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Syrian army calls on rebels to leave Aleppo, offers safe passage
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Camden man charged in 'ISIS' brawl at Philly steak shop
[NJ] A 24-year-old Camden man has surrendered to Philadelphia police in connection with an assault outside a popular cheesesteak joint, during which the assailants allegedly said they were affiliated with the terror group ISIS.

According to NBC10, Alberto Lopez turned himself into police on Sept. 14 and there's also a warrant out for a 36-year-old man also wanted in connection with the June 11 fight at Geno's along Passyunk Avenue.

Lopez had a preliminary hearing last Thursday, according to the report, which adds that assault victim Patrick Kane was in attendance.

The men from Clayton, Washington Township and Franklin Township are accused of attacking the two Philadelphia men after an altercation.

According to previous reports, the attack occurred at approximately 4:15 a.m. when a member of Kane's group asked one of the assailants for a cigarette. A confrontation ensued and one of the men claimed they belonged to ISIS.

"'Don't mess with us, we belong to ISIS,'" a member of the group allegedly said.

Kane, who was out with another couple following a wedding, said he was punched multiple times by at least two men.

Police said after the attack that the five suspects fled in two vehicles -- a dark-colored pickup truck and a SUV, both of which had New Jersey license plates. According to the NBC report, Lopez -- who is facing assault, harassment and endangerment charges -- will appear in court again on Oct. 28.
Posted by: Fred || 10/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
First Iran, now Russia want's its Nuclear Payment
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/03/2016 18:38 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
The Implications of Peace Deal with Hekmatyar
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The peace deal between the Government of Afghanistan and Gulbadin Hekmatyar is the first noteworthy success of the National Unity Government (NUG) in peace efforts. Hezb-e- Islami (HIA) of Gulbadin Hekmatyar agreed to cease hostilities in exchange for government recognition of the group and support for the removal of American and United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
sanctions against its leader, according to the agreement.

The western nations and the United States welcomed the peace agreement with Hekmatyar

"We applaud both parties for seeking a peaceful resolution through political dialogue and negotiation, and we commend the agreement as an important demonstration of the Afghan government’s commitment to restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan," the White House said in a statement.

The draft deal is in effect as it has been signed by President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
and by Mr. Hekmatyar, though not physically together.

The Commitments
Based on the agreement, the NUG committed to grant Hekmatyar amnesty for all his past offenses and release certain HIA prisoners. The Afghan government also agreed to press for the lifting of American and UN sanctions on Hekmatyar. The deal also includes provisions for his security at government expense. HIA will agree to cease all military anti-government activity and recognize the current Afghan constitution.

On the political side, the Afghan government pledges to provide freedom of travel and accommodation for the leader of HIA and other prominent personalities of that party and to give Hekmatyar the choice of two or three appropriate residences, including security arrangements, for which it will take on the costs. In addition, according to the agreement, the government further honor Hekmatyar in a special presidential decree "for his efforts for the liberation of the country," and will officially announce the right of HIA to be active both in the political and the social arenas and participate in all elections. The Government of Afghanistan also commits to arrange for the presence of HIA in the "consultation process for important government policies".

The agreement also provides for the voluntary return of refugees from HIA-related camps in Pakistain and other HIA members in exile. Returnees will receive land "in 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....
and other provinces," and about 20,000 families will be given help from "the international community."
Posted by: Fred || 10/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar

#1  I gather that nothing will be done to impede Hekmatyar's involvement in the Afghan drug trade.
Posted by: Shick de Medici6262 || 10/03/2016 7:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Probably part of his benefits package.
Posted by: Pappy || 10/03/2016 8:10 Comments || Top||


Nangarhar governor Salim Kunduzi resigns from his position
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The provincial governor of eastern 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..
province Salim Kunduzi announced resigned from his position earlier today citing interference in his work.

Kunduzi made the announcement during a gathering attended by several tribal elders and claimed that he was facing issues by taking a step to improve the situation of the province.

He was appointed as the provincial governor Nangarhar province nearly 16 months ago.

Kunduzi did not elaborate further regarding his claims on interference that creates barrier on his way to properly conduct his work.

Posted by: Fred || 10/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Somali intel boss fires 1500 intel officers
Somalia’s intelligence chief fired 1,500 intelligence officers including the Mogadishu chief in a new major shakeup of the country’s spy agency which is struggling to contain a deadly insurgency by al-Shabab militants, sources told Alleastafrica Saturday.
I see a slightly different problem: Somalia had 1500 intel officers in the first place? Could any of them carry a gun?
Gen. Abdullahi Gafow told the officers to abandon their positions, accusing them of failing to perform their duties, saying that he’d ‘re-energize’ the agency’s leadership to bring ‘more competent’ officers to defeat militants, according to sources in the Somali intelligence agency who spoke to Alleastafrica by phone from Mogadishu.

Abdihakim Farei, the agency’s Mogadishu commanding officer becomes the latest officer to be dismissed by Mr. Gafow who vowed opening a ‘new page’ for the spy agency.

However, for some officer the bad news shouldn’t come as a surprise that militants continue to unleash relentless lethal attacks across the Somali capital.

Since taking the agency’s leadership few months ago has sought to overcome rivalry and deep divisions within the Somali intelligence agency in the face of rising power of al-Shabab which threatened with attacks against the upcoming Somali presidential election which is scheduled to take place in November 30.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Houthis pose threat to shipping
RIYADH: Houthi rebels in Yemen are posing a threat to shipping in the strategic Bab Al-Mandab strait, the Saudi-led coalition supporting the government said Sunday after an attack on an Emirati vessel.

The coalition said Houthi militiamen had attacked the vessel “on its usual route to and from (the southern port city of) Aden to transfer relief and medical aid and evacuate wounded civilians.”

“Coalition air and naval forces targeted Houthi militia boats involved in the attack” near the Bab Al-Mandab, it said, while “coalition forces rescued civilian passengers following the attack” on Friday night.

“This incident demonstrates Houthi tactics of terrorist attacks against civilian international navigation in the Bab Al-Mandab,” the coalition said in a statement.

The strait is a major shipping lane between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden leading into the Indian Ocean.

The rebels, in a statement posted Saturday on their website, claimed the attack which it said targeted and “completely destroyed” an Emirati warship with rockets as it neared Mokha on the Red Sea coast.

The United Arab Emirates military acknowledged “an incident” involving a chartered vessel under its command in the Bab Al-Mandab as it was returning from a “routine” journey to Aden, further south, but it reported no casualties.

The UAE is a key member of the coalition that has been battling the Iran-backed Houthis and their allies since March last year in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s internationally recognized government.
Since March 2015, the coalition has pushed the rebels out of much of Yemen’s south, but they still control nearly all of the country’s Red Sea coast as well as swathes of territory around the capital Sanaa.

Posted by: badanov || 10/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


India-Pakistan
JI men booked for torture of police, ‘illegal’ rally
[DAWN] FAISALABAD: Kotwali police started the paperwork but haven't done much else against more than 30 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...
activists for allegedly subjecting coppers to torture during a public meeting held outside Chiniot Bazaar without the government’s permission.

The case has been registered on the complaint of Kotwali Station House Officer Shahid Iqbal under sections 148, 149, 186, 283, 290, 291 and 353 of the Pakistain Penal Code (PPC), Section 3 of the Amplifier Act and 13/20/65 of the Arms Ordinance.

Four JI activists, including its youth wing president Adnan, besides Ijaz, Waseem and Rafiqu, security in charge of the event, have been nominated in the case, along with 25/30 unidentified people. Police said the JI men had put up resistance and tortured an assistant sub-inspector (ASI). He said the police also seized a pistol and bullets from a meeting participant.

According to sources, the FIR did not mention the names of some top JI leaders who too had delivered speeches on the occasion.

They said Gulberg Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Abid Zafar was also manhandled when he along with some other coppers went on the stage to ask the organisers to stop the "illegal" event held outside Chiniot Bazaar.

They said JI Emir Sirajul Haq
...current head of the Pak Jamaat-e-Islami. Siraj was born in 1962 and entered politics shortly after that...
and other office-bearers were also on the stage when the coppers were manhandled.

Some JI workers also rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

police, the sources added.

Posted by: Fred || 10/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


India only good at hurling threats, says Musharraf
[DAWN] India is only good at hurling threats but if Pak military decides to act on them the response will assume a far more practical form, said chairman of the All Pakistain Moslem League (APML) retired General Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
on Saturday.

Speaking by telephone to APML workers on the party’s sixth foundation day, Gen Musharraf criticised India’s attitude and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had become the enemy of minorities living in his own country.

"India should realise that Pakistain is not Bhutan. India has a habit of levelling allegations against Pakistain each time there’s an attack on its soil," he said.

Posted by: Fred || 10/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Navy capable of hitting back if war imposed: Zakaullah
[DAWN] KARACHI: Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah on Saturday warned that Pakistain’s commitment to peace must not be construed as its weakness.

"The Pakistain Navy is fully capable of hitting back with all its might if war is imposed," said Admiral Zakaullah.

The naval chief visited forward posts in the Creeks area to review the navy’s combat readiness, said a PN statement.

Accompanied by Commander Coast Rear Admiral Waseem Akram, he visited various naval posts and observed the operational readiness of the troops deployed on forward bases.

He interacted with the PN personnel and lauded their level of motivation and determination to safeguard the maritime frontiers of the country.

The naval chief exhorted them to come up to the expectations of their countrymen who had reposed confidence in them.
Posted by: Fred || 10/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  We sail the ocean blue,
And our saucy ship’s a beauty;
We’re sober men and true,
And attentive to our duty.
When the balls whistle free
O’er the bright blue sea,
We stand to our guns all day;
When at anchor we ride
On the Portsmouth tide,
We’ve plenty of time to play.


Kndst Rgrds
Dick Deadeye
Posted by: Shipman || 10/03/2016 8:23 Comments || Top||

#2  :-D
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/03/2016 13:22 Comments || Top||


China extends hold on Indian bid to ban Jaish chief Masood Azhar at UN
[DAWN] China on Saturday extended its technical hold on India's move to ban Jaish-e-Mohammad
...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat...
(JeM) chief Masood Azhar at the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
(UN), Times of India reported. The move will hold for at least three months, and comes two days before China's hold was set to expire.

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said in Beijing, "The technical hold on India’s listing application submitted to the 1267 Committee in March 2016 has already been extended... There are still different views on India’s listing application. The extended technical hold on it will allow more time for the committee to deliberate on the matter and for relevant parties to have further consultations."

China blocked India's call to ban the Jaish chief at the UN in April this year, after India accused the turban group and its chief of carrying out the Pathankot attack.

On Feb 18, a list of 11 individuals and one organization "linked to terrorism in India" was submitted to the 1267/1989/2253 ISIS (the turban Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group) and Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee.

India's foreign ministry spokesperson, Vikas Swarup, had said India would move the committee to include Masood Azhar's name. "It is a great anomaly that the organization Jaish-e-Mohammad is lis­ted, but not its leader," he said.

Posted by: Fred || 10/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Jaish-e-Mohammad


Can Imran 'siege' the capital?
[GEO.TV] Imran Khan
... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree...
has set some new trends in politics and still has the capacity to attract big crowds, but what he perhaps still lacks is the strategy and means to success. He has now announced the 'final with Prime Minister, 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...
, when he threatened to 'siege Islamabad,' the federal capital.

What will all this lead to is not difficult to predict, but much can happen this month for either side. As I had written earlier, confrontation looks imminent, but is Imran's 'Tiger Force' really prepared and ready for all this?

Imran's intention looks quite clear. He wants to 'siege Islamabad,' which can be in both ways: closing all roads, or through disruption, something close to the August 30th, 2014 attack on Parliament and Supreme Court.

It was a big show but not as big as PTI's October 30th, 2011 or December 25th, 2012, irrespective of what young and dynamic PTI leader Faisal Javed says from the stage. In politics you have a right to make tall claims for motivation. Nevertheless, what was good was that it ended well and peacefully without any hindrance, for which credit goes to both the administration and the PTI.

One thing which I noticed in the jalsa was large participation of Pashtuns living in Punjab. Interestingly, Imran is attracting Pashtuns in particular in every city. In the last few meetings there has been a considerable decline in women's participation, maybe because of frequent unpleasant incidents.

Arrangements on Friday were much better, but still the fear factor kept large numbers of PTI women supporters away from the venue.

Posted by: Fred || 10/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israelis think peace deal won’t ever be reached — poll
[IsraelTimes] Fewer than 1 in 4 say accord between Israel and Paleostinians possible, but not in next 5 years; cost of living considered most pressing problem

Almost two-thirds of Israelis believe there will never be a peace agreement with the Paleostinians, according to the results of an opinion poll published on Sunday.

Sixty-four percent of the 646 (Jewish and non-Jewish) respondents questioned said a peace accord would never be reached, in the survey conducted by the Project HaMidgam institute for the Walla news website.

Twenty-four percent believed an accord was possible but that it would take longer than five years to achieve, while four percent thought it could be attained within five years.

The remaining eight percent were undecided in the poll, whose margin of error was not published. Walla also did not say when the poll was conducted.

The grinding of the peace processor between Israel and the Paleostinians has been comatose since the collapse of a US-led initiative in April 2014.

The poll, which was published ahead of Sunday’s Jewish New Year holiday, found 56% of respondents believe life in Israel is good, and 40% expressing moderate satisfaction. Nonetheless, nearly a quarter of Israeli Jews felt an interest in emigrating from the country over the past five years, the poll showed.

Of the problems facing the country, 36% of respondents said that the cost of living was the most pressing issue, with security coming in second at 24%. Public corruption, which has been the subject of news headlines in Israel after several mayors were tossed in the slammer
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
on suspicion of bribery and corruption in the past year, was third, with 17% saying it was the most serious problem.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Controlled Fusion or paleo-peace, which comes first?
My money is on the fusion thingy.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/03/2016 8:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Trying to think how we could achieve both objectives at once. Pleasant daydream ensued.
Posted by: Grunter || 10/03/2016 11:01 Comments || Top||

#3  solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/03/2016 11:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Now hear this:
The onus is not on Israel for peace.
Posted by: newc || 10/03/2016 12:42 Comments || Top||

#5  solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant

When one remembers that in Father Abraham's time, a man could drive his flocks from Ur in Iraq to Bethlehem through grasslands all the way... ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/03/2016 13:26 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Germany to press US to reduce Iran sanctions
[Jpost] German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel promised on Monday to remind the United States of its commitment to reduce sanctions against Iran, as he courted business ties during a two-day trip to the Islamic State.

Speaking at the opening of an economic forum, Gabriel said Germany wanted to "remind the United States of the commitment to get to an effective dismantling of sanctions." Iran's Deputy Economy Minister Mohammad Khazaei said 10 economic agreements would be signed on the sidelines of Gabriel's visit. "I hope that this will smooth the way between both countries," he said.

Gabriel has gone to Iran with a plane-load of industry executives. Remaining US sanctions and political concerns have so far held back a hoped-for business boom between the two countries.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/03/2016 06:40 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What sanctions is this idiot talking about? Kerry has loosened sanctions on banking, on oil, on airplane sales.

Could it be that Germany is about to revive Hitler's Middle East policy and the dream of a Berlin to Baghdad axis (and beyond)?
Posted by: Shick de Medici6262 || 10/03/2016 7:36 Comments || Top||

#2  That was way pre-Hipler. Building the railway was a major-minor irritant that lead to WW Uno.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/03/2016 8:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Germany wants to sell weapons? Possibly some advanced dual-use tech that could be misused to make chemical/biological/nuclear weapons.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 10/03/2016 10:49 Comments || Top||

#4  How about cutting military ties with NATO while we're at it?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/03/2016 11:16 Comments || Top||

#5  Iranians value German experience of coping with Zionist aggression.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/03/2016 11:41 Comments || Top||

#6  Times change. From The Times of Israel a year ago:

Iran dismisses Germany’s call for Israel recognition

Spokeswoman in Tehran rejects entreaties by Berlin official, says countries have ‘totally different views’ on the Jewish state
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/03/2016 12:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Please disregard anything Gabriel (SPD) says. He's a certified idiot who wants to be the next chancellor (and by that will ensure that Merkel remains chancellor).
Posted by: European Conservative || 10/03/2016 15:56 Comments || Top||

#8  Thank you for that perspective, dear European Conservative. Pray God Germany, Europe, and Britain manage to fix the current situation soon.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/03/2016 19:28 Comments || Top||


Syrian Rebels Taunting U.S. Troops 'Publicity stunt'
A video of the incident—which pitted the shouting partisans of an anti-Assad Islamist rebel group known as Ahrar al-Sharqiya against the passing convoy of a rival rebel brigade backed by the U.S.—was posted on YouTube on Sept. 17. It quickly got picked up in both English and Arabic language media. And it seemed to show the humiliation of the United States and its chosen paladins in the war against ISIS.

The BBC, no less, wrote that “Free Syrian Army rebels” appeared “to chase U.S. special forces out of the northern Syrian town of al-Rai, calling them ‘infidels’ in Arabic.”

There have been so many embarrassments for America’s proxy warfare in Syria, and this looked like another one. Given the overheated U.S. political season, and at a time when the Syrian war is sinking into ever deeper circles of hell, this smelled like a potent symbol of Obama administration failure.

But a fortnight later, both U.S. Central Command and a rebel eyewitness in al-Rai have told The Daily Beast that, far from being run out of Dodge, the U.S. commandos were hardly even aware of the demonstration, much less threatened by it. And further analysis suggests it may have been a set-up with backing from Washington’s ostensible allies, the Turks.

According to the eyewitness, the entire spectacle was staged to brand an American-backed Sunni Arab militia as hirelings of a despised superpower.

“On the second day of the offensive, in the morning, we passed by one of the main streets of al-Rai,” said the Free Syrian Army fighter who saw the protest and has asked to be called “Abu Faris” for this article. ‘We are fighting ISIS,’ we said. ‘They are our biggest enemy.’ But it didn’t work. There is absolutely no trust of the Americans now.”

And further analysis suggests it may have been a set-up with backing from Washington’s ostensible allies, the Turks.
That Washington is not popular in Aleppo province is a fact. But what was the scale of this event? The video shows over a dozen Ahrar al-Sharqiya members taunting an inscrutable convoy—but not, curiously, any U.S. Special Forces or Turkish soldiers. In fact, Abu Faris said, “the Americans didn’t really know what was going on. They were removed from the rally. There was no violence or gunfire. Just shouting.”

After the protest, [the rival brigade] Mutasim returned to the scene and asked Ahrar al-Sharqiya to leave. They did. Al-Rai, as of this writing, is held by multiple U.S.- and Turkish-backed rebel groups, including Mutasim, whose role is providing logistical support to Turkish tanks and target-scouting for U.S. warplanes.

“Ahrar al-Sharqiya tried to get a lot of media attention,” Abu Faris told The Daily Beast. “And the Arab media helped them along. It’s just a game they’re playing.”

Into this confusing morass of affiliations and multiple loyalties stalks the Obama administration, which, as Abu Faris put it, faces an inordinate amount of “hatred” in northern Syria from jihadist and non-jihadist Sunni Arabs owing to its empowerment of a Kurdish paramilitary force known as the People’s Defense Units, or YPG.

Charles Lister, the Syria watcher, noted that Ahrar al-Sharqiya, which has headquartered itself in the Aleppo border town of Azaz, was one of the few “semi-Nusra” units to remain in the north after Nusra as a whole withdrew in 2015, in protest against impending Turkish plans to establish a safe zone.

Their fitful presence in al-Rai therefore strongly suggests that Ahrar al-Shariqiya “has some level of a supportive relationship with Turkey,” Lister said, as all rebel factions enjoined in Operations Euphrates Shield are, in effect, Turkish proxies.

And while there is no evidence that Ankara might be behind Ahrar al-Sharqiya’s provocation against U.S. forces in al-Rai, which can have been wholly spontaneous and organized by disgruntled jihadists, it would not be the first time since Turkey’s incursion into Aleppo put its own assets dangerously at odds with America’s. But this would be the first time that Turkish assets have directly threatened to kill American soldiers.

An advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment. But the CENTCOM spokesman’s sanguine appraisal belies the animosity that still exists between Ankara and Washington.
Posted by: Pappy || 10/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:


Zahra: Hezbollah wants to run Lebanon like a farm
[ALMASDARNEWS] Member of the Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
Bloc, MP Antoine Zahra, told Future TV on Saturday that Hezbollah wants a president and premier that carry out its agenda, and that time has proven that the only one obstructing presidential elections is in fact Hezbollah.

The MP explained that former PM Saad Hariri
Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too.
went through all the options for presidential elections, and he was constantly faced by Hezbollah's commitment towards General Michel Aoun
...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
; and now that he was assessing Aoun for candidate, Hezbollah was trying to force numerous conditions on Hariri concerning Cabinet formation and which electoral law to adopt, as though the Constitution "was a joke."

He asserted that Hezbollah wanted a president and prime minister that would put into force Hezbollah's agenda in establishing a crescent of authority extending from Iran to Leb.

"As long as Hezbollah is capable of stopping the rise of an authority that would question it about what it was doing in Syria, it will continue to do so," said Zahra, noting that Hezbollah believed that it could score a conclusive victory and establish its dominance in the region.

"We agree with [Aoun] on rebuilding the state and respecting the Constitution, and those placing vetoes do not want a State but a farm that they control," added Zahra as he asserted that his Bloc would never allow it.

The MP said that his Bloc supported the mixed electoral law for legislative elections.

"The Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
will not join a House session unless the electoral law was on top of its agenda."

Posted by: Fred || 10/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah



Who's in the News
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1Jamaat-e-Islami
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1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1Arab Spring

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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2016-10-03
  Syrian army calls on rebels to leave Aleppo, offers safe passage
Sun 2016-10-02
  Five police conscripts killed in militant attack in Egypt's North Sinai
Sat 2016-10-01
  President Ghani and Hekmatyar Sign Peace Deal
Fri 2016-09-30
  US invests $50m in Niger drone base for counterterrorism
Thu 2016-09-29
  India carries out surgical strikes targeting terror 'launch pads' across LoC
Wed 2016-09-28
  Ruritanian warplanes hit Al Shaboobs outside Kismayo town
Tue 2016-09-27
  Pak Taliban commander Azam Tariq killed in Afghanistan
Mon 2016-09-26
  Two teen girls held in Nice over alleged terror plot
Sun 2016-09-25
  Washington mall shooting: Bad Guy in custody
Sat 2016-09-24
  3 Al-Qaeda suspects killed in drone strike in Yemen
Fri 2016-09-23
  100 Russian, Syrian airstrikes hit Aleppo
Thu 2016-09-22
  Islamic State launches chemical attack on US-Iraqi military base: officials
Wed 2016-09-21
  Nigeria: Boko Haram Behead Village Chief, Son
Tue 2016-09-20
  Rahami's wife skedaddled two days before bombings
Mon 2016-09-19
  Police names AFG 'Naturalized Citizen' Ahmad Khan Rahami as NY bomb suspect, UPDATE: Arrested!


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