Hi there, !
Today Sun 02/23/2020 Sat 02/22/2020 Fri 02/21/2020 Thu 02/20/2020 Wed 02/19/2020 Tue 02/18/2020 Mon 02/17/2020 Archives
Rantburg
532941 articles and 1859826 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 80 articles and 282 comments as of 19:12.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Turkey asks NATO to provide air support for the operation in Idlib
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
6 23:07 gorb [7] 
2 17:25 Woodrow [3] 
0 [5] 
3 15:13 SteveS [4] 
0 [9] 
2 14:03 Dron66046 [8] 
2 09:46 trailing wife [5] 
0 [12] 
0 [5] 
0 [10] 
1 06:32 Frank G [3] 
0 [2] 
19 18:37 lord garth [7] 
0 [8] 
5 15:10 Frank G [6] 
0 [5] 
0 [10] 
0 [8] 
0 [4] 
0 [11] 
10 16:23 g(r)omgoru [9] 
0 [2] 
4 23:17 gorb [5] 
0 [1] 
0 [2] 
18 18:48 Unosh Hupinelet8756 [12] 
Page 2: WoT Background
8 22:06 M. Murcek [6]
7 14:36 newc [2]
2 06:57 Winky Squank8124 [7]
0 [6]
0 [7]
0 [7]
2 13:35 Mercutio [2]
0 [6]
2 13:34 Mercutio [4]
1 02:14 newc [7]
8 21:51 Frank G [5]
1 11:03 Skidmark [3]
1 09:39 mossomo [1]
0 [3]
2 13:30 Mercutio [5]
0 []
0 [9]
Page 3: Non-WoT
0 [2]
10 20:48 Secret Master [4]
2 13:15 Bright Pebbles [4]
1 12:57 Procopius2k [1]
1 13:41 Elmerert Hupens2660 []
3 22:21 Sock Puppet of Doom [7]
8 22:54 Silentbrick [8]
0 [1]
3 09:36 Solomon Snore8345 []
8 13:54 Mercutio []
5 20:42 James [11]
1 12:37 Bobby []
15 23:03 SteveS [3]
0 []
5 12:36 Bobby [2]
0 [5]
7 21:50 M. Murcek [11]
7 13:29 Besoeker [3]
8 15:44 Skidmark [1]
7 12:22 Spanky Slinens4859 [1]
9 21:34 Thaith Elmeresing6163 [6]
10 19:57 USN, Ret. [9]
1 08:33 ranture [1]
4 14:14 European Conservative []
Page 4: Opinion
11 19:50 Lex [4]
7 16:54 swksvolFF [1]
3 16:22 charger [3]
1 16:24 charger [2]
11 16:17 charger [1]
3 16:28 Procopius2k [6]
Page 6: Politix
0 [2]
8 18:59 lord garth [8]
5 12:57 Lt. Worf [1]
1 01:24 Alaska Paul [5]
7 13:45 Mercutio [7]
5 16:57 JohnQC [1]
3 16:33 Procopius2k []
Afghanistan
Afghan Police Official Says Iran Supplying Taliban With MANPADS
Posted by: Glerert Elmoque9663 || 02/20/2020 13:49 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Chief of Police of Uruzgan Province in Afghanistan has said that Afghan intelligence services have evidence Iran is supplying the Taliban with Man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS).

Mini pads would have been appropriate.
Posted by: Woodrow || 02/20/2020 17:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Can MANPADS hit anything besides slow moving helicopters?
Posted by: jpal || 02/20/2020 17:26 Comments || Top||

#3  /\ Yes.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 17:36 Comments || Top||

#4  In one of those amusing bits of synchronicity our Universe is famous for, I just watched "Charlie Wilson's War"- the movie version of how we supplied Stingers to the mujahideen to fight Russians.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/20/2020 20:43 Comments || Top||

#5  Giant passenger aircraft on takeoff and approach are not much faster than a laden swallow.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 21:30 Comments || Top||

#6  An African Swallow or a European Swallow?
Posted by: gorb || 02/20/2020 23:07 Comments || Top||


Afghan Special Forces storm the largest hideouts of Taliban in Ghazni
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan Special Forces
...established in 2007 with the intent of taking one conventional infantry kandak (battalion) from each of the regional ANA corps, giving them special training and equipment, and reorganizing based on the U.S. Army Rangers. Each battalion is assigned to one of the six regional corps. The commandos comprise 7% of the Afghan National Security Forces but conduct 70% to 80% of the fighting...
stormed some of the largest hideouts of the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
group during an operation in South-eastern Ghazni province.

The Special Operations Corps in a statement said the Special Forces stormed the Taliban hideouts in the restive Moqor district of Ghazni.

The statement further added that the Special Forces destroyed one of the important compounds of Taliban, a weapons and arms cache, a mine-making factory, a drug processing lab and empty prison during the raid.

The Special Forces also confiscated a large quantity of explosives, 2 cycle of violences, a 4×4 vehicle and some other military kits during the raid, the statement added.

The Taliban group has not commented regarding the operation so far.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  A little pre-hudna clean up?
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/20/2020 6:04 Comments || Top||

#2  The no-violence agreement is with America, not the Afghans. That will have to be negotiated separately later, for which the Afghan governmenr is pulling together their team.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2020 9:46 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Al Shabaab militants kill at least 12 Somali soldiers and briefly captured a military base southwest of the capital
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Al-Shabaab Militants Attack Two Somali Military Bases

[AnNahar] Al-Shabaab
...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
Islamists on Wednesday carried out attacks on two Somali military bases, using a suicide vehicle bombing and dozens of heavily armed krazed killers, a military official said.

African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
troops stepped in to help repel the second, larger attack, after a jacket wallah drove a vehicle packed with explosives onto a bridge leading to the Qoryoley army base some 95 kilometres (59 miles) west of Mogadishu and detonated it.

Earlier they had attacked the Ceel-salini military base some 30 kilometres away.
...Al Arabiya calls it El Salini.
"The Death Eaters carried out an ... attack on the military bases at Qoryoley and Ceel-salini but our brave boys repelled them, they (Shabaab) have suffered heavy casualties this morning and the army is in full control in the both areas now," said Mohammed Adan, a Somali military commander in a nearby town.

"They have destroyed part of the bridge across the entrance to Qoryoley where the Somali military base is located using a vehicle loaded with explosives."

He said the AU peacekeeping force AMISOM had helped fight the al-Qaeda linked krazed killers.
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Arabia
Yemeni Minister of Defense Mohammed al-Maqdisi survives a land mine explosion in the Sirwah district in Yemen
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Cyber
Saudi Arabia infiltrated Twitter 'by using two corrupt moles working for the site to exploit security flaws, spy on dissidents and hack thousands of users' data'
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 11:39 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is an issue that has been neglected so far when it comes to information security and data theft.

Data that hasn't been encrypted by the user himself becomes directly accessible to a service provider once it is stored on the service provider's it infrastructure.

At least some, but realistically many employees, often residing in third countries will have legitimate (according to the provider's policy) and untraceable access to this data.

When Huma mailed secret documents to her Yahoo account in order to print them out, she gave the Yahoo corporation access to these documents.

There was no need to 'hack' or steal passwords, Yahoo employees had untraceable access. So had the countries on whose territory the data was physically stored.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 02/20/2020 12:32 Comments || Top||

#2  When Huma mailed secret documents to her Yahoo account in order to print them out, she gave the Yahoo corporation access to these documents.

Yahoo was the least of the problems there. She was sending them via her Muslim Brotherhood employed parents to whatever jihadists they saw fit.

Skid's story reminds me that during Obama's last term, Saudi then the USA had the most muzzie twitter supporters.
Posted by: Woodrow || 02/20/2020 17:25 Comments || Top||


Europe
Captain of a Lebanese-flagged cargo ship has been arrested in northern Italy for investigation of suspected international arms trafficking
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Give him to the LNA
Posted by: Frank G || 02/20/2020 6:32 Comments || Top||


Hanau: 'Several dead' in mass shooting in Germany
[BBC] Several people are dead following a shooting in the western German city of Hanau, local media report.

Eight people were killed and five others injured when an unknown attacker opened fire on a shisha bar in the centre of the city.

There are also reports of a second shooting at another shisha bar, in a different part of Hanau.

Officials say the suspects fled the scene and are currently at large, Bild newspaper reported
I am posting this mainly in the hope that EC can keep us updated.
Since this was a late posting, I’m rolling it over with the BBC updates and Deutsche Welle and Daily Mail below. The BBC updates as of 12:38 a.m. ET on 20 February
The suspect was found dead at his home, along with the body of a second person, according to police.

There appeared to be no other perpetrators, they added, and said the investigation was ongoing.

The motive for the attack is unclear.

Bild newspaper reported that the suspect was a German citizen with a firearms licence, and that ammunition and gun magazines had been found in his car.

The first shooting was at a bar in the city centre, while the second was in Hanau's Kesselstadt neighbourhood.

They sparked a seven-hour manhunt, while officers searched for what they thought could have been multiple gunmen.

The suspect killed three people at the first shisha bar, Midnight, before driving to the Arena Bar & Cafe and shooting dead another five victims, regional broadcaster Hessenschau reported.

The initial death toll was eight, but this was raised to nine in the early hours of the following morning after one of the wounded victims succumbed to their injuries.
Deutsche Welle adds:
NEAR MISS FOR LOCAL RESIDENT
Speaking to DW’s Rebecca Staudenmaier in Hanau, 49-year-old Ali Mengucek recounted the events before the shootings.

Mengucek, who has lived in the area for the last 40 years, said he was walking home with his two children when he saw four men ‐ "all quite tall and fairly young," perhaps 40 or under.

He said they were standing in groups of two, about 30 meters apart . He walked in between them, telling his two girls to pick up the pace.

"I live about 50 meters past where they were standing. When I got home and shut the door, then I heard the six shots. I believe this was six or seven minutes after I had walked past with my two little children. I then opened the window, people were running back and forth and screaming. Within about five minutes, police were on the scene," Mengucek said.

About two hours later he spotted ammunition on the road and reported it to the police.

Hanau is a city of 100,000 inhabitants in the state of Hesse, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of Frankfurt.

Related: Courtesy of Skidmark, the Daily Mail has the usual here, and adds:
Local reports said Turkish or Kurdish people were among the victims at the bars.
Moslem colonists it is — good find, Skidmark!
Posted by: Matt || 02/20/2020 18:27 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Sorry, mods, I hosed the highlighting. Only the last line is me.
Posted by: Matt || 02/19/2020 18:33 Comments || Top||

#2  No problem, fixed
Posted by: Frank G || 02/19/2020 18:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Thanks, Frank.
Posted by: Matt || 02/19/2020 18:43 Comments || Top||

#4  There isn't really much new info. Seems that two different shisha bars were targeted. 8 people are confirmed dead. Reasons still unknown.

Last update 15 minutes ago says that the hunt for the killers is still on. Bild had reported an arrest which doesn't seem to be true.

It may be speculation on my part but I think a conflict between gangs (which may be of oriental origin) is more likely than a Neo Nazi attack.
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/19/2020 19:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Anti-Narrative so MSM to cover this (with a pillow)
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/20/2020 3:57 Comments || Top||

#6  Just a lone wolf, no reflection on other Germans. That's the line, amirite?
Posted by: Frank G || 02/20/2020 5:11 Comments || Top||

#7  Probably brexit related?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/20/2020 7:20 Comments || Top||

#8  Nahhh, must be Gülenists.
Posted by: Raj || 02/20/2020 7:53 Comments || Top||

#9  Merkel, establishment weigh in (Guardian)

"We're not saying it's Nazis... oh, wait, of course we are! IT'S NAZIS! Quick, citizens, bring in your kittens and puppies before they're trampled by the goosestepping hordes... OF NAZIS!"
Posted by: Spanky Slinens4859 || 02/20/2020 8:04 Comments || Top||

#10  They found a manifesto of the shooter... right wing extremist, but of the tin foil wacky conspiracy theory kind.
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/20/2020 8:14 Comments || Top||

#11  And speaking of Kulenists, and baloney, and making sausage... after decades of misguided snobbery, looks like I've found my spirit cold-cut. Thanks, Skidmark.
Posted by: Spanky Slinens4859 || 02/20/2020 8:14 Comments || Top||

#12  The Beeb is now saying the guy is a far-right extremist. Once again, it's amazing how quickly a shooter's motive can be determined if his name is not Mahmoud.
Posted by: Matt || 02/20/2020 8:24 Comments || Top||

#13  ...but, but mass shootings only happen in America. I was told so by so many media talking heads.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/20/2020 8:30 Comments || Top||



#16  He also accuses President Donald Trump of stealing his ideas.

“A billionaire in the USA is implementing my policy recommendation (even some slogans I developed like ‘America First, Buy American and Hire American’,)” the manifesto states.
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/20/2020 11:18 Comments || Top||

#17  I'm hearing Nigel Farage on LBC radio on the net and the subject of the talk for the next presenter, Ian Dale, is "Why are Far Right terror attacks on the increase and what can be done to stop them"..hmmm...oh, Merkel said about the same thing..that old sow..raised in East Germany and raised by a Lutheran Vater..and she's from Hambrug originally!!

From Wiki

Religion played a key role in the Kasner family's migration from West Germany to East Germany.[28] Merkel's paternal grandfather was originally Catholic but the entire family converted to Lutheranism during the childhood of her father,[24] who later studied Lutheran theology in Heidelberg and Hamburg. In 1954, when Angela was just three months old, her father received a pastorate at the church in Quitzow [de] (a quarter of Perleberg in Brandenburg), which was then in East Germany. The family moved to Templin and Merkel grew up in the countryside 90 km (56 mi) north of East Berlin.[29]
Posted by: Unosh Hupinelet8756 || 02/20/2020 18:46 Comments || Top||

#18  I'm hearing Nigel Farage on LBC radio on the net and the subject of the talk for the next presenter, Ian Dale, is "Why are Far Right terror attacks on the increase and what can be done to stop them"..hmmm...oh, Merkel said about the same thing....raised in East Germany and raised by a Lutheran Vater..born in Hamburg and..

From Wiki

Religion played a key role in the Kasner family's migration from West Germany to East Germany.[28] Merkel's paternal grandfather was originally Catholic but the entire family converted to Lutheranism during the childhood of her father,[24] who later studied Lutheran theology in Heidelberg and Hamburg. In 1954, when Angela was just three months old, her father received a pastorate at the church in Quitzow [de] (a quarter of Perleberg in Brandenburg), which was then in East Germany. The family moved to Templin and Merkel grew up in the countryside 90 km (56 mi) north of East Berlin.[29]
Posted by: Unosh Hupinelet8756 || 02/20/2020 18:48 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkish rights defender Kavala re-arrested after acquittal
[Rudaw] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor...
's civil society swung from hope to despair Tuesday after counter-terror police detained leading rights defender Osman Kavala just hours after a court ordered his release from jail.

Kavala and eight other defendants were acquitted by a court outside Istanbul in the highly controversial "Gezi Park" trial.

But within hours, a new warrant from the Istanbul prosecutor's office called for his arrest as part of an investigation into a failed 2016 coup against President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
's government, and under the charge of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order.

After his release from the heavily-guarded prison complex in Silivri outside Istanbul, where he has spent more than 800 days in pre-trial detention, the official Anadolu news agency said Kavala was taken by police to an Istanbul hospital for health checks before being formally detained.

The judge had earlier said there was "not enough concrete evidence" that he and the other defendants sought to overthrow the government.

Seven other defendants, who remain on the run, were not formally acquitted.

Kavala, the only defendant kept in jail throughout the trial, faced a life sentence without parole if convicted for his alleged role in orchestrating the "Gezi Park" protests of 2013 that presented the first major challenge to Erdogan, then prime minister.

News of a fresh arrest came as supporters waited for him to be released from the Silivri court and prison complex, and was met with shocked silence, while his wife Ayse Bugra was visibly upset.

Kavala has became a symbol of what critics say is a crackdown on civil society under Erdogan, and received loud cheers as he left the packed courtroom in Silivri.

Kavala's supporters say he was targeted because he worked to build bridges across Turkey's often fractious ethnic and social divides, in contrast to the combative rhetoric favoured by Erdogan's ruling party.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2020 05:05 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  And we'll keep trying him until we get the correct verdict.
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/20/2020 6:03 Comments || Top||

#2  "Perhaps we might 'find' some Gülenist tracts in his residence...or something."
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 02/20/2020 14:23 Comments || Top||

#3  And we'll keep trying him until we get the correct verdict.

Rather like the EU and voting. Hey, maybe Turkey should switch sides from NATO to the EU. They might be happier there. But still won't get any air support.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/20/2020 15:13 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Gunmen kill 4 Kurdish villagers amid disputed territory security vacuum
[Rudaw] Four young Kurds were killed and two more injured in an attack on a Kurdish village northwest of Kirkuk on Wednesday, local witnesses have said, in one of a spate of recent attacks in territories disputed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraqi federal government in Baghdad.

CCTV camera footage seen by Rudaw’s news hound in the area purportedly shows two button men breaking into the Kurdish village of Chakhmakha on Tuesday evening. A gunman can be seen firing through the window of a youth recreation hub, shooting dead four young men and injuring two more.

"We still don’t know who the assailants are, whether they are ISIS [Islamic State
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:


Sinkhole containing 1,000 ISIS victims uncovered in Iraq’s Tal Afar
[Rudaw] A sinkhole reportedly containing almost 1,000 bodies, including around 30 Yezidis, killed by 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....
(ISIS) from mid-2014 to late 2017 has been uncovered in northern Iraq’s Tal Afar region of Nineveh, a local official confirmed on Wednesday.

"The pit contains at least 1,000 bodies. They [ISIS] had even dumped victims into the mass grave while they were still alive," Tal Afar Mayor Qasim Mohammed told Rudaw.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  They [ISIS] had even dumped victims into the mass grave while they were still alive,"

Evil bastids. Euro countries still thinking about rehabilitating their people who joined up with ISIS back into civil society?
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/20/2020 11:36 Comments || Top||

#2  A civilization that looks upon these bodies, and yet suffers hundreds of ISIS to live on in their captivity, well aware that they will walk soon - such a civilization is cursed from above. Not only the cries of the oppressed, the victims; the wrath of an all-seeing Gawd is imminent on them all. When the rusty machete shall come for their children, Gawd will look the other way.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 02/20/2020 14:03 Comments || Top||


Students in #Basra chant slogans during demonstrations
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


#Iraqi protesters has Burned the whole embassy of #Iran in #Najaf
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1  That's gonna cause some excitement.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 0:21 Comments || Top||

#2  32nd time is a charm....
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/20/2020 6:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Everyone hates the Mullahs
Posted by: mossomo || 02/20/2020 9:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Irritating, isn't it?
Posted by: gorb || 02/20/2020 23:17 Comments || Top||


CCTV camera shows the moment when an #IS militant opens fire at a group of #Kurdish men and kills four
[TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Angry protesters have blocked a vital street in the center of Diwaniyah
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian teenager killed in clashes between PA forces and locals near Jenin
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian governor says security forces were confronted by rocks and gunfire after arriving in village; Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, accuses PA of killing the teen.

A Paleostinian teenager died of wounds he sustained Tuesday night in violent festivities between Paleostinian Authority security forces and Paleostinians, some of them armed with guns, in the Jenin area, the official PA news site Wafa reported on Wednesday.

PA Jenin Governor Akram Rajoub said in a video published on Facebook that members of the PA security forces went to Qabatiya, a village south of Jenin, after information was obtained that a "military-style demonstration" would take place there.

According to several Paleostinian news sites, Paleostinians in Qabatiya had been preparing to celebrate the return of a man who had been recently freed from an Israeli prison.

Paleostinians in the West Bank sometimes fire bullets into the air during celebrations.

Rajoub said that when the PA security forces arrived in the village, button men opened fire on them and others hurled rocks in their direction. He said PA security forces in a nearby security headquarters responded by firing tear gas and that others shot bullets into the air.

Rajoub added that two Paleostinians were maimed by gunfire and 18 security forces were maimed by rock throwing.

The dear departed Paleostinian was identified as 17-year-old Salah Zakarneh of Qabatiya. An unnamed security source told the Ma’an news site that Zakarneh was hit by a bullet in the chest.

The PA Jenin governor did not clearly state whether Zakarneh was maimed by a bullet fired by the security forces or the button men, but said that indications point to the latter being responsible for causing "the chaos."

He also did not elucidate whether Zakarneh was a bystander or actively participating in the festivities.

The security source also told Ma’an that the PA security forces had opened an investigation into the incident. Unnamed eyewitnesses told the news site that the situation remained tense in Qabatiya but was moving toward calm.

Rajoub did not answer several calls to further clarify what transpired.

Video posted on social media showed that later on Tuesday a group of Paleostinians gathered outside a hospital in Jenin where many of those injured in the festivities were being treated.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2020 05:20 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority


Snipers from the Islamic Jihad terror organization fire from #Gaza at IDF troops inside #Israel
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Jihad (Palestian)


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Two Oxfam aid workers were killed and another volunteer injured in an attack on their vehicle in Syria
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Huge explosion in the center of Hama City
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Turkey asks NATO to provide air support for the operation in Idlib
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
"NO"
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Fortunately Europeans are against helping NATO allies. Moreover they lack the capability as their militaries are a joke.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 02/20/2020 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Who is "Fuat"?

Is that an acronym - F.off and ... Try? Tweet?
Posted by: Lex || 02/20/2020 0:27 Comments || Top||

#3  oops, F-U-A-T might be F-U, Arrogant Turkmen!
Posted by: Lex || 02/20/2020 0:29 Comments || Top||

#4  NATO air support for an invasion of Syria? That's rich.
Posted by: Beau || 02/20/2020 2:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Gee, Yip-yip, I'll bet those F-35s you won't be getting would have come in handy.
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/20/2020 6:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Drag an S-400 with you, Yippy?
Posted by: Frank G || 02/20/2020 6:31 Comments || Top||

#7  If they give us their troops exact coordinates, we can hit them with cruise missiles.

Wait....they want us to bomb someone else? No
thanks.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 02/20/2020 7:03 Comments || Top||

#8  S-400 in the direct fire role. Might be fun to watch.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 02/20/2020 7:53 Comments || Top||

#9  Not only no, but HELL no. In your dreams Zippy.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/20/2020 7:56 Comments || Top||

#10  Three years too late. Soetoro would have responded in the affirmative. Close down Incirlik Air Base and get out now before Erdoğan surrounds it and holds everyone for ransom.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 8:04 Comments || Top||

#11  The great Ottoman Empire hopes collapse again.

Fuck off Turkey, and take your Islamist empire hopes with ya.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/20/2020 9:23 Comments || Top||

#12  McCain's moderates MB, AQ, ISIS type islamists, and neo-Ottomans still need our Air Force. We should support them in Libya too, NATO allies GNA. Life is rich with irony. Call it Orwellian. We are at war with radical islam except when they are useful proxies in Oceania's War with EastAsia. Tomorrow it is known that the chiefs of the Department intended that within one week no reference to the war with Eurasia, or the alliance with Eastasia, should remain in existence anywhere.
Posted by: mossomo || 02/20/2020 9:24 Comments || Top||

#13  Hell I'd be giving the Russians coordinates. But hey, go ask NATO, I understand Belgium shot down a couple planes last year.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/20/2020 11:09 Comments || Top||

#14  Why not just sell turkey biological shells with weaponized coronavirus and blame china! HAahahhahahahahaha!
Posted by: Vortigern Mussolini8602 || 02/20/2020 12:06 Comments || Top||

#15 
"NATO's out at the moment, but we have a FETÖ here. Would you like to talk to them?"
Posted by: Dron66046 || 02/20/2020 12:10 Comments || Top||

#16  Could always send in the 4th ID.

Ohhnooo!
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/20/2020 15:20 Comments || Top||

#17  /\ What goes around.....
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 15:21 Comments || Top||

#18  Asking in particular for Patriot Batteries and Americans to operate them. FUCK NO
Posted by: Frank G || 02/20/2020 17:52 Comments || Top||

#19  they didn't say which side we should support

if it was the Kurds we might consider it
Posted by: lord garth || 02/20/2020 18:37 Comments || Top||


Turkish forces in northern #Syria are shelling the village of Tal Jijan in northern #Aleppo countryside
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Video purportedly showing Iranian security forces blocking off roads in city of Qom
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  What they lack in medical knowledge and disease treatment they plan to make up in pure brutality and it may actually be effective in containing the virus.

I think this is the same type of response that will be used in NKor.

What I am most worried about is a breakout into, say Indonesia or Pakistan where the leaders of the country imagine they have effective responses but where this is not the case.

The virus may have mutated into a less lethal strain, at least in some places. For example, in Xinjiang province in NW China, there are officially, 76 infected and 1 death and on the Diamond Princess, 600+ infected and 2 deaths and these places do not have first rate treatment facilities.

Singapore, which does have first rate treatment facilities has 86 infected and no deaths.
Posted by: lord garth || 02/20/2020 10:44 Comments || Top||

#2  LG: what makes you think this is Cornonavirus related? Simple regular crushing of dissent is more likely
Posted by: Frank G || 02/20/2020 10:48 Comments || Top||

#3  What I am most worried about is a breakout into, say Indonesia or Pakistan

Uh, why?
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 10:58 Comments || Top||

#4  skid

because Indonesia and Pakistan have densely populated cities with sanitation and other issues (both claim to have no infections as of this morning)

there could be many many people infected in a short time

and many of the citizens of Indonesia and Pakistan participate in the global economy and travel widely and it will make it hard to contain
Posted by: lord garth || 02/20/2020 11:41 Comments || Top||

#5  Looks like you were right on it, Lord Garth
Posted by: Frank G || 02/20/2020 15:10 Comments || Top||


Russian airstrikes and Syrian Army shelling around a-Dana, a town on the Syrian-Turkish border
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Large Turkish army convoy with dozens of tanks on the M4 Highway in Jabal Zawiyah in Southern Idlib
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


At least two Turkish UAVs are airborne tonight; collecting information from both along the border and within #Syria
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Jihadist drones attempted to attack the Hmeimim Airbase in southwest Latakia this evening. Attack failed
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Four F-35Is of #Israel Air Force flown from #Nevatim carried-out the airstrike at a large convoy of #IRGC-Quds Force/#PMU/#Hezbollah on its way from #AbuKamal to #Aleppo
[TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies

#1  "Hey, brother Muslim!"
"Hiya."
"What say we get together and beat the bushes for the joos again?"
"Sounds good. Let's do!"
Vroom. Vroom. Kaboom! Kaboom!
"OUCH, not like that!"
Posted by: Spanky Slinens4859 || 02/20/2020 5:29 Comments || Top||

#2  It must have been big if it took 4 F-35I's.
Posted by: Cesare || 02/20/2020 8:08 Comments || Top||

#3  ...or someone wanted to make very sure that what ever was on the receiving end didn't escape.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/20/2020 8:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Those Belgiums at it again.
Posted by: mossomo || 02/20/2020 9:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Always enjoy a good airshow.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 10:59 Comments || Top||

#6  may have used 3 of the 35s for a distraction and 1 for the strike

or maybe it only seemed to be 4 planes to the IRGC guys

Posted by: lord garth || 02/20/2020 11:20 Comments || Top||

#7  How many F-35s does it take to eviscerate a Quds convoy ?

Four. One to deliver the payload and three to make 'the clover' as he does 'the kulbit'.

Yaayy !
Posted by: Dron66046 || 02/20/2020 11:54 Comments || Top||

#8  Ease up Dron, I'm still trying to figure out the Immelmann....
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/20/2020 13:38 Comments || Top||

#9  4 F-35s in stealth mode = 8 bombs. Not a lot, but you gain surprise and deniability.
Posted by: Jirt Platypus8917 || 02/20/2020 13:39 Comments || Top||

#10  Just trying to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/20/2020 16:23 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
42[untagged]
12Sublime Porte
4Govt of Iraq
3Islamic State
3Hezbollah
2Taliban
2al-Nusra
2Govt of Iran Proxies
1Govt of Syria
1Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar
1Houthis
1Islamic Jihad (Palestian)
1Govt of Qatar (MB)
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Moslem Colonists
1Palestinian Authority
1Govt of Iran
1al-Shabaab (AQ)

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2020-02-20
  Turkey asks NATO to provide air support for the operation in Idlib
Wed 2020-02-19
  Ashraf Ghani declared winner of Afghan presidential poll, Abdullah rejects results
Tue 2020-02-18
  LNA claims to destroy Turkish arms ship in Tripoli harbor.
Mon 2020-02-17
  24 Killed In Brutal Terror Attack On Burkina Faso Church; Local Pastor Targeted
Sun 2020-02-16
  Switzerland Thwarts Major Islamic State Terror Attack
Sat 2020-02-15
  Six Cartel Kidnappers Busted with Mexican Border City Victim in Trunk
Fri 2020-02-14
  US navy ship seizes 150 Iranian-manufactured anti-tank guided missiles after boarding a vessel in the Arabian Sea
Thu 2020-02-13
  Hafiz Saeed sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for terror financing
Wed 2020-02-12
  Sudan will hand over Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court
Tue 2020-02-11
  Russians bomb a joint Turkish & Jihadi column
Mon 2020-02-10
  Ehsanullah Ehsan sends greetings from Turkey, thumbs nose
Sun 2020-02-09
  Multiple US troops killed during shootout in eastern Afghanistan
Sat 2020-02-08
  Khalid Haqqani and Qari Saifullah banged in Kabul
Fri 2020-02-07
  Syria says its troops enter the strategic city of Saraqib in Idlib and begins ‘combing’ its neighborhoods
Thu 2020-02-06
  Hazim Al-Halafi, a senior commander of Saraya Al-Salam dead


Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
3.146.37.35
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (17)    Non-WoT (24)    Opinion (6)    (0)    Politix (7)