[DAWN] Afghan officials are carrying out at least two tracks of talks with the Taliban ...Arabic for students... , it has been learned, even after a month of brutal bombings and attacks by the gunnies that killed nearly 200 and despite US 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... ’s angry rejection of any negotiations for now.
The persistence of the back-channel contacts reflects the desire to keep a door open for reconciliation even as the Afghan government and its top ally, the United States, fumble for a strategy to end the protracted war, now entering its 17th year. Rifts within the Afghan government have grown vast, even as the Taliban gain territory and wage increasingly ruthless tactics.
The United States has unleashed heavier air power against the Taliban and other krazed killers. After the string of Taliban attacks in recent weeks, Trump angrily condemned the group. "We don’t want to talk with the Taliban," he said. "There may be a time but it’s going to be a long time."
Still, Afghanistan’s intelligence chief Masoom Stanikzai and its National Security Chief Mohammed Hanif Atmar continue to each talk separately to the Taliban, say those familiar with the backdoor negotiations. The problem, however, is that neither is talking to the other or to the High Peace Council, which was created by the government to talk peace with the Taliban, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... to discuss the contacts.
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02/15/2018 00:00 ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... ) is aiming to increase the number of the international forces in the framework of the train, advise, and assist mission to close to 16,000 during the year 2018.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told news hounds in Brussels on Tuesday that "At least twenty-eight Allies and partners are increasing their troop contributions to our training mission in Afghanistan."
Stoltenberg further added "We are aiming to have close to 16,000 personnel there this year. Up from around 13,000 last year."
"This is a clear sign of our continued commitment to Afghanistan’s security," he added.
Stoltenberg had earlier said that the new international forces will train, advise, and assist the Afghan Special Operations forces.
This comes as the Afghan government and its international allies are optimistic regarding the growing capabilities of the Special Operations forces.
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02/15/2018 00:00 ||
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[Breitbart] In a judicial proceeding Nigeria’s courts have deemed unprecedented, the federal government announced it would begin to process 700 Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... suspects awaiting trial at a military detention proceeding on Monday.
The Kainji military facility counts "at least 1,000 suspected members" of Boko Haram among its inmates, according to Nigeria’s Daily Trust newspaper. Abuja has begun moving towards the rapid processing of these individuals in order to lift as much of the burden on the nation’s weakened military as possible. According to the newspaper, almost half of those detained‐"about 468 persons"‐"are expected to be released for want of evidence."
Continued on Page 49
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02/15/2018 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Rakhmat Akilov mowed down pedestrians last April, killing 5 and injuring 10; prosecution has demanded a life sentence
If he is jailed for life, how is he to be extradited?
An Uzbek asylum seeker who confessed to wanting to mow down "infidels" in an April 2017 Stockholm truck attack that killed five people and maimed 10 pleaded guilty to terrorism charges on Tuesday as his trial opened.
...the known wolf and forged documents dealer, whose truck attack harmed considerably fewer than he'd planned because his bomb didn't explode, demonstrating that Allah did not approve.
appeared in the Stockholm courtroom, where he was charged with terror-related murder and attempted murder, handcuffed amid tight security, wearing green prison clothes and with a shaved head and a beard, accompanied by his lawyer, Johan Eriksson.
Akilov, whose Swedish asylum application had been rejected in 2016, had sworn allegiance to 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.... terror group on the eve of his assault in one of Europe’s safest cities, though the jihadist group never grabbed credit.
On the afternoon of Friday, April 7, Akilov stole a beer delivery truck and barreled down a bustling pedestrian shopping street, swerving wildly to hit as many people as possible. He was tossed in the clink Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! hours later.
Five people were killed ‐ a British man, a Belgian woman and three Swedes, including an 11-year-old girl.
"Yes, it was Akilov who drove the truck that day," his lawyer Johan Eriksson told the court. "Akilov took the truck ... and drove it the way the prosecutor described. He killed five people and physically injured 10."
The prosecution has requested that he gets a life sentence and is extradited from Sweden.
He has said he wanted to punish Sweden for participating in the international coalition against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
Throughout the nearly 10-month probe, Akilov has been cooperative, according to his lawyer and the prosecution.
Three interpreters were at hand during the trial, which is expected to end May 9. A verdict is expected before the summer.
Akilov had said he offered to the Islamic State group to carry out an attack in Stockholm on behalf of the group. It was not clear whether the group had accepted his offer.
Investigators have found internet chat logs with unknown people in which Akilov discussed becoming a martyr and swore allegiance to IS between January 12, 2017, and the attack on April 7, as well as a memory card with "material that can be connected to IS," including execution videos.
The construction worker, who was 39 at the time of the attack, was subject to deportation from Sweden ahead of attack as his asylum application had been rejected.
Akilov had been ordered to leave Sweden in December 2016. Instead, he went underground, eluding authorities’ attempts to track him down. Sweden’s domestic intelligence agency has said it had nothing indicating he was planning an attack.
Security was high Tuesday, with heavily armed coppers and scores of news hounds going through metal detectors before entering the courtroom.
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02/15/2018 00:04 ||
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Ok, but they ought to be able to nail him for being a bloody-handed slum lord, which is almost worse.
[Ynet] A French court acquitted a man charged with harboring Islamic holy warriors after they carried out the 2015 Gay Paree attacks, bringing a surprising end Wednesday to the first criminal trial from the country's deadliest holy warrior violence since World War II.
The presiding judge said the Gay Paree court found Jawad Bendaoud, 31, a confirmed street criminal, not guilty of providing lodging to two of the attackers and helping them hide from police when they were the most-wanted criminals in La Belle France.
Addressing Bendaoud at a verdict hearing, Judge Isabelle Prevost-Desprez said the evidence was "insufficient to prove your guilt."
Bendaoud, who was standing behind a glass-enclosed dock, blew kisses to the public and his lawyers upon hearing of his acquittal. He faced up to six years in prison if he was convicted of harboring terrorists.
Bendaoud denied knowing the identity of the men to whom he rented a small flat in Saint-Denis. One of the two men he sheltered was Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected ringleader of the Gay Paree attacks.
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02/15/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm trying to square 'confirmed street criminal' with a 31 year-old property owner in a fairly pricey Paris suburb. Anyone? Ferris?
#2
Click on his name to see the articles about him in the Rantburg archive, Raj. According an earlier article about this drug dealer,
Bendaoud, who has a long criminal record, said he had previously rented the grubby flat to Eastern European gangsters without asking questions.
And he’d rented this particular apartment to several of his countrymen for a three-day period. Providing temporary hideouts to gangsters is no doubt a lucrative business, given the evident risk he ran. One shudders to think what happened to his condemned properties and his income during the three years he sat in jail since his arrest.
I'm quite familiar with rental properties, so I tend to think along the lines of, for instance, 10% down on a property, a picture of the house in question and all that. Maybe he's in a shithole section of that otherwise fine Paris suburb (even in Quincy, MA!), it didn't seem to make a lot a lot of sense unless the cash he was taking was a phenomenal amount, and I think that's the missing part.
#4
One shudders to think what happened to his condemned properties and his income during the three years he sat in jail since his arrest.
Most likely a relative (read - older brother) kept it afloat as a de facto property manager, or it all went to shit and got sold in the proverbial fire sale. There's very little middle ground in this one.
[ALMASDARNEWS] 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... , in an indication that it is serious about shaving off the sharp edges of its Sunni Moslem ultra-conservatism, has agreed to surrender control of the Great Mosque in Brussels.
The decision follows mounting Belgian criticism of alleged intolerance and supremacism that was being propagated by the mosque’s Saudi administrators as well as social reforms in the kingdom introduced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ...Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia as of 2016.... , including a lifting of the ban on women’s driving, the granting of women’s access to male sporting events and introduction of modern forms of entertainment.
Relinquishing control of the mosque reportedly strokes with a Saudi plan to curtail support for foreign mosques and religious and cultural institutions that have been blamed for sprouting radicalism. With few details of the plan known, it remains unclear what the curtailing entails.
It also remains unclear what effect it would have. A report published last month by the Royal Danish Defence College and three Pak think tanks concluded that madrassas or religious seminaries in Pakistain, a hotbed of holy warrior religious education, were no longer dependent on foreign funding. It said that foreign funding accounted for a mere seven percent of the income of madrassas in the country.
Like with Prince Mohammed’s vow last November to return Saudi Arabia to an undefined "moderate" form of Islam, its too early to tell what the Brussels decision and the social reforms mean beyond trying to improve the kingdom’s tarnished image and preparing it for a beyond-oil, 21st century economic and social existence.
The decision would at first glance seem to be primarily a public relations move and an effort to avoid rattling relations with Belgium and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... given that the Brussels mosque is the exception that confirms the rule. It is one of a relatively small number of Saudi-funded religious, educational and cultural institutions that was managed by the kingdom.
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02/15/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Supreme Court wondered on Wednesday whether a person ineligible to become a member of the National Assembly could be chosen to head a political party.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing a set of petitions challenging the Elections Act 2017, filed by Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... chief Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... , Awami Moslem League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the Pakistain Peoples Party and 10 others.
"Can a thief or member of a drug mafia [also] become the head of a party?" the bench asked, as it deliberated a number of points regarding the eligibility of a person to hold a party's top office.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan wondered how a person disqualified by the court over not being sadiq (truthful) and ameen (righteous) and who could not be elected as a member of parliament become a party's head.
But Advocate Salman Akram Raja, who was representing the PML-N, argued that while a person disqualified under Article 62(1)(f) could not be elected to the parliament, the Constitution of the country imposes no bar on such a person to lead a party.
"Do all the basic rights of a disqualified person as a human end with a disqualification?" Raja asked. He asked whether such a person also loses the right to organise and the right to freedom of expression.
"All the rights of such a person remain intact but they cannot become the head [of a party]," remarked Justice Ahsan, to which Raja said that members of a political party could not be prohibited from choosing a party leader of their choice under Articles 17 and 19 of the Constitution.
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02/15/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] DERA ISMAIL KHAN: The newly-appointed deputy commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... Pakistain (TTP), Mufti Noor Wali, will take over his new position in the banned hard boy group after formal approval by TTP chief Maulana Fazalullah, according to sources.
They said the group’s central shura and Mehsud circle Taliban approved Wali’s appointment in a meeting held on Monday.
During the meeting, Qari Azmatullah was made Wali’s naib (deputy).
Forty-year-old Wali hails from Gorgoray area of Sararogha tehsil and belongs to Mechikhel, a sub-clan of the Mehsud tribe.
He was a seminary student and remained a qazi (judge) of Sharia court established by the founder chief of TTP, Baitullah Mehsud. The sources said Wali had taken part in attacks in Wazoo and Afghanistan.
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02/15/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The 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.... government has started the process of taking over seminaries and health facilities run by Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... (JuD) in Rawalpindi as it has taken control of the Hudabia Madressah on Chakra Road and asked the Auqaf department to assume its administration.
The district administration has also taken control of four dispensaries run by the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) ‐ the charity wing of JuD ‐ located on Chakra Road, Naseerabad, and adjoining areas of the city.
The federal government has barred companies and individuals from giving donations to JuD, FIF and other organizations on the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... Security Council (UNSC) sanctions list.
Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistain issued a notification to all companies, prohibiting them from donating money to the entities and individuals listed under the UNSC sanctions committee’s consolidated list.
The UNSC sanctions list includes the names of Al Qaeda, the Tehrik-e-Taliban ...Arabic for students... Pakistain, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... , JuD, FIF and Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... After this, the Punjab government started the process of taking control of the seminaries and health facilities run by JuD and FIF in the province. Last Friday, the provincial government directed the Auqaf department to take control of the seminaries.
"The provincial government handed over a list of four seminaries in Rawalpindi to the district administration. The district administration teams have visited the seminaries but JuD has denied any link with the madressahs," said a bigwig of the district administration while talking to Dawn.
However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... he said, the government had taken control of Madressah Hudabia ‐ which comprised a college, a school and a seminary ‐ and started conducting an audit of its finances to check details of the funding and the expenditures.
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02/15/2018 00:00 ||
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[FDD's LWJ] Pakistani terror groups Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) launched two attacks against security forces this week in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Both attacks targeted Indian military facilities and together resulted in the deaths of six Indian security personnel and one civilian. Eleven others were injured, including six women and children, according to reports. Both JeM and LeT are US designated terror groups that operate openly in Pakistan and support and maintain active insurgencies in the Jammu and Kashmir region.
In the first attack, which took place on Feb. 11, JeM terrorists snuck into the Sunjwan army camp in the city of Jammu during pre-dawn hours and began firing on Indian security forces. The jihadists were armed with assault rifles, grenades and a grenade launcher, and engaged Indian soldiers in a gunfight that lasted more than 30 hours. When the fighting ceased, three fighters were killed by Indian security forces. Five Indian soldiers and one civilian were killed during the Sunjwan camp attack, and 10 others were wounded. The casualty totals made the Feb. 11 assault the most deadly terror attack in India since a 2016 Uri military camp attack, also attributed to JeM, that killed 17 soldiers and wounded dozens.
The Indian government has labelled the Sunjwan attack a “ceasefire violation,” saying that they have evidence the attack was orchestrated by “handlers” within Pakistan, according to Reuters. They also warned that “Pakistan will pay for this misadventure.”
Just two days later, two LeT terrorists attempted to storm a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) headquarters in the city of Srinagar. Police opened fire on the two LeT fighters, who fled. The CRFP then clashed with the LeT members for 27 hours before cornering and killing them. One CRPF officer was killed and another was wounded during the fighting. LeT commander Mehmood Shah and spokesman Abdullah Ghaznavi claimed credit for the attack.
“The freedom fighters of Lashkar-e-Taiba continue to seize control of the stronghold in Karan Nagar (Srinagar),” Ghaznavi said in a statement released to local media, according to Kashmir Dispatch. Ghaznavi also stated that the Feb. 11 assault on the Sunjwan army camp was carried out by JeM.
Both attacks are consistent with the LeT and JeM’s historical trends of targeting Indian military facilities, camps and outposts.
Kuwait (IraqiNews.com) Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has said that Iraq has five million internally displaced persons, in addition to refugees from Syria. More than half of them were repatriated.
During his speech at the Kuwait International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq on Wednesday, Abadi said, “there are more than five million internally displaced persons in Iraq. There are also refugees from Syria. The government managed to repatriate more than half of them at their regions.”
Earlier today, the Migration and Displacement Ministry said three million refugees were returned back to their liberated regions in provinces of Anbar, Salahuddin and Nineveh except for Mosul’s Old City as most of the houses were destroyed during the offensives.
Kuwait (Iraqinews.com) – Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has pledged $1 billion in loans and $1 billion in direct investments to help rebuild Iraq, KUNA reported.
The Kuwaiti emir made the pledge during the official inauguration of the Kuwait International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq (KICRI) on Wednesday.
The $2 billion will be channeled into reconstructing and rebuilding Iraq, which announced victory over the Islamic State group last December.
The Kuwait International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq kicked off Monday with the participation of several donor countries and a group of regional and international institutions.
The gathering aims at garnering necessary support for the reconstruction of Iraq following a great victory achieved over Islamic State group.
The three-day conference is co-chaired by the European Union, Iraq, Kuwait, the United Nations and the World Bank.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The European Union plans to earmark 300 million euros for the support of development projects in Iraq, the Iraqi ambassador to Brussels was quoted saying.
Speaking to state-run newspaper al-Sabaah, Jawad al-Hindawi said EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, will declare Wednesday “a strategic support for Iraq worth 300 million euros”.
She will make the announcement during her address before the Iraqi reconstruction donors conference hosted by Kuwait, he explained.
Hindawi explained that the package had been approved by the European Commission and the foreign policy council, but is awaiting approval from the European Parliament.
The ambassador said an estimated USD1 billion could be added to that number for the next three years.
Hindawi added that the expected EU package is separate from what is to be provided by each European country individually.
Since 2015, Hindawi said, the European Union provided Iraq with 575 million euros for development, humanitarian, security and political assistance.
At least 70 countries are taking part in the conference through which Iraq hopes to rehabilitate its war-ravaged economy and infrastructure with at least USD100 billion.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The United States and Iraq signed on Tuesday a memorandum by which the latter receives USD3 billion in financial aid for transportation and other reconstruction-related projects.
The declaration, quoted by Sputnik news agency, was made by U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson during a conference of donors to Iraq reconstruction which began in Kuwait on Monday.
Tillerson said the memo, signed by U.S. bank Exim and the Iraqi finance ministry, provides for USD3 billion for transport and other projects in Iraq.
He said U.S. firms had previously signed a deal worth USD2 billion for the Iraqi electricity sector, adding that another project worth USD350 million would see works starting soon.
Kuwait (Iraqinews.com) – U.S. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson has pledged another $200 million to restore security in Iraq and Syria following the defeat of Islamic State there.
Speaking at an anti-Islamic State coalition ministerial meeting, which kicked off in Kuwait early on Tuesday, Tillerson stressed the importance of providing necessary support for attaining stability in the two countries.
So far, 95 percent of Iraqi and Syrian territories have been liberated from the Islamic State group, Baghdad Today news website quoted the top U.S. diplomat as saying.
He also stressed his country’s support for efforts exerted by the U.S.-led anti-IS international coalition to support Iraq’s stability and reconstruction.
Tillerson further warned that IS might turn into a rebel movement in Libya, Afghanistan and the Philippines.
The meeting involving the 74-member alliance is part of efforts to up the fight against terrorism and examine a strategy the coalition has concocted in its battle against IS.
It will be divided into two sessions, with the first tackling the fight against IS and the second examining anti-terrorism efforts.
The meeting is also part of a series of international conferences that took place in order to build a formal coalition to destroy the IS, which had taken over large portions of Syria and Iraq in 2014.
Kuwait (Iraqinews.com) – French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian stressed on Wednesday that the reconstruction plan of Iraq should cover all Iraqi provinces and regions, notably the Kurdistan Region.
According to Basnews website, Le Drian called on donor countries taking part in the Kuwait International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq (KICRI) to incorporate the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region in the reconstruction plan of Iraq, saying that Erbil has made great sacrifices and shouldered a heavy burden over the past period.
He also stressed the importance of ending a dispute between Baghdad and Erbil, which erupted following a referendum the Kurdistan Region held in September for independence from Iraq.
Le Drian pointed out that it is the time now to reconstruct all villages, towns and regions that were targeted by the Islamic State group or remained marginalized throughout the Iraqi history.
Sulaimaniyah (IraqiNews.com) Kurdistan Region’s Sulaimaniyah Airport has denied reports that the central government in Baghdad had partially lifted an embargo it had it had imposed on flights to and from the facility.
In a statement on Tuesday, the airport’s press service said it had not yet received any response from the Iraqi government regarding the lifting of the embargo.
Some media outlets had circulated a government bulletin telling that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had approved flight exceptions for Kurds eager to perform Islamic “Umra” pilgrimage (performed in the holy lands in Saudi Arabia).
The Baghdad-based Iraqi government had imposed an embargo on flights on Kurdistan’s Sulaimaniyah and Erbil airports following a vote for independence the autonomous region’s government ran in September, which Baghdad deemed illegal.
Recent reports have pointed to imminent talks between both governments to resolve pending disputes over the administration of the region’s airports as well as other contentious subjects.
As part of talks to end the crisis, Baghdad has asked to hand over management of the airports to its central aviation authorities.
In January, Shafaq News quoted Taher Abdullah, Sulaimaniyah Airport chief, saying that passengers numbers at the terminal declined by 86% after the embargo. He said that the airport had used to record the arrival of 50.000 per month before the embargo, which declined after the measure to 6000-7000 per month.
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Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Officials at Iraq’s Anbar province have recommended to resolve tribal disputes at the province before pushing forward with the repatriation of displaced civilians linked with 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.... bully boys.
Baghdad Today quoted Naeem al-Kaoud, chairman of Anbar’s security committee, saying that "any decision to return ISIS (Islamic State) families could be catastrophic".
According to al-Kaoud, "the rule at tribal areas is that anybody who commits a killing, his family is expelled until a reconciliation is reached".
He added that, "until present, there is no framework for tribal reconciliation, and the government is required to sponsor that issue".
Kaoud argued that "certain parties want to accelerate the repatriation of refugees to the province for political reasons to use those families’ votes in elections".
Iraq declared victory over Islamic State snuffies in December, ending months of military operations to retake areas occupied by the group since 2014. Anbar’s Rawa was the last IS bastion recaptured by Iraqi forces.
But many officials and observers have voiced concern over a wave of unrest as the families of civilians slain by the Lion of Islam group could seek Dire Revenge from others that had some of their members drafted by the group.
Iraqi local authorities had reportedly isolated IS fighters’ families at some provinces and prepared for their social and psychological rehabilitation before returning to their home regions
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02/15/2018 00:00 ||
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[Business Insider] After a massive battle that saw up to 300 pro-government fighters killed at the hands of the US and its local allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces, it looks like Syrian President Bashar Assad's military will mount another offensive.
Pro-Assad Al Masdar reported on Monday that Syria's 5th Legion and several units from Hezbollah are preparing an attack on ISIS near Deir Ezzor, in the country's east. Al Masdar seemed to confirm that the Syrian troops planned to encounter US-backed forces in a subsequent story on Wednesday.
But Syria's own state-run media said in November that Deir Ezzor had been liberated from ISIS. Western assessments of Syria no longer say the terror group holds territory there.
Instead, the US and the SDF hold much of eastern Syria, where the Syrian Army and its Lebanese and Iranian backers will head. Al Masdar announced the offensive would begin in three weeks and move under the cover of Russian airstrikes and with Iranians, who are thought to have 70,000 fighters in Syria.
Those fighters may well meet the 2,000 or so US troops in Syria, but despite the numerical advantage, pro-regime forces have fared poorly against the US.
In a battle between pro-government forces and US-backed forces on February 7, 500 Syrian-aligned soldiers launched an attack on a well-known headquarters of the SDF with 122mm howitzers, Russian-made tanks, and multiple launch rocket systems. According to the Pentagon, they only wounded one SDF fighter.
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02/15/2018 07:28 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Lebanese Prime Minister 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 ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... has him bumped off, too. ruled out entering government with the political wing of Hezbollah, at a political rally in Beirut on Wednesday.
"We refuse any alliance with Hezbollah," Hariri told supporters of his Future Movement party seated in the auditorium of the Beit international hall.
The prime minister was attending a ceremony commemorating the 13th anniversary of his father’s liquidation.
Rafic Hariri, also a former Lebanese prime minister, and 21 others were killed in a massive kaboom outside the St. George Hotel in Beirut in 2005.
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02/15/2018 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The US-led Coalition to defeat the ISIS terrorist group (banned in Russia) has intentionally destroyed 90 percent of Syria’s town of Raqqa, Syrian permanent representative to the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... Bashar Jaafari told the UN Security Council on Wednesday.
"This coalition has deliberately destroyed 90 percent of the city of Raqqa," Jaafari said. "This coalition has not felt to uphold its commitment to neutralize the mines left behind by ISIS."
The statement follows the February 12 blurb by the advocacy group Human Rights Watch, saying that landmines planted by the ISIS terrorist group in the Syrian city of Raqqa have killed or maimed hundreds of civilians, including more than 150 children.
The actual number of victims is surely higher, as many people died before reaching medical assistance and those deaths were not necessarily reported, the release said.
As the release defined, ISIS planted scores of antipersonnel mines in Raqqa before US-led forces liberated the city in October 2017, including mines, booby traps or improvised bombs (IEDs), and most appeared to be victim-activated and therefore banned under international law.
In October, a spokesperson for Operation Inherent Resolve, the US military’s operational name for the intervention against ISIS, reported that hundreds of suspected ISIS members and their families were allowed to flee Raqqa in convoys arranged by US-backed forces. According to Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS Brett McGurk, the turbans placed bombs in almost every single building the city’s downtown.
The terror seized Raqqa in 2013 and declared the city to be the capital of their self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria the following year. In December 2017, Syrian Democratic Forces, with the support of the US-led international coalition, began operations to retake Raqqa, which the SDF said was liberated in October.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/15/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
So, ISIS leaves behind a shitload of active mines / IED's but Uncle Sugar gets blamed for destroying the city. Do I have that right?
#6
ISIS planted scores of antipersonnel mines in Raqqa before US-led forces liberated the city in October 2017, including mines, booby traps or improvised bombs (IEDs), and most appeared to be victim-activated and therefore banned under international law
Jaafari should let ISIS know, personally, face-to-face. They'll surely stop
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/15/2018 9:00 Comments ||
Top||
#7
You people have no core. You shift with moving islams.
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