Hi there, !
Today Thu 06/12/2014 Wed 06/11/2014 Tue 06/10/2014 Mon 06/09/2014 Sun 06/08/2014 Sat 06/07/2014 Fri 06/06/2014 Archives
Rantburg
532973 articles and 1859838 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 51 articles and 125 comments as of 0:12.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Sisi Sworn in as Egypt President, Vows 'No Leniency' for Violence
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
0 [1] 
0 [1] 
0 [] 
3 22:22 JosephMendiola [5] 
4 22:48 Shipman [] 
1 08:08 Glenmore [] 
2 12:45 Pappy [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
3 19:43 Zenobia Floger6220 [1] 
0 [] 
0 [4] 
0 [4] 
0 [] 
Page 2: WoT Background
15 23:53 49 Pan [4]
1 12:48 Pappy [4]
2 20:56 Pappy [5]
0 [4]
0 []
0 [2]
0 []
0 []
7 12:59 Pappy []
0 [1]
0 [5]
0 [4]
1 08:58 Glenmore []
2 13:11 Pappy []
0 []
0 []
4 15:24 CrazyFool [1]
0 []
0 [1]
1 01:48 Pappy []
9 21:06 Unnamed Official []
Page 3: Non-WoT
0 []
5 19:19 gorb [2]
8 21:21 badanov [2]
0 []
0 []
9 15:15 Frank G []
Page 4: Opinion
15 19:20 JohnQC [2]
3 19:53 JosephMendiola [2]
4 20:35 Glenmore [2]
9 22:54 JosephMendiola [3]
2 14:18 ed in texas []
Page 6: Politix
7 22:08 Procopius2k [1]
3 15:50 Iblis []
5 12:23 Andy Thud1739 []
Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Sudan Arrests Second Opposition Leader
[An Nahar] counter-insurgency unit, an aide said, in the second such case in just over three weeks.

Sudanese Congress Party chief Ibrahim al-Sheikh was taken away from his home in Nuhud town of West Kordofan by police acting on an arrest warrant, the party's secretary general, Abdelqayum Awad, told Agence La Belle France Presse.

"They accused him of undermining the constitutional regime, spreading lies and threatening peace," he said.

Sheikh could face the death penalty if found guilty of these charges, he said.

According to Awad, Sheikh, a former university professor, had at a rally on Saturday criticized the actions of the counter-insurgency unit known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and protested over politically-motivated arrests.

On May 17, Sadiq al-Mahdi, an ex-premier who heads the opposition Umma Party, was jugged
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
after he reportedly accused the RSF of rape and other abuses of civilians in the Darfur region of western Sudan.

He too has been charged with treason-related offenses and could face a possible death sentence if convicted.

Mahdi, a descendant of Sudan's legendary Islamic reformer known as the "Mahdi", is also a religious leader revered by his followers.

The United States and the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
have expressed concern
...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended...
over his arrest, and in Sudan thousands of Mahdi's supporters have held protests demanding his release.

Khartoum has banned newspapers from reporting on his case.

The RSF operates under the authority of the National Intelligence and Security Service and has denied Mahdi's reported claims.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Ex-Shaboob commander Atom surrenders
MOGADISHU -- The former commander of Al Shabaab militia hiding out in Galgala and the difficult terrain of Golis Mohamed Saed Atom has given himself up in Mogadishu, declaring that he has renounced violent activities on Saturday, Garowe Online reports.
"Don't let them hurt me!"
Addressing reporters during a news conference, Atom said from now on I will not involve in fighting in accordance with a deal with Mogadishu-based federal government. He thanked those who accorded the warm welcome to him and disclosed at the surprise press briefing in Mogadishu that harsh principles by Al Shabaab leaders forced him out of the terror arena.

Making allegations against Al Shabaab boss Ahmed Abdi Godane whose group has been facing deep dissension, the fresh Al Shabaab deserter noted that Al Shabaab leader's group accustomed to shedding the blood of innocent civilians."They have no regard to general public who are in grave difficulties; such as displaced people whom they starve by blocking the relief assistance from generous Muslims and non-Muslims," according to a press statement from Ministry of Information

Continuing, he told that during his tenure as the commander of Al Shabaab fighters in Galgala, he opposed to the former Puntland administration of Farole.

Following the arrival of spectacular number of Al Shabaab militants in Galgala through Golis hills, he was forced to resign and depart hideouts in northeastern Somalia, Atom added.

The former commander of Al Shabaab militia in Puntland is labeled as arms-smuggler as well as warlord. His name appeared in UN Monitoring Group report and he was reported to the Security Council.

Puntland forces waged massive military offensives on Al Shabaab hideouts in mid-2010 when former Puntland President, Abdirahman Mohamed Farole's was in office in response to planned assassinations and suicide bombings largely in the Gulf of Aden port city of Bossaso. The largest military response to Al Shabaab security threat by Puntland at the time dwindled the group's activities and left underground cells destroyed.
This is how you do it. The Punties have figured out that a dead terrorist is a peaceful one...
Posted by: Steve White || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab

#1  He was only a small problem.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/09/2014 14:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Is he related to Atom Ant?
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 06/09/2014 15:55 Comments || Top||

#3  The pest that has caused such alarm
Came from an Atomic Ant Farm.
The nest, loosed in the park,
Grew and glowed in the dark,
And attacked in a gigantic swarm.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 06/09/2014 19:43 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Sisi Sworn in as Egypt President, Vows 'No Leniency' for Violence
[An Nahar] Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi warned on Sunday, hours after being sworn in, that there will be "no leniency" for those who commit acts of violence.
Welcome to the Arab Autumn.
In a televised address to the nation, Sisi promised to work toward "reconciliation" but not with those who have "shed blood."

Sisi ousted Islamist 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...
last July, since when authorities have crushed his Moslem Br�derbund movement, tossed in the clink
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
its leaders and put them on trial.

Sisi said there will be "no leniency and truce with those who resort to violence."

"I am looking to a new era built on reconciliation and tolerance... except with those who committed crimes or used violence as a tool," he said.

"I am saying clearly that those who shed the blood of the innocent and killed ... the sons of Egypt, they don't have a place in (our) march."

Sisi was sworn in earlier in the day following a landslide election almost a year after he deposed Morsi.

The retired field marshal took the oath of office at the heavily guarded Constitutional Court and then left to attend a reception with foreign dignitaries.

Western countries alarmed by the brutal crackdown on dissent following the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last year mostly sent low level representatives.

Sisi scored a lopsided victory last month in an election boycotted by Morsi's Moslem Br�derbund and secular dissidents, also targeted by the army-installed government in the wide-ranging crackdown.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Ima thinkern a long, hot Arab Summer.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/09/2014 1:24 Comments || Top||

#2  ...Specially for the Arabs
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 06/09/2014 11:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Personally I'm interpreting Al-Sisi's election as the Egyptian military's quiet or silent apology for its role in deposing Al-Sisi predecessor Mubarak.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/09/2014 22:22 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Female Suicide Bomber Kills Self, Soldier in Nigeria Attack
[VOA News] A female jacket wallah killed herself and a soldier outside an army barracks in Nigeria's northeastern city of Gombe on Sunday, the military said, as local leaders reported the death count from a string of earlier Death Eater attacks had reached 110.

No one grabbed credit for the blast or last week's assaults, but Islamist 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...
has set off bombs and killed thousands in its 5-year-old bid to carve out an Islamist state in the region.

Soldiers stopped the woman as she tried to get into the barracks with explosives hidden under her robes, defense headquarters said in a statement.

The device went off, killing her and a soldier searching her, it added.

"I heard a loud sound and then black smoke covering the place. ... We saw soldiers moving bodies," Gombe trader Bello Kasuwankatako told Rooters.

Witnesses had earlier said between three and five people died.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


The Grand Turk
PKK getting frisky in Turkey
PKK members abducted two workers from a road construction site in the eastern Kars province of Turkey on Sunday, Anadolu Agency reported. The PKK militants raided the site and also attempted - but ultimately failed - to set fire to vehicles used for construction of a road between the provinces of Agri and Kars as security forces arrived at the scene. The militants then proceeded to abduct two construction workers.

Security forces have launched a wide scale operation to find them.

The attack came a day after two protesters died and two people, including a soldier, were wounded during an illegal protest in the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakir. According to an AA correspondent in the city, unidentified assailants among the group opened fire and security forces likewise retaliated. Two of the protesters were killed.

The group of protesters had attempted to block the road between Diyarbakir and Bingol provinces, hurling hand-made grenades and rocks at servicemen, before security forces intervened. They were allegedly protesting the construction of a military outpost in Lice district.
Following burial in Baglar district of Diyarbakir on Sunday, a group of protesters attacked security forces with fireworks and stones. Another group of pro-PKK protesters attacked a military barrack with Molotov cocktails and stones on Sunday, after erecting a barricade at a nearby road, in the eastern province of Hakkari.

Police managed to disperse the masked protesters with water cannons and tear gas.

Meanwhile, a group of PKK members raided a stone pit and set six trucks and four construction vehicles on fire on Sunday in the eastern province of Bingol, an AA correspondent reported.

In Istanbul, a group of people, including women and children, held a demonstration in Bagcilar districton Sunday to protest the incidents in Lice. The police stopped the group from approaching the district's police station and a clash erupted as unidentified protesters threw stones and cans at the police, which used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. A woman fainted because of tear gas and two police officers were wounded during the intervention.

Intermittent clashes between protesters and security forces have been rampant since late May in Lice.

Diyarbakir governor's office said in a statement last week that, since May 24, PKK's militants and affiliate groups had engaged in kidnappings, roadblocks and had attacked security forces with home-made explosives and firebombs since May 24 He added security forces had registered 54 such events for the last two weeks.

These incidents have occurred after the terrorist organization PKK reportedly kidnapped an unknown number of children on April 23, the national day for children, threatening to destabilize a delicate 'solution process' which addresses the issues of the Kurdish people.

Turkey's 'solution process' began early last year with a ceasefire between the Turkish government and PKK terrorist organization. The government pledged democratic reforms to empower minorities, particularly the Kurdish people, which is by far the largest representing 18 percent of the population.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Terror at Karachi airport: 16 dead, including 6 militants
[DAWN] 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...
Airport's old terminal has been attacked by heavily armed assailants on Sunday night, Dawn News reported.

At least 16 people have been reportedly killed, including security personnel and civilians.

Six turbans were also among the dead.

Some eight to 10 attackers were said to have engaged in a shootout with security forces.

Pakistain Army troops were called in to deal with the situation and troops from Malir Cantonment have been dispatched, while police commandos and Karachi Rangers are assisting.

A huge kaboom was heard over two hours into the attack. A second large kaboom was heard near the airport workshop. A third massive kaboom was heard a further 30-40 minutes in. Huge clouds of smoke continue to dominate the skyline.

Intermittent firing continues at the airport, while large plumes of smoke have been seen over the cargo terminal. One plane each of PIA and AirBlue, and a cargo plane of a foreign company have been damaged.

A hand grenade attack was also carried out on the Isphani Hanger.

Suicide bombers are reportedly part of the terrorist squad that has infiltrated the airport.

Staff is being rescued by the security personnel and moved to safer areas. Rescue teams are being allowed in after being checked thoroughly. Passengers have been evacuated and moved to a secure location.

Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
has called DG Rangers Sindh and asked him to ensure the safety of passengers.

All flight operations at Jinnah Terminal have been suspended and flights have been diverted to other airports.

Pakistain correspondent for the Daily Telegraph Rob Crilly reported that he had spoken to MQM leader Farooq Sattar and stated that, "He sounds calm but understandably concerned about being stuck on plane filled with aviation fuel."

Death toll

The bodies of 10 people including ASF officials were brought to Jinnah Hospital a few hours into the attack, along with 15 injured.

At least four turbans have also been killed. A rocket launcher and four SMGs were recovered from the slain terrorists.

One jacket wallah went kaboom! during the attack, injuring one security personnel.

A Rangers spokesperson claimed, "Indian arms and ammunition" were found on the bodies of the terrorists.

How they got in
The attackers are said to have forged fake ID cards of ASF and entered the area.

Broken glass and used gun magazines littered the engineering section where the first exchange of gunfire had taken place.

The turbans carried out the attack from three different sides, officials said, while there are reports that two turbans managed to get inside a plane.

Motive?
While no group has claimed the Karachi airport attack, suspicion falls on the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) who had assaulted the headquarters of Pakistain's naval air force in May 2011, killing 13 people, injuring 16 others and blowing up at least two military aircraft.

Regarding today's attack:

As reported on the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
website: "The target appears to be to create panic and damage the fleet," said one government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

As reported on the Washington Post website: One senior Pak intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, said some of the snuffies tried to hijack a plane but were unsuccessful.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Latest casualty estimate:
At least 28 people - including 10 terrorists - have been killed, 14 injured.
Posted by: ryuge || 06/09/2014 6:18 Comments || Top||

#2  "Indian arms and ammunition"

Stated for 'local' consumption, perhaps.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 06/09/2014 11:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Not that hard to get them from, say, the NE corner of India...
Posted by: Pappy || 06/09/2014 15:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Motive?
Monday
Posted by: Shipman || 06/09/2014 22:48 Comments || Top||


At least 22 people killed in suicide attack near Pak-Iran border
[DAWN] At least 22 people were killed and several others injured in two coordinated suicide kabooms near the Pak-Iran border, Taftan late on Sunday night an high level official confirmed.

Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
's Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told Dawn.com that 10 buses carrying Shia pilgrims had entered Pakistain from Iran.

"There were kabooms after the buses were parked outside the hotels where the pilgrims were going to stay over night before they commenced their journey back the following day," Durrani said adding that the blasts were followed by intense firing. He feared the casualties will continue to rise.

Frontier Corps and levies personnel were called in to bring the situation under control. It has been more than right years that Shia pilgrims in Mastung and other parts of Balochistan are targeted by hard boys.

Presently, no hard boy organization has grabbed credit for the attack.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Scary thought - neighbors with nukes and grudges, and no self-control.
Posted by: Glenmore || 06/09/2014 8:08 Comments || Top||


Pakistani troops kill 10 militants in southwest
Pakistani paramilitary forces on Sunday killed more than 10 separatist rebels in the violence-stricken southwestern province of Baluchistan as part of a fresh operation to quell a long-running insurgency, officials said.

The operation in Dera Bugti district’s Gandyari town, 250 kilometres southeast of the capital Quetta, came just three days after troops killed 30 militants in the same area. Officials said the town, close to the borders of Baluchistan, Sindh and Punjab provinces, was the hub of a separatist movement carrying out attacks on trains, bridges and security forces.

“We can confirm that 10 militants of the outlawed Baluchistan Republican Army (BRA) have been killed in an operation in Gandyari today,” Manzoor Ahmed, a spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps in Baluchistan, said.

“The forces started operation against the BRA militants early in the morning after receiving information that they are hiding there,” Ahmed said.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Baloch Liberation Army


Gunmen shoot up NATO oil tanker in southwest Pakistan
Terrorists Gunmen in restive southwest Pakistan on Sunday fired bullets at an oil tanker carrying fuel bound for NATO troops in Afghanistan, setting the vehicle and a car ablaze, police said.

Sunday’s incident occurred around 200 kilometres (140 miles) southeast of Quetta — the capital of Baluchistan — a province rife with militancy, sectarian violence and ethnic insurgency.

“Two terrorists gunmen riding a cycle of violence motorcycle intercepted a NATO oil tanker in Dera Murad Jamali city and fired bullets at it,” local police official Ali Gohar Lehri told AFP.

“The tanker and a car close to it caught flames,” he added. “The driver and cleaner of the tanker and all passengers travelling in the car jumped out of their vehicles to save their lives.”

The terrorists attackers escaped the crime scene. Another police official confirmed the shooting.

“The main highway between southern Sindh and southwestern Baluchistan province remained closed for around two hours because of the burning vehicles,” Noor Muhammad Breach, a senior police official in the area, told AFP. “Hundreds of vehicles were stuck on the highway."

Last month, Pakistani troops foiled an attack on a NATO supply terminal in the northwest, killing one terrorist attacker and forcing others to flee.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Karachi airport under attack
Heavily armed terrorists militants attacked Pakistan’s busiest airport in the southern city of Karachi on Sunday night, forcing the suspension of all flights, officials said.

Senior police official Rao Mohammad Anwar said the terrorists militants were armed with automatic weapons and grenades and were exchanging gunfire with security personnel.

“Exchange of fire is continuing. We don’t know the exact number of the terrorists attackers but suspect four to six terrorists have attacked the airport,” he said.

Abid Qaimkhani, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority, confirmed the attack, adding all flights had been suspended.

Television footage showed plumes of smoke rising from the runway where planes were parked.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Bombings Targeting Kurds Kill 17 in Iraq
[AnNahar] A boom-mobile followed by a suicide kaboom hit offices of a Kurdish political party and security forces in Iraq on Sunday, killing 17 people, police and a doctor said.

The blasts in the town of Jalawla, north of Storied Baghdad, also maimed 50 people, the sources said.

Police Captain Farhad Rifat said the boom-mobile went off close to an office of President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party and a Kurdish asayesh security forces building.

As emergency workers came to the scene, the jacket wallah entered the PUK office and detonated explosives, he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, though suicide kabooms are a tactic mainly employed by Sunni Mohammedan hard boyz in Iraq.

Violence is running at its highest levels since 2006-2007, when tens of thousands were killed in sectarian conflict between Iraq's Shiite majority and Sunni Arab minority.

More than 900 people were killed last month, according to figures separately compiled by the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
and the government.

So far this year, more than 4,500 people have been killed, according to AFP figures.

Officials blame external factors for the rising bloodshed, particularly the civil war in neighboring Syria.

But analysts say widespread Sunni Arab anger with the Shiite-led government has also been a major factor.
And that, of course, was why the Kurds were attacked. Or not, as the case may be.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Rocket Fire From Gaza Sets Off Sirens In South
[IsraelTimes] Emergency sirens sounded in several cities in southern Israel Sunday night, as a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip in the direction of Ashkelon, setting off the Code Red alert in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council.

The rocket landed in open Palestinian territory close to the security fence with Israel, according to Israel Radio. No damage or injury was reported.
So those brilliant Gazan rocketeers missed their target country completely and hit -- Gaza. Incidentally, now that Hamas has formally handed over control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, responsibility to prevent and punish the rocketeers also belongs to the PA. No doubt somewhere there is laughter, and somewhere the sun shines bright...
On Saturday, a rocket fired from Gaza apparently exploded in open areas in the Sha'ar Hanegev region, causing neither injury nor damage.

According to the IDF's official figures, 108 rockets have been fired at Israel from the Strip since the beginning of 2014.

Later Saturday, three Palestinian men were arrested by IDF soldiers after they crossed the border from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

It was not immediately clear what their motive was, and they were transferred to security forces for interrogation, Army Radio reported.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  Celebrating their unity government.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/09/2014 5:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Gee, I thought with a unity government, rocket attacks like this would end.


/naivete
Posted by: Pappy || 06/09/2014 12:45 Comments || Top||


Gaza Fisherman Dies Of Wounds By Israeli Fire
[AnNahar] A Paleostinian fisherman in the Gazoo Strip died on Sunday from Israeli gunshot wounds sustained last month, an official in the outgoing Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-run health ministry said.

"Fisherman Imad Shukri Salem, 52, died this morning from wounds he sustained two weeks ago," front man Ashraf al-Qudra told AFP, saying troops on a naval vessel fired at him while he was fishing.
"The operation was a success. Unfortunately, the patient died."
Salem sustained gunshot wounds to the chest and underwent surgery but his condition deteriorated, he said.
They didn't take him to an Israeli hospital?
Nizar Aayesh, head of Gazoo's fishermen's union, said troops had jugged
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
three fisherman at sea on Saturday night and confiscated their boat.

Israel does not allow Gazoo fishermen to venture more than six nautical miles from shore, and its naval patrol boats have been known to fire on those who broach that limit.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Couple, Four Children Killed in Syria Air Raids
[AnNahar] A couple and their four children, the youngest just six months old, were killed Sunday in Syrian army air raids in the northern province of Aleppo, a monitoring group said.

"An entire family was killed in air raids in Tal Rifaat in the north of Aleppo province," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"The parents and their children, aged 10, six, two and six months, were all killed," in the strikes targeting the rebel-held town.

"(President) Bashir al-Assad says he wants to kill terrorists. Is a six-month-old baby a terrorist?" asked Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

More than 2,000 civilians have been killed since January in a regime aerial campaign targeting Aleppo province, most of which is under rebel control.

Aleppo city, the country's pre-war commercial capital, has been divided between rebel and regime control since shortly after fighting began there in mid-2012.

The campaign has included frequent attacks with explosives-packed barrel bombs dropped from helicopters, a tactic rights groups condemn as indiscriminate.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


In Syria's 'Berry Place,' Residents Dodge Bullets
[AnNahar] The Damascus neighborhood is known as "Berry Place," but its bucolic name hides its difficult reality -- it is the front line between rebels and soldiers loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
The area is an island in the eastern district of Jobar, where rebels hold the east and the army controls the west.

On the two streets on the edge of the regime-held portion, lined with modest one-storey homes, children play, shouting and laughing, their voices occasionally drowned out by the rumble of artillery or the crack of a sniper's rifle.

"They (the rebels) threatened us to try to make us flee but we have stayed despite the bombings," said Um Imad al-Masri, a woman in her forties in a black robe and turquoise headscarf.

"Despite the deaths of our neighbors, Karim, Marc, Abu Mohammed, killed in their homes by mortars, we haven't left. Anyway, where would we go?"

The government considers Berry Place a strategic area because it provides access to the capital's central Abbasid Square. If the rebels took the square, they could take the heart of Damascus.

So residents of Berry Place have found themselves trapped, trying to go about their lives in the crossfire.

"When the bombing starts, we tell the children to come inside, and when it calms down, they return to the street," al-Masri said.

"We can't keep them locked up," she adds, insisting she will stay "so long as the army is here."

For Wafic Kamshi and some of his Christian neighbors, the situation is even worse.

"I live between the army and the Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem BrĂźderbund...
," he said. He lives just east of Berry Place, in a no-man's-land in Jobar that nearly no one enters.

He works as a taxi driver near Abbasid Square, but rides his bicycle to work each day for fear a car could attract the snipers' attention. Sharpshooters riddled a vehicle with bullets near Kamshi's home, where it still lies abandoned.

Seven months ago, Kamshi was injured by a sniper while he was sitting in front of his home.

"I don't know where the bullet was fired from, but it hit me in the back and it came out from my stomach," he said.

After he was discharged from hospital, however, Kamshi returned to the home where he was maimed.

"In three years, I've gotten used to the war and the bombing doesn't even stop me sleeping now."

But the same can't be said for the children living in the front-line homes in Berry Place, where a tank is stationed at the entrance to the two streets.

"When the bombing starts every day, they are really afraid. And then when it calms down they give the impression that they've forgotten everything and they start to smile again," said Fariza Lahham, an elegant 25-year-old dental assistant.

Jobar was built in the 1960s and was a bustling commercial district before the conflict. Now, most of its shops are shuttered, its buildings deserted and the pavement pockmarked by shrapnel. The fight between the regime and rebels even goes on below ground, with both sides using tunnels to attack the other.

"We used to do our shopping in Jobar al-Balad," said Berry Place resident Bassam Zarqi, referring to a district in eastern Jobar, now under rebel control.

"We've had to change that and go to Abbasid Square instead," adds the 70-year-old, sitting in front of his house with his granddaughter in his arms.

Despite the danger, for some the neighborhood has become a refuge.

Um Mohammed fled the eastern Damascus suburb of Ain Terma because the rebel-held district was under such fierce regime bombardment.

"I was living with my cousin there. He left his house with his family when a mortar shell came in through their house," she said. "I decided to come here because I felt it was less dangerous than where I was coming from."

Nearby, soldiers are on patrol.

"We're here to protect civilians and children in the Abbassid region," one said. "It's a strategic position to ensure the security of all of Syria."
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/09/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



Who's in the News
29[untagged]
5Palestinian Authority
2al-Shabaab
2Govt of Pakistan
2al-Qaeda in Pakistan
2Govt of Syria
2Taliban
1Baloch Liberation Army
1Govt of Sudan
1TTP
1Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant
1Arab Spring
1Boko Haram
1Govt of Iran

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2014-06-09
  Sisi Sworn in as Egypt President, Vows 'No Leniency' for Violence
Sun 2014-06-08
  Gunmen attack Karachi's Jinnah International Airport
Sat 2014-06-07
  Heavy clashes, suicide bombings kill 36 in north Iraq
Fri 2014-06-06
  Boko Haram kills "hundreds" in Nigeria
Thu 2014-06-05
  Libya: Haftar Escapes Suicide Attack
Wed 2014-06-04
  At Least 120 Dead in Clashes in Yemen
Tue 2014-06-03
  Somali gummint claims to have whacked 74 Shaboobs
Mon 2014-06-02
  5 Gitmo Terrorists Arrive in Qatar "With No Sign They Are -- Under Custody"
Sun 2014-06-01
  Bowe Bergdahl, Army Sergeant Held by Taliban Since 2009, Is Released
Sat 2014-05-31
  U.S. Confirms American Carried Out Syria Suicide Bombing
Fri 2014-05-30
  Syrian Regime Rains Barrel Bombs on Aleppo as ISIL Executes 15, including Kids
Thu 2014-05-29
  Top Iranian officer beheaded in Syria
Wed 2014-05-28
  Wanted Hizbullah Commander Killed in Syria
Tue 2014-05-27
   23 Terror, Religious Extremism Groups Busted In Xinjiang
Mon 2014-05-26
  New leader of Caucasus insurgency threatens "crushing blows"


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.
52.14.8.34
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (21)    Non-WoT (6)    Opinion (5)    (0)    Politix (3)