier said he has changed his conditions for grinding of the peace processor with the Afghan government by stepping back from his demands for the complete withdrawal of foreign forces.

Hekmatyar was originally demanding the complete withdrawal of the foreign forces from Afghanistan before officials talks begun between his party and the Afghan government.

Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar

#1  He was gonna throw his support, but he missed
Posted by: Frank G || 09/05/2016 9:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Hek throws like a girl, anyway.
Posted by: Pappy || 09/05/2016 10:00 Comments || Top||


Taliban Warns India Over Military Aid to Kabul
[VOA News] The Taliban is urging India to stop giving lethal military equipment to the Afghan government, condemning it as a "clear hostility" towards the war-torn nation.

In its first public reaction to New Delhi’s growing military cooperation with Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
, the Islamist insurgency alleged Indian aircraft and equipment are being used to kill Afghans and destroy their homes as well as other civilian infrastructure.

"The Islamic Emirate [the Taliban] condemns this action with the strongest of terms," said Zabihullah Mujahid, the main front man for the Taliban, in a statement issued Sunday.

Attack helicopters provided

India recently transferred four Russian-made Mi-25 attack helicopters to boost the Afghan Air Force’s ability to assist ground troops fighting Taliban myrmidons, and it trains hundreds of Afghan soldiers each year in its military academy.

"We call on India to stop exporting items of killing and destruction to Afghanistan and to stop efforts of prolonging the lifespan of this corrupt regime with its military aid," Mujahid added.

He accused Afghan forces of using Indian attack helicopters to destroy a key bridge during recent fighting in the volatile northern Kunduz province.
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Uganda says will rescue Soldier from Shaboobs
Thursday marked one year since al-Shabaab insurgents launched a deadly attack on the Ugandan military base in Somalia, killing 19 soldiers.

One soldier was captured and later paraded in a video released by the insurgents as a prisoner of war two months later. Speaking in Swahili and handcuffed, the soldier said in the video that al-Shabaab was “treating him well”.

It’s not clear whether the soldier is still alive but the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) spokesperson, Lt Col Paddy Ankunda, said they were hopeful one day he will be rescued.

Three days after the attack, President Museveni told the Japanese media that six soldiers were missing in action but Lt Col Ankunda on Thursday said five had been accounted for.

In an interview last week, the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Katumba Wamala, said the attackers took advantage of a mistake made by the commanders.

“The commanders made a mistake to deploy a small force to guard a base that had been occupied by a bigger force,” said Gen Wamala. He said it has become a pattern for al-shabaab to attack UPDF positions occupied by forces that have just been deployed or those that are about to return home.

A committee of inquiry chaired Brig Jack Bakasumba found out that the commanders didn’t handle the operational requirements well. The inquiry also found that the Janaale UPDF defensive position manned by 200 troops was overwhelmed by the al-Shabaab attackers who were estimated to be between 350 and 500.

The committee of inquiry, which travelled to Somalia and Kenya, interviewed commanders and soldiers and inspected defence sites in Somalia. The report says the attack could have been avoided if commanders at all levels had read the “clear warning signals and made the necessary tactical adjustments”.

After the attack, President Museveni ordered the suspension and arrest of Col Bosco Mutambi and three others who are now on trial over the attack. Lt Col Mutambi was the Commander of Battle Group 16 that occupied Janaale. He was demoted to lieutenant colonel.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Bangladesh
Quasem was an executive council member of Jamaat
[Dhaka Tribune] The war criminal Mir Quasem Ali was sentenced to death by the tribunal in 2014 and his sentence was upheld by the apex court in March this year after his counsel had failed to prove his alibi. Quasem’s final legal attempt to save his life was rejected on August 30.

During the review petition hearing, his counsel urged the court to give him lenient punishment considering his status and economic contribution. But after the court dismissed his petition, Quasem was nervous about hearing about the judgement but surprisingly did not seek presidential mercy ‐ his last lifeline.

First contract
The government in 2013 announced that it had acquired the receipt of Quasem paying $25m to appoint a lobbyist firm ‐ Washington-based Cassidy & Associates ‐ to cast doubt and raise questions about the war crimes trials. Then law minister Shafique Ahmed disclosed the information in parliament in April, 2013, adding that documents related to the dealing were to reach their hands soon.

The attorney general submitted to the Appellate Division the receipt of the $25m deal inked on October 6, 2010 during the appeal hearing. But the court expressed its displeasure as the government was yet to take legal action against the war criminal and his associates involved with the deal.

In its verdict declared on March 8 this year, the Appellate Division said that Quasem had engaged a lobbyist firm on payment of $25m "to influence the government of the United States with a view to postponing the trial process."

The receipt of payment reads: "Confirmation of receipt of the Amount of Twenty Five Million US Dollars from Mr Mir Kashem Ali for Professional Services to be Provided."

The defence argued that there was no basis in support of the contention of the attorney general, but the allegation had not been established.

Second contract
In 2011, Quasem and his brother Mir Masum Ali hired Cassidy & Associates for $310,000 to influence US politicians and government officials against the tribunal proceedings.

Cassidy’s website says the fee paid by Quasem in the first quarter of 2011 was among the largest quarterly fees incurred by any of its 140 clients that year. Only about a dozen clients paid more.

Final contract
According to information available, two pro-Jamaat organizations based in the USA hired two lobbyist firms in early 2014 to work to get members of the US Congress to condemn the actions of the war crimes tribunal and raise public awareness among the US public. But the amount spent could not be known.

New York-based Organisation for Peace and Justice (OPJ) appointed Cassidy & Associates in April 2014 to "engage members of the US Congress to support a congressional resolution condemning the actions of the ICT [International Crimes Tribunal] and to use best efforts to include anti-ICT legislative language" in the legislative bodies.

The OPJ is run by sympathisers of Jamaat and its mission is to assist the party and its members in Bangladesh.

Cassidy then sub-contracted two other firms named Cloakroom Advisors and Kglobal. Both firms were appointed to carry out the same tasks as Cassidy; but in addition, they would "conduct outreach to the Department of State (South and Central Asia Bureau and International Operations)."

As per the contract, the Organisation for Peace and Justice was supposed to pay Cassidy a total of $50,000 over a period of three months as a lobbying fee.

The second pro-Jamaat organization that is lobbying against the war crimes trial in the USA is called the Human Rights Development in Bangladesh (HRDB). In March 2014, the HRDB appointed another US lobbyist firm Just Consulting LLC which was later renamed Grieboski Global Strategies.

Grieboski was tasked with reaching out to and influencing the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, the US Department of State and the US Congress against the war crimes trials.
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami

#1  They should have taken a Contract with the Clinton Foundation. That would have brought results, You just can't go wrong when you are a friend of the Clintons. And $25million is chump change for what you get from being a Clinton friend.

But now? "What does it matter?" You missed out and you COULD have had Hillary....
Posted by: Zorba Phuck2973 || 09/05/2016 7:29 Comments || Top||


Dhaka protests Pakistan reaction over Quasem’s execution
[Dhaka Tribune] "Pakistain is deeply saddened over the execution of the prominent leader of 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...
, Bangladesh, Mir Quasem Ali
...Jamaat-e-Islamic Central Committee member and Saudi money man in Bangla. Currently waiting to be hanged....
, for the alleged crimes committed before December 1971, through a flawed judicial process," reads the foreign office statement.

Bangladesh has protested Pakistain’s reaction over the execution of condemned 1971 war criminal Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali.

Additional Foreign Secretary for bilateral affairs Qamrul Ahsan summoned Pak envoy Samina Mehtab on Sunday and protested the Islamabad’s reaction, reports BSS.

"The opinion that Pakistain gave over the execution of Mir Quasem Ali was entirely tantamount to interference in Bangladesh’s internal affairs," Ahsan told journalists after the envoy left the foreign office.

"We have told the envoy that Quasem had scopes to appeal against the judgment and he exhausted the scopes. The apex court thought he deserved the punishment what he was handed down as he took part in the genocides in 1971," the additional foreign secretary said.

He said Dhaka told Islamabad that Quasem’s trial "took place in a very transparent manner in front of everybody".

Mehtab was escorted to the additional foreign secretary’s chamber at 3:15pm and came out at 3:35pm.

"Nothing much to say," the envoy told the journalists while they were seeking her comments over the issue.

Mir Quasem Ali was hanged on Saturday night for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.

In a statement released into six hours of Jamaat leader’s execution, the External Affairs Ministry of Pakistain condemned the execution.

"Pakistain is deeply saddened over the execution of the prominent leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh, Mir Quasem Ali, for the alleged crimes committed before December 1971, through a flawed judicial process," reads the foreign office statement.

It offered the deepest condolences to the bereaved family.

The statement also said: "The act of suppressing the Opposition, through flawed trials, is completely against the spirit of democracy. Ever since the beginning of the trials, several international organizations, human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
groups, and international legal figures have raised objections to the court proceedings, especially regarding fairness and transparency, as well as harassment of lawyers and witnesses representing the accused.
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Pakistan is "deeply saddened" for the 3 million dead and murdered civilians in just 8 months that the likes of Quaseem put down. ( work, work, work, busy, busy, busy).

And then the whole country and 93,000 brave and heroic Pak soldiers went in the bag in just 13 days. The Paks fell all over themselves in their hurry to piss their pants and surrender.

Its not much of war when Paks ( in the mighty Pak Army ) actually have to fight armed men. They do ever so much better when they are shooting civilians or burning down a girl's school. Of the 13 day War after the Indian Army went on a tour of Bangla Desh...the Paks fought for about 12 hours of the 13 days and the rest of them was spent running away.

Posted by: Zorba Phuck2973 || 09/05/2016 7:37 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Islam Karimov: Uzbekistan faces questions after leader's death
[BBC] The former Uzbek president, Islam Karimov, has been buried but many questions remain, both about his death and the future leadership and direction of his country.

Although a public transition of power began after Mr Karimov's death, questions are still being asked about the way Uzbek government handled his demise.

The first reports of his death emerged immediately after the official announcement of his hospitalisation on 28 August.

The initial report by the cabinet gave no details of his illness.

On 29 August, the president's youngest daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillayeva, said on Instagram that her father had had a brain haemorrhage over the weekend and was in intensive care.

On the same day, independent website Fergananews published its first report of Mr Karimov's death.

The Moscow-based news agency said his death occurred between 15:00 and 16:00 local time on 29 August.

That was denied by unnamed sources at the presidential administration and sources close to Mr Karimov's family.

By the time the cabinet officially announced his death on the evening of 2 September, several foreign leaders, including the Turkish prime minister, had already expressed their condolences to the Uzbek people on the death of their leader.

Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Norks fire missiles at Sea of Japan
North Korea fired three ballistic missiles Monday morning, according to South Korea's military. The missiles were fired from areas around Hwangju county, in North Hwanghae province, towards the Sea of Japan, South Korea's military said in a statement.

Officials said the launch was believed to be of mid-range Rodong missiles, and flew about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) "without giving any prior navigational warning."

It comes just under two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile. That missile entered Japan's air defense identification zone, the first time that has happened.
Notice the new launches didn't get close enough to Japan to cause Japan to shoot back, which they just might do...
In a statement, the US said it "strongly condemns" the multiple launches, which came at a potentially embarrassing time for North Korea's only real ally, China, which is currently hosting the G20 summit in Hangzhou.
But no one in that part of the world cares what we say...
From the summit, a senior US official said the launch was "reckless" and could pose threats to civil aviation and maritime commerce in the region. The official said the US would raise its concerns at the East Asia Summit in Laos, which President Obama is scheduled to attend this week.
Why wait? He's in China today...
Japan's Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said the launch was a "serious threat" to the country's security, and it was clear North Korea was learning from past failures.

"Looking at the fact that the three missiles have landed on almost the same spot at almost the same time, I think their missile technology has substantially improved," she said.

Meanwhile, China's foreign minister spokeswoman Hua Chunying called for calm. "At the moment, the situation on the (Korean) peninsula is quite complex and sensitive," Hua said.

"We hope all relevant parties can avoid taking actions that may escalate tensions, and can make joint efforts to maintain peace and stability on the peninsula."
China pets its lapdog for yet another performance. The treat is forthcoming...
"This is Pyongyang's way of reminding everyone of their existence at a moment when all the parties are together, in a typically defiant, North Korean way," John Delury, assistant professor at Yonsei University in South Korea, told CNN.
It's also China's way of reminding everyone that they have a rabid lapdog...
The launches also came hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping told his South Korean counterpart at the G20 that Beijing opposes the deployment of the United States' THAAD missile defense system to South Korea.

"Mishandling the issue is not conducive to strategic stability in the region and could intensify disputes," Xi was quoted as telling Park Geun-hye, according to a report from China's official

The stated purpose of the THAAD system is to defend South Korea from missile attack from the North, but Beijing views it as an attempt to shift the regional power balance in favor of US allies.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has previously said the deployment of the anti-missile system could jeopardize "China's legitimate national security interests."
So let's fire missiles towards Japan. That'll convince everyone that THAAD isn't needed...
"THAAD has a range that could hit weapons in China," said Yvonne Chiu, an expert on military policy and diplomacy at Hong Kong University. She added that China was understandably concerned "about having a US made, US run missile system in its backyard."

Delury says that while the Chinese "recognize that something has to be done about North Korea," they view the THAAD system as "killing a chicken with an ax."
We'd appreciate the opportunity to wring the chicken's neck quietly, but the Chinese won't let us do that either...
While the latest tests may seem to undermine Beijing's anti-THAAD argument, Delury says it "will create more tension between the South Koreans and the Chinese," which will benefit Pyongyang.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/05/2016 10:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  killing a chicken with an ax."

Many a chicken has been killed with an ax. It's quite effective.
Posted by: AlanC || 09/05/2016 11:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Ima hatchetman myself.
Posted by: Shipman || 09/05/2016 11:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Why wait? He's in China today...

Well, they're pretty much ignoring him. I'm guessing his syncophants are cherishing some vague hope that the Lesser Dragons will at least listen respectfully before they do what the PRC wants anyways...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 09/05/2016 11:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Real Sea of Fire stuff coming soon. Maybe some chlorine trifluoride loaded in the delivery package.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 09/05/2016 13:08 Comments || Top||

#5  P2K, I watched that video, and all I could say was "Holy sh*t!!!".

Of course, Kim Jong Un is probably looking at it and saying "Oooh. That would be sooo cool to pour all over Seoul."
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 09/05/2016 13:45 Comments || Top||


Europe
ISIS warns 100s of jihadis have snuck into Schengen to attack Europe & UK
[EXPRESS.CO.UK] ISIS supporters have gloated about sleeper cells nestled in Europe which are poised to carry out horror attacks on innocent civilians.

ISIS supporters have said the terror group has sleeper cells all across Europe. And most frighteningly of all - terror experts have backed up the chilling claims.

During the migrant crisis it was feared jihadists could sneak through the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
’s mostly non-existent borders as thousands arrived into the continent daily from war-torn nations.

This included in July, Mohammad Daleel, a 27-year-old failed asylum seeker, who went kaboom! outside a party in Ansbach, Germany.

ISIS later said he was a "soldier of the Caliphate".

There was doubt around the claims as the man was said to have mental health issues and had previously attempted suicide.

But now Express.co.uk has seen online material from ISIS supporters, claiming sleeper cells are waiting to attack.

One ISIS supporter boasted over Telegram app about upcoming attacks which he claimed would be as deadly as those in Nice and Gay Paree.

He said: "There are many cells being set up.

"That Islam will bring fear upon their land and each home.

"And many more attacks are carded.

"And on the way in many forms and fashions.
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  It's a standing headline by now.
Posted by: Raj || 09/05/2016 10:29 Comments || Top||


Merkel's CDU 'suffers Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania poll blow'
[BBC] Angela Merkel
...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom, more often now referred to as "Spitzbube" (villain) or Dummkopf" (dumbass), take your pick...
's ruling CDU party has been beaten into third place by an anti-immigrant and anti-Islam party in elections in a north-eastern German state, TV exit polls suggest.

The Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) party took 21.4% of the vote behind the centre-left SPD's 30.2%.

The German chancellor's CDU was supported by only 19.8% of those who voted, according to the exit polls.

The vote was seen as a key test before German parliamentary elections in 2017.

Before the vote in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, all of Germany's other parties ruled out forming a governing coalition with the AfD.

However,
alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk...
the party's strong showing could weaken Mrs Merkel ahead of the national elections next year.

Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, in the former East Germany, is where the chancellor's own constituency is located.
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  BBC:

Mrs Merkel, who is in China for the G20 summit, said she was "very unhappy" with the election result.

"Everyone now needs to think about how we can win back trust - most of all, of course, myself," she said.

"Obviously it [the election result] has something to do with the refugee question. But I nevertheless believe the decisions made were right and we have to continue to work on them."
Posted by: Pappy || 09/05/2016 10:05 Comments || Top||

#2  "Everyone now needs to think about how we can win back trust - most of all, of course, myself," she said.

Ever consider not bringing in 'refugees' by the hundreds of thousands, Brunhilda?
Posted by: Raj || 09/05/2016 10:32 Comments || Top||

#3  "Everyone now needs to think about how we can win back trust - most of all, of course, myself," she said.

"Obviously it [the election result] has something to do with the refugee question. But I nevertheless believe the decisions made were right and we have to continue to work on them."


The second paragraph negates.

She may as well cjange her surname to "Bourbon".


And is it me or does "Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania poll blow" sound like a peculiar sexual practice?
Posted by: charger || 09/05/2016 12:22 Comments || Top||

#4  New policy Free Brioche for migrants?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 09/05/2016 14:00 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey’s PM: We will not allow artificial state of Rojava
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has stated that Turkey will not tolerate an ’artificial state’ comprised of Kurdish holy warriors on its border. He was referring to the plan of Rojava independent of Syria rules by US-supported Marxist YPG.

"We will never allow the formation of an artificial state in the north of Syria," Yildirim said in a speech in the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey, adding, "We are there with Euphrates Shield, we are there to protect our border, to provide for our citizens safety of life and property, and to ensure Syria’s integrity."

Meanwhile,
...back at the wrecked scow, Agent 49 felt gingerly for his head. It was still there. He had been hoping differently...
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
said at the G20 gathering of world leaders in China that Turkey would not permit the establishment of a "terror corridor" in northern Syria.

"Nobody should expect that we’ll agree to the establishment of a terror corridor along our southern border in northern Syria," Erdogan said on September 1.

Turkey forms new alliance against Kurds

[ARA News] AMUDE – Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has condemned Western media reports that Ankara’s military operations target Kurds and not ISIS, suggesting they just target terrorists. But Kurdish civilians in Syria disagree.

“Thos claims are baseless; Turkey’s main objective is to hit the Kurds in Syria and prevent them from obtaining their legitimate rights,” Kurdish activist Abdulqadir Darwish told ARA News. “It’s not a matter of which Kurdish party is in control of Rojava [Syria’s Kurdish region]. Turkey has reached an agreement with Iran and others to hit the Kurds.”

“The US support for our forces is merely to serve their own interests in the region. We’ve been fighting ISIS for years, but we shouldn’t expect anything in return, not even regaining our legitimate rights as a nation of 40 million people,” Darwish said.

“Today the Kurds find themselves in fight with ISIS, Turkey, Assad regime and Iran,” said Sharwan Amudi, a Kurdish citizen in Hasakah province.

“We are all aware that after Turkey invaded Jarablus city, ISIS militants just removed their beards and joined other Turkish-backed rebel groups who claim to be members of the so-called Free Syrian Army,” he said.

“The Turks would make an agreement with the devil just to destroy the Kurds and to stay in power in this region,” he added.

Mohammed Kheir Najar, a citizen from Amude city, told ARA News that Turkey considers all Kurdish parties as enemies. “For Turkey, there is no difference between the PKK, PYD, or KDP,” he said.

“Turkey’s main goal from intervening in Syria is to prevent the Kurdish advance against radical groups. They are trying to destroy the Rojava democratic project,” Najar said.
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


India-Pakistan
Will turn Kashmir into graveyard for Indian forces: Hizbul chief
[TIMESOFINDIA.INDIATIMES] Kashmire's most-wanted terrorist and the man who keeps the Valley on the boil, the very obese Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin
...the aging, morbidly obese chief of Hizbul Mujaheddin and the titular head of the United Jihad Council in idyllic Kashmire. Originally owned body and theoretical soul by Jamaat-e-Islami he and his organization are currently controlled by Pakistain's ISI. Salahuddin's hobbies include crocheting doilies shaped like the Taj Mahal, combing his enormous beard, and eating....
, vowed on Saturday to block any peaceful political resolution to the Kashmire conflict. He threatened to train more Kashmiri jacket wallahs, who would turn the Valley into "a graveyard for Indian forces", and to take his struggle outside Kashmire.

Dismissing talks as futile, Salahuddin, 69, insisted that there was no solution to Kashmire except militancy. "The Kashmiri leadership, people and mujahideen should know there is no formal, peaceful way." There wasn't any option but to "launch a target-oriented armed struggle", he told TOI in an exclusive interview+ at his office in Baila Noor Shah area of Muzaffarabad. Capital of Pakistain-occupied Kashmire, Muzaffarabad is located on the banks of the Jhelum and Neelum rivers, 22km east of the Line of Control (LoC) and 125km from Islamabad.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hizbul Mujaheddin


Pakistan: Islamic State Bid To Expand In Country Foiled
[RFERL.ORG] Pakistain says it has halted 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....
(IS) group’s attempts to expand in the country, arresting hundreds of people involved in plotting attacks on government, diplomatic, and civilian targets.

The military's top front man, Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa, said on September 1 that authorities have incarcerated
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
309 people associated with the bully boy group.

The comments were a rare acknowledgment by a senior Pak official that IS faceless myrmidons have had an active presence in the country.

Bajwa said most of those detained were established Pak faceless myrmidons who had switched loyalties to the IS group, but some 25 were foreigners including Afghans and Syrians.

Some were involved in assaults on the media.

Of a core group of 20 organizers, Bajwa said, all were captured, except one "who I am sure is not in Pakistain."

He added that IS fighters were still present in the Afghan provinces of Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
, Khost, and Kunar, which lie along the border with Pakistain.

The leader of the IS group's branch in Afghanistan and Pakistain, Hafiz Saeed
...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat...
Khan, was killed in an air strike in July in a border region between the two countries.
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Foreign Connections of the MQM Exposed
[KASHMIRWATCH] After an aggressive anti-Pakistain speech of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
(MQM) chief the increasingly rotundAltaf Hussain
..The head of MQM in Pakistain, who has lived in London and hasn't laid eyes on Pakistain since Caesar made corporal. Judging from the size of him,he may be a Hutt...
on August 22, this year, party workers attacked several media houses in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
Addressing his workers on Phone from London, who were on hunger strike, Altaf Hussain went to called for the break-up of Pakistain. He ordered attacks on the offices of Karachi-based media houses of Geo Television Network, ARY and Samaa News. Particularly, office of the ARY TV channel was badly destroyed by the MQM mob. During the violence, a passer-by was killed, while several others were maimed, including the staff of the ARY TV and coppers. During the crackdown made by the Rangers and police several holy warriors of the MQM and its leaders were rounded up.

On August 24, 2016, Altaf Hussain’s leaked phone call to MQM exposed foreign connections of the MQM and its chief Altaf Hussain when he asked USA, Indian secret agency RAW
... India's Research and Analysis Wing, Pakistain's equivalent of the Boogie Man...
and even Israel for help to disintegrate Pakistain.

Various leaders of Pakistain’s political and religious parties including every segment of society and media analysts strongly condemned the anti-Pakistain statements of Altaf Hussain in wake of protest-rallies. Some of them called him traitor. Even, his own party workers condemned Altaf Hussian’s statement. In a presser MQM leader Farooq Sattar said that that the MQM was dissociating itself from Altaf Hussain, and now the decisions would be made under his leadership--not from London.

Meanwhile,
...back at the abandoned silver mine, the water was up to Jack's neck and still rising. And then he smelled the smoke...
MQM MNA Asif Hasnain joined Mustafa Kamal’s Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), rejecting Farooq Sattar’s earlier announcement that the MQM was dissociating itself from Altaf Hussain. Earlier, knowing the real intentions of Altaf Hussain, several MQM workers joined PSP.

The PSP chief Mustafa Kamal who have repeatedly pointed out the links between MQM and Altal Hussain, rejected the MQM’s statement that the party chief was handing over party affairs to the Coordination Committee and focusing on improving his health. Kamal invited others to join the party and said, "If you have a problem with Altaf, leave the mandate. It is not your mandate, it is his mandate."

Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Kurdistan receives $22.2m from US for Peshmerga salaries
[RUDAW.NET] The Kurdistan Region has received $22.2 million in financial assistance for the Peshmerga and will go to paying soldiers’ salaries, a Kurdish official said.

"The first batch of US financial assistance for the Peshmerga forces has been received and deposited at the Kurdistan International Bank," Jamal Mohammed, the Peshmerga chief of Staff, told Rudaw.

He disclosed that the sum totaled $22.2 million and that "the money will soon be distributed among the Peshmerga."

Mohammed explained that the funds were part of an agreement signed between Erbil and Washington "for the Peshmerga in its fight against 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)."

He went on to explain that the sum will be distributed "over 14 Peshmerga brigades, four military training bases and five Peshmerga ministry battalions."

In earlier comments to Rudaw, Peshmerga Ministry Chief of Staff Jabar Yawar said that, "according to the KRG-US memorandum, the salaries of part of the Peshmerga fighting on the frontlines will be given by the US, and the other half the Peshmerga ministry will provide."

The July 12 agreement between Washington and Erbil pledges $415 million in US funds to go towards Peshmerga salaries.

The memorandum also requires the Kurdish Peshmerga to assist Iraqi forces in the battle for djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
and allow passage of Iraqi troops through Kurdish territories. It also states that Kurdish forces are expected to withdraw from areas liberated during the offensive.

Some Iraqi officials and MPs have criticized Erbil for signing the memorandum without informing Iraq’s central government, despite a statement from Iraq’s defense ministry last week confirming that the deal was signed with Baghdad’s consent.
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh, good. Now, instead of calling them Kurdish freedom fighters, we can call them America's Kurdish mercenaries.
Posted by: Glanter Trotsky5797 || 09/05/2016 8:03 Comments || Top||

#2  They were going to be called that in any case, o anonymous one.
Posted by: Pappy || 09/05/2016 11:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Two years ago the Kurdish leadership in Irbil was begging for arms. No mention was made of funds for salaries as the Kurd's oil pipeline through Turkey to the Med had begun to operate. The Germans were providing some assistance; however, to get US support the Kurds had to agree to the creation of a major CIA/Military outpost north of Irbil. Hopefully a tell-all book will soon be written about how we have mistakenly cozied-up to the Turks and how miserably we have treated the Kurds.
Posted by: Glanter Trotsky5797 || 09/05/2016 19:11 Comments || Top||


Civil servants in Iraq heed Sadr’s call to go on strike
[RUDAW.NET] Iraqi babus government employees in Baghdad went on strike and erupted into the streets on Sunday, following a renewed call by the firebrand
...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments...
Shiite leader Moqtada Tater al-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah...
Sadr called on the workers to remain on strike for at least two days, in a bid to force Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s government to hasten grassroots reforms, including action against widespread official corruption.

Sadr’s directive includes a campaign to collect millions of signature before the Eid holidays for an anti-corruption drive.

"We are from the oil distribution board and we are on strike now," said an oil company worker. "We disagree with the actions of politicians and reject sectarian corruption. We side with the plight of the people and their pains.

What we are working for now is to fight corruption."

Sadr called on both Shiites, Sunnis and Iraqis of other faiths to his call for a strike.
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


ISIS releases photo of suicide bomber that attacked Kurdish Kakei village
[RUDAW.NET] 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) on Sunday released the picture of a jacket wallah who killed six people in a Kurdish Kakei village in northern Iraq and maimed as many more.

The picture, posted on an social media account linked to ISIS, identified the attacker as Abu Bilal Iraq, who appears to have been in his teens. He drove a truck rigged with explosives into the village of Sha Saiywan on Saturday in the village of Khurmatu in Diyala province.

Immediately after the truck bombing, another suicide bomber broke into the village and detonated an explosives belt, but failed to cause any casualties.

Sha Saiywan village is seven kilometers north of Khurmatu and is inhabited by Kakei Kurds.
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Iranian Officials Meet with Hamas, Agree to Face ‘Zionist Danger’ Together
[THETOWER.ORG] After representatives from Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, and the Iranian government met in Beirut on Friday, the two parties promised to work together to unite the Moslem world to face the "Zionist danger" together, Ma’an News reported.

Ali Baraka, the Hamas representative in Leb, was received at the Iranian embassy in Beirut by the embassy’s head consul, Mohammad Majedi. Baraka emphasized the need to strengthen ties "in order to support Paleostinian resistance," Ma’an reported. Majedi stated his agreement, and reiterated his country’s support.

The meeting came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) stated its support for Hamas in July, praising the terror group for its "humiliating defeat" of Israel in recent conflicts. The IRGC said that Hamas was "at the forefront of the Paleostinian nation’s anti-Zionism resistance and fight."
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Converting flying carpets into rockets, naturally.
Posted by: newc || 09/05/2016 1:14 Comments || Top||

#2  The Iran-Hamas alliance actually dates to 1991. In a counter to the US-sponsored Madrid Conference, a meeting of the Terrorist Internationale met in Tehran. There leaders of a passel of terrorist groups signed a 28 point declaration that in effect created an Iranian funded radical organization "hostile to negotiations with Israel." At that time Hamas opened an office in Tehran. Since then, the office has never closed.
Posted by: Glanter Trotsky5797 || 09/05/2016 8:17 Comments || Top||

#3  a 28 point declaration that in effect created an Iranian funded radical organization "hostile to negotiations with Israel."

Which your President made a contribution to, some twenty-five years later...
Posted by: Pappy || 09/05/2016 14:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Hamas backed away from Iran when the Moslem Brotherhood won elections in Egypt, as I recall. But the funding wasn't there even before al-Sisi ascended, and the temptation of a joint attack with Hezbollah shooting off rockets from Lebanon was too delicious too ignore.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/05/2016 15:12 Comments || Top||

#5 
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 09/05/2016 20:25 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
Iran's Khamenei blasts Saudi management of holy sites
"We'd do a better job. More rock-throwing, less Stamepedey"
With Iranians blocked from this month's hajj pilgrimage, their supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a furious rebuke to rival Saudi Arabia, saying the Muslim world should challenge its management of Islam's holiest sites.

"Saudi rulers... who have blocked the proud and faithful Iranian pilgrims' path to the Beloved's House, are disgraced and misguided people who think their survival on the throne of oppression is dependent on defending the arrogant powers of the world, on alliances with Zionism and the US," Khamenei said.

He accused Saudi Arabia's ruling family, who are the custodians of Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, of politicising the annual hajj pilgrimage, due to start at the end of the week, turning themselves into "small and puny Satans who tremble for fear of jeopardising the interests of the Great Satan (the United States)".

For the first time in almost three decades, Iranians have been effectively barred from participating in this year's pilgrimage to Mecca after talks on logistics and security fell apart.
Posted by: Frank G || 09/05/2016 12:08 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Southeast Asia
Five things to know about the Abu Sayyaf Group
[GMANETWORK] Some Philippine officials on Saturday said the Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
Group (ASG), the Islamic Lion of Islam group notorious for kidnapping both Filipinos and foreigners, was allegedly responsible for a deadly night market bombing in Davao City that killed at least 14 people.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno on Saturday alerted "all concerned units to be on the lookout for possible diversionary tactics to be carried out" by the ASG after the group allegedly grabbed credit for the attack in Davao City, hometown of President Rodrigo Duterte.

However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), also on Saturday, declined to confirm that the ASG was responsible for the kaboom in Davao City.

"That act of owning the kaboom is something we expect the ASG to claim," AFP public affairs office chief, Marine Col. Edgard Arevalo, said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf


‘Sabah ready to face fleeing Abu Sayyaf terrorists’
[GLOBALNATION.INQUIRER.NET] Sabah is prepared to face the possibility of people from the southern region or the hunted Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
members fleeing to Sabah.

The Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) is bracing itself for fleeing Abu Sayyaf faceless myrmidons into the state in view of the all-out war declared against them by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

Esscom commander DCP Datuk Wan Abdul Bari Abdul Khalid said the state was prepared to face the possibility of the people from the southern region or the hunted Abu Sayyaf members fleeing to Sabah.

He said some of them had already entered the state and have family ties with the local communities in Sabah.

"We are keeping close watch and will take necessary action in due course," Wan Abdul Bari said.

Welcoming the action taken by the Philippines government against the Abu Sayyaf, he said Esscom was doing all it could to monitor the situation and keep tabs on the latest developments while conducting daily surveillance on the national waters.

He said the Esscom had daily operations on land and sea in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone) to ensure that the state stayed safe from any possible threats.

Wan Abdul Bari added that Esscom personnel and assets had been directed to monitor any suspicious movements such as smuggling or possible cross border attacks.

Esszone covers an area of 1,733.7km long and 100, 000 sq km comprising 10 districts namely Kudat, Kota Marudu, Pitas, Beluran, Kinabatangan, Sandakan, Lahad Datu, Kunak, Semporna and Tawau.

On Saturday, Duterte declared a nationwide "state of lawlessness" following a deadly kaboom at an open-air market in southern Davao City that killed at least 14 people and injured 67 during a presidential visit to his hometown.
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf


Top Malaysian Sunni official: Wahhabism has no place here, they split Muslim society
[EN.ABNA24] It really disturbs Dr Zamihan Mat Zin when he sees Moslems in Malaysia gravitating towards a Wahhabi/Salafist brand of Islam.

This is dangerous and divisive
...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled...
, he feels.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US and Russia fail to strike deal for ceasefire in Syria
[Jpost] US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were unable to strike a deal for a ceasefire in Syria and differences remain, a senior State Department official said after their meeting in China on Monday.

Kerry and Lavrov met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the eastern city of Hangzhou. Details of their talks were not immediately available.
Na banan i zatknic' (take a banana and shoot up).
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/05/2016 03:08 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  shoot --> shut
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/05/2016 3:11 Comments || Top||

#2  I figured it was some sort of fad, g(r)om.
Posted by: Pappy || 09/05/2016 11:22 Comments || Top||

#3  I was just channeling Ser'oza
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/05/2016 11:34 Comments || Top||

#4  According to secret unreleased transcripts, the discussion went something like this:

JF'ng Kerry: President Obama wants you to stop being so mean in Syria.
Lavrov: Make me.
JF'ng Kerry: (pouting)
Lavrov: Have a banana!

Posted by: SteveS || 09/05/2016 21:43 Comments || Top||


Syrian opposition seeks transitional govt body
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Syrian opposition has prepared itself to participate at a meeting of foreign ministers on Syria which will be held Wednesday in London after the High Negotiations Committee finished its meetings which lasted for two days in the Saudi capital.

The committee agreed on the executive framework for a political solution and confirmed that the latter is the first strategic option for the Syrian opposition.

According to the committee’s statement, the political solution must harmonize with international decisions and the Geneva I conference decisions.

The committee added that the solution will be implemented via establishing a transitional governing body with complete executive jurisdictions in which Bashir al-Assad has no presence or role.

It also said that it’s working with the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
to establish executive framework for international decisions to mitigate the suffering of the Syrian people.

The committee accused the Assad regime of using internationally prohibited weapons such as the naplam, phosphorus and cluster bombs, in addition to using chemical weapons. It also accused it of attempting to change the demographics of the country through forced displacement.

The committee called on the UN to bear its responsibility towards the crimes which the Assad regime is committing ‐ crimes which it doesn’t seem will end soon amid the series of ongoing battles as dozens of countries directly manage or support them or participate in them.

Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Al Qaeda Is Gaining Strength in Syria
[FOREIGNPOLICY] The struggle for Aleppo poses an awful threat for the United States. The ongoing battle for what was once Syria’s second-largest city has united two of the most prominent opposition coalitions. Their goal is to defeat Bashir al-Assad’s regime. But there’s one more thing they have in common -- neither has ever received significant help from Washington in their joint effort to break a nearly month-long siege of opposition-controlled areas of the city and conquer the rest of it.

The groups that have been trying to protect civilians in Aleppo from the siege tactics and indiscriminate attacks of the Assad regime and its Russian and Iranian allies may succeed nonetheless. But Washington’s inaction may inadvertently be paving the way for Syria’s next 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....
That’s because al Qaeda has filled the breach left by the absence of the United States. Al Qaeda is resurgent globally, exploiting American blind spots, and building a popular local vanguard to oversee the transformation of local populations in countries where the state has collapsed. Syria is its current focus. The United States now has little choice but to reorient its strategy in Syria to focus on the threat posed by al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda’s presence and influence in Syria was never confined to its formal affiliate, the Nusra Front. It dispatched numerous big shots and strategists to oversee the creation of a vanguard for al Qaeda within the Syrian revolutionary movement after the start of the civil war in 2011. These operatives, which the U.S. government calls the "Khorasan group," not only advised the Nusra Front’s top leadership, but also leaders of other Syrian opposition groups. Al Qaeda’s intent was to cultivate a series of rebel groups sympathetic to its aims while building a formal affiliate to normalize and diffuse its ideology. Al Qaeda probably also intended to establish a buffer against the possibility that an American intervention could destroy al Qaeda’s entire network by eliminating one organization.
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian army once again close to collapse
[BREITBART] During 2015, we repeatedly reported that the army of Syria’s president Bashir al-Assad was near collapse, after al-Assad’s army suffered a number of significant major setbacks, and was being crippled by massive desertions.
Don't count on it too heavily. Of course, that's what I usually say just before something happens, so flip a coin.
Al-Assad was saved by the massive intervention by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. However,
a hangover is the wrath of grapes...
al-Assad’s government is rotten to the core, and the Russian military intervention appears to have save al-Assad only temporarily, as the army is once again showing signs of collapse.

Mideast expert Scott Lucas, a professor at Birmingham University, described the situation in an interview on RFI. He said that the attack on Hama has forced al-Assad to split his forces between Hama and Aleppo (my transcription):

What we’ve seen in the past week does raise the prospect he may lose Hama city, which is the 4th largest city in Syria.

The majority of the local population is against the regime there, and it’s really in effect been an occupying force in Hama since early in the uprising.

[The regime is] trying to get back into this artillery base in Aleppo, and they’re putting up wave after wave of attacks to be able to do this, and they may be able to claim this one victory, but the problem is that they’ve got to this on multiple fronts now. They not only have to be able to secure areas on the Aleppo front, they’ve got to be able to push the rebels back on the Hama front.

We knew this a year ago. At the time when the rebels took the entire Idlib province up in the northwest, we knew that there were manpower problems, because president Assad came out and said it. He sort of warned his population almost in a sense that the military was on the point of collapse.

What saved the regime at that point was this massive intervention by the Russians, in terms of the aerial operations, in combination with a sharp escalation of Iranian and Hezbollah support, including not only Iranian units, but Iranian-led foreign militias, especially the use of Iraqis and Afghan militias. ...

We’re now looking at a de facto partitioning of the country. You’re going to have Kurdish areas of Syria up in the northeast, because the Kurds have pushed back 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....
. The rebels who now of course have Turkish support will hold parts of the north and the northwest. The Assad regime, which can no longer hold a national government, will try to hold the line from the Mediterranean through Homs to Damascus, and president Assad will hope to continue to remain in power as president of not all of Syria but at least part of it.

Other reports indicate a crashing economy with surging inflation, and growing infighting stemming from massive corruption.
Posted by: Fred || 09/05/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



Who's in the News
34[untagged]
11Islamic State
5Sublime Porte
3Govt of Syria
3Taliban
3Govt of Pakistan
3al-Nusra
2Hamas
2Abu Sayyaf
2Houthis
1Govt of Iran
1Hezbollah
1Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar
1Hizbul Mujaheddin
1Thai Insurgency
1Commies
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Salafists
1Ansarullah Bangla Team
1al-Shabaab
1Govt of Iraq

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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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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2016-09-05
  Paktika Villages Collapse To The Taliban
Sun 2016-09-04
  Turkey Launches New Attack Against ISIS, Kurds In Syria
Sat 2016-09-03
  North Syria cleared of ISIS, Kurdish militia
Fri 2016-09-02
  Thailand announces peace talks with southern Muslim rebels
Thu 2016-09-01
  7 Al-Qaeda terrorists executed in Iraq by hanging
Wed 2016-08-31
  The ISIS 'Attack Dog' Abu Mohammed al-Adnani Reported Dead
Tue 2016-08-30
  Afghan court sentences senior Taliban leader Anas Haqqani to death
Mon 2016-08-29
  Iran arrests nuclear negotiator over spying
Sun 2016-08-28
  Taliban fighters overrun district in eastern Afghanistan
Sat 2016-08-27
  ISIS Kubs of the Kaliphate execute five Kurdish captives in Raqqa
Fri 2016-08-26
  Somalia: Al-Shabab gunmen attack beach restaurant
Thu 2016-08-25
  Afghan forces hunt gunmen after American University attack
Wed 2016-08-24
  Nigeria: Military Says Boko Haram Leader, Shekau, Wounded in Deadly Air Strike
Tue 2016-08-23
  Nigeria claims it killed Boko Haram's Shekau in raid
Mon 2016-08-22
  Iraq hangs 36 people sentenced to death for killing of troops in 2014

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