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Middle East on alert as two oil tankers are hit by explosions and one 'sinks' in suspected 'torpedo attack' in Gulf of Oman
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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2 21:02 Elmuth Ebbaper2427 [336112]
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14 16:34 Bobby [336076]
14 19:41 Cleager Schwarzeneggar4244 [336103]
2 15:11 Skidmark [336078]
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Page 4: Opinion
4 19:01 Beldar Glusose6687 [336102]
19 20:00 Vinegar Stalin6202 [336158]
2 13:08 M. Murcek [336099]
4 19:56 Rob Crawford [336111]
6 18:26 trailing wife [336097]
8 12:48 SteveS [336068]
22 14:51 49 Pan [336065]
5 17:52 Bobby [336080]
Page 6: Politix
13 21:14 Silentbrick [336126]
6 18:12 Woodrow [336114]
8 18:14 Woodrow [336098]
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2 12:46 Abu Uluque [336071]
7 16:55 charger [336079]
4 12:35 Abu Uluque [336069]
16 21:12 james [336112]
Africa Horn
Two Shaboobs surrender to KDF in Gedo
[RADIOSHABELLE] Two al-Shabaab
...... the personification of Somali state failure...
Death Eaters on Wednesday surrendered to Kenya Defense Forces at the notorious Gedo region in Somalia, few miles from Kenyan border, it has emerged.

Interestingly, the incident takes place four days after intelligence reports from NIS indicated that over 40 Death Eaters had crossed to Kenya from Somalia and are planning a retaliation on Kenyan soil.

According to the reports, the Death Eaters had given an ultimatum to have their weapons returned after being confiscated by Kenya security forces at Dawaduba last week.

Intelligence report shared on Thursday showed that the al-Shabaab Death Eaters had crossed into Mandera County’s Lafey area.

"Unconfirmed reports indicate that the bully boy group has given an ultimatum that they want weapons recovered from them in Dawaduba returned within the next 24hrs or they will vent their anger on the local community within Lafey sub- county," reads the report.

The two could be resourceful since they have connections to al-Shabaab detention camps and intelligence. It’s in Gedo region near El-Adde that two Cuban doctors who were kidnapped in Mandera are being held.

Last month, elders from Mandera said the Death Eaters had asked for Sh150 million ransom but the Kenya government maintained that it does not negotiate with al-Shabaab.
Posted by: Fred || 06/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336094 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Africa North
Gunmen attack two ethnic Dogon villages in central Mali
[AlAhram] Gunmen are attacking two ethnic Dogon villages in central Mali, a local official said on Wednesday, less than 50 km away from the site of a similar attack in which dozens were killed at the end of last week.

"Unidentified gunnies on cycle of violences are surrounding the village and firing at people," mayor of the targeted Bankass district Moulaye Guindo said via telephone, adding that the attack was still ongoing in the villages of Ogoboro and Nomopere Bomba.

Guindo said there were people maimed who had been taken to a local hospital, but had no information on the number casualties.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336097 views] Top|| File under: Fulani Herdsmen (Boko Haram)

#1  Mali. Those islands off Argentina that Bath House Barry talked about. The ones where they speak Austrian.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/13/2019 12:56 Comments || Top||


Mali: Governor sacked after village massacre
[Al Jazeera] The Malian government on Wednesday sacked the governor of the central Mopti region following a village massacre in which dozens of people died, amid reports of renewed fighting between ethnic tribes.

Three days of national mourning would also be held "in homage to the victims of the terrorist attack perpetrated on June 10, 2019 against the population of Sobane Da village," President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said in a statement read out on public television.

"Drawing lessons from this tragedy, the cabinet had dismissed Mopti's regional governor," General Sidi Alassane Toure added in the statement.

Twenty-four of the dead were children, the government said earlier in a statement which added that six people were tossed into the calaboose "following routine checks".

Fresh fighting believed to be between the Fulani
... a peculiarly brutal tribe of Moslem herdsmen infesting Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and probably other places that are light on law and order and heavy on tribal identity...
and Dogon ethnic groups risks plunging the country deeper into a cycle of intercommunal violence.

Gunmen on Wednesday targeted two ethnic Dogon villages in the Bankass district of the Mopti region, according to the mayor of the area.
Posted by: Fred || 06/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336100 views] Top|| File under: Fulani Herdsmen (Boko Haram)


Arabia
Middle East on alert as two oil tankers are hit by explosions and one 'sinks' in suspected 'torpedo attack' in Gulf of Oman
[MAIL] Dramatic pictures have revealed the fireball which erupted on an oil tanker after it was hit by an explosion in the Gulf of Oman today.

The MT Front Altair was one of two ships hit in a pair of blasts which have left the Middle East on high alert.

The tanker suffered three explosions and caught fire after a suspected torpedo attack, although its Norwegian owner has denied Iranian claims that the vessel has sunk.

The Altair and the other ship, the Kokuka Courageous, were evacuated after sending distress signals - picked up by the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet - with 44 sailors rescued.

Britain has urged 'extreme caution' amid high tensions in the Middle East, weeks after four tankers were attacked in a mysterious act of sabotage off the UAE coast which Washington believes was the work of Iran.

And as Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets Iran's Supreme Leader today in an effort to defuse the crisis, while Tokyo revealed that the two tankers had been carrying 'Japan-related cargo'.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/13/2019 07:12 || Comments || Link || [336104 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And as Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets Iran's Supreme Leader today in an effort to defuse the crisis, while Tokyo revealed that the two tankers had been carrying 'Japan-related cargo

Seems kinda counter-productive; wonder if there is some factional infighting going on...
Posted by: Mercutio || 06/13/2019 8:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Gulf of Tonkin, Herb?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/13/2019 8:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Awfully close to Iran. Well within range of their speed boats.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/13/2019 8:46 Comments || Top||

#4  then there's this

http://jcpa.org/mysterious-blazes-on-six-iranian-ships-in-iranian-ports/
Posted by: Mercutio || 06/13/2019 8:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Was just going to post that too. Wonder who's special forces hit that. The US or Israel?
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/13/2019 9:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Gut says Israel. Trump would have torched 60 boats...bless his heart.
Posted by: Mercutio || 06/13/2019 9:03 Comments || Top||

#7  "Britain has urged 'extreme caution' ". Sounds like a motion to dither this.
Posted by: Dale || 06/13/2019 9:52 Comments || Top||

#8  Mercutio, Darth Vader — when you get down to the Syria section of page 1, you’ll find we have that story. This is, after all, Rantburg. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/13/2019 9:52 Comments || Top||

#9  Relying on ME oil is stupid
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/13/2019 11:41 Comments || Top||

#10  Relying on ME oil is stupid

Yes, but doesn't graft cancel stupid?
Posted by: gorb || 06/13/2019 13:02 Comments || Top||

#11  A proper response might be an accidental impact of a meteor on a certain supreme mullah's estate.
Posted by: 3dc || 06/13/2019 14:11 Comments || Top||

#12  Relying on ME oil is stupid

Perhaps we should start buying Israeli oil they no longer ship to Gaza.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/13/2019 15:00 Comments || Top||

#13  if the ships were carrying oil products from Iran to Japan they were, I think, in violation of the US sanctions on Iran

if the ships were carrying oil products from, say, Saudi Arabia, to Japan its a different story
Posted by: lord garth || 06/13/2019 16:14 Comments || Top||

#14  perhaps we shouldn't be buying oil when we are exporting it
Posted by: chris || 06/13/2019 16:23 Comments || Top||

#15  So Iran basically said "We didn't do it, but it sunk!"
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 06/13/2019 17:09 Comments || Top||

#16  Six minor boats burn in iran.

M, could Guam be to blame? Afterall, Canada is not likely. Their fleet of all 4 canoes were busy at a fish fry beer fest.
Posted by: Woodrow || 06/13/2019 18:09 Comments || Top||


Houthi missile attack on Saudi airport wounds 26: Saudi-led coalition
[DAWN] The Saudi-led military coalition vowed to respond firmly to a missile attack by Yemeni Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...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 legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. 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 They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
forces on a civilian airport in southern 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...
on Wednesday which maimed 26 people.

The Western-backed alliance that has been battling the Iran-aligned Houthi movement 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...
said the early morning attack proved Tehran's support for what it called cross-border terrorism.

A coalition statement said a projectile hit the arrivals hall at Abha airport, causing material damage. Three women and two children were among the maimed, who were of Saudi, Yemeni and Indian nationalities, it said.

The Houthis said on their media channels that they had fired a cruise missile at Abha airport, which is about 200 km (125 miles) north of the Yemen border and serves domestic and regional routes.

Saudi Arabia's civil aviation body told Rooters air traffic was currently running normally at the airport. The Houthi media centre said the strike destroyed the control tower. The coalition's front man did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rooters could not independently verify the claim.
Posted by: Fred || 06/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336087 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Europe
Germany arrests Kosovo man accused of supporting IS group
[IsraelTimes] German authorities have arrested a Kosovo national accused of supporting the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group by transferring thousands of euros to a fighter and a would-be recruit.

The federal prosecutor’s office said the 31-year-old man, identified only as Hassan Rejan B. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested today in the Pinneberg area, near Hamburg.

He is suspected of 15 counts of supporting IS and 11 of violating German export laws.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336088 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraqi man with kippah and knives stopped at entrance to Antwerp synagogue
A tale much stranger than it first appears.
[IsraelNews] Guards suspected the man, who claimed to be Jewish, was not a member of the community; police detain him for questioning.

A non-Jewish Arab man wearing a kippah and carrying several concealed knives was intercepted by guards as he attempted to enter an Antwerp synagogue.

The 34-year-old Iraqi citizen was questioned by guards when he tried to enter the Romi Goldmuntz Synagoge in the Belgian city on Monday, during the holiday of Shavuot, the Joodse Actueel newspaper reported Tuesday. The man said he spoke neither Hebrew nor Yiddish but insisted he was a member of the city’s Jewish community, the report said, citing police sources.

The guards ‐ members of the community’s Shmira security service ‐ had approached the man with some suspicion because they saw him arrive on a bicycle, a means of transportation that few observant Jews in Antwerp use on Jewish holidays.

The man did speak good Phlegmish, the report said. The guards called police, who detained the man for questioning.

"He came in wearing a hat and a kippah and pretended to be Jewish, but it was immediately clear to us he did not belong to the Jewish community," one guard, who was not named, told Joods Actueel.

Attempts to gain access to synagogues, which are restricted to worshipers for security reasons, are common in Antwerp. But such attempts by men carrying knives are extremely rare.

Still, the incident may not have been an attempted attack, Joods Actueel wrote. The knives he carried were small, not much larger than the blade of a pocket knife, and the man seemed not entirely focused, the report said.

Posted by: trailing wife || 06/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  it was immediately clear to us he did not belong to the Jewish community

"He kept scratching his groin."
Posted by: Dron66046 || 06/13/2019 9:47 Comments || Top||

#2  The knives he carried were small, not much larger than the blade of a pocket knife

More the size of a box cutter.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/13/2019 15:03 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
3 soldiers, one militant killed in Kashmir shootout
[Dhaka Tribune] At least three paramilitary soldiers were killed and an equal number injured Wednesday when suspected gunnies launched an attack on a key highway in Indian-administered Kashmire, officials said.

Sanjay Sharma, front man for India's paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) told AFP that at least two car-borne gunnies attacked a foot patrol with automatic weapons, killing three members of the force.

He said one attacker was killed in retaliatory fire, while another managed to escape.

A senior police official speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
said a local police officer was also critically injured in the attack.
Posted by: Fred || 06/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies


Iraq
Bombs hit Kurdistan Region’s Duhok-Amedi road, no casualties
[Rudaw] Bombs hit the main Duhok-Amedi road on Wednesday afternoon, temporarily halting traffic amid ongoing festivities between The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor...
and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

"The bombing did not cause human losses," Ismael Mustafa, the mayor of Amedi, told Rudaw.

Ismael said that an additional two bombs hit the same road in nearby Sargale village and Kane township, both in the Amedi district.

"The main drinking water pipe of the Deraluk Project that extends to the towns of Bamarne and Sarsang was blown up", said Ismael. "Now maintenance teams are trying to fix it".

He added two civilian vehicles on the road were damaged.

According to photos obtained by Rudaw, a petrol station near the road was also damaged.

Local Rudaw news hounds said the bombing by the Ottoman Turkish military was about 1 kilometer from the center of Amedi and 50 meters from the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) main office in the town.

The KDP’s head of office in Amedi confirmed with Rudaw English that the strikes hit about 50 meters from their location, "but fortunately no one was hurt."

"We are calling on the PKK to avoid these populated areas so such incidents don’t occur," said Omer Uri, the head of the KDP office in Amedi.

He added there have been other strikes recently against PKK positions in the area.

The Ottoman Turkish Ministry of Defense acknowledged in a tweet that it targeted areas in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq with Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s on Wednesday morning.

As part of Operation Claw, Ottoman Turkish forces targeted "terrorist organization positions, depots, and hideouts in Zap, Metina and Gara", the ministry announced.

The areas are close to Amedi, a town and a district, about 70 kilometers north of the Kurdistan Region’s capital of Erbil city.

The strikes signal a possible dangerous escalation.

In the past few years, primarily rural areas were targeted. However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate...
the areas hit in the most recent attacks lie just outside urban centers, raising the risk for civilians who worry of being caught in crossfire of the conflict.

Turkey launched Operation Claw on May 27, targeting PKK positions inside the Kurdistan Region.

The operation is utilizing airplanes, helicopters, artillery, and ground forces.

Turkey regularly carries out airstrikes and military offensives against alleged PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region.

The PKK, a banned political party in Turkey, is headquartered in the mountains of Qandil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq near the borders of Turkey and Iran.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336085 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Iraqi paramilitary fighters kill two Islamic State militants in Salahuddin
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Iraqi paramilitary Hashd Shaabi fighters killed on Wednesday two members of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
krazed killer group in Salahuddin province.

The two terrorists, identified as Abdullah Mohammed al-Jabouri and Bassam Mohammed al-Jabouri, were plotting to carry out terrorist attacks against civilians in al-Shirqat town in Salahuddin, according to a statement by the pro-government fighters.

The operation, according to the statement, was carried out based on intelligence information.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraqi police launch manhunt for Islamic State remnants in Salahuddin
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Iraqi security forces have launched a manhunt for Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
remnants at three villages on the outskirts of Salahuddin province, a police chief was quoted as saying.

"A joint police force carried out a security operation to purge the villages of Omar Manda, Umm al-Ghezlan and Snidij from Islamic State remnants," Diyala police chief Major-General Faisal Kazem al-Abadi told Alghad Press news website on Wednesday.

"The security operation aims at pursuing Islamic State bully boyz and securing all the roads between Salahuddin and other provinces," Abadi added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336089 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Intelligence agents arrest Islamic State logistics provider in Diyala
Diyala (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Iraqi intelligence forces arrested on Wednesday an Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
logistics provider during a security operation in Diyala province.

"Troops of the 20th division of the Military Intelligence Directorate have arrested an Islamic State bully boy on charges of supplying the terrorist group with logistical support in al-Nada district in Diyala," the privately-owned Baghdad Today website quoted the directorate as saying in a statement.

"The terrorist was wanted on terror-related charges pursuant to article no. 4 of the anti-terrorism law," the statement added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336091 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IAF strikes underground Hamas targets after Palestinians fire rocket into Israel
[IsraelTimes] Israeli aircraft hit Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®, underground facilities in the Gazoo Strip early Thursday after a rocket fired at southern Israel was shot down in the first such attack since Israel and terror groups in the coastal enclave fought a vicious two-day battle last month.

The IDF said fighter jets bombed "underground terror infrastructure on a base belonging to the Hamas terror group in the southern Gazoo Strip."

It said the strikes came in response to the rocket that was fired at Israel earlier in the night, noting that Israel holds Hamas responsible for all violence emanating from the Strip.

Earlier in the night the Israeli military said it shot down a rocket from Gazoo heading toward southern Israel shortly after midnight Wednesday.

The incoming projectile triggered sirens in the community of Nirim in the Eshkol region, east of Gazoo, at approximately 12:15 a.m. on Thursday. Residents of the area reported hearing sounds of kabooms.

"One launch was detected from the Gazoo Strip toward Israeli territory. It was intercepted by Iron Dome soldiers," the army said in a statement, referring to the air defense system.

Residents said the rocket caused no injuries or damage.

"There were no impacts inside a community. Searches are being conducted in the area," an Eshkol spokesperson said in a statement.

The attack came hours after Israel announced it was imposing a full naval closure of the Gazoo Strip, not allowing local fisherman access to the sea, in response to the wave of arson and explosive attacks from the coastal enclave throughout the day.

At least six fires in southern Israel were blamed on incendiary balloons launched from the Strip, and another balloon with a bomb attached to it went kaboom! over an Israeli town. There were no reports of injuries. The arson attacks caused significant damage to area farmland.

"Due to the continued fires and flying of incendiary balloons from the Gazoo Strip, it was decided this evening to impose a naval closure on the Strip until further notice," the Defense Ministry’s liaison to the Paleostinians said in a statement.

The arson attacks appear to be a violation of an unofficial ceasefire reached in early May between Israel and Gazoo’s Hamas rulers that ended two days of intense fighting between the Israeli military and Paleostinian terror groups.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/13/2019 00:11 || Comments || Link || [336132 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Rockets, fire balloons, raiders at the gate with clubs and knives...why only 1 target?
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/13/2019 15:01 Comments || Top||

#2  They usually go after above-ground targets, Skidmark. And even then, after knocking on the roof first. So this new choice is interesting.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/13/2019 19:12 Comments || Top||


Israel scrambles jets as drone from Lebanon enters Israeli airspace, turns back
[IsraelTimes] Military says aircraft was under Israeli military surveillance the entire time; aerial infiltration follows reports of Israeli strike on Hezbollah site in Syria.

A small drone penetrated Israeli airspace from Leb on Wednesday afternoon, the army said, prompting the air force to scramble fighter jets.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, the aircraft quickly returned to Lebanese territory.

"Moments ago, IDF troops spotted a drone from Lebanese territory that entered the airspace of the State of Israel and then returned to Lebanese territory. The drone was tracked by the troops," the army said in a statement.

The incident came hours after Israel reportedly targeted sites in Syria controlled by the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group.

The Iranian ally Hezbollah maintains a significant presence in southern Leb, despite a United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
resolution meant to keep it out of the area.

According to Syrian and Lebanese reports, the target of the predawn strike by Israel was infrastructure set up by Hezbollah in the area of Tel al-Harra in recent months, following Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad’s conquering of the area last summer.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Not much of a scramble if the drone could go home.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/13/2019 15:04 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Two years after seige Marawi remains in ruins
[NPR] Olowan Magarang recalls the moment he knew it was time to flee his home in Marawi. It was in May 2017, two days into a siege by militants aligned with the Islamic State. He said, "I spotted ISIS fighters moving up my brother's four-story house, carrying long guns and high-caliber weapons."

Magarang was living in the epicenter of months of fighting where Philippine troops waged house-to-house combat against hundreds of ISIS-affiliated fighters in Marawi.

Authorities allowed him to see the ruins of his concrete house for the first time last August. He said, "I couldn't even recognize it. The second floor is destroyed. It has no roof or walls. I will renovate, as long as I have money."

Magarang is one of about 100,000 displaced residents — a number about half the size of Marawi's population — waiting to return home, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. An estimated 11,400 families are holding up in homes of relatives and friends, while thousands of others wait in temporary shelters.

The Marawi rehabilitation task force says the displaced population can begin returning home at the end of July. A recent tour with authorities of the areas hardest hit by the conflict, however, suggests the government timetable might be ambitious.

The recovery has been plagued from the start. A Chinese-led consortium was initially involved but were ultimately rebuffed by local leaders and residents. The private Filipino contractor now clearing the debris has moved slowly. No house can be knocked down without the owner's consent, according to Cabinet Housing and Urban Development Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario, who chairs the city's rebuilding task force. Many competing claims filed over the damaged and destroyed property have caused confusion, he says.

"You see, there are so many challenges. ... We have to ensure that when they go back there — 6,000 owners — that they will be residing in the right location, and 55% do not have titles," Del Rosario says.

Some unexploded bombs also pose a risk in the area. Del Rosario says they are "90% cleared."
Posted by: ryuge || 06/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Pix, Rooters, May 20 (possibly previously posted)
Posted by: Wholunter Elmurong4133 || 06/13/2019 1:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe if there was a name change from: "Islamic City of" to just the city name?
Posted by: 3dc || 06/13/2019 12:26 Comments || Top||


Six Abu Sayyaf militants nabbed in separate operations
[Yahoo] The Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) presented to the media on June 11 six Abu Sayyaf militants who were arrested in separate operations last month. The NBI said that the six were arrested in Taguig City, Balanga City in Bataan, and Zamboanga City on May 16 and 20.

NBI spokesman Ferdinand Lavin said, "The six arrested were involved in various terrorist activities, ranging from ambush, kidnap for ransom, bombing in southern Philippines, and recruitment of other members.”

He added that the arrest stemmed from intelligence reports that have led them to the whereabouts of Azmier Maalum in Taguig City. The joint operation nabbed Maalum, along with Amar Assan, Musa Tahil Sampang, Jamil Ibrahim, Yong Aming, and Majuk Tahil Amil.

Maalum has several warrants for eight counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention of Golden Harvest plantation workers in Basilan in 2001, while Sampang was involved in several bombing incidents also in Basilan.

The NBI said the six had been recruiting members in Metro Manila.
Posted by: ryuge || 06/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Mysterious Blazes on Six Iranian Ships in Iranian Ports
[JCPA] As the strategic port of Shahid Rajaee, north of the Strait of Hormuz, was still dealing with the effects of a huge fire that caused serious destruction, Iranian media reported that six Iranian ships were ablaze in several ports in the southern part of the country.

The Iranian Republic News Agency reported that on June 7, 2019, four merchant ships caught fire in the port of Nakhl Taqi (Taghi) in the Asaluyeh region of Bushehr Province. Three ships were burned entirely, while two others in Asaluyeh suffered major damage. While the governor of Asaluyeh claimed the fires were extinguished without anyone harmed, the head of the emergency rooms in Bushehr Province said that several civilians and sailors had been injured and brought to hospitals in the region. The mayor of the town of Delvar, near the port of Bualhir, confirmed that one vessel in the port burned completely.
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Tit for tat?
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 06/13/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336109 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  The Port of Shahid Rajaee lies on the north shores of the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran about 14.5 kilometers west-southwest of the Port of Bandar Abbas, of which it is a part. It is some 770 kilometers or almost 480 miles southeast of Imam Khomeini Port, and it is about 1500 kilometers (933 miles) southeast of Tehran.
Shahid Rajaee covers about 2400 hectares and handles 70 million tons of cargo per year, including three million TEUs of containerized cargo. It contains 23 berths with alongside depth of 15 meters (49.2 feet).
Posted by: Chereting Pelosi1889 || 06/13/2019 9:48 Comments || Top||

#2  June 7th means this was after the original tanker attack earlier this year but before the two tanker attacks today. Tit for tat pattern with escalating events. Where have we seen this pattern before?
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 06/13/2019 11:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Why does this remind me of the Reichstag fire?

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 06/13/2019 13:40 Comments || Top||



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