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Syria says its troops enter the strategic city of Saraqib in Idlib and begins ‘combing’ its neighborhoods
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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9 19:03 The peanut gallery [9]
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Page 6: Politix
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Africa North
Italian authorities seized a Lebanese vehicles carrier ("Bana") suspected to ship weapons from #Turkey to #Libya (#GNA).
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  It's interesting to note that the old Benghazi-Turkey ratline is still in operation.
The day he died US ambassador Stevens met with a Turkish diplomat in Benghazi, and the meeting dealt with the shipment of Libyan arms from Benghazi to Turkish ports. Stevens had not visited Benghazi since his large security team was pulled from Libya a month before. Why he would appear in Benghazi on the anniversary of 9/11/2001 still remains an "unofficial" mystery. The State Department had sent out security warnings and thus it was logical that something quite important compelled Stevens to leave Tripoli. The Ambassador's schedule in Benghazi had only one significant event -- his meeting with the Turkish diplomat, Consul Ali Sait Akin -- a more senior government official than the posting to Benghazi would indicate. Arming the Syrians was important.
While the US long ago pulled out of Benghazi, the Turks have not, and dollars to donuts the Libyan operation is being run out of the Turkish consulate in that city.
Posted by: b || 02/07/2020 10:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Why are we still allied with Turkey? With Pakistan?
Posted by: Lex || 02/07/2020 11:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Benghazi is under control of the LNA.
Posted by: Clyde Whesing6325 || 02/07/2020 14:24 Comments || Top||


Land battle has started around AbuGrian between the Libyan Army #LNA and the militias of the #GNA
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Turkey deploys extremists to Libya, local militias say
Syrian snuffies affiliated with groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group are currently being sent by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...
to fight on behalf of the U.N.-supported government in Libya, according to two Libyan militia leaders and a Syrian war monitor.

Both sides in Libya's civil war receive equipment and backing from foreign countries. But Turkey, which has long trained and funded opposition fighters in Syria and relaxed its borders so imported muscle joined IS, has in recent months been airlifting hundreds of them over to a new theater of war in Libya.

The U.N.-supported government controls only a shrinking area of western Libya, including the capital, 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...
. It's facing a months-long offensive by forces loyal to Gen. Khalifa Hifter who is allied with a rival government based in Libya's east. The United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
recognizes the government in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, as Libya's legitimate government because it was born out of U.N.-mediated talks in 2015.

Sarraj is backed by Turkey, and to a lesser degree, Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
and Italia. Hifter receives backing from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, as well as La Belle France and Russia. Libya has the ninth largest known oil reserves in the world, and many of these countries are apparently jockeying for influence in order to control Libya's resources.

Libyan militia leaders in Tripoli told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that Turkey has brought more than 4,000 imported muscle into Tripoli, and that ``dozens'' of them are krazed killer-affiliated. The two commanders spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.

The commanders also highlighted differing opinions within the Libyan militias about accepting Syrian Death Eaters into their ranks. One said the fighters' backgrounds aren't important, as long as they've come to help defend the capital. The other said some commanders fear the fighters will ``tarnish'' the image of the Tripoli-based government.

Turkey-backed militias in northern Syria have been known to include fighters that previously fought with al-Qaeda, IS and other bully boy groups, and have committed atrocities against Syrian Kurdish groups and civilians.

The U.N. has repeatedly condemned the flow of weapons and imported muscle into Libya. But the organization has not directly responded to reports and accusations by Hifter's side that Sarraj's government and Turkey are apparently using IS- and al-Qaeda-linked Death Eaters as mercenaries.

Turkey has not confirmed or denied reports of Syrian fighters being sent to Libya to support Sarraj, and the Ottoman Turkish military did not respond to requests for comment.

Posted by: trailing wife || 02/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Arabia
White House announces death of terror leader Qassim al-Rimi
not new-news but if even CNN confirms...
[CNN] The White House announced Thursday evening that Qassim al-Rimi, the leader of terror group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed in an airstrike in Yemen.

CNN reported last week that the US conducted a strike targeting Rimi, who led the terror group's franchise based in Yemen that has repeatedly expressed interest in conducting attacks targeting the United States, a US official said. The Pentagon did not comment when asked at the time about the report.

The US government had offered a $10 million reward for information on Rimi.

The news comes following several other successful US military efforts to remove high profile Middle Eastern leaders. President Donald Trump ordered a US airstrike in January that killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, and in October, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died in a nighttime raid conducted by US forces on his compound in northern Syria.

While not on the same level as Baghdadi and Soleimani, the death of the leader of AQAP is still a significant moment. Rimi had been a US target since early in Trump's tenure. Rimi was a target of a January 2017 raid on an al Qaeda compound in Yemen that led to the first US military combat death under the President, a senior US military official told CNN at the time.

Rimi taunted Trump and condemned the operation in an 11-minute recording days after the raid, saying that "the new fool of the White House received a painful slap across his face."

Rimi's "death further degrades AQAP and the global al-Qa'ida movement, and it brings us closer to eliminating the threats these groups pose to our national security," the White House said in a statement Thursday. "The United States, our interests, and our allies are safer as a result of his death. We will continue to protect the American people by tracking down and eliminating terrorists who seek to do us harm."

Rimi, formerly AQAP's military chief, reportedly became the group's leader following a 2015 drone strike that killed Nasir al-Wuhayshi. Rimi issued a video soon afterward calling supporters to attack the United States, urging that "all of you must direct and gather your arrows and swords against it."

Many observers have considered AQAP among the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous, branch of al Qaeda since its formation in 2009. The group claimed responsibility for the 2015 attack on the offices of French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris that killed 12 people, though experts could not confirm the group was behind the attack.
Posted by: Frank G || 02/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

#1  People are starting to speak up. Good.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/07/2020 1:36 Comments || Top||

#2  1. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula announced within the past few days that they were responsible for the recent (Saudi "student") attack on a US base.

2. "The White House announced Thursday evening that Qassim al-Rimi, the leader of terror group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed in an airstrike in Yemen."

Fairly good response time but I know we can do better if we try.

Posted by: Mercutio || 02/07/2020 7:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Fairly good response time but I know we can do better if we try.

Ideally we would punish before the attack, but some would say that’s a tad ambitious.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/07/2020 18:53 Comments || Top||


Three Egyptian fishermen were killed early on Wednesday after their boat sank due to a Houthi naval mine explosion
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Europe
Hungarian police temporarily close a Serbian border crossing after a large migrant group showed up there and demanded to be let in
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Sanity. Hope.
Hooray for Hungary!
Posted by: Lex || 02/07/2020 1:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't forget to hit them with water cannons if / when they come back.
Posted by: Raj || 02/07/2020 7:54 Comments || Top||

#3  "Demanded"...GTFO
Posted by: Frank G || 02/07/2020 8:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Brings back pleasant memories.

Posted by: jpal || 02/07/2020 11:47 Comments || Top||


Iraq
al-Sadr militias fire live ammunition against #protesters in #Karbala
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies


Huge number of #protesters chant slogans as they march across the streets of al-Samawa
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Iraqi protesters at #TahrirSquare are lighting up candles to mourn #Najaf victims, who lost their lives yesterday
[TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1  So one side stages a protest and the other side shoots them. Side one better read up on the rules of this game.
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/07/2020 7:39 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
‘HEINOUS ATTACK' Three tourists stabbed in ‘Isis-inspired' terror attack on honeymoon islands of Maldives
[Sun UK - ht Weasel Zippers] ISIS-inspired terrorists launched an attack against foreign workers and tourists in the Maldives.

Three men were stabbed at around 7pm, on Tuesday night in Hulhumale, a paradise island four miles north of capital city Male as a chilling video emerged from local terrorists.

The victims are two Chinese nationals and an Australian, 44, who was filmed with blood soaking his shirt as he was rushed to hospital on a bike.

A Maldivian radical group affiliated with ISIS has taken responsibility for the attack in an unverified video posted online on Wednesday.

One of the three masked men seen in the video, which is still being investigated, accused the Maldivian government of being run by infidels and warned more such attacks were coming.

He said: "As for what will follow (of attacks), you fail to perceive where and when it will take place."

Maldives police arrested three men over the stabbing on Thursday and are probing their suspected links with ISIS, officials said.

Police also confirmed that all three victims are in a stable condition in hospital in the wake of the "heinous attacks" and sought to reassure the public and tourists that the paradise islands are safe.
Posted by: Frank G || 02/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  If every-time something like this occurred the mosque got upgraded to rubble, it might occur a little less or those less inclined to totally follow the koran may squeal on those who do..
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/07/2020 6:40 Comments || Top||

#2  I'd be happy to see that policy applied every Friday.
Posted by: Glaling Protector of the Lichtensteiners4964 || 02/07/2020 8:30 Comments || Top||

#3  It's not like it would happen in London. Oh, wait, never mind....
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/07/2020 9:49 Comments || Top||

#4  For a country that relies on tourism, all that needs to happen is for the tourists to stop going there.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/07/2020 11:17 Comments || Top||


#6  Back to the 1970s.
Death Wish, Escape From New York etc
Posted by: Lex || 02/07/2020 13:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Actually it's starting to feel like 1972, in many ways.
Posted by: Lex || 02/07/2020 13:16 Comments || Top||



#10  It's like a virus.

Encouraged and rewarded by the likes of Colin Shroomhead, Soros, De Blasio, Kim Foxx in Shitcago, the Chavista DA in Kakistan/San Franshitsco, Fauxcahontas repeating the vicious lies of BLM ("Michael Brown was murdered")...

These vile individuals have bred this virus causing violent, feral behavior as surely as if it were a bio-weapon cultivated in a lab.

Soros, De Blasio, Shroomhead et al = the petri dish.
Posted by: Lex || 02/07/2020 14:02 Comments || Top||

#11  Maldives is a super-high dollar tourist resort with the best scuba diving in the world. Think $800 a night rooms, private islands, over-water bungalows.

What's with the rash of crime videos that have nothing to do with terrorism? We're talking about the camel-fuckers here.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 02/07/2020 18:09 Comments || Top||

#12  Maldives is a super-high dollar tourist resort with the best scuba diving in the world. Think $800 a night rooms, private islands, over-water bungalows.


Yes it is and it is very nice indeed. They keep the beer cold too. I'm guessing that the "infidel" government is not best pleased at this threat to their national cash flow.

BTW, several of those semi-anonymous tourist islands have the flavor of Casablanca. They're a great place for casual meetings.
Posted by: The peanut gallery || 02/07/2020 18:38 Comments || Top||

#13  Do I recall correctly that Maldives accepted a few of the terrorists that 0bumhole had exported from Guantanamo?
Posted by: gorb || 02/07/2020 21:55 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
IAF strike on Syria kills at least 23 pro-Iranian gunmen
[JPost] - The Israeli military declined to comment.

At least 23 Iranian militia members fighting in Syria were reported to have been killed in alleged IAF airstrikes on Thursday against several targets in the war-torn country.

According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least three government Iranian positions near Damascus and west of the capital were targeted. Syria’s official SANA news agency said the Israeli strikes came in two waves and hit the al-Kiswah area as well as Marj al-Sultan and Jisr Baghdad.
Update from the Times of Israel at 6:00 a.m. ET:
The pre-dawn raids killed three Iranians and seven Tehran-backed foreign fighters near Kisweh south of the capital, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Eight Syrian air defense forces also lost their lives in both Mezzeh and Jisr Baghdad, west of the capital, the Britain-based war monitor said.

Five Syrian members of a pro-Iran group were killed in the Ezra area in the southern province of Daraa.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/07/2020 02:44 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies


Russia: Syrian air defense nearly hit passenger plane after Israeli attack
[JPost] - The Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow claimed that the Israeli attack on Syria, which killed at least 23 pro-Iranian gunmen in the middle of Wednesday night, put a civilian flight at risk, according to Yediot Aharonot.

An Airbus A320 with 172 passengers on board made an emergency landing in Russia-controlled Khmeimim air base after Syrian air defense nearly hit it, Russian state news agency RIA said on Friday citing Russian defense ministry spokesman.

...According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least three government Iranian positions near Damascus and west of the capital were targeted. Syria’s official SANA news agency said the Israeli strikes came in two waves and hit the al-Kiswah area as well as Marj al-Sultan and Jisr Baghdad.

The first wave at 1:12 a.m. "targeted some of our military positions in the suburbs of Damascus," SANA quoted a military source as saying. The second wave at 1:41 a.m. "targeted military positions in the surroundings of Dara’a, Quneitra and Damascus countryside with a number of missiles fired by Israeli warplanes from the airspace in southern Lebanon and the occupied Golan."
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/07/2020 02:38 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/07/2020 2:43 Comments || Top||

#2  OK__ New ROE for all Syrian AA.

If you can see it, it AIN'T the Jews! So don't shoot!

__ By His Excellency Tsar Pooty-poot
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/07/2020 7:47 Comments || Top||

#3  there is no way in hell I would fly over the ME except Israel
Posted by: Chris || 02/07/2020 10:22 Comments || Top||

#4  I also like how the ape held the gun over his head affter running them off
Posted by: Chris || 02/07/2020 10:23 Comments || Top||

#5  That's an advertisement for a movie I won't name, since getting people to share it was the entire idea of creating it in the first place.

"Nearly hit it"? What does that mean? An airliner is a sitting duck for any air defense system. How do you miss something like that?
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 02/07/2020 18:13 Comments || Top||

#6  It means that if there are any problems as a result of this, that they are to blame the Joos.
Posted by: gorb || 02/07/2020 21:51 Comments || Top||


3 more Turkish militairy convoys with heavy gear entered Idlib today.
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Heavy #Turkish shelling on Shahba Dam & the village of Tal-Madiq, in northern #Aleppo
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Syria says its troops enter the strategic city of Saraqib in Idlib and begins ‘combing’ its neighborhoods
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra

#1  "...And by 'combing', of course, we mean 'shooting anything that moves'."

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 02/07/2020 6:20 Comments || Top||

#2  ^And missing.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/07/2020 6:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Interesting when viewed in connection with article above:
"3 more Turkish militairy convoys with heavy gear entered Idlib today."

Classic "Meeting Engagement"?
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/07/2020 7:38 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
36[untagged]
8Commies
7Sublime Porte
3Arab Spring
2Govt of Iraq
2al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
2Islamic State
2Govt of Iran Proxies
1Moslem Colonists
1al-Nusra
1Govt of Qatar (MB)
1Govt of Syria
1Hezbollah
1Houthis

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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2020-02-07
  Syria says its troops enter the strategic city of Saraqib in Idlib and begins ‘combing’ its neighborhoods
Thu 2020-02-06
  Hazim Al-Halafi, a senior commander of Saraya Al-Salam dead
Wed 2020-02-05
  Trump acquitted by Senate on articles of impeachment for abuse of power
Tue 2020-02-04
  8 Turkish personnel, 13 #Syrian troops killed in north Syria festivities
Mon 2020-02-03
  Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula claims December shooting at Florida naval base
Sun 2020-02-02
  Iraq’s President Barham Saleh assigns Mouhammed Tawfiq Allawi with forming a new government
Sat 2020-02-01
  Qassim al-Rimi, the head of al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen tits up.
Fri 2020-01-31
  Senate Votes 51-49 Against Witnesses and Documents
Thu 2020-01-30
  #Hamas rejects ‘conspiracies’ as #Trump unveils Mideast plan
Wed 2020-01-29
  Turkish tanks and troops have just arrived at the port of Tripoli. In violation of the arms embargo
Tue 2020-01-28
  Iran foreign minister calls Trump peace plan for Middle East 'delusional'
Mon 2020-01-27
  USAF E-11A down in Taliban area.
Sun 2020-01-26
  JeM’s Kashmir chief among 3 killed in Pulwama encounter: Army
Sat 2020-01-25
  AlSadr orders his followers to withdraw from #TahrirSquare and dismantle the tents
Fri 2020-01-24
  PLA mobilized to deal with Wuhan


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