[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The First Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum ...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier... has said the presence of 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... , the leader of Hezb-e-Islami, 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.... will have a positive impact on security situation of the country.
Gen. Dostum made the remarks during a meeting with the brass hats of Hezb-e-Islami, including Hekmatyar’s son Habib-ur-Rehman Hekmatyar in Kabul.
He said Hekmatyar’s presence in Kabul will also help the Afghan forces to gain more morale in fight against the terrorist groups.
The delegation by Hezb-e-Islami also included Juma Khan Hamdard, Humayoun Jarir and some other key leaders of the party.
The two sides discussed the ongoing security situation of the country, specifically focusing on security situation in northern parts of Afghanistan.
According to the Office of the First Vice President, some of the key topics discussed during the meeting, included security and stability of the country, national unity and partnership, and implementation of the articles of peace deal between the Afghan government and Hezb-e-Islami.
The top leaders of Hezb-e-Islami informed the First Vice President regarding the necessary preparations to welcome Hekmatyar to Kabul.
In his turn, Hekmatyar’s son, Habib-ur-Rehman, said the recent reports regarding the deteriorating health condition of the party’s leader are not accurate and that preparations are underway for his return to Kabul.
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03/08/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
"He'll be right here where we can kill him first"
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03/08/2017 9:01 Comments ||
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[IsraelTimes] President Sissi said to order measure to ’lessen the suffering of Paleostinian people’ in the Strip.
The Egyptian government plans to open the Rafah border crossing with Gazoo twice a month, after years of traffic only being allowed through the border point intermittently, according to a report Monday.
Quoting top Egyptian security officials, the Ma’an Paleostinian wire service said that the order had come directly from Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to "lessen the suffering of Paleostinian people in the Gazoo Strip."
Egypt has quietly cooperated with Israel in blockading the coastal enclave since the Islamist terror group Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", came to power in elections in 2006, but occasionally opens the Rafah crossing for three days at a time.
Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent arms smuggling.
The changes, while still in their infancy, mark a significant departure from what has been a tough Egyptian crackdown since the military ousted then-president Mohammed Morsi, in 2013.
Hamas, which rules the Gazoo Strip and is an offshoot of Morsi’s Moslem Brüderbund, enjoyed close relations with him and quickly fell into disfavor with the new government.
In recent months, Cairo has increased the number of people allowed to exit through the Rafah border crossing, Gazoo’s main gateway to the outside world.
Since January, the crossing has opened in both directions twice.
Egypt has also begun to allow Gazoo to import commercial goods through Rafah for the first time since 2013 and sent public signals that it is interested in improving relations.
Charybdis across to the Bosporus,
One creature can never be prosperous:
It picks its own pockets
For tinhorns and rockets.
Preposterous beast, the Hamaceros.
#3
I must have missed it. When did you post crap, Zenobia F? I've found all your poems, including the non-limericks, to be delightful, and often educational as well. It's even more fun when others are inspired to join in using their style of choice.
#4
I, personally, have enjoyed them all - even the ones that might some might consider a bit iffy. It's part of what makes Rantburg the go-to place for the War on Terror and Poetry.
[AnNahar] The EU's top court ruled Tuesday that states can deny short-term humanitarian visas to people trying to enter to claim asylum, in a case of a Syrian family trying to come to Belgium.
The decision by the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice's decision was seen as a test case for EU countries facing a surge in refugees in the past two years, mainly from Syria's civil war.
In a surprise judgment, the court ruled against the family from the besieged city of Aleppo who had applied for the humanitarian visas at the Belgian embassy in the Lebanese capital Beirut last October.
"Yesss! We won!" Belgium's Immigration Minister Theo Francken tweeted after having argued that an unfavourable ruling would have opened the gates to uncontrolled immigration.
The court went against an earlier recommendation by its chief lawyer that the family ran the risk of inhumane treatment if they stayed in Syria.
"Member States are not required, under EU law, to grant a humanitarian visa to persons who wish to enter their territory with a view to applying for asylum," the court said.
"But they remain free to do so on the basis of their national law," it added.
The Orthodox Christian couple and their three young children had challenged the refusal of the Belgian immigration office, citing the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention of Human Rights.
The father claimed to have been kidnapped by an armed terrorist group, then beaten and tortured, before being release on payment of a ransom.
The family claimed more broadly they risked persecution on account of their religious beliefs.
The EU court ruled that the bloc's visa code was adopted on the basis of a European treaty that allows for intended stays of no more than three months.
"The Syrian family, however, submitted applications for visas on humanitarian grounds with a view to applying for asylum in Belgium and, accordingly, for a residence permit not limited to 90 days," it added.
It warned that allowing third-country nationals to obtain entry visas to obtain international protection in the EU state of their choice "would undermine the general structure" of the bloc's asylum system.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel noted the victory and said "our work goes on".
Francken had warned that the case had risked obliterating European migration policy and hurting Belgium.
An unfavourable court decision would create "a dangerous precedent" that would deny Belgium control of its borders, Francken told Belgian television on Saturday.
"It could trigger a flow of tens of thousands of people toward our consulates in Beirut and Ankara," he added.
A relieved Francken tweeted Tuesday: "European Court of Justice is very clear: EU countries are not obliged to issue humanitarian visa under EU law."
[IsraelTimes] In 2016, there were some 3,500 attacks against refugees and asylum seekers in Germany; 10 each day, on average.
Eight members of a German far-right group went on trial Tuesday over terrorism charges, accused of a series of attacks against refugees and political opponents.
The so-called "Freital group" -- named after the members’ hometown outside Dresden, the capital of the eastern state of Saxony -- consists of seven men, aged 19 to 39, and a 28-year-old woman.
Prosecutors say they staged five attacks with explosives between July and November 2015 targeting refugee housing and left-wing groups, causing two injuries.
Charges against them include creating a terrorist group, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.
"They wanted to create a climate of fear and repression," federal prosecutors said last November as they prepared the case.
Expecting a long trial, authorities spent five million euros ($5.3 million) fitting out a specially constructed courtroom, including on-site prison cells, in a structure on the outskirts of the city originally built to house refugees.
With anti-migrant sentiment high across the former communist East, the hearings were being held under tight security.
Dresden in particular has been a focal point for xenophobic groups as the home of the anti-Islam street movement Pegida.
’Large quantity’ of explosives
Freital was already making headlines in the summer of 2015, as images of rage-fueled demonstrations against "criminal foreigners" and "asylum-seeking pigs" were beamed around the country.
It was the peak of the refugee crisis, with Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom... ’s September 4 decision to open Germany’s borders to refugees and migrants colonists travelling via Hungary and Austria.
Prosecutors say the defendants traveled to the Czech Republic and secured "a large quantity of explosives," planning to use them against refugee housing and the "homes, offices and vehicles" of local left-wingers.
The charge sheet includes an attack on a car belonging to the leader of far-left party Die Linke in Freital on the night of July 27, 2015, in which no one was hurt.
On the night of September 19, the group allegedly flung an explosive through the kitchen window of a refugee home.
While the blast hurled glass fragments through the room, none of the residents was harmed because they were all asleep in other areas of the home.
The following night, the group allegedly threw stones and home-made devices containing foul-smelling faracid at a social housing project, harming one of the inhabitants.
10 attacks a day
The final attack came on the night of October 31, when three explosives were hurled at the windows of a refugee housing center. One person was harmed, suffering "multiple cuts" to the face.
Police placed in durance vile Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! the two suspected ringleaders of the "Freital Group," identified as Timo Schulz and Patrick Festing, at the end of 2015.
Schulz was handed a one-year suspended sentence last year for attacking a car belonging to pro-refugee demonstrators with a baseball bat.
The remainder of the group was arrested in April 2016, when Dresden prosecutors handed the terrorism case to federal Sherlocks, after being accused of dragging their feet.
The defendants face sentences of up to life imprisonment if found guilty of attempted murder, and one to 10 years in prison for being a part of a terrorist group.
Mindful of the notoriety that Freital has acquired over the attacks, the town’s Mayor Uwe Rumberg said: "One should not view the whole population and the whole city in the same light as the accused because of the incidents."
"That would not be fair to many peace-loving residents here," he told regional broadcaster MDR.
In 2016, there were about 3,500 attacks against refugees and asylum seekers in Germany -- 10 each day, on average -- harming 560 people including 43 children, interior ministry data show.
Saxony, with just five percent of the German population, was the scene of 437 attacks last year, according to the RAA, a victims’ assistance organization, after 477 in 2015.
“Migration is the Trojan wooden horse of terrorism,” Orban said at a swearing-in ceremony for a new group of border guards, called “border hunters” by the government. “The people that come to us don’t want to live according to our culture and customs but according to their own — at European standards of living.”
As Orban was speaking to the 462 new border guards, lawmakers from his governing Fidesz party and the far-right Jobbik party approved new rules which further limit the rights of asylum seekers and give police more power to send migrants back to Serbia.
During a state of emergency due to migration, recently extended until Sept. 7, all asylum seekers will kept at camps built from shipping containers on the border with Serbia until a final decision is made on their asylum requests. The decision is in line with Hungary’s intention to close all other refugee reception centers around the country, some of which were shut last year.
Police will also be allowed to return to the Serbian border any migrants caught anywhere in the country who cannot prove their legal right to be in Hungary. Since July 5, only migrants found within 8 kilometers (miles) of the border could be sent back to Serbia.
[Iraq News] Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday it was unfortunate that some of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s allies had chosen the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia as a partner in the fight against 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.... in Syria.
Yildirim’s comments, at a news conference, were made as the military chiefs of Turkey, the United States and Russia met in the southern Turkish province of Antalya to discuss regional security, notably in Syria and Iraq.
Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is waging an insurgency in Turkey.
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[IsraelTimes] The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing around 300 refugees admitted into the United States for suspected terror-linked activities, US officials said Monday.
The officials gave the figure as justification for a just-announced 120-day halt on admitting refugees from any country to review security vetting procedures.
"Today, more than 300 people, according to the FBI, who came here as refugees, are under an FBI investigation today for potential terrorism-related activities," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said.
"Many people seeking to support or commit terrorist acts will enter through our refugee program," he said.
On Monday, President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... signed a new executive order halting for 90 days from March 16 new immigration from six majority-Moslem nations, in addition to the temporary refugee ban.
Speaking anonymously, an official from the Department of Homeland Security said the 300 were in addition to ongoing investigations into some 1,000 "potential domestic terrorists" inside the United States either inspired by or motivated by the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group.
The DHS official did not give any details on where the 300 refugees came from or how many might have come from the six Moslem-majority countries targeted by the new travel ban.
"The salient fact here is that there are 300 individuals admitted and welcomed to the United States in the refugee admissions program who either infiltrated with hostile intent or who radicalized after admission to the United States," he said.
The new travel ban, a revision of the January 27 executive order which was blocked by a federal judge, kept in place a reduction of refugee admissions to 50,000 a year, cut from the 110,000 proposed for this year by the previous administration of former president Barack Obama I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody... .
[JTA] At least 12 Jewish community centers and institutions across North America and four Anti-Defamation League offices have received threats of lethal attack, the sixth such wave since the beginning of the year.
As of Tuesday afternoon, threats had been reported at Jewish institutions in Massachusetts, Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, Oregon, Florida, Alabama and at least two community centers in New York, according to Secure Community Network, the security arm of the Jewish Federations of North America. In addition, two threats were directed toward Canadian JCCs, in Toronto and London, Ontario.
Some threats were called in over the phone, others were emailed.
Chicago5, NBC’s reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,... affiliate, reported a bomb threat at the Chicago Jewish Day School on the city’s North Side. The Boston Herald reported that a day school housed at Temple Beth Shalom in Framingham, Massachusetts, and the Solomon Schechter Day School in Newton, Massachusetts, were both evacuated on Tuesday.
At the JCC in Syracuse, New York, the threat was different in nature from the others, according to Paul Goldenberg, the SCN director, who declined to elaborate. On Twitter, the Syracuse JCC said people inside had sheltered in place before getting the all-clear.
Meanwhile, ...back at the precinct house, Don Calamari's lawyer was getting even redder in the face... the ADL said its national office in New York, its office in Washington, D.C., and its regional offices in Atlanta and Boston had been threatened.
"This is not ’normal.’ We will not be deterred or intimidated," ADL’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, said in a statement. "It is time for action, and we call on the administration and Congress to take concrete steps to catch those threatening the Jewish community."
The Portland, Oregon, threat came in Monday evening by email. The JCC alerted local police and the FBI and closed early for a sweep.
In Rochester, the evacuation of members and staff on Tuesday was ordered shortly before 6 a.m., the local ABC affiliate 13WHAM reported. About 75 people were evacuated from the building. Parents whose children attend the JCC day care were notified and asked to make alternate child care arrangements for the day, according to the Democrat & Chronicle newspaper.
Local and state coppers and FBI agents reportedly were on the scene to sweep the building.
A JCC Toronto client posted photos on Facebook of the downtown building being evacuated. "We are huddled inside the Second Cup where they are giving out free coffee and tea," she said, referring to the Canadian coffee shop chain.
Ron Halber, the director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, said a threat to the JCC in Rockville, Maryland, was emailed late Monday night, and necessitated an additional sweep of the premises with bomb-sniffing dogs, in addition to the routine daily sweep the JCC undergoes. There was no evacuation, he said.
"The person who is doing this will fail," Halber said. "If anything it’s bringing people together, it makes people want to stand up more, this is being a catalyst for greater Jewish involvement and pride."
Goldenberg, the SCN director, said that in every instance protocols were observed and went smoothly.
"The protocols and processes that these institutions have in place have gone smoothly," he said. "Our constituents and members have remained safe."
More than 100 Jewish institutions, mostly JCCs, have received bomb threats since the beginning of the year. The last two weeks saw vandalism at Jewish cemeteries in Philadelphia, St. Louis and Rochester,
...the Rochester cemetery gravestones,were determined to have fallen over due to the combination of neglect and weather...
as well as two more waves of bomb threats called into JCCs, schools and institutions across the country, representing the fourth and fifth waves of such harassment this year. No bomb was found after any of the calls.
[IsraelTimes] A Brooklyn man was been arrested for drawing swastikas and other graffiti in men’s bathrooms at Manhattan’s Penn Station.
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or MTA, said in a statement Monday that detectives from the transit service arrested Pasquale Vargas, 65.
Not a sudden burst of youthful folly, then.
He is accused of multiple incidents of hate-crime graffiti at Penn Station since February 28, according to the MTA.
Vargas admitted to writing the graffiti during an interview with MTA police, according to the statement. He was arrested while carrying a black Sharpie permanent marker in his bag. He was charged with eight counts of criminal mischief in the fourth degree, which are being prosecuted as hate crimes.
In November, New York Governor Cuomo directed the creation of the State Police Hate Crimes Unit to investigate and offer assistance to other law enforcement agencies investigating potential hate crimes.
Last week, the New York Police Department announced that Anti-Semitic incidents are up 94 percent in New York City over this time last year.
Through the first two months of this year, 35 anti-Semitic incidents have been reported, compared to 18 through February 2016.
Bomb threats are emailed to four Jewish community centers following a wave of threats that targeted 16 Jewish institutions on Tuesday.
JCCs in Colorado, Delaware, Connecticut and Vancouver, Canada, receive bomb threats via email either last night or this morning, according to local reports and Paul Goldenberg, director of the Secure Community Network, which coordinates security across Jewish organizations.
The emails, according to Goldenberg, appear to be the tail end of a wave of bomb threats Tuesday that targeted JCCs, Jewish day schools and several offices of the Anti-Defamation League.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan National Security Adviser Mohammad Hanif Atmar has said the major terror sanctuaries are located in Pakistain, emphasizing that Islamabad must eliminate the safe havens for its own and regions stability.
Atmar made the remarks during his speech at the 19th Asian Conference on Combating Terrorism, evolving an Asian response arranged by Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA) of India.
He said Islamabad has promised to take actions against the sanctuaries during the bilateral and multilateral summits, insisting that 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.... ’s demand is clear and that there are no good or bad terrorists, all are targeting the civilians, and all of them must be eliminated.
In the meantime, Atmar said at least 20 of the 98 groups designated as terror groups by the United States are operating in Afghanistan and the Afghan forces are committed to prevent the groups to reach to their goals in the country and in the region.
He also added that the Afghan government has not demanded military help from any country including India but the regional countries including India should increase their support to the Afghan forces in a bid to suppress the activities of the Death Eater groups.
Atmar said the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan is not a civil war but the Afghan forces are fighting the terror groups on behalf the region and the world as they are in the front line against terrorism.
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03/08/2017 00:00 ||
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[GEO.TV] Pakistan has right to take action against terrorists based across its border with Afghanistan, its defence minister said Tuesday, adding they would not remain quiet on martyrdom of their troops. That would imply that Afghanistan, Iran, India, and China have the right to chase terrorists back into Pakistain. Sounds good.
The statement comes a day after five Pakistani troops embraced martyrdom in an attack by terrorists, based across the border, on a Pakistani ckeckpost in Mohmand Agency.
The soldiers embraced martyrdom while foiling a terrorism bid on three border checkpoints in Mohmand Agency on Sunday night, according to the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR). The shootout between army personnel and terrorists also left at least 15 militants dead.
"Terrorists must be denied freedom of movement along the border," Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa was quoted as saying in a statement. He lauded the immediate response of the personnel, however, expressed grief over the loss of precious lives.
"Kabul has admitted that it does not have control over areas from where terrorist attacks are launched and, after this admission, Pakistan has the right to act against those terrorists," Asif said, speaking exclusively to Geo News.
Pakistan has recently conducted strikes across the Afghan border and it will pound terrorists in future as well, he said, adding, "We will not stay quiet if our soldiers are martyred".
"It is our duty to respond to these cross-border attacks and we will respond befittingly," the minister said.
He said that at present there has been a nexus between New Delhi and Afghanistan and Kabul has been acting as Indian puppet.
"Our desire for cordial ties with Afghanistan aside, but responding to cross-border attacks from the Afghan soil is our duty," Asif said.
Terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan Of late, Pakistan has voiced concerns over terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan, from where majority of last month's attacks were believed to be coordinated.
In February, Pakistani diplomatic officials summoned the Afghan deputy head of mission to the Foreign Office to convey their concerns over continuing attacks by terrorist outfit Jamaat-ul-Ahrar from its sanctuaries inside Afghanistan.
Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa also held a telephonic conversation with US General John Nicholson, Commander of Resolute Support Mission (RSM) in Afghanistan on February 17, conveying his concerns over continued acts of terrorism in Pakistan from Afghanistan, the ISPR said in a statement.
"Most of the incidents in Pakistan are claimed by terrorist organisations with leadership hiding in Afghanistan," Gen Bajwa told US General John Nicholson.
"The COAS said that such terrorist activities and inaction against them are testing our current policy of cross-border restraint," the ISPR said in a statement.
Commenting on Asif Ali Zardari's statement on Rangers powers in provinces, he said he paramilitary force has been given same powers everywhere it has been called in to aid law enforcement agencies.
The former president could better know of what he said about Rangers powers, he added.
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[ARA] Tensions continued between Kurdish parties on Tuesday, even after festivities between groups affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) stopped last Friday, while negotiations between the two sides failed to reach any conclusion.
On Monday, supporters of the PKK-linked Democratic Union Party (PYD) attacked the building of the KDP-backed Kurdish National Council (KNC) in the Kurdish-Arab town of Serêkaniyê, despite promises of the local security police Asayish that KNC buildings will be protected after a KNC office was attacked.
On Monday, supporters of the PKK-linked Democratic Union Party (PYD) attacked the building of the KDP-backed Kurdish National Council (KNC) in the Kurdish-Arab town of Serêkaniyê, despite promises of the local security police Asayish that KNC buildings will be protected after a KNC office was attacked.
Moreover, over 30 KNC members have been enjugged Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! in Syrian Kurdish cities, including in Kobane and the Hasakah province since the festivities in Sinjar.
In the meantime, thousands gathered to bury PKK fighter Orhan Boran, one of the seven PKK-linked fighters killed in festivities with the KDP-backed Rojava Peshmerga fighters.
Media sources close to the KNC said the PYD-linked Asayish police forced shop keepers to close their shops during the funeral in the city of Qamishli. It accused the Asayish of lowering Kurdish flags in the Kurdish neighbourhood of Meyselûn in Qamishli [also known as Qamislo].
Furthermore, the KDP in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan did not allow a pro-PKK protest and arrested several protestors earlier on Saturday. Swara Mahmud, a pro-PKK journalist at RojNews is reportedly still in prison in Erbil.
Heavy festivities broke out between Kurdish forces on Friday morning after 500 Syrian Kurdish Rojava Peshmergas entered the Yezidi town of Khanasor, which is dominated by the PKK-affiliated Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS).
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[Breibart] TEL AVIV ‐ The Palestinian Authority named a youth camp this week after a female terrorist responsible for one of the worst terror attacks in Israel’s history, which claimed the lives of 38 civilians including 13 children.
Known as the Coastal Road Massacre, the attack took place on March 11, 1978, when Dalal Mughrabi and several other Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus on Israel’s coastal highway, killing 38 people and wounding more than 70.
On Sunday, Israeli NGO Palestinian Media Watch reported that the PA named the Jericho youth camp to honor Mughrabi’s memory.
The "Brothers of Dalal" youth camp in Jericho was initiated by the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, headed by Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub (pictured), who is a known inciter to terror, making incendiary remarks in interviews on the PA’s official television such as describing terrorists as the "heroes and a crown on the head of every Palestinian" and musing, "If we had a nuke, we’d have used it [against Israel]this very morning."
[AlAhram] Five suspected 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) holy warrior group are to stand trial in Jordan on charges of planning a deadly suicide kaboom last year on the Syrian border, a judge said Tuesday.
"We have referred the file of the five accused, who are Arab nationals, to the state security court to try them in the case of the terrorist bombings of Rukban," Judge Ziad al-Edwan said.
He said the trial would open "within days".
IS claimed the suicide kaboom last June 21 that killed seven soldiers at a military post in Rukban, near a no man's land area where thousands of Syrian refugees are now stranded and where the frontiers of Iraq, Syria and Jordan meet.
"The security apparatus of the armed forces was able to arrest (the accused) on the Jordanian-Syrian border," Edwan said.
Amman had not previously announced any arrests in connection with the attack.
"It seems they belong to the ISIS terrorist gang and are linked to the bombings through planning with the suicide attacker who carried it out," the judge said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
Edwan said the five accused had monitored the border, chosen the time of the attack and the route to be taken by the explosives-rigged car, as well as having filmed the attack.
Soon after the attack, the army declared Jordan's desert regions that stretch northeast to Syria and east to Iraq "closed military zones", stranding refugees in no man's land.
Jordan is part of the US-led coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq.
The June bombing came two weeks after a gunman killed five Jordanian intelligence officers in a Paleostinian refugee camp north of the capital.
The UN refugee agency says it has registered more than 650,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan since Syria's war broke out in 2011. Amman says it hosts 1.3 million Syrian refugees.
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[AnNahar] US-backed Syrian fighters have turned over several villages in the country's north to government forces under a deal to avoid conflict with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , a front man told AFP on Tuesday.
The Manbij Military Council, part of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, announced the planned handover last week.
"Some villages and points on the western side of the town of al-Areima have been handed over to the border guards of the Syrian regime," Manbij Military Council front man Sherfan Darwish told AFP.
He said the handover was carried out "with the goal of curbing Turkey's expansion and its occupation of Syrian territory, and to... prevent the shedding of civilian blood."
He declined to give further details but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britannia-based monitor of the war, said the handover had happened on Monday and involved fewer than 10 villages.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman described the handover as "for show."
"Members of the Manbij Military Council simply put on army clothes and raised the Syrian flag to avoid friction with the Turks," he told AFP.
There was no mention in Syrian state media of the handover to government forces.
The Manbij Military Council, part of the Kurdish-Arab SDF, first announced the handover last week, marking the first time that US-supported fighters had proposed ceding territory to regime forces.
The Council said the deal had been agreed with Russia to "protect the line dividing the Manbij Military Council and the areas under the control of the Turkish army and Euphrates Shield."
Euphrates Shield is the name of the operation Turkey launched inside Syria last August targeting the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group and the SDF, which is dominated by Kurdish fighters that Ankara sees as "terrorists".
The handover plan was announced after Euphrates Shield forces attacked several villages under SDF control east of the town of al-Bab last week.
Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... said last week that the operation's next target would be Manbij -- a former IS bastion that is now under SDF control.
But on Monday, Ankara stepped back from that threat, saying it would not act without cooperation from Russia and the United States.
The profusion of forces operating in Syria has led to a deeply complex battlefield and tensions between different parties.
Washington said on Monday it had sent additional troops into Manbij to deter rival powers from targeting each other rather than IS.
"This is obviously a really complicated situation," said Pentagon front man Navy Captain Jeff Davis.
"We have made visible actions in deploying US forces as part of the coalition in and around Manbij to reassure and deter -- that's to deter parties from attacking any other parties other than ISIS itself," he said, using another acronym for IS.
More than 310,000 people have been killed in Syria since the war began with anti-government protests in March 2011.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/08/2017 00:00 ||
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[ARA] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , Germany, Kuwait, Norway, Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... , the United Kingdom and the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... will co-chair the Brussels Conference on ’Supporting the future of Syria and the region’, on 5 April 2017. To be held in Molenbeek?
The conference will bring ministerial representatives from 70 delegations, including from the EU and the region but also the wider international community, the United Nations, major donors and civil society, humanitarian and development organizations.
According to officials, the conference will address the situation in Syria and the impact of the crisis on the region.
The Brussels meeting will assess where the international community stands collectively in fulfilling commitments made at the London Conference in February 2016 and agree on additional efforts needed to meet the needs of those affected by the Syrian crisis.
The last London conference raised over $11 billion for Syrian humanitarian needs over the next four years.
The upcoming Brussels conference will reconfirm existing pledges and identify additional support to Syrians in need inside Syria and in neighbouring countries, as well as to the respective host communities, in response to the UN-coordinated appeals.
Discussions will also focus on how the international community can support a lasting political resolution to the Syrian conflict through an inclusive Syrian-led political transition.
The conference will reconfirm the international community’s commitment to continuing to deliver assistance to Syrians in need, as well as their host communities, and assess the conditions under which post-agreement assistance could be provided once a credible political transition is underway.
On 4 April, thematic sessions will be organised by the EU with UN agencies and other international organizations, NGOs and civil society, focusing on various aspects of international support provided in response to the crisis in Syria and the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2017 00:00 ||
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[ARA] On Tuesday, top military officials from Russia, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , and the United States met in the town of Antalya to defuse tensions in Syria’s Manbij, which was threatened by the Turkish-led rebels.
Both the US-led coalition and the Russian Federation deployed troops in Manbij to deter aggression by Turkey against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on the ground.
Both the US-led coalition and the Russian Federation deployed troops in Manbij to deter aggression by Turkey against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on the ground.
The visit of the top military officials comes after theTurkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Monday suggested that the Turkey-led Euphrates Shield operation in Syria could give up on Manbij city due to Russian and US support to the Syrian Democratic Forces.
"Without coordination with the US and Russia in Manbij, there is no point in continuing operations," he said on Monday, adding that Russian and US flags are flying over Manbij at the moment.
Nawaf Xelil, a Kurdish analyst and former official of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), told ARA News that the meeting comes after Turkey failed to capture al-Bab easily, and with the US and Russian army present in Manbij.
"In my opinion, the Americans and Russians will not allow Turkey [to hit the SDF], because all Syriacs, Arabs and Kurds are united in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)," he said.
"Turkey knows the United States will not change its plans. The SDF is now 8 kilometers from [ISIS-held] Raqqa, and they have cut the roads between Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor. The SDF are now on the Euphrates River," Xelil told ARA News.
"Turkey is in a weak position, it has bad relations with Iraq, Syria, Iran, Germany, and now also Holland is telling Turkey to not make propaganda there [for the April presidential referendum]," he said, adding that the Kurds have now built good relations due to their effective fight against ISIS terrorists.
He added that Turkey is in a "bad situation, with bad relations with its neighbours and the West."
"Turkey is in a weak position, it has bad relations with Iraq, Syria, Iran, Germany, and now also Holland is telling Turkey to not make propaganda there [for the April presidential referendum]," he said, adding that the Kurds have now built good relations due to their effective fight against ISIS terrorists.
Washington-based Middle East researcher at the Centre for a New American Security, Nicholas Heras, told ARA News that Syria is now in the stage that powerful actors are dividing the spoils of the counter-ISIS war.
"The Syrian civil war has now entered a stage where powerful state actors are discussing how to divide up the territorial spoils of the counter-ISIS war. The ’creeping incrementalism’ of the B.O. regime’s counter-ISIS strategy, which led to the creation of the SDF, will likely end with an American military mandate over areas of Syria conquered from ISIS," he said.
"Turkey wants to ensure those areas do not fall under the dominion of the Kurds, and Russia wants the land transferred back to Assad when the American campaign against ISIS is done. The U.S. is just now, under President Trump, understanding the leverage it has over the future of Syria through the tremendous gains made by the American counter-ISIS campaign," Heras concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2017 00:00 ||
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That is to say, they were on Iran's payroll and were at least nominally Shiite.
[IsraelTimes] More than 2,000 fighters sent from Iran have been killed in Iraq and Syria, the head of Iran’s veterans’ affairs office said Tuesday.
"Some 2,100 deaders have been martyred so far in Iraq or other places defending the holy mausoleums," Mohammad Ali Shahidi told the state-run IRNA news agency.
Shahidi, who is head of Iran’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, was speaking at a conference on martyrdom culture in Tehran.
The figure was more than double the number he gave in November, which referred only to Syria.
Iran is, with Russia, the main military backer of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... , and also organizes militias fighting the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group in Iraq.
Shahidi did not provide details on the nationalities of those killed.
Iran oversees "volunteer" fighters recruited from among its own nationals as well as Shiite communities in neighboring Afghanistan and Pakistain.
The families of those killed in battle are given Iranian citizenship under a law passed last May.
Tehran refers to the fighters as "defenders of the shrines" -- a reference to Shiite holy sites in Iraq and Syria that have been targeted by Sunni holy warriors.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/08/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Add a zero on the end of that number for Ali!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/08/2017 8:59 Comments ||
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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.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier...
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
[GEO.TV] Pakistan has right to take action against terrorists based across its border with Afghanistan, its defence minister said Tuesday, adding they would not remain quiet on martyrdom of their troops.
[ARA] The 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
