[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan Air Force (AAF) will receive 12 additional MD-530 helicopters from the United States upgraded with the rocket pods.
According to the AAF officials, the delivery of the helicopters will begin in next month and will be completed over a period of 3 months.
The commander of the Afghan Air Force General Abdul Wahab Wardak said four helicopters will be each months from June to August.
The US army reportedly awarded a contract worth $13.2 million to add the seven-tube M260 launcher for the 70mm (2.75 inch) rockets to MD-530Fs to be supplied by the United States to the Afghan Air Force.
According to the reports emerging in mid-2015, 19 helicopters in total will have the rocket system added to the Mission Equipment Package (MEP) that already features twin FN Herstal 12.7 mm (.50 cal) Heavy Machine Gun Pods (HMPs).
MD-530F helicopters are designed for high altitude and/or hot weather operations to provide close-air support to the ground forces.
Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called the chief of staff and complained that the artillery was keeping him awake... the AAF officials said they have so far received 9 A-29 Super Tucano fixed wing light attack aircraft from the United States as well as surveillance unmanned aerial vehicle which are expected to further boost the capabilities of the Afghan forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2016 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] A shadowy, Pakistain-based hard boy faction is on the rise within the Taliban after its leader was appointed deputy and played a key role in unifying the fractured insurgency.
The ascendency of the Haqqani network, a US-designated terrorist organization, could significantly strengthen the Taliban and herald another summer of fierce fighting in Afghanistan. The firepower it brings to the Taliban was shown by a Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... bombing last month that killed 64 people, the deadliest in the Afghan capital in years, which experts say was too sophisticated for the bully boyz to have carried out without the Haqqanis.
The network's role could also further poison already tainted relations between Islamabad and Kabul. Afghanistan is pressing Pakistain to crack down on the Haqqanis, accusing it of tolerating the group, a charge the Paks deny.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The coalition security forces supported the Afghan Special Forces during a raid in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province which resulted to release of over 60 hostages from a Taliban-run prison.
"Afghan Special Security Forces liberated over 60 prisoners from an illegally run Taliban prison in Bar Now Zad Village in Now Zad District of Helmand Province last night," a statement by the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... -led Resolute Support mission said.
The statement further added that the Ktah Khas, Afghanistan’s national-level counterterrorism unit, and an Afghan Army Commando unit jointly conducted this successful mission. "Coalition Forces supported their Afghan partners in a Train, Advise and Assist role."
The raid occurred during the cover of darkness via helicopter assault, conducted by the Afghan Special Mission Wing (Unit 777), in an effort to disrupt Taliban activities, the alliance said.
It also added that two forces of Evil were killed during the operation, and numerous were maimed and detained. "The liberated prisoners were safely transported to Kandahar where they were turned over to the appropriate Afghan authorities. The Afghan Special Security Forces did not sustain any casualties during the operation."
The Afghan Special Operations Forces have stepped up night raids targeting the Taliban forces of Evil in the restive provinces recently as experts believe the operations have yielded positive results in curbing the insurgency activities of the holy warriors.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] An Egyptian court recommended death sentences on Saturday for six codefendants of Mohammad Mursi but not for the ousted Islamist president in their trial on espionage charges.
The presiding judge in the trial asked the mufti -- the country's official interpreter of Islamic law -- to consider death sentences for the six codefendants, saying the court would convene again on June 18 after the mufti's response.
It will then pronounce its verdict and sentence for the remaining five defendants, including Mursi, on charges of having supplied 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... with classified documents.
Egyptian law requires the mufti to sign off on death sentences. His opinion is not binding but is usually respected by courts.
Qatar was a main backer of Mursi and his Moslem Brüderbund movement while he was in power between 2012 and July 2013, when the military overthrew and detained him.
He has since been sentenced to death, life in prison and 20 years in three separate trials.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] A new round of talks between the various Yemeni parties was held on Saturday in Kuwait as the Riyadh-led delegation rejected the halt of Saudi air raids on Yemen.
The Saudi-led delegation also denied the reports on the deployment of the US Marines troops in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... despite the Pentagon's related acknowledgements.
Media reports mentioned that the members Saudi-led delegation appeared to be confused during the dialogue session for their inability to respond to the national parties' questions about whether the US administration obtained their approval before deploying troops in Yemen.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Yemen's revolutionary committee stressed that the presence of any foreign forces on the Yemeni territory is an occupation that will be met with resistance.
In a statement released on Saturday, the revolutionary committee denounced the arrival of US Marines in al-Anad air base in the south western province of restive Lahj ... a Yemeni governate located in the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It is the stomping grounds on the southern secessionist al-Harak movement , describing it as a dangerous move.
"The free Yemeni people with all its tribes, popular committees and army refuse the presence of foreign forces on its territory, as it consider the US presence a clear colonization," the statement said.
The revolutionary committee also held the international community responsible for the repercussions of such move due to its silence.
"At a time political efforts are exerted in a bid to put an end to the aggression and the blockade, we stand before a dangerous move represented by the arrival of US invasion forces in the country's south," the statement read, according to Yemeni media.
The committee meanwhile, stressed that the Yemeni people are capable of confronting the danger of al-Qaeda and ISISTakfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorists, which are backed by the Saudi-led aggression.
"We are capable of doing so without any foreign interference."
"Once again we affirm that the presence of US, UAE and other forces is an occupation aimed at spoiling our country and wealth," the statement added, stressing that this occupation will be met with resistance by all means.
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... has been since March 26, 2015 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led coalition.
Thousands have been martyred and injured in the attack, with the vast majority of them are civilians.
Riyadh launched the attack on Yemen in a bid to restore power to runaway Hadi who is a close ally to 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... .
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
"But we're cool with Leb Hezbies. They support us"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/08/2016 12:29 Comments ||
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Washington -- In a reflection of the change and churn in the Middle East, former high-level officials from Saudi Arabia and Israel -- nations that have no formal diplomatic ties -- spoke publicly about their shared sense of Iran as a threat, their differences on Palestinians and the role the United States plays in their chaotic region.
With so many foreign policy failures to choose from, I think this one is Champ's worst...
Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief, and retired Israeli Army Maj. Gen. Yaakov Amidror, a former adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke in Washington Thursday night at a discussion arranged by The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Former Saudi Intel Chief: Problem is 'clouded' U.S. policy
Their joint appearance doesn't mean the two countries will be normalizing relations anytime soon, Turki warned.
"We are both exes," he said, referring to their status as former officials and not current representatives of their governments.
Despite that -- and the fact that the Saudi kingdom has never formally acknowledged Israel's existence -- the two nations have been quietly cooperating for years, exchanging intelligence on shared threats and in particular on Iran.
The most obvious bond the two countries share is their strong security relationship with and dependence on the United States -- and the fact that both have had rocky patches with the Obama administration over the past few years. Both opposed the deal on Iran's nuclear program, while Saudi officials spoke about their anger that President Barack Obama didn't follow through on a commitment to punish Syria if it crossed the "red line" of chemical weapons use.
Turki said the "strategic relationship with the U.S. will remain, from the Saudi point of view," but suggested it needed rethinking.
"There needs to be a re-evaluation and recalibration of the relationship," he said.
Amidror said that while the "Palestinian issue" was a major difference between Israel and the United States, there is "no substitute for the United States of America in the Middle East."
Those "who think other countries can do what the United States used to do is a big mistake," he said. And he indicated that he understood the Obama administration's attempts to recalibrate its ties to the Middle East.
Both men made it clear that their countries will take steps if they see any erosion of the Iran deal they so forcefully opposed.
Turki said "all options" would be on the table if Iran moves toward a bomb, "including the acquisitions of nuclear weapons, to face whatever eventuality might come from Iran."
Officials from the kingdom, which is party to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, have raised that possibility in the past. However, they have more strongly stressed the need for the Middle East to be a "weapons of mass destruction free zone," as Turki did at the event.
Amidror said he expected that Iran will move to build a bomb "toward the end of the agreement," which limits research, development and enrichment over 10 to 15 years, if it doesn't violate it first.
"In principle, the Iranians can go nuclear and from the Israeli point of view, this is a threat to existence," Amidror said. "We will not let this happen."
The two men, sitting side by side on a stage, generally impassive while the other spoke, sparred gently over the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Arab cooperation with Israel would improve, Turki said, if it could resolve its decadeslong disagreement with the Palestinians.
"Cooperation between Arab countries and Israel in meeting threats, from wherever they come, whether Iran, is better fortified if there is peace between the Arab nations and Israel," he said.
The Saudi prince returned to the issue repeatedly, criticizing Israel's presence in the West Bank and tying it to a wider Mideast peace.
"There has to be a lifting of the occupation," Turki said. "The Palestinians have to have their own country."
But Amidror said it was the Palestinians who were sabotaging the process. He argued it was a mistake for the Arab world to give the Palestinians the "key" to unlocking the relationship with Israel, since that effectively blocked progress.
Arab states, Amidror told Turki, should "cooperate with Israel instead of dictating" to it. He urged regional leaders to "think outside the box" and suggested the Arab world form an "umbrella of cooperation" on Palestinian issue to help move negotiations along.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/08/2016 00:00 ||
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#2
The most obvious bond the two countries share is their strong security relationship with and dependence on the United States
..Reflect on this for a moment: the Israelis can build just about anything they want, but they don't have the money. The Saudis have more money than Allah, but they have to buy from people who don't like them and whom they don't trust. Give Israeli arms manufacturers Saudi money, and we're going to have a REAL problem.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/08/2016 8:10 Comments ||
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#3
Give Israeli arms manufacturers Saudi money, and we're going to have a REAL problem.
Followed eventually by Israel facing the same weapons in the hands of proxies -- the hudna, and its end, is not optional.
#4
Didn't the Saoodis fund the Pak program? What's a couple nukes among friends?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/08/2016 12:31 Comments ||
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#5
The Paks seem to be welshing and trying to hide in the Iranian shadow. Bet the KSA starts to Hindus as people of the book, as written by a blue elephant.
[AA.TR] 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... ’s long-serving oil minister was removed from his post Saturday, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
Ali al-Naimi, 81, had been a leading opponent of lowering oil production in the face of falling prices.
He was replaced by Khalid Al-Falih, chairman of state oil company Saudi Aramco, the world's largest petroleum firm.
The removal of al-Naimi - who served as oil minister from 1995 - by royal decree came three weeks after an oil summit in 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... where oil producing states agreed to freeze production levels to raise prices.
However, women are made to be loved, not understood... the deal collapsed when Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, an increasingly influential figure in Saudi politics, insisted the country would not cut oil output unless regional rival Iran did the same.
Oil prices have dropped sharply since mid-2014 due to a glut in supply, severely harming the budgets of oil-dependent countries such as Saudi Arabia, where oil accounts for around 80 percent of state revenue.
According to the decree, al-Naimi will become an advisor to the royal family with the rank of minister.
Prince Salman recently announced a plan to wean the kingdom off its oil dependency. The proposal includes selling Aramco shares to generate revenue for a $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2016 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] Pakistain has expressed deep concern and anguish after Bangladesh's top court upheld the death penalty for Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami ...During the liberation war of 1971, Nizami formed the Al-Badr Force and acted as its supreme commander. The Al-Badr militia took active part in rape, extortion, looting and killing of Bangladeshis who supported the liberation, including a pre-planned massacre on December 14, 1971, when the Al-Badr militia along with Pakistan Army rounded up hundreds of doctors, professors, writers, and other Bengali intellectuals, and executed them... for war crimes.
"We have noted with deep concern and anguish the dismissal of the review application on the death sentence, by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, for Mr Motiur Rahman Niazami the leader of Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... ," Pakistain's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
Nizami is the ameer of Jamaat which openly opposed Bangladesh's independence from Pakistain in 1971. He was involved in mass murders and rapes of Bangalis in Pabna and massacre of intellectuals in Dhaka.
Pakistain, which had previously condemned sentencing of Jamaat leaders for war crimes, dubbed the trials "controversial."
"There is a need for reconciliation in Bangladesh in accordance with the spirit of Tripartite Agreement of April 1974 which calls for a forward looking approach in matters relating to the events of 1971," the statement added.
Nizami was the chief of Jamaat’s then students' wing Islami Chhatra Sangha, members of which formed al-Badr force to collaborate with the Pak Army to commit barbaric atrocities. The tribunal verdict said Nizami had civil superior responsibility in the commission of the offences as chief of both Chhatra Sangha and al-Badr in 1971.
The review petition was the war criminal's last legal battle. Now, he will have the chance to seek presidential pardon. If he does not receive it or opts to not seek clemency, the government will carry out the death sentence.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2016 00:00 ||
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KARACHI: Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, on Friday expressed their resolve to continue the operation against criminals, terrorists and killers in Karachi while complying with all legal formalities and requirements for justice, said a statement issued here.
A meeting to review the progress of the ‘Karachi operation’ and discuss future planning of the paramilitary force actions was held at the Rangers headquarters. The director general of Sindh Rangers, Maj Gen Bilal Akbar, presided over the meeting.
“The meeting was attended by all sector and wing commanders,” said the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, statement. “The meeting reviewed the progress of ongoing operation. It was decided that the Rangers would continue chasing terrorists and targeted killers without any discrimination while meeting all legal formalities and requirement for justice.”
The Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, meeting was first of its kind after the growing controversy and criticism over the death of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) worker Aftab Ahmed in their custody.
Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif has ordered an inquiry into the incident while the Sindh Rangers chief has also suspended an unspecified number of paramilitary soldiers and formed a probe body.
The situation took a serious turn when initial findings of a post-mortem examination of the deceased confirmed that between 35 and 40 per cent of Aftab Ahmed’s body surface was “congested due to multiple bruises”.
Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the Rangers, who were facing allegations of custodial killing, should not hold an inquiry into the incident on their own and he had contacted the Sindh government for a judicial probe into the custodial death.
A fragile cease-fire in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo has been extended for 72 hours, Russia ordered said, as Daesh battled other militant factions near the city on Saturday.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the extension was made at Moscow's initiative and would also apply to the coastal province of Latakia. The ceasefire will now last until 12:01 am. on Tuesday (2101GMT Monday).
Russia and the US last week reached an agreement to extend Syria's ceasefire to Aleppo, which had seen days of heavy fighting that killed 286 civilians, including 57 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor. The Syrian military had earlier said the ceasefire in Aleppo would last only 48 hours.
The Russian military accused the Syrian Al Qaeda affiliate, known as the Nusra Front, of attempting to destroy the ceasefire by carrying out attacks on Aleppo and trying to impose a blockade on the city from the south.
On Friday, a coalition of insurgents, including the Nusra Front, seized the nearby village of Khan Touman from pro-government forces, activists said. The Nusra Front and Daesh are not included in the ceasefire.
Which is why they're fighting. You'd think even the Russians could figure that one out...
The Observatory and the other groups said Aleppo was relatively quiet after the ceasefire was extended but reported heavy fighting between Daesh and other militant groups in the northern parts of Aleppo province, near the border with Turkey.
The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, said Daesh captured two villages in the region in clashes that killed least 12 militants. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist-run collective, said the fighting is now concentrated near the northern villages of Dalha, Harjaleh and Hiwar Kilis.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/08/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Jordan intercepts bird carrying messages between terror operatives as group attempts to bypass Western intel gathering
As its channels of communication are increasingly monitored by coalition forces, 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.... is reportedly turning to low-tech solutions in its efforts to avoid detection.
The Telegraph reported that homing pigeons bearing messages between IS operatives were recently captured by Jordanian forces.
"The jihadists tied a letter with a phone number to the foot of the bird, which was flying to a Jordanian resident," the commander of the country’s border guard, Brig. Gen Saber al-Mahayreh, told journalists.
According to the Telegraph, Western nations are concerned over intensified IS efforts to encrypt communications through apps such as Telegram and Whatsapp, that make it harder for intelligence bodies to acquire information.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/08/2016 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Then maybe a convention of sparrowhawks could disrupt communications?
#4
We've posted a number of those here over the years, g(r)omgoru. I note your article has no mention of Iranian paranoia about American spy squirrels, among others.
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.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[AA.TR] 
[Dhaka Tribune] Pakistain has expressed deep concern and anguish after Bangladesh's top court upheld the death penalty for Jamaat chief 
