Sheikh Ali Mohamed Hussein, Al-Shabaab leader of the Banaadir region spoke to the pro-Shabaab media and proclaimed that they are planning on increasing attacks in Mogadishu especially those aimed at the governments and AMISOMs bases in Mogadishu.
The Al-Shabaab leader for Banaadir, Ali Jabal warned the citizens to distance themselves away from the governments institutes and AMISOM bases in Mogadishu, which are potential targets in the future.
Al-Shabaab have in the past days increased their attacks and murders in the capital city Mogadishu.
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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It is reported that in the Garbahaareey district of Gedo region there was strong physical fighting going on between the Ethiopian troops and Al-Shabaab causing severe casualties in a nearby town, Barwaaqo.
This battle came after the Ethiopian troops left Garbahaareey on their way to Baladxawo where the violent clash occurred.
According to locals that spoke to Radio Shabelle in Mogadishu, they stated that the fight was ongoing for at least a few hours with both sides exchanging extreme gunfire. It is not officially known the injuries sustained between Al-Shabaab and Ethiopian forces in Gedo region.
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Gunmen Friday killed an Egyptian policeman who was on a security team guarding the home of a judge in the jailbreak trial of ousted president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... , security officials said.
Attacks on the security forces have surged since the army ousted the Islamist Morsi last July, and as the military-installed authorities press a deadly crackdown on his supporters.
Sergeant Abdallah Metwally was rubbed out as he rode his cycle of violence across a bridge over the Nile in the city of Mansoura north of Cairo.
The attack on Metwally, who was wearing plain clothes, was carried out assailants who were also on a motorbike, at about 7:30 am (0530 GMT), Brigadier General El-Saeed Omara of Mansoura police told Agence La Belle France Presse.
His killing comes with an appeal court on Saturday set to examine a defense request to appoint a new panel of judges in Morsi's jailbreak trial.
Morsi and 130 other defendants including Paleostinian and Lebanese turbans are charged with organizing jailbreaks and attacking cop shoppes during the 2011 revolt against strongman Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... .
The case, one of three already opened against Morsi, is part of a relentless government crackdown targeting him and his Moslem Brüderbund movement since his ouster.
Mansoura, in the Nile Delta, was the site of a deadly boom-mobileing in December when the city's police headquarters was attacked, killing 15 people, mostly policeman.
That bombing was the deadliest since Morsi's overthrow outside the Sinai Peninsula bordering Israel and Gazoo, where turbans have killed scores of police and soldiers.
Since January, at least 27 coppers have been killed outside the peninsula, mostly in shootings.
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[Egypt Independent] Giza Civil Protection Director Gamal Abdel Aal said security services defused an explosive device found on Friday afternoon on the ring road near the axis exit. He said that he received calls about a suspected object and immediately sent experts with sniffer dogs and equipment to check it.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
For a second I thought the Axis of Evil was surrounded by an explosive Ring.
[Egypt Independent] A medical source said a man was killed by a gunshot in the neck in festivities between supporters of the Brotherhood and residents of the Al-Seyouf neighborhood in Alexandria on Friday.
The source added that two others were maimed in the festivities.
The official Facebook page of the so-called Youth against the Coup also reported the incident.
Security forces tossed in the clink I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! 10 Brotherhood supporters involved in the festivities.
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder where El Sisi was educated --- cause he obviously never heard that half-measures are worse than no measures at all.
[Libya Herald] Local residents again erupted into the streets of Benghazi today to protest against ongoing liquidations and the general deteriorating security situation in the city.
Angry demonstrators gathered outside the Tibesti Hotel, carrying banners and chanting, with dissatisfaction focusing on the lack of government action in tackling bombings and systematic liquidations that have plagued the city for over a year. Protestors said that, although men of Benghazi were being killed on a daily basis, the General National Congress (GNC) and the government did nothing except release statements condemning the attacks.
They called for the activation of the army and police force to implement proper security measures and put an end to criminal activities in the city. Some protestors spoke out against the Moslem Brüderbund and Ansar Al-Sharia, the latter of which some claim are behind the ongoing liquidations in the city.
There was also criticism of Benghazi's Special Forces, which some said should be doing more to fight Death Eater elements and curb attacks in the city.
"We are disappointed to not see the Special Forces on the streets fighting faceless myrmidons but we understand because they have Bukhamada's son," one said, in reference to the kidnap of Special Forces Commander Wanis Bukhamada's son in January. The protestor suggested that the Special Forces, which is widely seen as one of Benghazi's strongest weapons against criminal gangs, should have a different commander until Bukhamada's son was released.
Other groups of protestors spoke out in support of General Khalifa Hafter, reportedly going to a house belonging to him and calling on him to make a speech. They urged him to take the lead and implement his road-map which, when he announced it earlier in the month, was misconstrued as a coup. He later described it as "a correction to the path of the revolution."
Addressing the crowds, Hafter said that he had a security plan for Benghazi. In what smacked of a repetition of his previous and, it transpired, unsubstantiated claims with regard to 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... , he said he had armed units under his command that would mobilise when instructed. He added that GNC members and even Prime Minister Ali Zeidan ... served as a diplomat for Libya during the 1970s, serving in India under Ambassador Mohammed Magariaf. Both men defected in 1980 and went on to form the National Front for the Salvation of Libya. Zeidan spent nearly three decades in exile in Geneva after the defection. During the revolution Zeidan served as the National Transitional Council's Europe envoy, and is credited as having played a key role in persuading French President Nicolas Sarkozy to support the anti-Qadaffy forces... would be tossed in the slammer Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! if they came to Benghazi.
Although Hafter has some support in the East, his ideas and threats are widely seen as having no foundation, particularly after the "coup" attempt in Tripoli.
A counter-protest was reported in the city's Liberty Square, where a different set of people denounced Hafter and gave their support to the extension of the GNC.
Anti-GNC and government protestors marched around central Benghazi before returning to the Tibesti where, this evening, the road remained closed with at least 100 people were still demonstrating.
Tripoli residents today congregated in Algeria Square in a demonstration declaring the capital's solidarity with Benghazi. The protestors demanded that the Libyan authorities take swift and serious action to stop the ongoing violence and assignations in Benghazi, according to Libyan news agency LANA.
Today's action in Benghazi followed protests on Wednesday, where roads were closed and blocked with burning tyres, and partial strikes yesterday, which left many schools and shops closed. These demonstrations were also against the government and its lack of response to killings in the city.
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Bahraini police and demonstrators clashed Friday during the funeral of a tossed in the clink Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! Shiite youth who the authorities say died of natural causes and whose family said had been tortured, witnesses said.
Bahrain has suffered from chronic, often deadly, violence since the authorities brutally suppressed an Arab Spring-inspired movement in 2011 calling for a constitutional monarchy.
The demonstrators near the capital Manama hurled rocks at police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades, the sources said.
At the same time, the interior ministry said on Twitter that Molotov cocktails had been thrown at security forces, but gave no details.
On Wednesday, the authorities said that the youth had died of natural causes after being hospitalized with a chronic illness.
But his family, and the main Shiite opposition movement in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom, said he had been tortured while in jug.
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Bahrain has suffered from chronic, often deadly, violence since the authorities brutally suppressed an Iranian Arab Spring-inspired movement in 2011 calling for a constitutional monarchy.
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03/01/2014 10:33 Comments ||
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At least 24 people were killed on Friday as Yemeni troops and allied fighters engaged in heavy fighting with rebels in the north, tribal sources said. The fighting, in which soldiers aided by fighters from the Al Islah party were pitted against Zaidi rebels, was for control of local government offices in Hizm, capital of Jawf province.
The army and Al Islah lost eight men, while the rebels lost twice that number, and there have been dozens of wounded on both sides, one of the sources said.
Earlier this month, Yemens president and main parties agreed to transform the unrest-riven country into a six-region federation as part of a political transition.
The rebels are apparently seeking to seize Hizm so as to be able to integrate all of Jawf into the Azal region, one of four to be created in the north, that includes their stronghold of Saada province.
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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Taliban militants in Afghanistan have reportedly killed at least three Turkmen border guards in the northwestern province of Baghdis. A spokesman for the provincial governor said that the incident took place late on February 26 as the Turkmen border guards were patroling the border between the two nations.
There has not yet been an official confirmation of the incident by Turkmenistan. The Taliban has also not confirmed the attack.
[DAWN] Three activists of a banned krazed killer organization were killed while three others were maimed in an exchange of fire in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency on the night between Thursday and Friday. Two soldiers were also injured in the clash.
Independent sources in Bara said that security forces and activists of Lashkar-e-Islam exchanged fire when a vehicle carrying at least six LI activists was signalled to stop at the Nawgazi Baba checkpost in Shalobar area at around mid night.
Sources said that three LI activists identified as Rashid, Ajmal and Hazrat were killed while another three which included a local LI commander were maimed. A source in Bara told Dawn that at least one of the injured whose name could not be immediately known was taken by the forces to Combined Military Hospital 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. .
Fate of the other two injured could not be known as there was no official word about the entire episode of firing which took place at a checkpost situated on border between Jamrud and Bara tehsils of Khyber Agency.
At least two security personnel were also injured in the cross firing, sources added. The incident was the first of its type after security forces agreed to withdraw from some check posts established inside Bara and reopened some roads for routine traffic after its closure for almost four and half years.
The incident took place in the wake of a warning to LI by security officials a week ago in which the LI was sternly asked to distance itself from Tehrik Taliban Pakistain and other hostile krazed killer groups operating in Khyber and Orakzai.
LI was warned of a full-fledged military operation if it failed to adhere to official demands. The warning was giving after a recent surge in terror activities in Peshawar and its surrounding localities, which security officials believed were planned and executed from Bara with the help and assistance of local krazed killer groups.
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] A two-member polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... vaccination team was tortured by occupants of a house in Kalar Syedan when they asked them to get their children vaccinated on Thursday, police said.
Mohammad Javaid Irshad, the incharge of polio vaccination team, complained to the police that he along with lady health visitor (LHV) Qamarun Nisa was visiting mohallah Imambargah ...since Pakistain is very religiously correct™, Shia Moslems can't call their houses of worship 'mosques,' which are reserved for Sunnis. It's not clear if imambargahs are used for explosives storage like mosques are... to administer polio drops to children.
When they rang the door bell of a house, a girl opened the door of the house. Hardly had the polio team asked the girl to get the children vaccinated, one young man identified as Bilal Sheikh came out and started arguing with the team members.
While the young man was arguing with polio team, he quarreled, abused and also slapped the polio team member and refused to get the children vaccinated.
Later, the polio team left the scene and lodged a complaint with the police that led to registration of a case against the inmates of the house on the charges of
attacking the polio team and obstructing them from performing their official duty.
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#2
While the young man was arguing with polio team, he quarreled, abused and also slapped the polio team member and refused to get the children vaccinated.
Maoist terrorists rebels opened fire and triggered landmines in Indias restive Chhattisgarh state Friday, killing six policemen in the latest in a string of deadly attacks on security forces. The terrorists insurgents attacked the policemen as they were on a combing operation near Shyamgiri jungle in Dantewada district, about 263 kilometres (164 miles) from state capital Raipur.
A team of 12 policemen was trying to secure an area when the terrorists Maoists detonated landmines and started firing indiscriminately at them, police director general Amarnath Upadhyay told AFP.
Six policemen died on the spot. We have rushed reinforcements and are awaiting further details, he added.
The Dantewada district witnessed one of the worst-ever incidents involving security forces in April 2010 when terrorists guerrillas killed at least 60 policemen in an ambush.
Earlier this month, police gunned down seven terrorists rebels in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra and recovered weapons including AK-47s.
Last December, the terrorists Maoists killed seven policemen in a landmine blast in eastern India.
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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At least 52 people were killed on Thursday as a motorcycle rigged with explosives detonated in Baghdads Sadr City and militants around the country.
The motorcycle was parked in a second-hand bike market in the neighbourhood that was filled with people, mostly young men, when it exploded late Thursday afternoon, killing 31 and wounding 51 others, Iraqi medical and police sources said.
Blood covered the ground, storefront windows were shattered and shoes and motorcycle parts were strewn around the market, according to a Reuters correspondent at the scene. Dozens of people were screaming for information about their relatives.
A wounded man, who identified himself as Ahmed, rested in a nearby hospital. I was about to leave the market when a huge explosion happened, Ahmed said. I was hit in my face and my hands and when I got up, everyone was screaming and running towards me away from the blast.
In other violence on Thursday, four people died from bombs on two different mini-buses in Baghdad.
A militant smashed his explosives-packed vehicle into a checkpoint, killing three soldiers and wounding six others in Mushaada in northern Baghdad, police said.
In Salahuddin province, a pro-government checkpoint in the town of Shirqat was hit by a bomb that killed two fighters and wounded four others, police said.
A suicide car bomber piled into the greeting house of a prominent tribal leader in Haditha in western Anbar province, killing Sheikh Said Fleah Al Usman and six of his guests and wounding 22 others, police said. Usman had been a leader of the pro-government Awakening paramilitary force and a member of Hadithas municipal council.
To the north in Tuz Khurmatu, a bomb in an outdoor marketplace frequented by Turkmen killed two people and wounded 11 others.
In Diyala province to the east gunmen shot dead three members of a family in Khallis as they drove home, police said. No reason was given for the killings.
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[Time of Israel] JERUSALEM A Gaza health official says a 50-year-old woman was shot and killed on the border with Israel, the morning after Israel said troops fired on Palestinians suspiciously approaching the boundary.
News reports Saturday claimed the woman, identified as Amna Qdaih, was shot for walking too close to the Israeli-Gaza security fence. She may have suffered mental illness, Gaza residents claimed. Matters little, everyone receives the same treatment.
[Rooters] JERUSALEM - Israel warned Lebanon on Friday to prevent threatened Hez retaliation for an alleged Israeli air strike on a site used by the guerrillas on the Syrian border.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied carrying out Monday's strike, in keeping with its silence on at least three such attacks over the past year targeting suspected Hez-bound convoys of advanced weapons from civil war-torn Syria.
In an unusually forthright public statement about the incident, Hez said on Wednesday it would "choose the time and place and the proper way to respond" against Israel, with which it fought a war in south Lebanon in 2006.
Israel has frequently promised to target Lebanon at large in any new conflict, noting that Hez, an Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim militia, had politicians in the Beirut government.
"It is self-evident that we see Lebanon as responsible for any attack on Israel from the territory of Lebanon," Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Friday.
"It is the duty of the Lebanese government to prevent any terrorist attack - whether a terrorist or missile attack, or any other kind - on the State of Israel," he told Israel Radio.
Israel is technically at war with Lebanon and Syria.
Israeli analysts have been mostly dismissive of Hez's threat this week, arguing that its fighters were too busy helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad battle a three-year-old rebellion to open up a new front with Israel.
[Ynet] Clashes broke out between stone-throwing Palestinians and IDF soldiers at the Atara checkpoint near the town of Birzeit shortly after the funeral, and medics said five people suffered bullet wounds to the legs.
The army said some 200 Palestinians began throwing stones at the soldiers, who used riot dispersal means against them, including live fire against the main instigators. What's a proper funeral without some good old fashioned stone throwing ?
[An Nahar] An Israeli air strike destroyed a rocket launch site in Gazoo late Friday, the army said, as an official in the Paleostinian territory reported no casualties.
"An Israeli air force aircraft destroyed a rocket launch site in Gazoo to eliminate an imminent threat against Israel," an army front man said in a statement.
A health ministry official from the Islamist movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, which rules the Gazoo Strip, told Agence La Belle France Presse the raid struck near Beit Lahiya in the north of the territory, without causing casualties.
Tensions have risen in and around Gazoo after a year of relative calm.
An increase in Israeli raids and Paleostinian rocket attacks as well as border incidents in past weeks raise the possibility of a major new confrontation between Israel and Hamas.
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[Bangkok Post] A paramilitary ranger providing security for teachers was shot and wounded in an ambush in Pattani province's Yaring district on Friday morning. Witnesses reported eight rangers were on foot patrol along a local highway when terrorists gunmen hiding in a roadside palm plantation fired at them. The rangers fired back and the attackers retreated after a 10 minute gunfight.
[An Nahar] Several rockets fired from the Syrian side of the border landed on Friday on the town of Brital in the Bekaa Valley, the Lebanese army and the state-run National News Agency reported.
The military said in a terse communique that three rockets hit Brital and its surrounding areas.
One of them caused material damage after hitting the house of a soldier, it said.
MTV identified him as Abbas Najah Ismail. At least three people were lightly injured in the attack, it said.
NNA said one rocket hit the area of Wadi Shalah near the residence of the former Brital municipal chief, Ali Ghannam Ismail.
A second rocket hit Kafra, without causing any material damage, the agency said.
Around an hour later, another barrage of four rockets landed on the heights of Brital, NNA said.
It was not clear why there was a discrepancy in the number of rockets mentioned by the army communique and the news agency.
Later on Friday, the Qaeda-inspired Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) grabbed credit for the rocket attack, saying "the lions of the Islamic State bombarded the bastions of the party of Satan (Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... ) with three Grad rockets ...Soviet-developed 122-mm rockets, usually launched from trucks. Newer versions are reported to have a range of up to 30 km.... that hit the Brital region."
It noted that the attack was in retaliation to the deadly "ambush against our people in (Syria's) Otaybeh and the party of Satan's practices against Sunnis everywhere."
More than 170 Islamist rebel fighters, including Saudis, Qataris and Chechens, were killed Wednesday in a Syrian army ambush near the village of Otaybeh in Damascus' Eastern Ghouta region, Syria's state news agency SANA reported.
For its part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "dozens of Islamist fighters were killed and maimed in an ambush by loyalist troops, with the help of (Leb's) Hizbullah, near Otaybeh village in the Eastern Ghouta area."
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] First Military Investigation Judge Riyad Abu Ghida demanded on Friday the death penalty for Salafist holy manAhmed al-Asir ...Leb Salafist holy man with the usual grouch against Shiites. Currently on the run, he seems intent on reigniting the Leb civil war... and several of his supporters over the Abra festivities with the army near the southern city of Sidon.
Media reports said that Abu Ghida requested the death penalty to al-Asir and 56 others.
Different prison terms were demanded for other suspects, who were referred to the military tribunal.
In June 2013, Asir's supporters opened fire on an army checkpoint, leaving around 18 soldiers and more than 20 gunnies dead.
The gunbattles concentrated in the area of Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque and nearby buildings in Abra.
Asir, a 45-year-old holy man who supports the overwhelmingly Sunni rebels fighting to topple Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... , is no where to be found along with singer turned Salafist Fadel Shaker.
Asir teamed up with Shaker, a onetime prominent singer, when around two years ago he began agitating for Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... to disarm.
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Syrian warplanes on Friday carried out several raids on several areas in the outskirts of the eastern border town of Arsal in the Bekaa, the state-run National News Agency reported, as al-Nusra Front executed two men who support the regime.
"Syrian fighter jets launched strikes on the al-Zamarani valley in the Arsal region," NNA said in the afternoon.
And as Al-Arabiya TV reported three afternoon Arclight airstrikes, it quoted the rebel Syrian Revolution General Commission as saying that "22 Arclight airstrikes have targeted Qalamoun's mountains in Syria and Leb's Arsal."
Later, NNA said the bodies of a Syrian young man and a Syrian young woman who were killed in festivities in Qalamoun in addition to five maimed people were transported to a field hospital in Arsal.
Earlier on Friday, media reports said Syrian military planes bombarded the Lebanese border areas of Khirbet Younin, Wadi Hmeid and Ajram.
NNA said the Syrian Arclight airstrikes targeted the towns with four rockets.
Voice of Leb radio (93.3) reported that the raids targeted a gathering for the Syrian opposition in the town of Khirbet Younin.
Rockets from the Syrian side of the border have frequently landed in Arsal since the uprising in the neighboring country turned violent.
The Arsal area is broadly supportive of the Sunni-dominated uprising against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... .
The mountainous area has long been a smuggling haven, with multiple routes into Syria that have been used since the conflict began in March 2011 to transport weapons and fighters.
Hermel and others areas in the Bekaa have also been targeted by rockets fired from Syria in recent months and most attacks were claimed by Syrian rebels.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Big Shirley was still trying to snatch Nunzio bald-headed. She was already halfway there... the news agency reported that al-Nusra Front in Leb executed two Syrians, who are pro-Assad regime, on the outskirts of Arsal.
The NNA said that Mohammed and Ali al-Kouz were charged with collaborating with the Assad regime.
The Nusra Front had previously handed out leaflets accusing 12 Syrians of cooperating with the regime.
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Big surprise? really? Its the Religion of Peace, hello.
[An Nahar] Radical jihadists begin withdrawing from parts of northern Syria Friday after a threat from rivals, in a bid to protect their stronghold in the east of the war-ravaged country.
The main bloc in Syria's opposition in exile, meanwhile, announced it would rejoin the umbrella coalition it split from in a bid to close ranks against the regime.
Al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front has threatened the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... with all-out war if it does not submit by Saturday to mediation by an Islamic court over allegations ISIL assassinated an Islamist commander close to al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... .
Since January, ISIL has battled a coalition of moderate and Salafist tough guys angered by its abuses of rival fighters and civilians, but al-Nusra had largely stayed out of the fray.
The prospect of the powerful al-Nusra joining with ISIL's opponents appears to have prompted the group to withdraw to its stronghold in the eastern city of Raqa, the only quiet provincial capital lost by the regime in the three-year civil war.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ISIL had pulled back from positions in northern Aleppo province, including the key town of Aazaz.
"ISIL has withdrawn from Aazaz, its most important bastion in Aleppo province, as well as the Minnigh military airport, the Mayer region and the villages of Deir Jamal and Kafin," the Britannia-based Observatory said.
"Aleppo region is their weakest link, so they fear being attacked there" by al-Nusra and other rebels after the deadline expires, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"ISIL is heading to areas that neighbor Raqa province where it has its main stronghold in the city of Raqa," he said.
ISIL fighters had regrouped on the far eastern border of Aleppo province and close to Raqa.
In the wake of the withdrawal from Aazaz, which ISIL seized in September, the Observatory said a possible mass grave was found in the city.
The withdrawal was confirmed by the opposition Aazaz Media Center, which claimed it as a victory for rival rebel fighters.
"God is greatest. The heroes of the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... and the Northern Storm (Brigade) have liberated the town of Aazaz from the dogs of Storied Baghdadi," the center wrote on its Facebook page, referring to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Footage posted online showed a demonstration of local residents chanting "the Free Syrian Army forever" after ISIL's withdrawal.
Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, said ISIL appeared to have withdrawn from several locations without a fight.
"Removing these weak areas and reinforcing important and stronger ones seems like the only logical strategy left for ISIL at this stage," he said.
On Tuesday, al-Nusra issued a threat against ISIL after the death of a senior Islamist commander, Abu Khaled al-Suri, who had close ties to al-Qaeda chief Zawahiri and his predecessor the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now beyond all cares and woe... .
Rebels accuse ISIL of killing the commander, and al-Nusra chief Abu Mohammed al-Jolani warned the group would be pushed out of Syria if it refused arbitration before an Islamic court.
Both al-Nusra and ISIL have roots in al-Qaeda's onetime Iraqi affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq.
But the two have never merged, with Jolani rejecting a union proposed by ISIL, and al-Qaeda's Zawahiri urging ISIL to return to Iraq after its fighters moved into Syria.
As tensions between Islamist rebel groups rose, the mainstream opposition's Syrian National Council said it will rejoin the coalition from which it withdrew in protest at the Geneva peace talks with the regime.
The SNC, the biggest bloc in Syria's opposition-in-exile, quit the National Coalition on January 20 because of its participation in the talks.
In fighting on Friday, state news agency SANA said the army killed 20 rebels in an ambush near Damascus.
The agency also said that a rebel attack with mortar fire on the Bab Sharqi area of Damascus killed 17 people.
The Syrian Observatory reported a woman and a child were killed and five other people maimed in government air strikes on a road linking the town of Flita with eastern Leb.
And the monitoring group said regime air raids on the northern district of Ashrafieh in Aleppo city left six dead and another 12 injured.
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03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant
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.
At least 52 people were killed on Thursday as a motorcycle rigged with explosives detonated in Baghdads Sadr City and militants around the country. 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Zawahiri
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