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Today: 82 articles and 127 comments as of 12:40.
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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Suspected ISIS gas attack hits Iraqi forces in west Mosul
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Afghanistan
Ata Mohammad Noor apologizes for supporting Abdullah in elections
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The provincial governor of the northern Balkh province and a prominent political figure heading the influential 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...
party has apologized for supporting Abdullah Abdullah
... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun...
during the 2014 presidential elections.

He accused the Chief Executive of the unity government for supporting a specific circle around him and announced to halt cooperation with the Chief Executive Office.

Noor was one of the main supporters of Abdullah Abdullah during the controversial presidential elections in 2014 and played a key role in both the first round of the elections and during the run-off elections.

This comes as Noor said late in December last year that he is no more counting on decision making capabilities of Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.

He claimed that his lack of confidence on Abdullah has led to opening of direct talks with President Mohammad 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. ..
Noor further added that Abdullah has performed with weakness in the past two and half years and the reason behind direct talks between him and President Ghani is due to lack of proper presentation of Jamaat-e-Islami by Abdullah.
Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Islamabad reaffirms support to Yemeni leadership
[DAWN] Top government officials in Islamabad on Monday reaffirmed their support to Yemeni leadership amid reports that the Pakistain army is sending combat troops to reinforce Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
's southern border from attacks by Yemen's Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
rebels.

President Mamnoon Hussain in a meeting with Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister Abdulmalik Aduljalil al-Mekhlafi today asserted that Moslem countries should work together for progress and stability by avoiding mutual differences, Radio Pakistain reported.

He told al-Mekhlafi, who is also Yemen's foreign minister, that Pakistain wishes to contribute to progress and stability in Yemen, and desires the restoration of piece in the conflict-stricken country.

Manoon said Pakistain supports Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's efforts for peace in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
and regards him as the legitimate leader of the country. He added that Pakistain would continue to support Hadi and Yemen for peace and progress in the region.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj PrunefaceAziz
...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy...
in a separate meeting with al-Mekhlafi assured the Yemeni foreign minister that Pakistain has always supported the unity, illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yemen, and would continue to offer all possible assistance for restoration of peace and stability in the country, Radio Pakistain reported.

Aziz appreciated the Yemeni government's efforts towards restoring peace, harmony and stability in the war-torn country.

Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


King Salman: Terrorism is the greatest danger
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
’s King Salman
...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians....
has said that there is an urgent need to intensify international efforts to resolve issues and crises in the Middle East, including the Paleostinian cause and ending Syrian and Yemeni crises.

The Saudi monarch’s comments come during his four-day visit to Tokyo as part of his month-long Asia tour where he already visited Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia. He is due to travel on to China and the Maldives.

"These crises have affected negatively on the region's stability and development, impeding the growth of international trade, and threatening ensuring of energy supplies to the world," King Salman said.

"Terrorism has become the greatest danger to the security of nations and peoples, we are major partners in fighting it, and we are in need of concerted international efforts and hard work to deepen the concepts of dialogue between the followers of religions and cultures, and enhance the spirit of tolerance and coexistence between peoples," he added.

Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia

#1  And here I thought that for Saudis terrorism is popular sport and fracking is the greatest danger - you live and learn.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/14/2017 1:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Terrorism for Saudis is both diplomacy by other means and a way to find well-paying work for their radicals outside the Magic Kingdom.

But yes on the fracking.
Posted by: Pappy || 03/14/2017 11:37 Comments || Top||


Europe
Turkey spokesman slams Swiss paper on referendum report
[AA.TR] A Turkish Foreign Ministry front man blasted Monday a Swiss newspaper over its "derogatory" remarks against the Turkish president and its "misleading" report about an upcoming constitutional referendum in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
"We strongly condemn today's edition of the Swiss Blick newspaper, which includes insults against President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and misleading remarks about the referendum on a constitutional amendment package in our country. We cannot accept these accusations and allegations," Huseyin Muftuoglu said in response to a question over the Blick news report.

The daily -- both in Turkish and German -- urged Turks living in Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
for a 'No' vote in the April 16 referendum.

"Taking a biased and partial attitude on the referendum and the call for Turkish citizens in their country to vote clearly in a certain way and the derogatory remarks directed against Turkey's president who has the support of his country's people can have nothing to do with the freedom of press or journalism," Muftuoglu said.

Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


NATO calls for 'mutual respect' after Turkish-Dutch row
[AA.TR] NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure....
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday called on The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and the Netherlands "to show mutual respect" in order to defuse the growing tension between the two allies after the Dutch government banned a Turkish minister from entering the Turkish Consulate in Rotterdam.

"I would encourage all allies to show mutual respect, to be calm and have a measured approach," Stoltenberg told news hounds at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

He urged that two of the alliance’s members ‐ Turkey and the Netherlands - should "focus on everything that unites us" rather than escalating tension.

"Robust debate is at the heart of our democracies but at the same time mutual respect is important," Stoltenberg said adding that he had discussed about the issues with both governments over the weekend.

Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Swedish venue owner cancels contract with Turkish ruling party for rally
[AlAhram] The owner of a venue in Sweden's capital where a bigwig from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's ruling party was due to hold a rally on Sunday cancelled the rental contract, Turkey's private Dogan news agency reported.

The news agency said the owner had not given a reason for their decision.

In the past week several other European countries have prevented Turkish politicians from holding political rallies among Turkish emigres.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


The Grand Turk
Turkey should 'reconsider' EU refugee deal
[AA.TR] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's EU minister on Monday suggested reconsidering the EU-Turkey refugee deal, especially the parts concerning with refugees trying to enter Europe by land.

"Turkey has no obligation at this stage to continue the agreement since the EU has failed to comply with it," Celik told a news conference in capital Ankara.

"Nonetheless, we have acted [all this time] out of humane responsibility," he said, adding Turkey had prevented a lot of deaths in the Aegean Sea after the deal.

"But Turkey should reconsider this issue [the refugee deal] especially in terms of land crossings," Celik said.

Turkey and the EU signed a refugee deal in March 2016, which aimed to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving the conditions of nearly 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.

The deal included a 6 billion euro ($6.8 billion) aid package to help Turkey care for millions of refugees hosted in the country. However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
Turkey has so far received only 677 million euros ($716 million).

The agreement also allowed for the acceleration of Turkey’s EU membership bid and visa-free travel for Turkish nationals within the Schengen area that comprises most EU states.

Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  What would happen if all of the EU members suddenly became interested in an Independent Kurdistan?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/14/2017 13:17 Comments || Top||


Deported Turkish minister claims 'inhuman treatment' in Netherlands
[RUDAW.NET] Turkish minister who was announced persona non grata in Netherland’s Rotterdam and subsequently deported to Germany overnight following a row between both countries over a cancelled rally said that she witnessed "inhuman treatment" at the hands of the Dutch authorities.
Yes. She would, wouldn't she?
Fatma Beytul Sayan Kaya, the minister for Family and Social Policies, was in the Netherlands to encourage the Turkish voters there to support the Yes campaign in the coming April referendum in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
on a number of constitutional reforms.
Disagreeing with the sultan is inhuman.
She travelled to the country via land after the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s flight was cancelled by the Dutch authorities earlier on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  If the Netherlands is so horrific perhaps the Turks should call on their citizens to return to Turkey where they can find proper Islamic inhuman treatment.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/14/2017 13:16 Comments || Top||

#2  It's rather hard to recall an invasion force.
Posted by: Pappy || 03/14/2017 19:41 Comments || Top||


‘Zero threat’ to Turkish security in Manbij, says coalition
[RUDAW.NET] There is "zero threat" to the security of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
in Manbij, said the coalition spokesperson as the US and Russia show support for Kurdish forces in Syria in the face of Turkish objections.

Earlier this month, Col. John Dorrian, spokesperson for the global anti-ISIS coalition, tweeted that US forces were deployed to the Manbij area as a "deliberate" act to "deter aggression" and reassure coalition partners as Turkish-backed forces advanced on Manbij and Turkish leaders spoke of a military offensive to oust Kurdish forces Ankara alleges control the northern Syrian city.

"Our forces have been present there for some time," Dorrian told Rudaw TV on Monday, explaining the US presence on the ground around Manbij.

"They've had a visible presence more recently, and the purpose of their presence right now is to make sure there is no security incident and to make sure there is no persistent [the Kurdish force] YPG presence in the city, or anything that would threaten Turkey because we are also committed to Turkey's security. And what we've found so far is that there is exactly zero threat to Turkey's security in Manbij."

Turkey launched its military operation, Euphrates Shield, after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) liberated Manbij from ISIS control. Ankara’s stated aim was to clear the Turkey-Syria border area of bandidos snuffies ‐ naming both ISIS and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), one of the dominant forces fighting under the SDF flag. Turkish towns on the border with Syria came under repeated attack from cross-border ISIS fire.

Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist organization with ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and strongly objects to the coalition’s backing of the YPG and the SDF in the fight against ISIS in northern Syria.

The US reportedly promised Turkey that the YPG would leave Manbij after ISIS was defeated and security in the city was reestablished. The YPG announced last November that they had withdrawn their forces from Manbij and were focusing on the offensive for Raqqa, but Ankara claims that the YPG has in fact not left the city.

Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
vowed that his forces would march on Manbij after completing operations against ISIS in al-Bab, to force the YPG east of the Euphrates River.
Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Home Front: Politix
US lawmaker unapologetic over alleged racist remark
A phobia is an irrational fear. A legitimate concern is something else altogether.
[AA.TR] A U.S. politician on Monday stood by his comments in support of a far-right Dutch politician notorious for his Islamophobic views.

Republican Representative Steve King of Iowa tweeted over the weekend that Geert Wilders "understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies."

When confronted during a CNN interview, King said he "meant exactly what I said.

"You've got to keep your birth rate up, and that you need to teach your children your values. In doing so, you can grow your population, you can strengthen your culture, and you can strengthen your way of life," King said.

He repeatedly dodged the question of whether he considered all Americans equal irrespective of differences.

King’s remarks have sparked outrage, including among Republican politicians who viewed the comments as racist and xenophobic.

Former Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush said: "America is a nation of immigrants colonists. The sentiment expressed by Steve King doesn't reflect our shared history or values."

Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Former Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush said: "America is a nation of immigrants. The sentiment expressed by Steve King doesn't reflect our shared history or values."

Yes, we're a nation of immigrants. But we're NOT a nation of criminal border-jumpers. Steve King's remarks were spot-on.

Jeb, just STFU, wouldya? Please? You are irrelevant.
Posted by: Dave D. || 03/14/2017 11:16 Comments || Top||

#2  When are they going to realize islam is not a race?
Posted by: chris || 03/14/2017 12:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Former Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush said: "America is a nation of immigrants. The sentiment expressed by Steve King doesn't reflect our shared history or values."

That politicians seize onto these things and never let go amazes me. Republicans don't seem to understand that free trade must also be fair, and liberals don't seem to get that some immigrants are the same as drinking poison.
Posted by: gorb || 03/14/2017 12:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Former Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush said: "America is a nation of immigrants. The sentiment expressed by Steve King doesn't reflect our shared history or values. Please clap"

Whatever happened to assimilating and the melting pot. Dems, SJW's and racialist grifters have killed that for Identity Politics and a grab for the spoils. King is spot on
Posted by: Frank G || 03/14/2017 14:10 Comments || Top||

#5  immigrants that assimilate are fine. Immigrants that form their own ghettos for generations and live off of welfare are not. It's not difficult.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/14/2017 17:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Just when you think Jeb can't go any farther full RINO.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/14/2017 19:44 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Sentencing delayed for accused ISIS supporter
[bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit
... ruled by Democrats since 1962. A city whose Golden Age included the Purple Gang...
News] Sentencing for an accused ISIS supporter from Dearborn Heights was rescheduled on Monday after the federal courthouse in Detroit was ordered closed due to inclement weather.

About an hour into sentencing for Khalil Abu Rayyan,
...a photo of the nasty creature can be seen at the link. For some reason Gollum comes to mind...
U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh announced the U.S. District Court in Detroit was ordered closed at 4 p.m. and that sentencing would be continued on March 27.

Rayyan had pleaded guilty last year to charges of false statement to acquire a firearm and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Rayyan, 22, came under FBI surveillance in 2015 after he boasted about plans to "shoot up" a Detroit church. He was never charged with terrorism-related crimes. At the time of his arrest, he lived at home with his parents and siblings and worked at his father’s pizzeria.

Sentencing guidelines call for Rayyan to get 15 to 21 months in prison. Rayyan has been in federal detention for more than 13 months since being charged.

Defense lawyer Todd Shanker wrote in a March 2 sentencing memo that Rayyan "fully and completely" understands why the FBI targeted him and why officials were concerned about his threatening statements and behavior, particularly his social media messaging and statements supporting ISIS.

"Rayyan now unequivocally denounces ISIS -- its predations, brutality and terrorism. He now has a more informed understanding of his faith and the bastardization of the religion by radical elements (like ISIS)," Shanker said.

But the U.S. Attorney’s Office wants Rayyan behind bars for eight years to protect the public from a man they say cannot be watched around the clock if released.

In court records, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Waterstreet said after supporting ISIS for almost two years, Rayyan announced that he wanted to "shoot up a church," kill a police officer in a hospital and "behead someone." The FBI quickly intervened and enjugged
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
him, Waterstreet said.

"If there were any doubts that Abu Rayyan was serious, his previous conduct dispelled them. He spent years dedicated to ISIS -- promoting and celebrating the terrorist organization’s aims. He exulted in some of ISIS’s most gruesome violence. He bragged about wanting to behead people," Waterstreet said.

Shanker, who works for the Federal Defender Office in Detroit, wants Steeh to put that sentence at 15 months.

If approved, Rayyan would get credit for time served and would be released within a few months. He would likely be placed on supervised release by the federal court.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/14/2017 05:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Six Jewish centers in US, Canada hit with fresh spate of bomb threats
[IsraelTimes] Six JCCs receive warnings on Sunday; New York governor orders large-scale probe after Rochester building evacuated for second time in week.

Several Jewish centers in the US and Canada received bomb threats Sunday, as a wave of menacing calls and emails showed little sign of subsiding.

Threats were reported at JCCs serving Rochester, New York, reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,...
, Illinois, Indianapolis, Indiana, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Houston, Texas.

All the threats were found to be non-credible and the centers were able to resume operations a short time later. In Houston, the threat was emailed and the building was not evacuated, as a police K-9 unit checked for explosives, according to local media.

The calls and email came as Jewish communities around the globe celebrated the holiday of Purim.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, there have been 152 threats this year against Jewish institutions in 37 states and two Canadian provinces.

Many of the institutions have been threatened more than once.

In New York, where the Rochester JCC was evacuated for the second time in a week, Governor Andrew Sonny Cuomo called the threat "a despicable and cowardly act" of anti-Semitism on the Jewish holiday of Purim.

He directed the New York State Police to work with federal and local law enforcement on an investigation.

The building had been sheltering residents who had lost power following a wind storm in the area.

"We are open. We will remain open. Whoever is doing this doesn’t realize this only makes us #stronger," the center wrote on Facebook.

On Thursday, a top New York police official said most of the threats were likely being carried out by a single individual using phone spoofing technology to mask the source of the calls.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/14/2017 05:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


International-UN-NGOs
Trump wants to slash US funding for UN programs by over 50 percent
[TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A good start.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/14/2017 1:56 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder how much this has to do with that attack on Israel via the UN.
Posted by: gorb || 03/14/2017 10:26 Comments || Top||

#3  There's a good story this a.m. The lame-stream-media will probably get their turbans in a knot over that.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/14/2017 10:46 Comments || Top||

#4  he should go for 75% start cutting into the fraud by then
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/14/2017 12:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Let's get it moved out of the US as well. Letting all those "diplomats" into our country increases the stench and the crime rate. As an added bonus, if those "diplomats" were located in some Islamic hell-hole, perhaps they'd be forced to concede that perhaps there ARE other problems in the world than the US and Israel.
Posted by: Crusader || 03/14/2017 12:31 Comments || Top||

#6  Move the UN to South Africa.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/14/2017 13:14 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Joint Operations Command denies arrival of 2000 US soldiers in Anbar
[Iraq News] The Joint Operations Command denied on Monday news regarding the arrival of 2000 US Marine soldiers in Anbar Province.

The Ministry of Defense’s War Media Cell said in a press statement, "Some media outlets reported that 2000 US soldiers have arrived in Ayn al-Assad base in Anbar Province," adding that, "These news is false and inaccurate."

Yesterday, some news claimed that 2000 US Marine soldiers arrived in Ayn al-Assad base in Anbar Province, as an aid from the United States, which leads the international coalition, to Iraq in its war 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....
The news also pointed out that these troops will participate in the expected military operations to liberate the areas of Anah, Rawa and Qaim, west of Anbar.
Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:28 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Controversial Yezidi force officially incorporated into Peshmerga army
[RUDAW.NET] Some 1,000 fighters of the Ezidkhan Protection Force, a military group in the Shingal region, has officially been put under the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga Ministry as the move is criticized by many whose names were excluded from the deal.

Haider Shasho, commander of the force reassures all his men that they will be added to the list of his force within the Peshmerga Ministry in the near future.

Shasho said: "The number of our force is 4,780. For the time being, only 1,000 have been registered. And those registered were initially with us."

He assured the majority of his force that they will also be registered "in the coming weeks. I will not let the effort any fighter has made be wasted."

According to Shasho, his 1,000 strongman force has joined the Peshmerga Ministry on the condition that it would protect its "name and flag."

"We will maintain our logo and name. We will also be a neutral force even within the Peshmerga Ministry."

Khdir Khalid, 34, one of the fighters whose name has been excluded told Rudaw, "Since the beginning of the fight against ISIS, I have been fighting alongside this force with my own rifle. But, since I was not a close associate with Haider Shasho, my name was not included."

He accused the commander of nepotism.

When ISIS attacked Shingal in August 2014, Shasho, also member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) fought the group near Sheikh Sharafadeen shrine on Mount Shingal, encouraging many to stand by him and fight.

Later on he formed the Ezidkhan force.

Shasho got into trouble with Kurdish authorities in Erbil for having ties with Baghdad, an issue that was solved after he was promised that his force will be incorporated into the Peshmerga forces.

He was also briefly locked away
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
in 2016 on charges of receiving salaries from Baghdad.

The Peshmerga Ministry announced the incorporation of Shasho’s Yezidi force on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


PM Barzani: KRG expects PKK to act ‘reasonably’ and leave Shingal
[RUDAW.NET] The Kurdistan Region expects armed members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to act "reasonably" and leave the Yezidi region of Shingal, Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said in a meeting with Yezidi community leaders in Duhok on Monday.

Barzani told attendees of the meeting that his government wants to help with rebuilding the war-torn Yezidi areas, but claimed that the presence of the PKK fighters has limited this process.

"[T]he Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) wishes to start rebuilding Shingal as soon as possible, but the presence of the fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the region has become a problem that made the Kurdistan Regional Government unable to work seriously enough in this regard," Barzani said, according to a blurb from his office.

ISIS captured Shingal on August 3, 2014, committing genocide against the Yezidi population. The town was liberated in November 2015 by a coalition of Kurdish forces, including KRG Peshmerga and PKK fighters. The PKK has maintained a presence in the area, refusing calls from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to leave.

Barzani repeated the official line that the KRG is thankful for the efforts of the PKK who helped with the protection of the Yezidi people in Shingal, adding that his government expects the PKK to leave these areas as the Peshmerga did after the liberation of Kobane in 2015.
Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel bars pro-boycott activist from entering country
BDS is war by other means. No reason for Israel to cater to such persons.
[AA.TR] The head of a U.K.-based pro-Paleostinian activist group that supports a boycott of Israel was barred from entering the country Sunday night, Israeli authorities said.

Hugh Lanning, Chairman of the Paleostine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), was turned away at the airport a week after Israel's parliament passed a law allowing it to ban activists who call for boycotting the self-proclaimed Jewish state.

The Israeli immigration authorities said in a subsequent statement that the PSC had tried to delegitimize Israel in Britannia and Europe.

They also noted that PSC members had been part of the Mavi Marmara aid flotilla, which tried to break the sea blockade of the Gazoo Strip in 2010 but was stopped by Israeli forces, who killed 10 Turkish activists aboard in international waters.

The Israeli government has increasingly tried to block mounting international support for an economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel, which many pro-Paleostinian activists support as a form of non-violent opposition to Israel's decades-long occupation of Paleostinian land.

Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
US Air Force orders anti-drone net-filled shotgun shells
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/14/2017 12:58 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  yes...of course I want some..time to ping Ammoman
Posted by: Warthog || 03/14/2017 14:50 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Indonesian police warn of new Daesh-linked group
[AA.TR] A new group that has pledged allegiance to ISIS is responsible for a plot to carry out attacks on Indonesian security forces, authorities said Monday.

The police chief of Central Sulawesi province told Anadolu Agency that nine suspected holy warriors incarcerated
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
last week were affiliated to the group based in South Sulawesi’s thriving provincial capital Makassar City.

"This group has declared allegiance to ISIS," Brig. Gen. Rudy Sufahriadi said, referring to ISIS by another acronym.

Sufahriadi described the new group as not being related to the Sulawesi-based East Indonesia Mujahideen -- whose hideout in the jungles of troubled Poso Regency has been the target of a months-long military operation.

During the capture of the nine suspects Friday, police reportedly seized fertilizer, sulfur and nails they suspect would have been used in assembling explosives to attack local police and army headquarters.

National police front man Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said two of those arrested are minors.

"We are still investigating their role in the terror plan," he was quoted as saying by detik.com.

Amar also revealed that anti-terror squads had arrested two suspected holy warriors believed to have connections with a bomber who was rubbed out by police last month in West Java’s thriving provincial capital Bandung City.

The men are accused of planning attacks on several cop shoppes in the city "to take Dire Revenge on the police for the arrest of their friends", according to Amar.

Police believe the three belong to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, a terror network that includes several bad boy groups that have pledged allegiance to ISIS.

Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran sets up underground rocket factories in Lebanon — report
Good to know.
[IsraelTimes] Hezbollah overseeing production, with help of advisers from Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Kuwaiti newspaper says.

Iran has established rocket factories in Leb that are under the full control of the Hezbollah terror group, a top Iranian general told a Kuwaiti newspaper.

Citing one of the deputy heads of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the al-Jarida newspaper reported Monday that Iran in recent months has established factories for manufacturing both rockets and firearms in Leb.

The newspaper did not say which of IRGC chief Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari’s deputies made the assertion.

The report came just days after Iran’s Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, a former brigadier general in the IRGC, said Hezbollah is now capable of producing rockets that can hit any part of Israel. Dehghan offered no details of the new capabilities.

The new factories, said to be located underground, have reportedly been in operation for the past three months.

Among their staff are advisers from the IRGC, as well as Lebanese experts trained at the Imam Hossein University in Tehran, a key training institution for IRGC personnel. Hundreds have reportedly been trained by the university in rocket manufacturing techniques.

The manufacturing sites are located some 50 meters (160 feet) underground, according to the report, and are protected by multiple layers of defenses from potential Israeli aerial bombardment. No facility produces rockets in their entirety; rather, each site produces separate parts that are then collected and assembled into complete rockets.

The Iranian general was quoted by al-Jarida as saying that the decision to produce rockets indigenously in Leb came after Israel bombed weapons factories in Sudan and supply routes for Iranian rockets via Syria.

The new factories would mark a dramatic upgrade in Hezbollah’s ability to acquire more, and more precise, rockets than ever before.

Rockets produced by the new facilities have already been used by Hezbollah in battles in Syria, the report said.

The development highlights the depth of Iran’s involvement in Syria and Leb. During Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Moscow last week, he reportedly presented Russian leaders with information acquired by Israel, according to which Iran is seeking to establish a naval base on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, likely in the Latakia area.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/14/2017 05:07 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Monitor tallies over 320,000 dead after six years of war in Syria
[IsraelTimes] Toll includes over 96,000 civilians, among them over 17,400 children, says Syrian human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
group.


Syria’s war has killed just over 320,000 people since it erupted six years ago, a monitor said Monday, noting that a fragile ceasefire had helped to slow the rising corpse count.

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had recorded the deaths of 321,358 people since the conflict broke out in March 2011 with protests against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
The toll represented an increase of about 9,000 since December, when government ally Russia and rebel backer The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
brokered a nationwide cessation of hostilities.

"There have been fewer people dying in the three months since the ceasefire was put into place," said Observatory Rami Abdel Rahman.

"The deaths haven’t stopped, but they have been slower in the past few months," he said.

The new toll included more than 96,000 civilians, among them over 17,400 children and nearly 11,000 women.

The Observatory said just over 60,900 government soldiers were killed, as well as 45,000 Syrian Lions of Islam and over 8,000 imported muscle loyal to Assad’s government.

Fighting also killed nearly 55,000 rebels and just as many jihadist fighters, most of them from 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 or former al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham
...formerly al-Nusra, the current false nose and mustache of al-Qaeda in the Levant...
Front, but also from smaller groups.

Abdel Rahman told AFP that his team had worked hard to verify the identities of 4,000 victims whose identities had been unknown.

"Most were civilians, but there were approximately 300 rebel fighters among them," he said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Russia ready to resume contacts with US on Syria
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Monday that Moscow was ready to resume contacts with the United States on Syria, the Interfax news agency reported.

"Up to this point, we've had no contacts with the US on a political settlement in Syria," Gatilov was quoted as saying.

"If the situation changes on the American side, we, of course, will be ready to resume consultations on Syrian matters, including those within the Geneva grinding of the peace processor."
Posted by: Fred || 03/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



Who's in the News
35[untagged]
14Islamic State
6Commies
6Sublime Porte
5Taliban
2Moslem Colonists
2Arab Spring
2Hamas
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Govt of Syria
1Hezbollah
1Houthis
1Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (IS)
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1Boko Haram (ISIS)
1al-Shabaab (AQ)
1Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters
1Govt of Pakistan

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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
Tue 2017-03-14
  Suspected ISIS gas attack hits Iraqi forces in west Mosul
Mon 2017-03-13
  Kenyan police nab 6 terror suspects in coastal town
Sun 2017-03-12
  Double suicide attack kills 40 in Damascus
Sat 2017-03-11
  Syrian force a ‘few weeks’ from Raqqa, U.S. Marines deployed
Fri 2017-03-10
   Ax attacker at Düsseldorf main train station arrested
Thu 2017-03-09
  Baghdadi abandons Mosul fight to field commanders
Wed 2017-03-08
  IS gunmen dressed as medics kill 30 at Kabul military hospital
Tue 2017-03-07
  Mufti Hannan jailbreak attempt fails
Mon 2017-03-06
  New wave of US air raids on Qaeda in Yemen
Sun 2017-03-05
  Jordan hangs 15 death row prisoners at dawn in further break from moratorium on executions
Sat 2017-03-04
  Kurdish YPG fighters repel treacherous Turkish attack near Syria’s Afrin
Fri 2017-03-03
  Syrian Army recaptures Palmyra, aided by Russian Air Force: Kremlin
Thu 2017-03-02
  Islamic State supreme leader’s speech admits defeat in Mosul
Wed 2017-03-01
  Two women in nerve agent attack on Kim Jong-nam charged with murder
Tue 2017-02-28
  Islamic State claims attempted bombing in Algeria -AMAQ

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