[PUBLISH.TWITTER] Ten percent of the miscreants do 90% of the crimes? I recall discussions here about old cop wisdom to that effect, though the actual numbers might be skightly different. At any rate, read it as a very few cause most of the problems.
BREAKING: Homicides in Denver drop 58% and in Aurora 36% after Trump ICE deportation raids on killer Tren de Aragua gang members.
Of course, the Democrats with their mainstream media clowns and radical Obama judges want to keep these illegal alien thugs here in America. pic.twitter.com/SGJUercVNJ
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2025 00:00 ||
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#1
Every day count of Americans murdered, raped, assaulted, and robbed needs to be kept running to show that it is in fact a war unleashed by the ruling class upon the public.
#2
Ten percent of the miscreants do 90% of the crimes?
Quite possibly. Crime is one of those things that shows a Pareto distribution, commonly called the 80/20 Rule. It is more a rule of thumb than a physical law, but it does show up in a lot of situations. Not just crime, but books written, hit songs, patents issued, scientific discoveries, basically anything that involves iterated creation or production. All animals may be equal but their outputs differ.
The more familiar normal distribution (aka the Bell Curve) shows up with things like height, weight, and IQ in humans, things that are the result of a bunch of random inputs.
#3
Sure. Ted Sturgeon’s Law: 90% of everything is crap. It’s just that the discussion I recall was something on the order of taking a few dozen very bad men and a few women off the street pretty much solved the crime problem for a neighbourhood/community/region — and the police knew exactly who those people are. It’s just that in general they weren’t allowed to take those people out of circulation proactively.
[KhaamaPress] A border commander was killed by gunfire from Pak soldiers, following a clash along the Afghanistan-Pakistain border.
A Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... border commander was killed in a skirmish with Pak border guards along the Afghanistan-Pakistain border in Paktika ...which coincidentally borders North Wazoo and Kurram Agency... province. The incident occurred on Friday, May 16, 2025, in the Angur Ada area of Barmal district, near the Durand Line.
Local sources identified the slain commander as Sibghatullah Matin, who served as the logistics chief of the Taliban’s 4th Brigade of the Mansouri Corps. The clash resulted in the deaths of two Taliban fighters and five Pak soldiers, with four additional Taliban members sustaining injuries .
The exact cause of the confrontation remains unclear, as neither Taliban nor Pak officials have publicly commented on the incident. However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... such border festivities have been recurrent in recent years, particularly in the southeastern provinces of Afghanistan.
This incident underscores the ongoing tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistain, exacerbated by cross-border militancy and territorial disputes. Both nations have accused each other of harboring krazed killer groups, leading to a complex and volatile security situation along their shared border.
While the Taliban has not issued an official statement regarding the clash, the Pak military has not provided details either. The lack of communication from both sides contributes to the uncertainty surrounding the event and highlights the challenges in managing border security and diplomatic relations in the region.
#BREAKING For the Third day in a row, protestors in Libyan capital Tripoli call for a new government chanting “The Libyan people have had enough! No one wants you anymore “Dbaiba” pic.twitter.com/COaPdAa1u8
[THEDEFENSEPOST] A jihadist raid on a military base in northeast Nigeria
... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... near the border with 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... killed five troops from a multinational coalition Friday, two military sources told AFP.
Fighters from 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.... West Africa Province (ISWAP) stormed the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) base housing Nigerian and Cameroonian troops in the town of Wulgo in a pre-dawn attack, engaging troops in a shootout, the two sources said.
''Four Nigerian soldiers and a Cameroonian soldier were killed in the fighting,'' a Nigerian military source said.
''Nine of the bully boyz were also killed,'' the officer said.
The forces of Evil forced the troops to abandon the base after overwhelming them, said a second officer, who gave the same toll.
The attack came two months after a similar raid on the same base killed 25 Cameroonian soldiers.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2025 00:00 ||
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[BARRONS] Twin jihadist attacks across Lake Chad killed at least 22 people in Nigeria, sources told AFP Friday, with Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... killing more than a dozen civilians and 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.... West Africa Province raiding a military base.
The attacks come as Nigeria's embattled northeast -- facing an insurgency that since 2009 has killed 40,000 and displaced two million -- has witnessed renewed attacks in recent weeks.
While violence has fallen from its 2014-2015 peak, the governor of Borno recently warned that the military was losing ground to jihadists. A spate of attacks killed 100 people.
Militants from Boko Haram killed at least 17 fishermen and farmers on Thursday, local anti-jihadist militia members told AFP, warning that the toll may rise.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2025 00:00 ||
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[HodhodYemenNews] The Israeli occupation launched fresh aggression on Yemen early Friday, targeting critical infrastructure in Yemen’s western province of Hodeidah.
According to local sources in the province, Israeli strikes hit both the al-Salif Port and the al-Hodeidah Port, both in the province.
One killed, nine injured in Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah
[HodhodYemenNews] At least one person was killed and nine others were injured when Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes on Yemen’s western province of Hodeidah on Friday, the Health Ministry in Sana’a reported.
in a statement, the Ministry explained that one citizen was killed and three others were injured in the Zionist aggression on the Port of Salif. Additionally, six citizens were injured in the Zionist attack on the Port of Hodeidah. This is a preliminary toll.
The Ministry condemned in the strongest terms the blatant Israeli aggression on Yemen, which targeted vital civilian facilities and infrastructure, considering it a full-fledged war crime that violates all international and humanitarian laws, norms, and conventions.
Israeli fighter jets carried out a wave of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... on Friday afternoon, targeting two Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... -controlled ports in the west of the country, and threatened to kill the terror group’s leader, in response to the Iran-backed group’s ongoing missile and drone attacks on Israel.
Israel had waited until the end of US President Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... ’s visit to the region before launching its reprisal strikes on the Houthis.
Decidedly thoughtful and respectful, and then they smacked down the hammer hard.
Since the Israel Defense Force’s last strike on Yemen, on May 6, the Houthis launched at least seven missiles and two drones at Israel, the latest of them on Thursday night.
Fifteen fighter jets were involved in the strike on Friday, dropping some 35 munitions on the Hodeidah and Salif ports, destroying infrastructure, the military said. IAF refuelers and spy planes also participated in the operation.
Fifteen fighter jets were involved in the strike on Friday, dropping some 35 munitions on the Hodeidah and Salif ports, destroying infrastructure, the military said. IAF refuelers and spy planes also participated in the operation.
Earlier this week, the IDF issued two evacuation warnings for the two ports in western Yemen, along with a third port, Ras Isa, the latter of which was not targeted on Friday.
"These ports are used for the transfer of weapons and are another example of the cynical exploitation of civilian infrastructure by the Houthi terror regime to advance terror," the military said in a statement.
The two ports have been targeted by the Israeli Air Force before, as was Yemen’s Sanaa International Airport on May 6.
🤬l'armée de l'air israélienne (FDI) a mené une série de frappes aériennes sur les ports de Salif et de Hodeida, dans la province de Hodeida, sur la côte ouest du Yémen contrôlée par les Houthis du mouvement Ansar Allah, a rapporté la chaîne de télévision yéménite Al Masirah. pic.twitter.com/no8tzpyZmv
— Bien mal a qui ne profite jamais, ne l'oubliez pas (@tom548406612159) May 16, 2025
The IDF said the strikes are intended to “deepen the damage to the Houthis’ terror capabilities,” and “neutralize” the ports, to prevent the group from bringing in more Iranian weapons and to harm the group economically.
The military estimated it would take the Houthis about a month to restore the ports. Until then, it would be unable to dock ships longer than 80 meters there.
“In light of the Houthi terror regime’s use of these ports for terror purposes, the IDF reiterates its warning to those present at the ports to distance themselves and evacuate the area,” the military said.
Defense Minister Israel Katz, in a statement, threatened to eliminate Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi if the Iran-backed group continues to fire on Israel.
“The IDF now struck and severely damaged the ports in Yemen that are under the control of the Houthi terror group. The airport in Sanaa also remains destroyed,” Katz said.
“As we said, if the Houthis continue to fire missiles on Israel, they will suffer painful blows, and we will also strike the terror chief, just as we did to Deif and the Sinwars in Gaza, to Nasrallah in Beirut and to Haniyeh in Tehran,” he said, referring to the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah that Israel has assassinated (it is not yet confirmed that Hamas Gaza leader Muhammad Sinwar, brother of slain Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, was killed in this week’s strike that targeted him).
Death confirmed. See today’s report of the festivities in Gaza.
“We will hunt down and eliminate Abdul-Malik al-Houthi in Yemen as well. We will defend ourselves by our own strength against any enemy,” Katz added.
Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis have launched 34 ballistic missiles and at least 10 drones at Israel. Several of the missiles have fallen short.
[IsraelTimes] Red paint was splashed across an office block in a Manchester neighborhood, home to a large Jewish community, with the words “Happy Nakba Day” painted on the building yesterday morning, the Manchester Evening News reports.
The anti-Israel Palestine Action protest group claims that the landlords of the office building, Rico House, are from the Israeli arms company Elbit Systems.
Greater Manchester Police are investigating the incident, the Manchester Evening News says.
[X]
After a targeted campaign, Somerset Council "relinquished" their ties to Israel's biggest weapons firm by selling off Elbit's Bristol HQ.
The new landlords of the Israeli weapons epicentre were just targeted in Manchester by Palestine Action. pic.twitter.com/eOWFSM0rwt
#1
There is no better way to convince others of the righteousness of your cause than petty vandalism.
Is it just me or does Happy Nakba Day have a little built-in cognitive dissonance? It's supposed to be a tragedy. No one says Happy Johnstown Flood Day.
ITALY: Pro-Palestinian activists attempted to knock down Israeli cyclists during the Giro d’Italia cycling race in Naples, an act that could have caused a pile-up or even resulted in the athletes’ deaths.
[IsraelTimes] The man who stabbed and partially blinded novelist Salman Rushdie onstage at a Western New York arts institute in 2022 was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Friday for an attack that also maimed a second man, the district attorney says.
Rushdie, 77, has faced death threats since the 1988 publication of his novel "The Satanic Verses," which Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran’s supreme leader, denounced as blasphemous, leading to a call for Rushdie’s death, an edict known as a fatwa.
Hadi Matar, 27, a US citizen from Fairview, New Jersey, was found guilty in February of attacking the author in the Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, New York. He faced a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison on the attempted murder charge.
Video that captured the assault shows Matar rushing the Chautauqua Institution’s stage as Rushdie was being introduced to the audience for a talk about keeping writers safe from harm. Some of the video was shown to the jury during the seven days of testimony.
"He’s traumatized. He has nightmares about what he experienced," Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt says after the sentencing hearing, referring to what Rushdie suffered.
"Obviously this is a major setback for an individual who was starting to emerge in his very later years of life into society after going into hiding after the fatwa."
Also hurt in the attack was Henry Reese, co-founder of Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum, a nonprofit that helps exiled writers. He was conducting the talk with Rushdie that morning.
Schmidt said Matar was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the second degree attempted murder charge stemming from the attack against Rushdie and seven years for a second degree assault charged for the stabbing of Reese. The sentences will run concurrently.
Rushdie, an atheist born into a Moslem Kashmiri family in India, was stabbed with a knife multiple times in the head, neck, torso and left hand. The attack blinded his right eye and damaged his liver and intestines, requiring emergency surgery and months of recovery.
Matar did not testify at his trial. His defense lawyers told jurors that the prosecutors had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the necessary criminal intent to kill needed for a conviction of attempted murder, and argued that he should have been charged with assault.
Matar’s attorney Nathaniel Barone said his client will file an appeal.
"I know if he had the opportunity, he would not be sitting where he’s sitting today. And if he could change things, he would," Barone said.
Matar also faces federal charges brought by prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in Western New York, accusing him of attempting to murder Rushdie as an act of terrorism. Prosecutors accuse him of providing material support to Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... ’s bully boy Hezbollah group, which the US. has designated as a terrorist organization.
Matar is due to face those charges at a separate trial in Buffalo.
Hadi Matar, 27, stood quietly as the judge pronounced the sentence. He did not deny attacking Rushdie, and when he was invited to address the court before being sentenced, Matar got in a few last insults at the writer. He said he believed in freedom of speech but called Rushdie “a hypocrite.”
“Salman Rushdie wants to disrespect other people,” said Matar, clad in white-striped jail clothing and wearing handcuffs. “He wants to be a bully, he wants to bully other people. I don’t agree with that.”
Video of the assault, captured by the venue’s cameras and played at trial, shows Matar approaching the seated Rushdie from behind and reaching around him to stab at his torso with a knife. As the audience gasps and screams, Rushdie is seen raising his arms and rising from his seat, walking and stumbling for a few steps with Matar hanging on, swinging and stabbing until they both fall and are surrounded by onlookers who rush in to separate them.
A jury found Matar guilty of attempted murder and assault in February after deliberating for less than two hours.
Judge David Foley told Matar that he thought it was notable that he had chosen to try and kill Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution, a summer retreat that prides itself on the free exchange of ideas.
“We all have the right to have our own ideals; we all have the right to carry them,” Foley said. “But when you interfere with someone else’s ability to do that by committing a violent act, in the United States of America, that has to be an answerable crime.”
Matar’s lawyer, Nathaniel Barone, had asked the judge for a sentence of around 12 years, citing his lack of a previous criminal record.
Matar next faces a US federal trial on terrorism-related charges. While the first, state-level trial focused mostly on the details of the knife attack itself, the next one is expected to delve into the more complicated issue of motive. He has pleaded not guilty. If convicted of the federal charges, Matar faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Authorities said Matar, a dual American-Lebanese citizen, was attempting to carry out a decades-old fatwa, or Islamic legal ruling, when he traveled from his home in Fairview, New Jersey, to target Rushdie at the summer retreat about 70 miles (110 kilometers) southwest of Buffalo.
Matar believed the fatwa that called for Rushdie’s death, first issued by Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, was backed by Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah and endorsed in a 2006 speech by the group’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah, according to US federal prosecutors.
Khomeini had issued the fatwa after the publication of Rushdie’s novel, “The Satanic Verses,” which some Muslims consider blasphemous. Rushdie spent years in hiding, but after Iran announced it would not enforce the decree, he traveled freely over the past quarter century.
[IsraelTimes] The Israel Defense Forces announces that it intercepted a drone “from the east,” in apparent reference to the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
“Alerts were activated in accordance with policy,” says a statement from the military.
This was after the IDF pounded both ports in Hodeidah Province yesterday morning, and after the Houthis reared up on their hind legs in challenge:
[IsraelTimes] Responding to the latest Israeli threats, senior Houthi official Nasr al-Din Amer says in a statement that the Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen will continue pursuing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders over their responsibility for the “massacre in Gaza.”
He claims that the Houthis recently targeted Ben Gurion Airport while Netanyahu was inside.
[IsraelTimes] Attacker from East Jerusalem charged at cop near Temple Mount’s Chain Gate and stabbed him in the back, moderately wounding him, police and medics say
A 25-year-old police officer was moderately maimed Friday after being stabbed in Jerusalem’s Old City, police and medics said, adding that other officers in the area shot the assailant and killed him.
The maimed officer was taken to the hospital, still conscious, medics said. Police said they had sealed off the site of the attack, at the Chain Gate entrance to the Temple Mount, and sent reinforcements to the scene.
According to police, the stabber charged the officer, stabbing him in the back. The stabber was then shot and maimed by another policeman and a Border Police officer and subsequently declared dead on the scene, police said.
The stabber was identified by security officials as a resident of East Jerusalem’s Beit Hanina neighborhood. Footage from the scene showed the alleged attacker lying on the ground with blood under his body.
WAFA, the Paleostinian Authority’s official news agency, said that after the attack, police closed off the Chain Gate, turned away worshipers, launched a drone over al-Aqsa Mosque, and set up checkpoints in several neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.
The Chain Gate is on the western side of the Temple Mount complex, which houses the al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site. It has in recent years been the site of several attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces.
In 2021, a terrorist opened fire near the gate, killing one person and wounding four others. Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... later grabbed credit for the attack, identifying the perpetrator as a member of the terror group’s branch in the Shuafat refugee camp located near the eponymous East Jerusalem neighborhood.
A 14-year-old from the Shuafat camp was arrested in early 2023 for stabbing an Israeli teenager near the Chain Gate, lightly wounding him.
[IsraelTimes] Teen hid money, photographed sites and printed inciting flyers in exchange for money, officials say
Police and the Shin Bet security service said Friday they’d arrested a 16-year-old this month for allegedly carrying out activities on behalf of 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 the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... that harmed national security, in exchange for money.
Authorities said in a statement that the teen, a resident of the Judean foothills area, was asked by his Iranian handlers to purchase a new phone and download an application where they could communicate. The suspect carried out tasks including hiding money, photographing certain locations and printing inciting flyers. Police said that when the suspect traveled abroad, the agents suggested a meeting, but they did not confirm whether the meeting took place.
According to the statement, the suspect at one point informed Israeli authorities that he was in contact with the Iranian agents, but then continued his activities. SMART
A security source recommended that "parents brief teenagers about the dangers of using the internet and maintaining contact with strangers who approach them with requests for information or offers to carry out activities and tasks in exchange for monetary compensation."
Over the past two years, Iranian intelligence operatives have ramped up their efforts to recruit ordinary Israelis as spies in exchange for money. There have been several recent cases in which Iran was revealed to have recruited Israelis to conduct various activities, from spreading propaganda and photographing sensitive sites to arson and even the attempted liquidation of bigwigs.
Late last month, a man was handed a 10-year prison sentence for contacts with Iranian agents that included discussions of a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In March, the State Attorney’s Office filed an indictment at the Beersheba District Court on charges of treason against Eduard Yusupov, a 65-year-old resident of Netivot, for having allegedly conducted spying activities on behalf of Iran.
In January, prosecutors charged two IDF reservists serving in an air defense unit with spying for Iran.
Last December, police arrested nearly 30 Israelis, mostly Jewish citizens, for espionage activities on behalf of the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
In most cases, the suspects began by carrying out small, innocuous tasks that gradually grew into more serious offenses, like intelligence gathering and liquidation plots.
In October 2024, seven Israelis were arrested for allegedly photographing and collecting information on IDF bases and facilities, including the Nevatim and Ramat David air bases, which were targeted by both Iran and Hezbollah in 2024.
Police have cautioned Israeli citizens and residents against "engaging in contact with foreign operatives and carrying out tasks for them," and have vowed to take harsh legal action against those involved in such activities.
[IsraelTimes] IDF says it hit over 150 ‘terror targets’; reports of Israeli tanks advancing ahead of expected major offensive after US president leaves region; Trump: ‘Lot of bad things going on’ in Gaza
Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip on Friday killed at least 74 people, Hamas-run authorities said, as US President Donald Trump wrapped up a Middle East visit that skipped Israel and offered little prospect for a ceasefire and hostage deal.
Vowing to take care of Gaza, Trump said “a lot of people are starving in Gaza… There’s a lot of bad things going on.”
Strikes overnight into Friday morning hit the outskirts of Deir al-Balah and the city of Khan Younis, and sent people fleeing from the Jabaliya refugee camp and the town of Beit Lahiya.
The death toll figure, which is not independently verified, does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
The Saudi Al-Hadath news channel reported that Israeli tanks advanced in the area of Beit Lahiya.
The IDF said Friday afternoon that it had carried out airstrikes on over 150 “terror targets” in the Gaza Strip over the past day. The targets included anti-tank missile launch posts, cells of operatives, and buildings used by terror groups to carry out attacks on forces, the army said.
Amid ground operations, the IDF said the 252nd Division killed several operatives who were at an observation post in northern Gaza; the Gaza Division destroyed several tunnel shafts and other infrastructure and killed several operatives in Rafah; and the 36th Division destroyed additional Hamas infrastructure and killed operatives trying to plant a bomb in the Morag Corridor area.
The strikes, which could at times be heard as far away as central Israel, sparked panic in northern Gaza.
“We were asleep when suddenly everything exploded around us,” north Gaza resident Umm Mohammed al-Tatari, 57, told AFP.
“Everyone started running. We saw the destruction with our own eyes. There was blood everywhere, body parts and corpses. We didn’t know who was dead and who was still alive.”
Another resident, 33-year-old Ahmed Nasr, said the bombing continued through the night.
The United Nations estimates that 70 percent of Gaza is now either an Israeli-declared no-go zone or under evacuation order.
“We couldn’t sleep or find any peace. There is no safety. We could die at any moment,” he said. The United Nations estimates that 70 percent of Gaza is now either an Israeli-declared no-go zone or under evacuation order.
The widespread strikes came as Trump finished his visit to Gulf states — there had been some hope that his regional trip could usher in a deal or expedite the renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Israel cut off aid to Gaza on March 2, a tactic it has said is intended to force concessions from the terror group Hamas, which is still holding 58 hostages.
TRUMP: LOT OF PEOPLE STARVING
Speaking with reporters in Abu Dhabi, the US president briefly touched on Gaza and the humanitarian situation there.
“We’re looking at Gaza, and we got to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving,” he said. “A lot of people. There’s a lot of bad things going on.”
Asked whether he supports Israeli plans to expand the war in Gaza, Trump told reporters, according to Reuters: “I think a lot of good things are going to happen over the next month, and we’re going to see. We have to help also out the Palestinians. You know, a lot of people are starving in Gaza, so we have to look at both sides.”
[X]
⚠️BREAKING: Hamas' Police Chief, Zaher Alyan Abu-Mossab, was successfully eliminated by the IDF in Gaza.
“Over the past day, the IDF launched extensive attacks and mobilized forces to seize strategic areas in the Gaza Strip, as part of the opening moves of Operation Gideon’s Chariots and the expansion of the campaign in Gaza, to achieve all the goals of the war in Gaza, including the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” the military says in a statement.
“IDF troops in the Southern Command will continue to operate to protect Israeli citizens and realize the goals of the war,” the military adds.
According to Israeli officials, the Gideon’s Chariots offensive would see the IDF “conquering” Gaza and retaining the territory; moving the Palestinian civilian population toward the south of the Strip; attacking Hamas; and preventing the terror group from taking control of humanitarian aid supplies.
[Rudaw] The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Friday they captured 10 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) suspects in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province after a deadly attack by the hard boys.
"Our forces raided the place where the gunnies were hiding, capturing ten ISIS gunnies who were involved in attacks against our forces, civilians, and public infrastructure," read a statement from the SDF.
The announcement added that they seized a cache of weapons and ammunition during the raid.
The raid took place on Thursday, the same day one member of the SDF was killed and three others were maimed in an ISIS attack.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the clash took place in the town of Abu Hamam, around 45 kilometers from the border with Iraq.
ISIS, which was territorially defeated in 2019, has recently sought to regain ground, taking advantage of instability following the fall of Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... ’s regime. The SDF, which is the de facto army of northeast Syria (Rojava), has fought to prevent the bully boyz from reestablishing a foothold in the shifting security landscape.
SOHR said it has documented 84 operations carried out by ISIS cells in Rojava since the beginning of 2025. These included armed attacks, assassinations, and bombings.
[Rudaw] One member of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was killed and three others were injured in an Islamic State (ISIS) attack in eastern Deir ez-Zor province, the Kurdish-led force announced on Thursday.
“The terrorist cell treacherously and cowardly targeted one of our military vehicles, prompting an immediate response from our forces,” the SDF stated, adding that casualties among the ISIS members “remain unknown.”
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the clash took place in the town of Abu Hamam, around 45 kilometers from the border with Iraq.
“Our forces remain determined to pursue the remnants of ISIS cells and uphold the security and stability of our regions,” the SDF said.
UNIFIL actually has limits — who knew?? Though this kind of thing used to happen regularly before the IDF came across the border, and UNIFIL didn’t say boo! as far as I’m aware.
[IsraelTimes] United Nations peacekeepers report an “unacceptable” confrontation with locals in south Lebanon and called on Lebanese authorities to ensure their freedom of movement “without threats.”
A spokesperson for the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) says that troops were confronted by a “large group of individuals” during a routine patrol, calling the incident “unacceptable” and calling on Lebanon to “ensure that UNIFIL peacekeepers can carry out their mandated tasks without threats or obstruction.”
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] A spy scandal with an unexpected creative twist has unfolded in Lebanon. The religious singer Mohammad Hadi Saleh, who is close to Hezbollah, has been arrested.
And although the investigation against him was not initially connected with work for foreign intelligence, the information that came to light during the process caused significant damage to the image of the security structures of the Shiite movement.
MUSICIAN WITH A BIOGRAPHY
Saleh began his career as a religious singer (munshid) and quickly became a well-known performer, part of the Shiite elite of Lebanon. Hezbollah agents played a significant role in his promotion, using munshids as a tool to influence the local population and strengthen the fighting spirit of fighters.
With the funds received from the movement, he organized the recording of patriotic and religious compositions, and also traveled around the country with thematic concerts. The munshid also had access to most of the official Hezbollah ceremonies - both festive and mourning.
Saleh's rise was largely due to his exemplary biography.
His father fought in the ranks of the al-Haj Radwan Forces, an elite Hezbollah unit that specializes in covert operations against Israelis in the West Bank, and was repeatedly commended by the movement's leadership.
In addition, several of Saleh's relatives fought in the ranks of Hezbollah's frontline units and died in battle.
The musician himself actively supported the image of a champion of the “Axis of Resistance”: he not only praised the heroism of Hezbollah fighters, but also praised the Yemeni Houthis for their courage and steadfastness, and also held charity concerts in support of the Palestinian resistance.
To suspect him of working for the enemy - with such a combination of merits - would be akin to madness. However, as often happens, everything was decided by chance.
A SUDDEN CLUE
Saleh came to the attention of law enforcement by accident, after a small businessman accused the musician of fraud.
According to the case materials cited by Lebanese newspapers, the influential munshid participated in the advertising of a number of investment “pyramids” and “stock market bubbles,” thereby causing considerable financial damage to the entrepreneurs who trusted him.
Saleh was arrested by the central authorities "pending clarification of the circumstances," which caused indignation in the ranks of Hezbollah. The movement was even ready to send a lawyer to its protégé, but after receiving the first results of the investigation (in particular, the protocols of the analysis of his personal equipment), it changed its mind.
In the erased correspondence on Saleh's smartphone, police found the coordinates of Hezbollah command centers, the names of some of the dead Shiite security forces, as well as information about the mood in the ranks of the Resistance.
Further investigation of the contacts “on the other side of the line” (carried out not without the participation of Hezbollah counterintelligence) revealed the terrible truth: all this time, the influential musician was working for the Israelis, helping them hunt the movement’s commanders.
GUNNER
It is not known exactly when Saleh was taken into account by Israeli intelligence. However, his cooperation with Tel Aviv Jerusalem clearly began before the Gaza conflict (2023), since after Hezbollah's involvement in the war on the Palestinian side, all public figures were under covert surveillance by Shiite counterintelligence.
However, throughout the conflict, Saleh did not arouse any suspicions among Hezbollah: he did not interact with suspicious individuals and criticized Israel’s raids on Lebanon at every opportunity.
It is also known that after the start of the Israeli operation "Arrows of the North", he repeatedly volunteered to patrol the streets of Beirut (constantly being in sight of other fighters), and also helped clear the rubble after the Israeli air strike on the Hezbollah headquarters in September 2024.
During his time working for Israeli intelligence, Saleh earned about $23,000.
A piddling amount, except that foreign currency has been worth its weight in gold since Lebanon’s fiscal problems became so much worse..
About five times more than from all his concerts combined. He has at least a dozen and a half operations to his credit.
However, the prosecution is convinced that in reality there were more and Tel Aviv simply deposited the funds into a safe account in one of the foreign banks.
Among the most significant operations in which the Lebanese musician was involved was the liquidation of the commander of one of the border units of Hezbollah, Hassan Beir. The Israelis received his coordinates after he attended a charity concert of Saleh.
Together with Hassan, his son Ali, who was also his father's deputy, was also liquidated. The unit entrusted to them lost its combat capability for some time, which was taken advantage of by the Israeli forces advancing in southern Lebanon.
YOU CAN'T TRUST ANYONE
Not if you’re part of the Axis of Evil, anyway. It’s easier for the good guys.
Interestingly, the “dual-purpose musician” not only helped identify specific field commanders, but also posted condolences on his social media pages after each strike, thereby providing Israeli intelligence services with objective control over the results of the liquidation operations.
For this, Lebanese loyal to Hezbollah dubbed Saleh “the nightingale of Tel Aviv,” accusing him of cynically profiting from his fellow men and using his talent for evil.
However, there is a high probability that Saleh is not the only public figure close to Hezbollah who has been co-opted by the Israelis to carry out subversive activities in Lebanon.
Indeed. Hezbollah arrogance — the massive destruction caused by their poorly chemical precursers for their bombs, for instance — has created a tremendous reservoir of anger among those who’ve survived their entitled attitude.
Moreover, even after the formal completion of the Northern Arrows in January 2025, the Israeli army continues to identify and destroy the movement’s command posts with amazing efficiency.
The musician's arrest (and the charges brought against him) could well trigger a witch hunt within Hezbollah, weakening trust not only among commanders but also among loyalists from business and cultural backgrounds.
The “Saleh precedent” will also become the main argument in favor of the fact that even those whose biography is considered exemplary cannot be trusted.
And such discord plays into the hands of the Israelis even more than the field work of Lebanese agents.
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