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Today: 69 articles and 186 comments as of 10:15.
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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Israelis kill Ahmad Nasser Jarrar, terrorist behind murder of Rabbi Raziel Shevah
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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11 19:35 warthogswife [1]
Africa Subsaharan
Cameroon: Chad Deploys Military to Southern Cameroons as Crisis Persists
[All Africa] According to multiple sources Chadian soldiers, dispatched by Chadian President Idriss Deby at the request of Cameroon
...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there...
ian President Paul Biya, have been fighting for several weeks alongside Cameroonian's armed forces against the English-speaking separatists.

"It is since the last summit of the Economic Community of Central African States on October 30, 2017, that the two heads of state - in power for three decades - have had to help each other," a high-ranking official of the Chadian army told Africa Info on condition of anonymity."

The information we are getting is that the Cameroonian military is finding it difficult to fight the separatists. The military were not prepared for this kind of combat," he said, adding that even the Chadian military is "feeling discouraged". Despite several attempts, the communication officer of the Cameroonian ministry of defense did not respond to our inquiries. Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, Butch clutched at his leg. Son of a Breech! he exclaimed with feeling......
on the field, the situation is far from calming down despite the fact that the independence leaders were kidnapped from Nigeria and sent to Cameroon under conditions the UN says violates the rules of of International law.

According to witnesses, fighting has raged on for several days on the border between Nigeria and Cameroon.

Several attempts by the Chadian mercenaries and the Cameroon armed forces have been unsuccessful, a regular source told Africa Info.

Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)

#1  I've never really understood these wars by the ex-colonized over English or French. What about their native language?
Posted by: 3dc || 02/07/2018 7:16 Comments || Top||

#2  I don’t know about the Cameroonians, 3dc, but in many of the African countries different tribes speak different languages. The only common tongue, as well as the only non-political one, is that of the former colonizing power.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/07/2018 12:19 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen Islamist party suspends membership of Nobel laureate Tawakkol Karman
[Al Ahram] Yemeni Nobel Prize winner Tawakkol Karman was suspended from an Islamist party allied with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after she accused the Saudi-led coalition that backs him in the country's civil war of acting as occupiers.

Karman won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for her role in Arab Spring protests that ousted authoritarian President Ali Abdullah. More recently she has ramped up public criticism of 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...
and the United Arab Emirates, accusing them of backing a campaign to divide 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...
by supporting southern separatists against the internationally recognised government.

Speaking at the Warwick Economics Summit at Britannia's Warwick University over the weekend, Karman said Saudi Arabia and the UAE were driven by a "reckless adventurism" when they intervened in Yemen in 2015 after Iran-aligned Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
forces drove Hadi into exile.

In an earlier Twitter message, she wrote: "Saudi Arabia and UAE took advantage of the (Houthi) militia coup in Sanaa to launch a very ugly occupation and an uglier influence in Yemen."

The Islah party, regarded as a branch of the Moslem Brüderbund, which is viewed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE as a terrorist organization, tried to distance itself from Karman and order her suspended from its ranks.
Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood


Caribbean-Latin America
US and Argentina to work together against Hezbollah
Undoing another of President Obama’s little projects. Now how will he afford his fave recreation?
[Ynet] US Secretary of State Tillerson and Argentine Foreign Minister Faurie agree to combat organized crime in Argentina, which raises funds for Hezbollah; 'We need to attack and eliminate' Hezbollah's terror activity in Argentina, Tillerson says.

The United States and Argentina
...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita...
are to work together more closely to cut off Lebanese Hezbollah's funding networks in Latin America, both nations' top diplomats said Sunday.

Argentina has a large Lebanese expatriate population and US authorities suspect groups within it of raising funds through organized crime to support the Iranian-backed armed movement.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Buenos Aires for talks with his Argentinian counterpart Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie, and afterwards they confirmed that the issue had come up.

"With respect to Hezbollah, we also did speak today in our discussion about all of the region about how we must all jointly go after these transnational criminal organizations‐narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, smuggling, money laundering‐because we see the connections to terrorist financing organizations as well," Tillerson said.

"And we did specifically discuss the presence of Lebanese Hezbollah in this hemisphere, which is raising funds, obviously, to support its terrorist activities.

"So it is something that we jointly agree we need to attack and eliminate," Tillerson said.

Faurie, standing by Tillerson's side at a joint news conference, agreed, saying that South America had become a "zone of peace" and that outside groups must not be allowed to jeopardize this.

And, as Secretary Tillerson said, we need to intensify every possible exchange not only in terms of dialogue but also in terms of information on the actions of these groups, which take advantage of transnational crime to foster their interests, which Argentina certainly does not agree with," he said.

In 1992, the violence of the Middle East erupted in Argentina, when bombers attacked the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 people. Two years later, an attack on a Jewish community center (AMIA) in the city left 85 dead.

None of the bombers were ever convicted, but international Sherlocks followed a trail that appears to link them to Hezbollah‐a group which Washington has designated a terrorist organization‐and to senior Iranian officials.

The bombings did not continue, but US experts believe that Hezbollah, working under close Iranian supervision, has built a fund-raising network in Latin America that profits from drug smuggling to fund its political and military activities.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  US authorities suspect groups within it of raising funds through organized crime

I guess operating locally on our own organized crime is really a DoJ thing, not State.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/07/2018 0:12 Comments || Top||

#2  The first State Department report on Hizbollah activity in the tri-border region (Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay) was sent in 1988. Thousands of Paraguay travel docs were being sold to Shiites in Lebanon. Thirty years later, not much has been done to attack the problem, and Paraguay's Ciudad del Este remains the center of Hizbollah activity.
Posted by: Clurong Peacock9529 || 02/07/2018 8:55 Comments || Top||

#3  *cough* Iran *cough*
Posted by: Frank G || 02/07/2018 10:02 Comments || Top||


Europe
In court, defiant Paris attacks suspect ‘trusts in Allah’
[IsraelTimes] Salah Abdeslam, tossed in the calaboose
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
after shootout with police in 2016, accuses Brussels court of 'bias against Moslems,' refuses to answer questions


The only surviving suspect in the 2015 Gay Paree attacks accused a Belgian court on Monday of bias against Moslems, saying he put his "trust in Allah" as he went on trial for a deadly shootout with police.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


The Grand Turk
Erdogan says U.S. has "calculations" against Turkey, Iran, Russia in Syria
[Al Ahram] The United States is working against the interests of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
, Iran and maybe Russia in northern Syria, where it is sending in military supplies to an area controlled by Kurdish-dominated forces, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

"If the United States says they are sending 5,000 trucks and 2,000 cargo planes of weapons for the fight against ISIS (Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
), we don't believe this," Erdogan told members of his ruling AK Party in parliament.

"It means you have calculations against Turkey and Iran, and maybe Russia," he said, repeating a call for U.S. troops to withdraw from the Syrian town of Manbij.

Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Turkey, on the other hand, has no calculations against anybody - because Recep can't count to 18 without taking his shoes off.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/07/2018 5:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Heh Heh - It's early but that's starting to sound like a possible Snark-o-the-day Grom.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/07/2018 7:18 Comments || Top||

#3  You know the US and our spreadsheets.
Posted by: E. Clainter9830 || 02/07/2018 15:12 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Mattis to Congress: I'm Wasting My Time If You Don't Pass Budget
[RealClearDefense]
Posted by: newc || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The only real job of Congress (besides borders and coining money)
Posted by: newc || 02/07/2018 2:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Constitution 2.0 - If Congress fails to implement both budget resolution and appropriations with a 365 day period, all members are bared from reelection, appointment to federal offices, or receive any contracts for a period no less than 12 years.


When all parties skins on the line, it will be amazing the agreement two wolves can come to in choosing which sheep to eat tonight.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/07/2018 8:28 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Supreme Court stays life imprisonment of 14 convicted by military court
[DAWN] The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed implementation of a military court verdict through which 14 convicts were handed life in prison.

A three-member bench, headed by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, heard the appeal filed by the convicts against the judgement.

The 14 men had been sentenced to life imprisonment by the military court after being convicted of involvement in the killing of two Rangers personnel in Gilgit in 2005.

The convicts had challenged the verdict in the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court, which had thrown out the appeal on the grounds that they did not fall within its jurisdiction.

The men had then approached the apex court against the high court's ruling.

While accepting the combined appeal for hearing, the apex court stayed implementation on the military court verdict and issued notices to all parties.

The application has named the federation, the interior ministry, the defence ministry, the army chief, the corps commander (10 corps) and others as respondents.

The 14 convicts had been accused of opening fire on Rangers officials in Gilgit in 2005, which had resulted in the killing of two personnel.

Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


US could lift aid suspension if Pakistan takes steps: State Dept.
[Al Ahram] The United States could consider ending a suspension of security assistance to Pakistain, if take "decisive and sustained" actions against hard boy groups in the country, the State Department's No. 2 official said on Tuesday.
Expect decisive and sustained talk.
"We may consider lifting the suspension when we see decisive and sustained actions to address our concerns, including targeting all terrorist groups operating within its territory, without distinction," Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The U.S. government last month said it was suspending at least $900 million in security assistance to Pakistain until it takes action against the Afghan Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
and the Haqqani network hard boy groups.

Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Islamic State’s top leader Baghdadi in new Iraqi list of wanted criminals, Raghad not in Jordan
Iraq’s Most Wanted v.2.0, updating yesterday’s list.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
supreme leader His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
...the head of ISIS, or what remains of it, and a veteran of the Abu Graib jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us. So far he has been killed at least four times, though not yet by a stake through the heart...
is on a new list of persons sought by Iraqi security authorities for terrorism-related charges, according to a list obtained by Iraqi network Alsumaria News.

The new list contains 13 other people besides Baghdadi, of Iraqi, Saudi, Yemeni Jordanian and Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
i nationalities, according to the network.

On Tuesday, Iraq issued a list of 60 people wanted for terrorism charges, including the daughter of late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

Baghdadi’s whereabouts have been unknown since Iraqi forces launched a U.S.-backed campaign to retake areas occupied by his fighters. Conflicting reports have been made regarding his survival but his death has not been confirmed. His only public appearance was at the Grand Nuri Mosque of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
where he delivered his famous sermon declaring the establishment of the group’s rule, and was never heard of except through voice recordings attributed to him in which he commented on the progress of battles against Iraqi forces and urged his comrades to remain resilient.

Iraqi forces are still chasing remnant IS forces of Evil at desert areas.

MP: Raghad bint Saddam Hussein in UAE, only U.S. can return her to Iraq

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The daughter of Iraq’s late president Saddam Hussein is currently living in the United Arab Emirates, and only the United States can greenlight her return to Iraq, where she faces terrorism charges, according to a parliamentarian close to the Iraqi prime minister.

Jassem Mohamed Jaafar told Baghdad Today that Raghad Saddam currently lives in Emirates, and not in Jordan as is widely believed. “Her handover to Iraq is in the U.S. hands, if they want to hand her over, UAE will do, and if not, the UAE will not”, Jaafar said. “The U.S. is currently working on handing over terrorists to Iraq, rather than Baathist vestiges,” he said, referring to Saddam’s formerly ruling party.

Earlier this week, Iraq issued a list of 60 Baathists, al-Qaeda and Islamic State militants wanted for terrorism charges, including Raghad.

Jaafar said the Iraqi government possesses “numerous evidence for Raghad’s involvement in terrorism, and had handed that evidence to the Interpol for her extradition.

Speaking to Dubai-based al-Arabiya channel on Monday, Raghad dismissed the charges against her, confirming that she currently does not live in Jordan.

In a relevant context, Saudi al-Watan newspaper quoted a “senior Iraqi security official” saying that the list comprised by the Iraqi government reflects “a concern of a possible alliance among the three categories of those wanted: Baathists, Islamic State and al-Qaeda”.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/07/2018 01:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Gaza health facilities face closure due to fuel shortage: UN
There wouldn’t be a fuel shortage had Hamas not spent US$260 million on tunnels and rockets instead of repairing all those buildings destroyed in the last round with Israel and setting aside funds to pay for the Strip’s expenses.
[Al Ahram] Fuel for emergency generators that keep Gazoo's hospitals and sanitation services operating will run out within 10 days, the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
said on Tuesday in an appeal for immediate donor support.

The shortage stems from a dispute between Gazoo's dominant Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", Islamist group and the West Bank-based Paleostinian Authority (PA). Both signed a unity deal in October but have failed to finalise the details of political power-sharing.

So far generators have stopped at three of Gazoo's 13 hospitals and 14 of its 54 medical centres, said Ashraf al-Qidra, the Hamas-appointed front man for the impoverished territory's Health Ministry. Officials at the affected facilities said they were directing seriously ill patients to other health facilities and operating at limited capacity.

With Gazoo's electrical grid supplying only about four to six hours of power a day to Gazoo's two million people - a complicated crisis also largely rooted in the Hamas-PA rivalry - back-up generators are a lifeline for health care and sanitation facilities.

At Durra Hospital for Children in Gazoo City, which normally treats up to 180 patients a day, many of its 90 beds were empty on Tuesday. Doctors said fuel ran out a week ago and services were operating at minimum levels.

"We are working in life-saving mode," the hospital's director, Majed Hamada, told Rooters. He said doctors were providing primary health care and, in emergency cases, transferring patients to other hospitals after stabilising them.

Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  I suppose the bonuses paid to fighters could be redirected for fuel.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/07/2018 0:09 Comments || Top||

#2  So, what happens to the command & control bunkers underneath the hospitals?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/07/2018 1:27 Comments || Top||

#3  those are Paleo essential facilities. Hospitals and clinics, not so much
Posted by: Frank G || 02/07/2018 6:34 Comments || Top||


With high-tech warships, Israeli Navy readies to guard gas fields from Hezbollah, Hamas
[IsraelTimes] Four new German-built Sa'ar 6 corvettes due to arrive starting late 2019. Until then, IDF planning to protect strategic maritime assets with existing ships, specialized Iron Dome

The Israeli Navy is charged with defending the country’s territorial waters, an area that is twice as large as the state itself and is becoming increasingly crowded with highly lucrative natural gas fields and shipping lanes, and it needs help.

For Israel’s enemies these naval sites are "preferred targets," and both the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group in Leb and ‐ to a lesser extent ‐ Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, in Gazoo have the capabilities to threaten them, a senior Israeli Navy official said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Maybe they could use some Littoral rafts.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/07/2018 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Looking at the robot sub patrol boat, in these pages a few days ago the following comes to mind. "Make some cheap fiberglass un-manned drone patrol boats with some heavy weapons and auto-loader on them. No big loss if they are hit or sunk and you don't sink $$$ into platforms safe enough for troops.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/07/2018 7:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

German Navy experiences “LCS syndrome” in spades as new frigate fails sea trials.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/07/2018 22:43 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
State Dept. Embraces Islamic Cleric Who OK'd Killing Americans in Iraq, Called for Israel's Destruction
[PJ Media] Last Thursday, Sam Brownback was sworn in as the State Department's new ambassador for religious liberty.

Today -- in his first official speech as ambassador -- Brownback openly embraced a hardline Islamic cleric who authorized a fatwa in 2004 justifying the killing of Americans in Iraq, and another fatwa in 2012 calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah's past is no mystery to the State Department. For example, the Obama administration's State Department had to repeatedly apologize in May 2014 for promoting Bin Bayyah as a moderate. However, the Obama administration then implemented a full-court press with the U.S. media and the D.C. foreign policy "Smart Set" to rehabilitate the image of the Mauritanian cleric.
Posted by: KBK || 02/07/2018 08:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Brownback was drafted for this job because at the rate he was going as governor he was going to single handedly turn Kansas blue. The DoS is already hot pink so this is about barf for the course...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/07/2018 8:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Murcek,

Don't you mean HARF for the course...for you know, that blonde headed lady with those horned rim glasses...
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 02/07/2018 8:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Post 9/11 western suicidal masochism is once again put on display for a global audience.

This is a replication of Otto Warmbier's bizarre behavior at the even more bizarre press conference. Only this time it is at the diplomatic level.

Warmbier knew the the Norks could kill him with impunity if they so desired, the US is the strongest military power on earth.

Xi, Kim, Putin et al are watching (Japan, Australia and South Korea too) and this will have bad, perhaps catastrophic consequences in other theaters.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 02/07/2018 12:34 Comments || Top||

#4  Absolutely insane, a melting WTF.

Sam Brownback should skip the middleman, convert to islam and move to that giant jihad kitty litter sandbox of his choice. Without a doubt Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah should be in a Federal prison hole as a terrorist. But here us Sammy drooling over USA troop murdering fataws.

Firing Brownback is a must to stop this State Dept crap. Trump should make an example of his sideline support of Muhammidan terrorism cheerleaders. This might get them to stop eating lead paint chips for lunch.

I apologize but what the hell is going on?
Posted by: Woodrow || 02/07/2018 13:32 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran announces mass production of bomb-carrying drones
[IsraelTimes] Defense minister inaugurates factory for building UAVs that are to be supplied to Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Real or the usual Iranian vapourware?

Posted by: trailing wife || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Hatami did not specify how far the drones can fly.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/07/2018 0:07 Comments || Top||

#2  How large is "Mass Production" in an Iranian context?
Posted by: 3dc || 02/07/2018 7:25 Comments || Top||

#3  #2 How large is "Mass Production" in an Iranian context?
Posted by: 3dc 2018-02-07 07:25



...Three.

Ish.


Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 02/07/2018 8:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Everyone is getting one, right?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/07/2018 9:46 Comments || Top||


US to cutoff aid to all rebel groups not fighting ISIS
[ALMASDARNEWS] The United States (U.S.) will cutoff all aid to the rebel groups that are not fighting the so-called Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(ISIS) in Syria, the U.S. Defense Department Spokesperson, Eric Pahon, told The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
-based Hurriyet Daily News on Tuesday.

"Those fighting with us are members of the Syrian opposition who have passed a security check," Pahon stated, as translated by Ahval News.

"If these units decide to focus on something other than ISIS ‐ and this could be Turkey, or it could be the regime ‐ their support will be cut," he continued.

The Defense Department Spokesperson added that he hopes the Ottoman Turkish forces will not attack Manbij in northeastern Aleppo, despite warnings from President 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...
.
"We hope that the Turks will not pass from Afrin to Manbij. We are very concerned about this," he said.

"This has the potential to send the fight against ISIS off the rails," he concluded.
Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  As in "It would be a shame to ArcLight this building?
Posted by: 3dc || 02/07/2018 7:29 Comments || Top||


YPG spokesperson confirms reinforcements traveled through government lines to Afrin
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Spokesperson for the People’s Protection Units (YPG), Sipan Hamo, stated on Tuesday that the Syrian government has allowed the Kurdish-led reinforcements through their lines recently.

Hamo continued that the Syrian government is providing both food and medical supplies to the Afrin region of Aleppo, adding that he hopes the latter will join the battle militarily.

The Syrian government recently allowed a large convoy of YPG reinforcements from the town of Manbij to the Afrin region, which requires access from the roads controlled by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).

Damascus has repeatedly called on the Ottoman Turkish regime to immediately remove their forces from Syria and respect the country’s illusory sovereignty.

Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  YPG is fighting ISIS and not Assad so from Syria's point of view, the enemy of my enemy.
Posted by: E. Clainter9830 || 02/07/2018 12:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Not to mention that those allowed out will probably not be allowed to return afterward. Win-win from the Syrian perspective.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/07/2018 13:30 Comments || Top||


Iranian president reiterates Tehran has no weapons of mass destruction
[ALMASDARNEWS] Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has excluded any talks on the country’s missiles programme.

"We will negotiate with no one on our weapons," Rouhani stated during a presser in Tehran, adding that the existing Iran’s missiles are purely defensive and not designed to carry weapons of mass destruction "since we don’t have any."

The president further reiterated the country’s position on the so-called Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) signed in 2015 with P+1 states, saying that it could not be renegotiated, despite threats from US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
to reimpose sanctions unless Iran’s missiles and regional behaviour are limited.

"The key to the problems between Tehran and Washington is in Washington’s hands. They need to stop their threats and sanctions and pressure, and automatically the situation will improve and we can think about our future," Rouhani said.

Describing the Iran’s policy in the Middle East, the recently released US Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), claims that Tehran views Washington’s influence in the region as a threat to its goal to become the dominant regional power. Thus, as the NPR explains, that Iran continues to fund the largest missile program in the Middle East and could, in the future, threaten or deliver weapons, developing increasingly long-range ballistic missile capabilities, and pursuing its alleged "aggressive efforts" to undermine neighboring governments, casting doubt on its "long-term commitment to foregoing nuclear weapons capability."

Commenting on the document, Rouhani called it a threat to a human race.

Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Lebanese leaders say Israel threatens border stability
[Al Ahram] Leb's three top leaders accused Israel on Tuesday of threatening the stability of the border region between the two countries, where calm has largely prevailed since a 2006 war, amid rising tension over territorial and maritime boundaries.

President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
...

, Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet...
agreed to act to prevent Israel from building a wall on Lebanese land at the frontier, and threatening an offshore energy block in disputed waters.

Israel says the wall is being built on its territory.

Arguments over the wall and Leb's plans to explore for offshore oil and gas in the disputed maritime waters have elevated tensions between Israel and Leb, which is home to the powerful Iran-backed Shia group Hezbollah.

The Lebanese-Israeli border has been calm since the month-long war of 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah which killed around 1,200 people in Leb and 160 Israelis troops.

Israel says the wall it is building is on Israeli sovereign land. The Lebanese government says it passes through territory that belongs to Leb but which lies on the Israeli side of the Blue Line, where the U.N. demarcated Israel's withdrawal from southern Leb in 2000.

The three leaders met to study the recent "Israeli threats, and saw in them ... a direct threat to the stability" of the border region, the president's office said in a statement.

They agreed to take measures "at various regional and international levels to prevent Israel from building the cement wall...and from the possibility of infringing on Leb's oil and gas wealth and its (territorial) waters," it said.

Last week, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman called Leb's first offshore oil and gas exploration tender "very provocative" and urged international firms not to participate.

Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Actually, we threaten to wipe out your entire "country".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/07/2018 1:26 Comments || Top||


Turkey says no disagreements with Russia over Syria operation
[Al Ahram] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
and Russia have no disagreements over Ankara's air and ground offensive into northern Syria's Afrin region and the two countries are in close contact over the operation, the Ottoman Turkish foreign minister said on Tuesday.

Turkey launched "Operation Olive Branch" two weeks ago targeting the YPG Kurdish militia in Afrin, opening a new front in Syria's seven-year-old, multi-sided civil war. Russia is the main backer of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
"We do not have any disagreements with Russia. We continue our contacts with Russia," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview with TGRT Haber, when asked about possible tensions with Moscow over Afrin.

"We need to inform each other in a timely manner, especially (regarding) air strikes and the developments in the field. We contact them in real time or in advance."

He also said Ottoman Turkish forces had finished building a sixth observation point in Syria's Idlib region.

Under a deal reached with Tehran and Moscow to try to reduce fighting between pro-government forces and mainly Islamist gunnies in northwestern Syria, Turkey has agreed to set up 12 observation posts in Idlib and neighbouring provinces.

But the "de-escalation" in violence they were supposed to monitor has halted. In December the Syrian army, helped by Iran-backed militias and heavy Russian air power, launched a major offensive to take territory in Idlib province.

Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Terror Networks
Israel said part of secret coalition monitoring IS fighters returning from Syria
[IsraelTimes] 21 nations reportedly in pact to collect and share intelligence targeting European jihadis seeking a way home from fighting in Middle East

Israel is a member of a secret intelligence collection and sharing operation made up of 21 nations targeting European jihadis returning home from fighting in Syria with the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group, German daily Der Spiegel reported Sunday.

Naming Germany as another of the members, the newspaper said that the anti-terror operation was known as "Gallant Phoenix" and was being led from a US Joint Special Operations Command center in Jordan.

The operation is focused on collecting documents, data, DNA traces and fingerprints that have been retrieved from former IS strongholds and comparing them with intelligence already acquired by other countries in the pact, the report said, while only naming Germany and Israel as members.

An estimated 40,000 people traveled from around the world to take up arms for the Islamic State group as it occupied territory in Syria and Iraq and declared a caliphate in 2014.

In late 2017, the group suffered an overwhelming defeat in Syria and Iraq, being driven out from over 96 percent of the territory it once held and failing to reach its goal of establishing a caliphate in the region. Since then, many of the remaining imported muscle who had traveled to the region have sought a way back to Europe.

Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that Israeli intelligence had helped stem the return of Islamic State fighters and even prevented hijacked airplanes from crashing into European cities.

"We have, through our intelligence services, provided information that has stopped several dozen major terrorist attacks, many of them in European countries," he told Israel-based ambassadors to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
"Some of these could have been mass attacks, of the worst kind that you have experienced on the soil of Europe
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
and even worse, because they involve civil aviation. Israel has prevented that, and thereby helped save many European lives," Netanyahu said, apparently referring to plane hijackings.

Netanyahu added that besides fighting Islamic State terrorism aimed at European cities, Israel was also preventing the group from creating a second stronghold in Egypt.

"ISIS is being destroyed in Iraq and Syria, but it is trying to establish an alternative territorial base in the Sinai. Israel is contributing to preventing that in myriad ways," he said. "In general, I would say that Israel is the most powerful indigenous force in the Middle East that fights radical Islam."

While thousands of European citizens are reported to have traveled to Syria and Iraq, Israel has seen comparatively few citizens join the Islamic State group, though it remains a significant concern to security forces.

Last month the Shin Bet Security service said that a 26-year old Arab Israeli man had been tossed in the clink
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
on the suspicion that he had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and planned to carry out an attack in Israel on its behalf. In December, a Belarusian-Israeli convert to Islam was convicted of attempting to join the group in Syria, nearly a year after he tried to travel to the country via The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
The Shin Bet estimates that approximately 50 Arab citizens of Israel have traveled to Syria or Iraq to join the group in recent years.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/07/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
29[untagged]
8Islamic State
4Houthis
3Taliban
3Govt of Pakistan
3Govt of Syria
3Hamas
3Hezbollah
3Sublime Porte
2Govt of Iran
2Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1Boko Haram (ISIS)
1Commies
1Govt of Qatar (MB)
1PLO
1Muslim Brotherhood
1al-Nusra

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2018-02-07
  Israelis kill Ahmad Nasser Jarrar, terrorist behind murder of Rabbi Raziel Shevah
Tue 2018-02-06
  Chlorine gas dropped in rebel-held territory of Idlib, Syria
Mon 2018-02-05
  Russian, Syrian warplanes unleash all-out attack on ISIS in northeast Hama as army prepares to eliminate pocket
Sun 2018-02-04
  Bomb blast kills top military commander in S. Yemen Zoom
Sat 2018-02-03
  Ahrar Al-Sham’s top commander in northern Idlib has been assassinated
Fri 2018-02-02
  Four Migrants Critical after Being Shot in Calais Brawl
Thu 2018-02-01
  Robert Mueller Requests Postponement of General Mike Flynn Sentencing… It was a set up
Wed 2018-01-31
  Southwest State Confirms The Death Of Burhakabo Military Commander
Tue 2018-01-30
  Iraqi court sentences Al-Qaeda member to death over executing eight civilians in 2007
Mon 2018-01-29
  McCabe Resigns
Sun 2018-01-28
  Top Houthi leader killed in Sanaa by unknown individuals
Sat 2018-01-27
  Taliban kill 40 63 90 95 with ambulance bomb in Afghan capital Kabul
Fri 2018-01-26
  Mosul clean up continues: 21 turbans permanently unwound, 9 more jugged
Thu 2018-01-25
  Double car bombing kills 33 in Benghazi
Wed 2018-01-24
  Two suicide attackers, Islamic State member killed as troops repel attack in Baghdad

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