[An Nahar] Seven Georgian troops were killed and nine were maimed in a suicide kaboom in Afghanistan when hard boyz attacked their base, the pro-Western Caucasus country's army chief said Thursday.
"Seven military servicemen were killed" when a "suicide terrorist" blew up a truck loaded with explosives outside a Georgian military base in Afghanistan's Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province, General Irakli Dzneladze, chief of the Georgian army joint staff, told a news conference.
The incident brings to 30 the corpse count of Georgian soldiers serving in the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF).
On May 13, three Georgian soldiers were killed in a similar suicide attack on their base in southern Afghanistan.
"I offer my deepest condolences to the families of our fallen heroes and to all of Georgia," Georgia's staunchly pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili said in a televised address.
"Our duty to their memory is to continue our path towards NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... membership," he said.
Georgia has 1,570 troops serving in Afghanistan's Helmand province, making the small Caucasus country of 4.5 million the largest non-NATO contributor to ISAF, according to the defense ministry.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Mali's army on Thursday reinforced its positions at Anefis, a strategic access point for the rebel-held town of Kidal, after a day of heavy fighting, military sources said.
"We are reinforcing and consolidating our positions at Anefis while waiting for favorable conditions to pursue the operation" towards Kidal in the northeast, army front man Lieutenant-Colonel Souleymane Maiga told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"Since yesterday (Wednesday), the whole Anefis sector has been under the total control of the army," a regional military source confirmed.
"The Malian soldiers who entered Anefis have not left the zone for Kidal," added the source. Anefis is about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Kidal.
Kidal, a town prized by the Tuaregs, has been occupied by the rebel National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) since the end of January.
But Mali's army has declared its intention to recapture the town before a presidential election due across the divided west African country on July 28.
Wednesday's fighting at Anefis erupted after more than 100 black inhabitants were expelled from Kidal, while many others were placed in durance vile Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! by the lighter-skinned Tuaregs of the MNLA in an act denounced as "ethnic cleansing" by the Bamako government.
In a new casualty toll issued Thursday, the army said that the fighting left "30 dead" on the rebel side and two Malian soldiers maimed.
The MNLA challenges these figures, stating that one fighter was killed and three maimed on its side, while front man Mossa Ag Attaher said the Tuaregs had "blown up several vehicles with soldiers inside" and taken many prisoners.
"If the abuses continue, the army will have to pursue its march on Kidal, then move up to Tessalit," further north, Lieutenant-Colonel Maiga said, but he added that "we are aware that a chance has to be given to dialogue".
The Bamako government on Wednesday night announced "its readiness for dialogue to recover the national unity and integrity of the territory", in a statement.
It added that the "objective sought" by the military offensive is "to bring back peace and security to the whole of the national territory, to promote the return of the administration".
It also aims to ensure that the presidential poll is held "in a secured environment on the planned date".
[BETA.DAWN] Pirates have released five Pak crew kidnapped from an oil tanker off the Nigerian coast two weeks ago, security sources said on Thursday.
Increasing piracy in the Gulf of Guinea region, which includes Africa's No. 1 oil producer Nigeria and is a significant source of cocoa and metals for world markets, is jacking up costs for shipping firms operating there.
Armed pirates attacked the Nigerian-flagged MT Matrix and kidnapped the five Pak crew members on May 25 about 40 nautical miles off the coast of the oil-producing Bayelsa state, a stretch of water frequently plagued by armed gangs.
The two security sources said the men, who worked for an oil servicing company, were released unharmed. There were two attacks in the Gulf of Guinea in April in which foreigners were kidnapped and released a few weeks later.
Security sources believe ransoms were paid -- an increasingly lucrative business for criminal gangs who used to take more interest in simply stealing the oil on board the tankers.
On the eastern side of Africa, piracy and kidnapping that were once a scourge off the coast of Somalia have been largely brought under control by international naval patrols and the stationing of armed guards aboard merchant vessels.
International navies have not reached an agreement with nations in the Gulf of Guinea to guard ships or launch counter-piracy missions, leaving the many boats in waters around Nigeria and further west vulnerable to attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Nigeria's military claimed on Thursday that U.S.-designated "global terrorist" Abubakar Adam Kambar was killed in an operation last year, though Washington had not confirmed the death.
Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Suleiman said Kambar, believed to have links to al-Qaeda's north African branch and Nigerian Islamist bully boy group 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... , was killed on March 18, 2012.
That would have been before the United States listed him and two other Nigerian Islamists, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and Khalid al-Barnawi, as "global terrorists" in June of last year.
Brigadier General Chris Olukolade, a defense front man, said that may have been because information had not been properly passed along, but could not give further details.
Another military front man, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, also confirmed the death but declined to give details on why the U.S. designation would have been issued afterwards.
"We trailed him to somewhere. He didn't want to be jugged ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... , so we gunned him down," Suleiman told Agence La Belle France Presse after a briefing to journalists in the northeastern city of Maiduguri in which he mentioned Kambar's killing.
U.S. officials in Nigeria were not immediately available to comment.
During the briefing, Suleiman called Kambar "the main link with al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... ," referring to Somalia's Islamist bad turban group.
Security sources had previously estimated Kambar to be in his mid-30s and a native of Borno state, where Maiduguri is the capital.
He was said to have been an active member of Boko Haram at the time of a 2009 uprising in Maiduguri, which was crushed by the military.
According to security sources, he fled Nigeria after the uprising was put down but eventually returned.
Boko Haram members have trained with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in northern Mali and there have been suspicions of further links with it and other bully boy groups in Africa.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Al-Qaeda Death Eaters are holding a South African couple kidnapped last month in Yemen's central city of Taiz, a top security official said on Thursday, adding that investigations are not "very encouraging."
"It's almost confirmed that the two South Africans are now held by al-Qaeda men," the official told Agence La Belle France Presse.
So they don't actually know for sure who has them? Goody.
He said the kidnappers had taken the hostages to the rugged mountainous region of Hazm al-Udain, 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of Taiz.
"Security forces have tracked them but the results are so far not very encouraging," he said, refusing to elaborate on what he meant by that.
Local tribal sources said armed al-Qaeda Death Eaters have been present in Hazm al-Udain during the past few months and had been training in the area every night.
Security officials said last month that gunnies kidnapped the pair on May 27 over a land dispute between a local chief and the authorities.
South African diplomats had headed to Yemen to try to secure their release. No information has been provided since on their progress.
The couple, initially thought to be tourists, were involved in the development of a hotel in the city of Taiz, South Africa's foreign ministry said last month.
One security source in Yemen said they were seized while they were outside a hotel in the eastern part of the city.
The security bigshot said on Thursday that the couple worked as teachers in Taiz before they started working five months ago for a local investor, without specifying where they worked.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
#1
The map shows the location of where hostages currently being held by terrorist and rebel groups were kidnapped from. When all of the hostages are of the same nationality a flag is used to represent the location. If the hostages are from multiple countries or their nationality is unknown a red circle is used. You can click on each icon to get the names of the hostages, date kidnapped, location and IntelCenter Database (ICD) Hostage ID#. The ID# allows ICD subscribers to pull up the full hostage record for that individual, including all related videos, photographs, communiques, timeline details and more. [again, subscribers only]
The map is updated daily based on the latest available information for both new and existing cases.
Totals by Nationality for High-Profile Hostages Currently Being Held
Canada - 6
France - 9
Germany - 1
Italy - 1
Netherlands - 1
Norway - 1
Pakistan - 1
Philippines - 1
Saudi Arabia - 1
South Africa - 6
Spain - 4
Sweden - 1
Syria - 2
UK - 1
US - 10
#3
Problem soon to be resolved g(r)om, as soon as the new data center is finished near Camp Williams and the readily available LDS linguists can find their desks. Think of it! Co-opting an entire state along with it's economy and making them dem voting gummit employees. Foking genius ek se.
[Yemen Post] The Yemeni coalition government declared an all-out war on al-Qaeda this Wednesday when it launched an air and ground offensive on the terror group in south-eastern Hadhramawt where several villages near Mukalla have fallen prey to the Islamists.
In May, al-Qaeda invaded several villages in Hadhramawt in a bid to assert itself as a power player in the province and emulate its 2011 victory against the central government. At the midst of Yemen revolution al-Qaeda used a power vacuum to seize large swathes of land in the southern province of Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... . Subsequently the group declared Jaar and Zinjibar, which both had fallen under its command Islamic Caliphates.
Forced out of Abyan in 2012 by the military and local tribes, al-Qaeda operatives went back into hidings, awaiting their next opportunity.
Not surprisingly the group has chosen now to operate in Hadhramawt, a secessionist stronghold, which loyalty to the central government runs only skin deep.
Officials confirmed on Wednesday that troops (a reported 10,000 men) backed by tanks and helicopters launched their first assault against al-Qaeda in Ghayl Bawasir, a city-village situated 30 Km east of the seaport of Mukalla.
So far officials confirmed 10 death: three soldiers and seven al-Qaeda gunnies.
Although the defense ministry denied in May reports that al-Qaeda had managed to take control over areas around Mukalla, ahead of broader and bolder move against the regional capital city itself, it later on had to concur with press reports and admit Islamists were once again hitting the drums of war.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A total of 165 migrants from Central and South America were rescued Monday by a Mexican Army unit in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, according to Mexican news and official sources.
A news account in Milenio news daily of a press conference conducted by the Mexican Secreteria de Gobierno (SEGOB) or interior ministry said a Mexican Army road patrol was dispatched to Diaz Ordaz municipality Monday on an anonymous tip about the presence of armed suspects in the area.
That would be Mahmoud's Mexican cousin, Jesus the Weasel.
On arriving in the area, a lone armed suspect was observed who then tried to escape, only to be detained at the scene.
The migrants, among them 77 Salvadorans, 50 Guatemalans, 23 Hondurans, 14 Mexicans and one Indian, had been kidnapped and were being held captive in a safe house in Las Fuentes colony. Included in that number were 20 children and two pregnant women.
The kidnappers had forced their captives to call home and demand ransom while they were at the safe house. According to the report, migrants were afraid they would eventually be turned over to local drug cartels gangs that likely operate in the area.
The fear is well founded. Three years ago 72 migrants from Central and South American were massacred by a local Los Zetas group in San Fernando when some of the migrants refused to give ransom. That murder was a precursor to an even more gruesome mass murder which took place over six months ending in June, 2011 which took the lives of 193 in San Fernando municipality. The San Fernando mass murder is one of the worst is Mexican history.
One suspect was detained at the scene, identified as Juan Cortez Arrez.
The Mexican government plans to move the migrants to a holding facility in central Mexico.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
#1
Juan Cortez Arrez.
Sounds like an alias to me. Like John Smith.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/07/2013 3:13 Comments ||
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#2
Would they have even been there if we had a really secure southern border and a record of effective expulsion of illegals? Can we play the blame game on those aiding illegals in all branches of our government and their apologists?
They broad brush denounce and blame the NRA for Newtown. Will they accept the blood on their hands for the 193 in San Fernando municipality? See, we can play the same game too.
A suspected U.S. drone strike killed seven people Friday night in northwest Pakistan, two days after the countryÂ’s new prime minister vowed to stop such attacks.
Pakistani intelligence officials said the attack occurred shortly after sunset in a forested tribal area that straddles North and South Waziristan, not far from the border with Afghanistan. Four people were seriously hurt, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
It was not immediately known who was targeted, but the region is a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, blamed by U.S. officials for unrelenting violence on both sides of the Afghan border.
The strike came a little more than a week after a suspected U.S. drone in the same region killed Wali ur-Rehman, second in command of the Pakistani Taliban, which is linked by officials to a 2009 attack that killed seven Americans at a CIA facility in Afghanistan.
[An Nahar] Russia's counter-terrorism agency said Thursday that special forces have incarcerated Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! a man for planning a terrorist attack on Moscow that the agency had foiled last month.
The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said in a statement that troops from the Federal Security Service ... the successor to the KGB... , or FSB, arrested Yulai Davletbayev in suburban Moscow Thursday morning.
Russian TV showed images of special forces arresting a man identified as Davletbayev. It was not clear when or where the operation took place.
Two suspected gunnies were killed and a third arrested in an FSB operation in May.
The men were Russian citizens trained in terrorist camps on the Afghanistan-Pakistain border, the committee said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[BETA.DAWN] Two coppers were killed and as many injured in a remote controlled kaboom on a patrolling police party in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. 's Daudzai Police Station jurisdiction on Thursday.
The Daudzai Police station officials confirmed that the police party was on routine patrolling when they came under attack with a remote controlled bomb in Neora area of Daudzai.
"Two cops have died and as many injured in the attack which appeared to be carried out by a remote controlled IED," police official Fazl Jan said.
The security forces have started combing the areas surrounding the kaboom site.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wrecked scow, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow... a rocket fried from the restive tribal areas landed near the Peshawar airport. However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... no loss of lives is reported.
The Pishtakhara police said the rocket fired from an unknown location has landed inside the airport in the trees without causing any loss of life or property.
Peshawar is the gateway to Pakistain's troubled northwestern tribal region along the Afghan border, where Pak troops have for years been locked in deadly battles with domestic hard boys.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Pak Taliban have frequently targeted police and security forces with bomb and gun attacks as part of a five-year insurgency mostly concentrated in the northwest.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The city braces for a shutdown on Thursday on a 'day of mourning' call given by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) over the killing of what the party claimed as its three sympathisers in Malir on Wednesday.
Police said three young factory workers were kidnapped and rubbed out while another man was critically maimed in Khokhrapar.
While the Sindh government constituted a team of senior coppers led by the DIG east to probe the killing of the three factory workers, MQM activists and leaders carrying coffins staged a sit-in outside the Chief Minister House and demanded action against the banned Peoples Amn Committee.
The police said the four factory workers as a matter of routine were on their way in a bus (T-0361) to a textile mill in Korangi from their residences in Khokhrapar when several gunnies intercepted the vehicle near Malok Hotel and took away the four workers at gunpoint on Wednesday morning.
One Javed informed Madadgar-15 of the police that four persons had been kidnapped from the bus. The police said that the incident occurred near Malir City cop shoppe.
Around two hours later, the Khokhrapar police received information about the presence of 'four bodies' in bushes near Sukhia Jalbani Goth.
"Two persons were already dead when the police party reached there while two others were at death's door," said Khokhrapar SHO Nawaz Ali Shah.
He said the dear departed and the maimed victims were rushed to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where doctors pronounced three of them dead.
The dear departed were identified as Irfan, 28, son of Faizan, Mehtab, 25, s/o Waheed, and Tauseef, 32, s/o Farooq. The maimed victim was Farhan, 32, son of Idris, according to the police.
The police said the relatives took away the bodies from the hospital without allowing doctors to conduct a post-mortem examination. The bodies bore multiple bullet wounds, the SHO said.
The police Sherlocks suspected that the killings might be the result of a brawl among the factory workers a few days ago. However, a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package... the MQM alleged that the Amn Committee was involved in murder of their supporters.
The police said they had found a significant clue to the killers and their motive.
"Three days ago, some factory workers had quarrelled with each other over some issue," said SP Korangi Division Irfan Mukhtar.
However, a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package... he added, the police had 'doubts' that the murders could be outcome of that infighting.
The police authorities formed an investigation team led by SP, DSP and SHO concerned and the police party conducted a raid to arrest the culprits involved in the triple murder.
The Sindh government, meanwhile, formed a team comprising the SSP Malir, SSP East, SSP AVCC and SSP SIU to probe the killing of MQM workers in Malir.
Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon added that the team would be led by the DIG east.
The minister claimed that the police had already conducted raids and nabbed Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! six persons for interrogation.
"We strongly condemned the killing of the MQM workers," said the PPP leader.
The police said they heard that one of the dear departed was 'a nephew of one of the sectors in charge of the MQM'.
While a protest sit-in staged by family members and relatives of the three victims was still going on in front of the Chief Minister's House, the MQM appealed to the people to observe a 'peaceful day of mourning' across the province against assassinations and extortion. It appealed to traders to shut their business and asked transporters not to bring their vehicles on roads.
The traders, transporters and fuel stations associations unanimously announced that they would stay away from their businesses on the MQM's day of mourning for both support and 'security' reasons.
The Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... Transport Ittehad announced that all public transport in Karachi would remain off the road on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Three bombings in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , including a boom-mobile in a market, killed five people Thursday, the latest in a surge in Iraq violence that has sparked fears of a revival of all-out sectarian war.
Twin roadside kabooms in southwest Storied Baghdad killed three people, while a boom-mobile in a market in the capital's southeast killed two others, security and medical officials said.
Attacks in Storied Baghdad and elsewhere have risen sharply, with May Iraq's deadliest month since 2008, as persistent political disputes have given fuel and room for bully boyz to increase their activities.
There has been a heightened level of violence since the beginning of the year, coinciding with rising discontent in the Sunni Arab minority that erupted into protests in late December.
Authorities have failed to bring the wave of unrest under control, and have not addressed the underlying political issues that analysts say are driving the attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Jordanian border guards on Thursday foiled an attempt to smuggle a large haul of weapons from Syria into the kingdom, the army said.
"The border guards placed in durance vile Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! a group of people at dawn on Thursday as they tried to smuggle a large amount of weapons from Syria into Jordan," state-run Petra news agency quoted an army statement as saying.
It did not elaborate.
Jordan, which says it currently hosts more than 500,000 refugees from Syria's conflict, has tightened its borders, arresting and imprisoning dozens of jihadists who tried to its the war-torn neighbor.
The government in Amman denies accusations by the embattled regime of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... that the kingdom has opened up its borders to jihadist fighters.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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A senior Philippine official said the Abu Sayyaf terrorists extremists have been reduced to a "bandit group" in Mindanao due to operations launched against them by government security forces. Secretary Edwin Lacierda, a spokesman for President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, said the number of terrorists extremists has been "decimated" primarily due to military attacks against them.
Disputing a US State Department report that Mindanao remained a "terrorist haven" due to the presence of the Abu Sayyaf, Lacierda said, "The Abu Sayyaf is more or less a bandit group already. They have been reduced to a kidnap-for-ransom group and that's the status right now as we continue to pursue lawless elements in the country."
The same was true of the communist New People's Army (NPA) whose numbers have also been significantly reduced by military offensives as well as the government's success in encouraging the terrorists rebels to surrender, according to Lacierda.
Posted by: ryuge ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
FYI at last check, the MILF is refusing to give up their "armed struggle" agz Manila unless a lasting + formal Peace agreement is finally reached.
[Al Ahram] Turkey's military says a soldier was maimed by shots fired at a military patrol along the Syrian border.
A military statement said Thursday soldiers returned fire at the assailants who were among a larger group of about 500 people who trying to cross into Turkey. The statement suggested that those who fired at the soldiers were smugglers.
The statement said the soldier was shot in the knee.
It was the second such incident along the border with Syria. Last week, Turkey's military returned fire after shots were fired at an armored personnel carrier from across the border. No one was hurt.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Two men went missing on Thursday in the Bekaa region of Baalbek as the kidnappers asked their families to pay a ransom, state-run National News Agency reported.
"Retired State Security warrant officer Haitham al-Burji and Youssef al-Rayyes went missing overnight in the barren mountains of the eastern belt," NNA said.
"Their families received a phone call demanding a $70,000 ransom in return for their release," the agency added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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Two against an entire army? The odds don't bode well...
[An Nahar] The army command said Thursday that two gunnies, a Lebanese and a Syrian, have been killed during a clash with soldiers in a border town in northeastern Leb.
The military said in a communique that on Wednesday night a group of gunnies riding a pickup truck clashed with the troops after attacking their checkpoint in the area of Wadi Hmeid in the outskirts of Arsal.
Two of the assailants were killed while the rest were able to escape, it said.
Another gang attacked the same members of the checkpoint at 2:30 am but the assault caused no casualties, the communique said.
The soldiers were able to seize the pickup truck along with the weapons and ammunition that the gunnies were transporting, it added.
On Wednesday, State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged three people for killing Lebanese soldiers at the same checkpoint last month.
Saqr charged in absentia Mashhour Abdul Mawla al-Rifahi al-Wazir, a Syrian, for the premeditated killing of three soldiers on May 28.
The judge also charged two Lebanese, Ahmed Hussein Mohammed and Iman Shmaytiyeh, who are in detention, for taking part in the assault.
The suspects face the death penalty if convicted.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The sons of Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad and caretaker Minister of State for Administrative Reform Mohammed Fneish were maimed during the battles in the Syrian town of al-Qusayer, Kuwaiti al-Seyassah newspaper reported on Thursday.
Good. Live by the sword...
According to the daily, Fneish's son sustained "serious injuries" in his face and is undergoing a surgery in one of Beirut's hospitals.
Syria's rebels conceded on Wednesday they had lost the battle for the strategic town of Qusayr but vowed to fight "thousands of Lebanese mercenaries" after the army seized total control of it and the surrounding region.
The main opposition National Coalition shrugged off the defeat, declaring the "revolution will continue".
Tuesday's development comes after the military support of Hizbullah has helped Syrian regime forces gain the upper hand in the battle for control of Qusayr, where an army assault began last month, amid a Lebanese, regional and international outcry.
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah had previously justified the group's involvement in Syria by saying they were defending Lebanese-inhabited border villages inside Syria and Shiite holy sites.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Around 10 rockets and mortar rounds from Syria slammed into the northeastern city of Baalbek on Wednesday night, injuring a Lebanese man and causing material damage, the army command said.
A military communique said Thursday that soldiers inspected the areas where the rockets had fallen and carried out patrols.
The attack was the second largest cross-border salvo to hit the Hizbullah stronghold since Syrian rebels threatened to retaliate for the party's armed support of the Damascus regime.
As Safir daily reported on Thursday that the rockets hit the areas of al-Sharawneh, al-Basatine and Iaat, leaving three children injured, and damaging a house owned by Kamal Ramadan.
Security sources told Agence La Belle France Presse that two people were maimed in the assault, which came hours after Hizbullah and the Syrian army took control of the central town of Qusayr, located near Leb's northeastern border.
The army's 6th battalion transported on Thursday to a secure place a rocket that had landed in Baalbek without exploding, report said. The military's communique did not confirm the reports.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Sniper activity renewed on Thursday in the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... as the army began a series of raids to detain offenders and seized weapons from a depot in the wheat market.
According to a communique issued by the army the arms depot included a quantity of explosives, local-made mortars, rifles and ammunition and other military equipment.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Rebels fighting troops loyal to Damascus on Thursday briefly seized the only crossing along the Israel-Syria ceasefire line in the Golan Heights, before regime forces recaptured it, an Agence La Belle France Presse correspondent and Israeli sources said.
The Quneitra crossing is in the demilitarized zone on the Golan Heights, most of which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.
It has both strategic and symbolic importance because of its proximity to Israel and to the Syrian capital.
"The Syrian army has recovered control of the crossing, there are sounds of kabooms from time to time but far less than in the morning," an Israeli source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... An AFP correspondent near the crossing also confirmed that forces loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... had taken back Quneitra, saying he could see tanks moving inside the area.
The Israeli military earlier confirmed that the crossing and the nearby town of the same name had fallen into rebel hands.
"We can confirm that opposition forces have overrun the town of Quneitra and the border post but it's not exactly clear who they are," said Captain Arye Shalicar.
But he was unable to confirm that government forces had retaken the area, saying the situation was still developing.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
What would happen if the rebels, out of desperation, actually attacked Israel? Israel would presumably have to counter-attack - would the Muslim world sit back and let the rebels fall to the Juice, or would it come help against a common enemy, leaving Assad the odd man out?
#4
When they go to the UNSS in a few months we will get the pleasure of seeing anti Israel Samantha Powers veto an anti Israel UNSS resolution.
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/07/2013 10:06 Comments ||
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#5
You think she'd veto it? Really?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
06/07/2013 11:30 Comments ||
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#6
Israel would presumably have to counter-attack - would the Muslim world sit back and let the rebels fall to the Juice, or would it come help against a common enemy, leaving Assad the odd man out?
This scenario has been played out before with the PA, Hamas and Hezbollah. The Muslim man on the street thinks somebody (else) should do something about Israel.
[An Nahar] Forces loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... reclaimed control of the central village of Dabaa on Thursday, Syrian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said, a day after the army and Hizbullah captured a rebel bastion.
"Our heroic armed forces have secured and stabilized the town of Dabaa, north of Qusayr," the broadcaster said.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, "fierce festivities" are still ongoing in parts of Dabaa.
The village has seen frequent hit-and-run operations by both regime and rebel forces.
It lies north of Qusayr, which fell to army and Hizbullah forces Wednesday, nearly three weeks after the launch of a vast assault on the town.
Thousands of civilians and rebels -- including maimed people -- fled Qusayr as the town fell out of bully boy control, most of them to the village of Eastern Bweida.
Eastern Bweida lies some seven kilometers (four miles) northeast of Dabaa.
"I am very concerned about what will happen to the people who were evacuated to Eastern Bweida," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman, who had earlier called on the International Committee of the Red Thingy to evacuate the maimed.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Syrian soldiers on Thursday bombarded a village where rebels and civilians fled to after being routed the previous day from the strategic border town of Qusayr, a watchdog said.
"The army is using missiles to bombard Eastern Bweida," where thousands of civilians and maimed people who beat feet from nearby Qusayr have sought refuge, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"The humanitarian situation in Eastern Bweida is grim," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
"There is very little food and very few medicines and medical equipment. There is no way the village can deal with the influx."
At least 500 injured people had already fled to Eastern Bweida before the start of a devastating regime assault on Qusayr on May 19, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists, doctors and lawyers for its reports.
Although some fighters have stayed behind in orchards near Qusayr and Dabaa, another flashpoint nearby, most of those who fled Qusayr are now in Eastern Bweida, which is under army siege and fierce bombardment.
"The International Committee of the Red Thingy must pressure the Syrian regime to allow it to evacuate the injured in Eastern Bweida to a safe place," said Abdel Rahman.
Meanwhile, ...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck reached for the green sauce... the regime "has called on Qusayr's residents to return home, but there is nothing but ruins. How are they supposed to return?" he asked.
"Qusayr is completely destroyed, and totally deserted."
Qusayr, strategically located just 10 kilometres (six miles) from Syria's border with Leb, was once home to more than 25,000 people.
But thousands of residents fled during the blistering 17-day assault by government forces led by fighters from the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.
"The rebels put up a fierce resistance, but they didn't have the means to fight back," Abdel Rahman said, referring to the rebels' weaponry.
The hard boyz had held onto Qusayr for a year before being ousted on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] One person was killed and seven others were hurt as fierce festivities spread to the heart of the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... on Thursday, after a security plan by the Lebanese army managed to relatively contain the violence in the flashpoint districts of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.
The army deployed in the souk area, restoring a tense calm four hours after the clash broke out between Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... who support the revolt in Syria and pro-Damascus fighters, a security official told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Two of the maimed were soldiers, though the identity of the man killed in the firefight in the markets of central Tripoli had not been confirmed, the official said on condition of anonymity.
"A major clash in Tripoli's souks broke out between Salafists and fighters loyal to Hizbullah," a security source told AFP earlier on Thursday.
It is the first battle since 2008 in central Tripoli, although frequent Syria-related violence has raged in other districts.
It comes after some three weeks of sectarian fighting in the flashpoint Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhoods, during which around 40 people were killed.
The army deployed in force on Tripoli's main streets on Thursday, the official said on condition of anonymity, although the soldiers stayed clear of the strife-torn areas.
The central Tripoli battle saw Salafists fight members of the Syrian National Socialist Party, which supports the Assad regime.
Al-Jadeed television said "festivities between the al-Nashar and Hajar families in Tripoli's internal markets have left casualties."
Al-Manar television said fighting erupted in Tripoli's gold market and the areas near Khan al-Saboun.
Voice of Leb radio (100.5) said ambulances rushed to the areas of the festivities and "the situation in Tripoli's internal markets is heading for further escalation."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2013 00:00 ||
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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.
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.
[An Nahar] Mali's army on Thursday reinforced its positions at Anefis, a strategic access point for the rebel-held town of Kidal, after a day of heavy fighting, military sources said.
[BETA.DAWN] Pirates have released five Pak crew kidnapped from an oil tanker off the Nigerian coast two weeks ago, security sources said on Thursday.
[An Nahar] Nigeria's military claimed on Thursday that U.S.-designated "global terrorist" Abubakar Adam Kambar was killed in an operation last year, though Washington had not confirmed the death.
[An Nahar] Al-Qaeda 
An Nahar] Russia's counter-terrorism agency said Thursday that special forces have 
[Dawn] The city braces for a shutdown on Thursday on a 'day of mourning' call given by the 
[An Nahar] Three bombings in Storied 
A senior Philippine official said the Abu Sayyaf 
[An Nahar] Two men went missing on Thursday in the Bekaa region of Baalbek as the kidnappers asked their families to pay a ransom, state-run National News Agency reported.
[An Nahar] Around 10 rockets and mortar rounds from Syria slammed into the northeastern city of Baalbek on Wednesday night, injuring a Lebanese man and causing material damage, the army command said.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Al Ahram] Syrian soldiers on Thursday bombarded a village where rebels and civilians fled to after being routed the previous day from the strategic border town of Qusayr, a watchdog said.
