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Greek police make arrest in 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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Afghanistan
Taliban militants suffer heavy casualties in Kandahar, Ghazni ad Badghis airstrikes
[KhaamaPress] The security forces conducted Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s in Kandahar, Ghazni and Badghis provinces, inflicting heavy casualties on Talibs.

The military officials said Saturday an airstrike in Arghistan district of Kandahar killed 10 Talibs and maimed 2 others.

The officials further added airstrikes in Andar district of Ghazni province killed 3 Talibs.

Furthermore, an airstrike in Bala Murghab district of Badghis province killed 10 Talibs, the officials added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


8 civilians killed, wounded in Kandahar roadside bomb explosion
[KhaamaPress] An improvised bomb explosion killed at least two civilians in southern Kandahar province.

Kandahar Police Chief Gen. Tadin Khan confirmed the incident and said the earth-shattering kaboom also maimed six civilians.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Senate, Tremulus continued with his speech against Varius and his cohorts, watching as his colleagues dropped off to sleep one by one...
Nusrat Rahimi, a front man for the Ministry of Interior said the earth-shattering kaboom targeted a civilian vehicle in Spin Boldak district on Friday evening.

Rahimi further added that a vehicle carrying civilian passengers hit the roadside kaboom at around 4:00 pm local time in Nawa area.

No individual or group including Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
has so far grabbed credit for the earth-shattering kaboom.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghan forces arrest facilitator of Zabul truck bombing which killed 39, wounded 140 others
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan forces have arrested the main controller of truck bombing in Zabul which killed at least 39 people and maimed 140 others.

The Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the Special Forces arrested the controller of the attack and 8 others during a raid in Ghazni province.

The statement further added that the Special Forces also arrested 3 other bombing controllers of Taliban
...Arabic for students...
and confiscated two boom-mobiles during the raid.

The Talibs on Thursday detonated a medium sized truck packed with explosives close to a hospital in Zabul province.

The local officials say the earth-shattering kaboom killed at least 39 people including two security personnel and maimed at least 140 others.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Kabul: 2 Talib turbans tied up in 2 operations, telecom sales office double kaboomed, killing cop


Afghan forces foil rocket attack on Kabul city, seize multiple rounds of BM1 rockets

[KhaamaPress] The Afghan forces foiled rocket attack on Kabul city by arresting a terrorist and confiscating multiple rounds of BM1 rockets.

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement that the security forces arrested the terrorist in 8th district of Kabul city.

The statement further added that the terrorist was looking to transport multiple rounds of BM1 rockets in a bid to fire them on Kabul city.

However, the interior ministry said the security forces identified the terrorist as he was crossing the check post and confiscated multiple rounds of BM1 rockets, an RPG rocket launched, a pistol and a vehicle.

The anti-government armed militants including Taliban have not commented in this regard so far.

Afghan Special Forces arrest Taliban militant, destroy weapons cache in Kabul

[KhaamaPress] The Afghan Special Forces arrested a Taliban militant during an operation in Kabul province.

The military officials said Saturday that the Special Forces also destroyed a cache of weapons during the same operation.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement that the Special Forces arrested the militant in 12th district of Kabul city.

The statement further added that the Special Forces also arrested another militant during a similar operation in Nahr-e Shahi district of Balkh province.

The interior ministry also added that the Special Forces confiscated two weapons and a motorcycle during the operations.

Twin explosions target sales center of a telecom company in Kabul city

[KhaamaPress] Twin explosions targeted the sales center of a telecommunication company in Kabul city late on Friday night.

The security officials said the first explosion took place at around 11:46 pm local time Esa-e Awal Park of Khair Khana.

The officials further added that the second explosion took place moments after the security forces arrived in the area.

Furthermore, the officials said the second blast injured a member of the security forces while the two blasts destroyed the sales center of the telecommunication company.

No individual or group including Taliban has so far claimed responsibility for the explosions.

This comes as the Taliban group had earlier warned it would target the installations and staff of Salaam Telecommunication Company.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Special Forces destroy second extortion cell of Taliban militants in Jawzjan
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan Special Forces destroyed an extortion cell of the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
group during an operation in northern Jawzjan province.

The Special Operations Corps said in a statement the Special Forces destroyed the extortion of Taliban during an operation in Garjak Village of Faizabad district.

The statement further added that the Special Forces fully cleared the village of Talibs besides destroying the extortion cell of Taliban.

Furthermore, the Special Forces destroyed a Humvee Armored Personnel Carrier which the Taliban had captured.

The Special Forces also destroyed two improvised bombs and an Ak-47 during the operation, the Special Operations Corps added.

This was the second extortion cell of the Talibs which the Special Forces destroyed in Jawzjan province, the Special Operations Corps said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Jihad, History Link Taliban to al-Qaida in Afghanistan
[AnNahar] The Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
promised Washington during months of negotiations that the United States would never again be attacked from Afghan soil. Such a pledge would have included al-Qaeda, which planned the 9/11 attacks from inside Afghanistan.

Yet jihad, or holy war, and a shared history continue to bind the two krazed killer groups, and there's no evidence of a break in relations between the long-time allies. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said the Taliban agreed to cut ties with al-Qaeda as part of peace negotiations, which President Donald Trump
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  And there was that piece a week or so back that said they're almost finished. They'll never be finished as long as Pakistain remains.

The only way to do this is to break up Pak into four regions. India takes back Baltistan. Balochistan goes free. Pak will be reduced to what is now Pakistani Punjab and parts of Sindh - since most military bureaucracy and leaders have property and investments there. That too will be embroiled in bitter, bloody internecine war forever.

Of course, we would have to put our money where our mouth is. Maybe Trump should hold India to those lovely promises of fighting terror together. And we'd have to know the F-35s won't be late.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/22/2019 17:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Islam was made for Afghanistan and vice versa. Violent, ignorant thugs who subjugate women and the weak. Couldn't ask for a better match.
Posted by: jpal || 09/22/2019 19:23 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Iranian held by Somali pirates since 2015 freed
[Jpost] An Iranian sailor held hostage by Somali pirates for more than four years has been released with the help of the United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
and a humanitarian group, Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi thanked the Hostage Support Partnership group, U.N. officials in Somalia, and authorities in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
and in Æthiopia for their help in winning the release of Mohammad Sharif Panahandeh, the state news agency IRNA said.

Three Iranians sailors are still being held, Mousavi said.

"We are happy to announce we have obtained the release of one of the last hostages of Somali piracy ... 3 more seafarers remain who need our help," Hostage Support Partnership tweeted.

Earlier, Iranian media reports said Panahandeh was among 21 crew members of a boat hijacked in March 2015. Eight of the hostages died, five escaped, and four were freed in a security operation by Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
last year, the reports said.

Piracy off Somalia’s coast has subsided in the past few years, mainly due to shipping firms hiring private security and the presence of international warships.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Pirates


Africa North
Small protests in Egypt dispersed by police, Hamas tells members to shut up about it
[AlAhram] Egypt’s police dispersed on Friday evening limited protests in Downtown Cairo and several other cities following calls to demonstrate against alleged mismanagement of public funds by government administration.

Hundreds of protesters marched and hollered poorly rhymed slogans against the government on Friday evening in several cities including Cairo, Alexandria and Damietta on the Mediterranean, Mansoura and Mahalla in the central Nile Delta, and Suez city.

The protests on Friday come after a string of recent videos posted by an Egyptian contractor, Mohammed Ali, who says he worked on various construction projecst with state instititutions and currently resides in Spain, made allegations of mismangement of funds under the tenure of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

Last week, President El-Sisi told the public that the videos were based on lies and fabrications, stressing that the allegations of corruption were aimed at destabilizing the trust of the people in their state institutions at a time when the government is working to overcome economic challenges and is fighting terrorism. President El-Sisi said that the state has spent EGP 4 trillion in the past several years on projects to develop the economy and benefit ordinary Egyptians.

Egyptian private TV channel CBC Extra News showed images of regular traffic flow in Tahrir Square in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Haniyeh orders Hamas leaders not to comment on anti-Sisi demos in Egypt

[IsraelTimes] Message sent out by Hamas chief comes as Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
-based terror group has recently seen its ties with Cairo improve, after strain going back to Morsi’s ouster by Sissi.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
has ordered senior members of the Gaza-based terror group not to publicly comment on rare protests held in Egypt Friday against President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

Haniyeh sent an audio message to Hamas leaders telling them not to address "any matter connected to Egypt" whatsoever.

"Everyone must obey and promise this," he said in the message, according to Israel’s Ynet news site.

Hamas and Egypt have worked to repair ties in recent years following the 2013 coup that brought Sissi to power.

Hamas, which has historic links to Egypt’s Moslem Brüderbund, enjoyed warm relations with Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, a top Brotherhood figure who was tossed by the military after a divisive
...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled...
year in power.

The Egyptian government tightened an Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza shortly thereafter, but since then there have been signs of a thaw in relations.

Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
, the longtime Egyptian ruler whose deposal led to Morsi coming to power in Egypt’s first and only democratic presidential election, has claimed Hamas sent hundreds of fighters across the Gaza border during the 2011 uprising.

Hamas has denied the claim.

For most of the past decade, Egypt has been a quiet partner with Israel in a blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza, stifling the economy and largely blocking its 2 million people from moving in and out of the territory. Israel maintains the blockade to prevent Hamas, which is openly committed to destroying Israel, from importing weapons.

Egypt, however, has recently moved closer to Hamas and tried unsuccessfully to reconcile it with Fatah, the political party of Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....
that was violently ejected from the Gaza Strip by the Islamist terror group in 2007.

Cairo has also served as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas amid periodic outbursts of fighting between the two since the start of often violent protests along the Gaza border in March 2018.

Earlier this year, Egypt reportedly agreed to permanently reopen the Rafah border crossing with Gaza in exchange for Hamas reining in festivities with Israeli troops along the border.

Friday’s protests in the capital Cairo and other Egyptian cities marked a rare public rebuke of Sissi and saw crowds chanting slogans and holding up placards calling for him to step down.

At least 74 were arrested overnight, a security source told AFP, with plainclothed police patrolling sidestreets of downtown Cairo.

The country effectively banned protests under a 2013 law and a state of emergency is still in full effect.

Police fired tear gas and deployed forces in Tahrir Square ‐ the epicenter of the 2011 revolution that unseated long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

The protests came on the back of an online call put out by Mohammed Aly, a disgruntled exiled Egyptian businessman, demanding Sissi be toppled.

Thousands shared footage on social media documenting the demonstrations that sprang up in several cities including sizeable crowds blocking traffic in Alexandria, al-Mahalla, Damietta, Mansoura and Suez.

Many users commented on the curious absence of military personnel and speculated about internal political squabbles between various Egyptian security agencies.

Under the rule of general-turned-president Sissi, authorities have launched a broad crackdown on dissidents, jailing thousands of Islamists as well as secular activists and popular bloggers.

At the same youth conference where he denied graft allegations, he also warned of the dangers of protesting ‐ a position he has repeatedly taken.

He has regularly invoked security and stability as hallmarks of his reign in contrast to the situations in regional hot spots such as Iraq, Libya and Syria.

But with his government imposing strict austerity measures since 2016 as part of a $12 billion loan package from the International Monetary Fund, discontent over rising prices has been swelling.

Nearly one in three Egyptians live below the poverty line on less than $1.40 a day, according to official figures released in July.

Human Rights Watch urged authorities on Saturday to "protect the right" to protest peacefully as well as demanding that those arrested be released.

Sisis flew to New York on Friday night where he is scheduled to address the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
General Assembly next week.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood

#1  SIS better get his ass in gear. All this corruption and crap still permeates and the State is not getting richer. There are local demands he has not fulfilled and people want to see some action.

The timing is wrong for this right now but SISI cannot satisfy demands, He needs to find an out.

I like you man, but they need some domestic help.
Posted by: newc || 09/22/2019 1:09 Comments || Top||


Arabia
USS Abraham Lincoln replenishment
[twitter]
Posted by: 3dc || 09/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Europe
Colonists Migrants Dressed As Volleyball Team Nabbed By Greek Police
[SBS.au] Greek police have arrested 10 migrants dressed as a volleyball team at Athens airport before they could fly to Switzerland after their passports didn't match.

Ten migrants posing as a volleyball team
The Idlib Orks ?
were arrested at Athens' International Airport trying to travel with illegally obtained passports, Greek police said on Sunday.

Police said the migrants, who had entered Greece without legal documents, arrived at the Eleftherios Venizelos airport on Saturday hoping the disguise would get them past controls more easily.

They wore matching outfits, carried matching sports bags and, for good measure, brought two volleyballs.
When asked to dribble though they whipped out their peepees and wet the floor. And ze game was up !
But border police established that the passports they presented had been illegally obtained, and arrested the group.

According to police sources, they are Syrian nationals who had hoped to travel to Zurich with Ukrainian passports.

Migrants arriving in Greece often make great efforts to slip through closed Greek frontiers to reach other destinations.

According to the latest official numbers, there are more than 26,600 asylum seekers in overcrowded camps on Lesbos, Chios and Samos, the Greek islands at the forefront of the migrant influx.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/22/2019 17:02 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Not as women’s beach volleyball team...
Posted by: Glenmore || 09/22/2019 17:38 Comments || Top||

#2  ^ now you just ruined my mental image
Posted by: jpal || 09/22/2019 19:17 Comments || Top||


Greek police make arrest in 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847
ATHENS, Greece (AP) ‐ Greek police said Saturday they have arrested a suspect in the 1985 hijacking of a flight from Athens that became a multi-day ordeal and included the slaying of an American.

Police said a 65-year-old suspect in the hijacking was arrested Thursday on the island of Mykonos in response to a warrant from Germany.

Lt. Col. Theodoros Chronopoulos, a police spokesman, told The Associated Press that the hijacking case involved TWA Flight 847. The flight was commandeered by hijackers shortly after taking off from Athens on June 14, 1985. It originated in Cairo and had San Diego set as a final destination, with stops scheduled in Athens, Rome, Boston and Los Angeles.

The hijackers shot and killed U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem, 23, after beating him unconscious. They released the other 146 passengers and crew members on the plane during an ordeal that included stops in Beirut and Algiers. The last hostage was freed after 17 days.

The suspect was in custody Saturday on the Greek island of Syros but was set to be transferred to the Korydallos high security prison in Athens for extradition proceedings, a police spokeswoman told The Associated Press. She said the suspect was a Lebanese citizen. The spokeswoman spoke on condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.

Police refused to release the suspect’s name.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/22/2019 01:25 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Police refused to release the suspect’s name.

Peiter Bezuidenhout probably not a valid guess.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/22/2019 1:33 Comments || Top||

#2  If he's 65, that rules out Hasan Izz-Al-Din and Ali Atwa. Both should be 50 or so. Hammadi was reported dead somewhere in the 'Stain by spooks. If he were alive he'd be around mid 50s too.

The Greeks say it could be Hammadi though.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/22/2019 2:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Could be Atwa.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/22/2019 2:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Have the Greek police ever arrested members of the Palestine Liberation Front who hijacked the Achille Lauro in 1985 and threw wheelchair bound Leon Klinghoffer overboard? Leon was a Jew you know.
Posted by: jpal || 09/22/2019 11:28 Comments || Top||

#5  I think it was that incident after which the Israelis leveled the PLO offices in Tunis. I'm sure there are stories in blacked-out Sayeret files about Paleo fuckers from Syria to Jordan who got 'whacked' immediately after .
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/22/2019 13:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Hamadei Saleh Mohammed Ali per one news report other reports have him as Mohammad Saleh

his birthday and name is a match for a person wanter in a 1987 kidnapping in Germany.
Posted by: lord garth || 09/22/2019 17:09 Comments || Top||

#7  See the article below for more on the story, guys.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2019 18:04 Comments || Top||

#8  #4 Leon Klinghoffer's murderers were captured by the USN, but the Italian government made us give them back. Ah, the 1980s. spit.
Posted by: The peanut gallery || 09/22/2019 18:32 Comments || Top||

#9  Ref #8: Yes, a very unpleasant story of Italian betrayal (Carabinieri-JSOC standoff) that played out on the tarmac. I hope they somehow payed a terrible price for that piece of genius.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/22/2019 18:49 Comments || Top||

#10  Mohammed Ali Hamadi was born in 1964 (can't be 65 yo) and supposedly died in 2010. Also served 10years in Germany for murder and was sent to Lebanon after been freed. Not likely he'd be on a German warrant as reported.
Posted by: European Conservative || 09/22/2019 18:52 Comments || Top||

#11  Also unlikely that a known terrorist would travel on a cruise ship to the EU under his own name.
Posted by: European Conservative || 09/22/2019 18:55 Comments || Top||


Greek police arrest suspect in aircraft hijacking
How lovely it is that so many of the Middle East’s evil ones are bringing themselves in to be arrested.
[Jpost] Greek police have arrested a 65-year-old man suspected of an aircraft hijacking and kidnapping, crimes committed in 1985 and 1987, they said on Saturday.

Greek media said the man was thought to be involved in the 1985 hijacking of a Trans World Airlines (TWA) flight in which an American passenger was killed.

A Greek police official said the Lebanese suspect had disembarked from a cruise ship on the island of Mykonos on Sept. 19.

The source said that his name came up as being wanted by German authorities.

The 1987 crime was possibly related to his release in return for the freeing of two German citizens held hostage by his accomplices in Leb, the source said.

The suspect was being held in a high-security prison until German authorities identify him as the person wanted, the source added.

The TWA 847 flight from Cairo to San Diego with several en route stops was hijacked shortly after taking off from Athens in 1985. The hijackers demanded the release of Shi'ite Moslem prisoners from Israeli custody.

The passengers and crew endured a three-day intercontinental ordeal. Some passengers were beaten and a U.S. Navy diver who was on board the aircraft was killed. Dozens of passengers were held hostage over the following two weeks.
The Daily Mail has an image of the FBI Most Wanted poster for the gentleman in question, with photo, wherein he is named alternately as Mohammed Ali Hamadei, Ali Hamadi, and “Castro”, who appears to have been connected to the Shiite Amal militia, now a Lebanese political party connected to Hezbollah and still headed by Nabih Berri, speaker of Lebanon’s parliament since 1992 :
Greek media said the man had been arrested in Germany two years after the hijacking but was later exchanged with two Germans who were abducted in Beirut. He has remained a fugitive ever since.
The Times of Israel spells his name Mohammed Ali Hammadi, and has more background about the hijacking, adding:
Hammadi, along with fellow hijacker Hasan Izz-Al-Din and Ali Atwa, remains on the FBI’s list of most wanted terrorists under the name Mohammed Ali Hamadei. The FBI offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his capture.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  I think their lives become infinitely more liveable when they're not on the run. Execute him this time, for God's sake.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/22/2019 18:15 Comments || Top||


Malta takes some migrants from Ocean Viking, but leaves others onboard
[AlAhram] A group of 265 migrants colonists were brought to Malta on Saturday, including 36 from the rescue ship Ocean Viking, but the operators of the ship complained that more than 180 other migrants colonists on board had been refused disembarkation by the island.

The Maltese armed forces said 229 migrants colonists among Saturday's arrivals were rescued from three boats in distress in Malta's search and rescue zone.

Another 36 were transferred to a Maltese patrol boat from the Ocean Viking, which had rescued them in Malta's zone.

The arrivals were the fourth group to arrive on the Mediterranean island in a week.

But Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which operates Ocean Viking, said in a tweet that 182 survivors from other rescues, including a newborn, children and a pregnant woman, remained stranded on board.

This, it said, "demonstrates the discriminatory, arbitrary and inhumane nature of a system which continues to prioritise political gameplay above human lives and dignity".

Malta argued that those people were picked up outside its rescue zone.

The island took more than 300 migrants colonists from the Ocean Viking in August on condition that they would be shared among other EU countries, but most are still on the island, stretching its limited reception facilities.

The plight of the Ocean Viking, run by MSF and another French charity, SOS Méditerranée, has exposed Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
's failure to come up with a coherent policy to deal with migration from Africa through Libya.

EU states have been at loggerheads over how to handle refugees and migrants colonists reaching its shores since a 2015 spike in Mediterranean arrivals of people fleeing conflicts and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

On Monday Malta will host an EU home affairs ministers meeting which will discuss migration and how EU states may share arrivals.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Human Trafficking


The Grand Turk
PKK claims deadly minibus attack on ‘spies’ in southeast Turkey
[Rudaw] The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) said Friday that their fighters were responsible for the September 12 explosion in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor...
’s predominantly Kurdish Diyarbakir province.

The attack in the Kulp District left seven people dead and ten injured, which Turkey said were civilians. The Kurdish hard boy group, however, said the bombing targeted "spies" trying to track their positions in a statement put out by its armed wing the Peoples’ Defense Forces (HPG).

"They came to the guerrilla areas for this purpose ... [but we] carried out a sabotage operation," said the HPG, according to the PKK-affiliated ANF news outlet.

The PKK is a hard boy group that fights the Ottoman Turkish state for greater political and cultural rights for Turkey’s Kurds. Ankara considers the PKK a terrorist organization.

On the attack, the HPG said that a group of Ottoman Turkish "spies" disguised themselves as civilians on September 12 and visited the Kulp-Mus road to track down their positions, but were "sabotaged." Ottoman Turkish officials, however, said that the victims of the attack were "civilians" collecting wood .

The HPG and Turkey both released the same number of casualties.

"As a result of the operation, seven contras were killed and 10 other injured," said the HPG.

The PKK uses the word "contra" to refer to anyone who is against them. The term was used between 1979-1990s to refer to US-backed right-wing rebels in Nicaragua fighting against leftist groups.

The roadside explosion was immediately blamed on the PKK by Ottoman Turkish officials, including 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...
at the time.

The PKK reiterated in Friday’s statement that they do not target civilians and unarmed pro-Ottoman Turkish village guards, blaming the affiliated media outlets of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) for "propagating" that the casualties were civilians.

In the framework of investigations into the incident, Ottoman Turkish security forces arrested officials from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Kulp. They also removed the HDP’s mayor of the district, Mehmet Fatih Tas.

Ottoman Turkish government officials have frequently claimed that the HDP is the political wing of the PKK, but the party denies this.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Iraq
Iraq detains suspect in deadly bombing that killed 12
[AlArabiya] Iraqi security forces boosted their presence and measures around the Shiite city of Karbala on Saturday, a day after a deadly bombing hit a minibus packed with passengers outside the city.

Iraq’s prime minister said security forces have detained a man suspected of detonating the bomb.

The blast was one of the biggest attacks targeting civilians since ISIS
...embracing their inner Islamic Brute...
, a terrorist organization was declared defeated inside Iraq in 2017.

The charred minibus was still on the road near the city on Saturday morning, hours after the blast killed 12 people and maimed five others.

On Saturday, security was tight on the roads entering Karbala with added checkpoints searching cars.

The explosion occurred as the bus was passing through an Iraqi army checkpoint, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Karbala in the direction of the town of al-Hilla.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which took place during a holy period marked by Shiites in Iraq between two important religious events, Ashura and Arbaeen. Arbaeen is the annual commemoration marking the end of the 40-day mourning period for the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, a central figure in Shiite Islam.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
6 Palestinians Injured In Clashes With IDF In Northern West Bank - Report
[Jpost] Six Paleostinians were maimed during festivities with the IDF in the northern West Bank town of Azzun, according to the Paleostinian Sawa news.

The injuries were caused by live fire, rubber-coated bullets and tear gas fired by IDF forces. The IDF closed shops in the area and prevented citizens from entering the local mosque, according to Sawa. The main northern entrance of the town was also closed for the second day in a row.

Seven Paleostinians were maimed when a minibus overturned when the driver lost control after inhaling tear gas fired during the festivities, according to the Paleostinian Quds news. An Israeli soldier was also injured after being hit with a stone, according to Quds.

On Friday, an IDF officer was injured in the area after stones were thrown at civilian vehicles, according to a tweet by the IDF. The officer was driving as a civilian. Damage was caused to several other civilian vehicles.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria says it captured explosives-laden drone near Golan border, “Wudn’t us,” sez Israel
[IsraelTimes] State news agency also reports Syrian forces found Israeli-made vehicles and materiel in village near Quneitra.

Syria’s state news agency said authorities have captured and dismantled a drone rigged with cluster bombs near the border with the Israeli Golan Heights.

SANA gave no further details about the drone Saturday, but posted several photos.

The news agency also reported that Syrian forces found Israeli-made vehicles and materiel in Bariqa, a village near the deserted border city of Quneitra.

Israel frequently conducts Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s and missile attacks inside war-torn Syria but rarely confirms them. Israel says it targets mostly bases of Iranian forces and the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah in Syria.

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said it was not clear if Syrian troops or members of Hezbollah controlled the drone. Hezbollah has fighters in different parts of Syria where they are fighting on the side of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
’s forces.

The incident came two days after another drone was destroyed over the Damascus suburb of Aqraba.

No one grabbed credit for the drones.

Aqrabah was the site of an Israeli airstrike last month that targeted Iranian-aligned operatives planning to send attack drones into Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

In neighboring Leb, a government investigation concluded Thursday that two alleged Israeli drones were on an attack mission when they crashed in the capital last month, one of them armed with 4.5 kilograms (10 pounds) of explosives.

The type of UAV used in the Beirut attack has raised considerable questions about the drones’ provenance, with analysts suggesting they could be Iranian.

Hours before the incident, Israel said it had thwarted an Iranian plot in Syria to launch drones with explosives into Israel.

Israeli media have reported that the drones in Beirut targeted an office housing a "planetary mixer," a large industrial machine that is critical to making precision-guided missiles. Hezbollah denies it produces such weapons in Leb.

Israel has said it would not allow the group to have precision-guided missiles, as that would be a game-changing technology.

IDF's spokesperson: 'Drone downed in Syria is not Israeli'

[Ynet] IDF's Spokesperson in Arabic Avichay Adraee responded Saturday to a report claiming Syria have captured and dismantled a drone rigged with cluster bombs near the border with the Israeli Golan Heights.

Adraee also suggests in a Facebook that the drone was launched by Iranian extraterritorial operations unit al-Quds force, which according to him, operates on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, where the Syrians claimed the drone was downed.

"It is definitely not an IDF drone, is it another Iranian explosive that is operating in an uncoordinated manner in the Syrian Golan?" Wrote Adraee. "This is another proof to show the nature of Iranian activity in the area".
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies



Who's in the News
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2019-09-22
  Greek police make arrest in 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847
Sat 2019-09-21
  US to send troops to Saudi Arabia, hold off on striking Iran
Fri 2019-09-20
  NJ man charged with scouting landmarks for Hezbollah, trying to kill Israeli spy
Thu 2019-09-19
  Man arrested in terrorism probe told FBI he'd execute a US service member for ISIS
Wed 2019-09-18
  Half of Saudi Aramco production restored
Tue 2019-09-17
  Special Forces kill 14 Taliban militants; destroy multiple weapons caches in 3 provinces
Mon 2019-09-16
  Iran seizes another oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz as Gulf crisis erupts
Sun 2019-09-15
  Turkey orders arrest of 223 military personnel over suspected Gulen links: State media
Sat 2019-09-14
  Parliament to discuss removal of U.S. forces from Iraq in new session
Fri 2019-09-13
  Over 2,000 militants fled to Turkey from Idlib: Al-Watan
Thu 2019-09-12
  Illegal Alien Sentenced to Six Years for Having Enough Fentanyl to Kill Half a Million Americans
Wed 2019-09-11
  18 Years Ago...
Tue 2019-09-10
  Bolton FIRED!
Mon 2019-09-09
  Inner Harbor buildings evacuated in downtown Baltimore after vehicle found with 1,000 gallons of gasoline
Sun 2019-09-08
  Pakistan denies Indian president's request to use its airspace for overflight

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