[GEO.TV] Taliban ...Arabic for students... administration in Kabul on Wednesday said that they strongly condemn Pakistain's threat to forcibly expel illegal Afghan immigrants colonists saying "Afghan refugees are not involved in Pakistain's security problems."
Pakistain's caretaker government had set a November 1 deadline for approximately 1.73 million Afghan immigrants colonists residing in the country without legal status to leave or face forced expulsion, citing security concerns.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the front man for the Taliban administration in Kabul, expressed their disapproval on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).
He emphasised that Afghans should not be held responsible for Pakistain's security issues.
Pakistain's Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti had alleged that Afghan nationals were responsible for 14 out of 24 suicide kabooms in Pakistain this year, using this as a justification for the crackdown.
However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... the Taliban front man rebuffed this claim, asserting, "The Pak side should reconsider its plan. Afghan refugees are not involved in Pakistain's security problems. As long as they leave Pakistain voluntarily, that country should tolerate them."
The ultimatum issued by Pakistain to Afghan immigrants colonists, many of whom have been living in the country for years, followed a meeting of civil and military leaders to assess the law and order situation, prompted by two suicide kabooms that claimed the lives of at least 57 people.
Bugti alleged that one of the jacket wallahs was an Afghan national and also accused India's intelligence agency of involvement.
Relations between the Taliban and the Pakistain government have deteriorated, with border festivities leading to the temporary closure of the main trade route between the two countries last month.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2023 00:00 ||
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BLUF: According to them, their beloved relative is an idiot and a sucker, not a mastermind. That’s why he dunnit, you see.
[ShabelleMedia] A social media post by a girl named Dahabo Haji Isse who is Kamal’s cousin, claims that there are traders who use Kenyan youths to deliver illegal goods to different countries, taking advantage of their lack of knowledge.
The family said that Zakariya conspired with big businessmen while he was in China, and they were charged with hundreds of weapons and explosives which were seized by NISA in the port of Mogadishu in May this year, which were said to be destined for al-Shabaab ...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... The family said that Zakariya had a business, bringing goods from China to East Africa. He was told a lot of money by other businessmen who sent him to pick up goods from China, which were sent through the port of Mombasa, and finally arrested in Mogadishu.
Zakariya spent 5 years in China, and graduated from University in Computer Science.
Zakariya Kamala Sufi went missing in Mombasa on September 5, and his news was heard when the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency, Nisa, announced that he had been arrested while he was trying to travel to areas controlled by al-Shabaab.
NISA described Sakarye Kamal Sufi as the most important person of al-Shabaab who used to buy weapons and explosives from abroad.
[ShabelleMedia] The Federal Government of Somalia has released the names of al-Shabaab ...... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... leaders who were killed and maimed in the recent fighting in Galmudug ...a semiautonomous region in central Somalia, bordering Puntland on the north. Galmudug is not trying to obtain international recognition as a separate nation, but rather considers itself autonomous within the larger Somali federalism, for what that's worth... and HirShabelle state and dozens beat feet from the military operations.
A blurb from the Federal Government of Somalia stated that the operations against Al-Shabaab have killed 1,650 members and injured more than 550 others.
The statement also said that in the last two months, the al-Shabaab group has been severely defeated and 19 leaders have been killed. There was no independent confirmation.
Several tables are appended to the bottom of the article. Unfortunately, not only are they images that I can’t copy, but they are in the Somali language — one of the many languages I don’t know.. If anyone here can translate them and summarize the key information for us, that would be grand. If not, we shall have to be content to remain ignorant until it’s revealed elsewhere. Update from Garowe at 12:20 p.m. EDT:
The government added that most of the casualties were recorded in central parts of the Horn of Africa nation.
In a statement issued by the state, the government said 550 others were critically injured during the operations, particularly in Galmadug and HirShabelle states.
[Garowe] An al-Shabaab ...... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... commander surrendered in Somalia on Tuesday, state media reports, after 13 years expedition with the al-Qaeda-linked group, which has been terrorizing innocent civilians and security forces in the Horn of Africa nation for the last two decades.
Mohammed Omar Mohammed, 21, defected from the hard boyz in the Lower Jubba region, just ahead of the operation against the group, which is set for activation in the coming weeks. The Somali National Army [SNA] is gearing towards operations in Jubaland and Southwest states.
According to him, he has been serving in al-Shabaab since 2010 when he was just 8 years old, revealing the ugly part of the group on recruitment and radicalization of minors in Somalia. al-Shabaab hard boyz target minors as soft targets in their propaganda, destroying the lives of hundreds of them across Somalia.
"After 13 years of being a child soldier for al-Shabaab holy warriors, Mohammed Omar Mohammed, 21, gave himself up to the National Armed Forces in the Lower Jubba area on Tuesday," state media reported, without giving further details about Omar, who has been in battlefront almost throughout his life.
The government of Somalia announced amnesty to defectors, noting that they would undergo counseling before being integrated into the people. Since operations against al-Shabaab commenced last year, dozens of fighters have surrendered to the Somali National Army and the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS].
A senior Al-Shabab commander surrendered to the Somali National Army (SNA) on Tuesday in the Lower Jubba region under the Jubaland state of Somalia.
According to Somalia’s defense ministry, Mohamed Omar Mohamed, a long-time recruit of the Al-Qaeda-linked group, has safely defected to SNA forces in Bar Sanguni, about 50 kilometers north of Kismayo, the interim capital of Jubaland state.
“This defection highlights the crumbling morale within their ranks. His defection comes in the wake of relentless offensives by government forces against the Khawarij,” said the ministry in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“We are now displaying to the media an al-Shabab commander who was popular in areas under Jubaland State here in Bar Sanguni town, he was armed with an AK47 rifle and ammunition after he made successful contact with the army about his surrender,” said an SNA officer.
[AlAhram] Mali's army is deploying towards a northern separatist rebel stronghold in a high-risk operation which could foreshadow a widescale confrontation and prove a turning point after a decade of conflict.
The Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) -- an alliance of predominantly Tuareg groups seeking autonomy or independence from the Malian state -- fighters are now regrouping in the Kidal region.
WHAT'S HAPPENING ON THE GROUND?
A large Malian army convoy left the city of Gao on Monday headed towards the northern Kidal region. It is reportedly to go first to the localities of Tessalit and Aguelhok north of the town of Kidal to take over camps being vacated by departing troops of the UN stabilisation force, MINUSMA. The UN mission has been pushed out by the ruling junta and has been handing over its camps to Malian authorities. The handover -- which began with the camp at Ber in mid-August -- is a prime factor in a recent resumption of hostilities by the separatists.
[AFRICANEWS] Abir Moussi, leader of one of Tunisia's main opposition parties, the Parti Destourien Libre (PDL), was arrested on Tuesday, her party's lawyer has said.
Moussi was arrested outside the presidential palace in Carthage where she had come to lodge appeals against presidential decrees.
In a video post on PDL's Facebook page, the opposition leader said that the office of the President had refused to accept her appeal and to give her an acknowledgment of receipt.
Naoufel Bouden, PDL's lawyer, said the reasons for Moussi's arrest remain unknown.
"More details are expected this evening or tomorrow," he said.
Party members denounced the arrest as a "kidnapping" in statements to the Tunisian media.
CRACKDOWN ON THE OPPOSITION
Moussi, a former MP, is a fierce opponent of President Kais Said, as well as the Ennahdha Islamists. She is a supporter of late president Zine El Abidine ben Ali who was tossed in 2011 during the first Arab Spring uprising.
The left accuses Moussi of seeking to re-establish a new dictatorship in Tunisia.
President Saied's government has cracked down on the opposition, imprisoning several prominent opposition figures since the beginning of February, including the leader of Islamo-conservative party Ennahdha, Rached Ghannouchi.
The opposition have decried Saied's presidency as authoritarian, with international bodies earlier this year also sounding the alarm over the country's turn towards autocracy.
[JTA] Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi held a Sukkot prayer service in Riyadh on Tuesday, a sign of warming ties as Israel and Saudi Arabia move toward establishing diplomatic relations...
A photo of the Torah scroll’s velvet cover, shared by Israeli journalist Shirit Avitan Cohen, showed that it bore an embroidered inscription in English, Hebrew and Arabic. Many torah scrolls are dedicated in someone’s honor or memory, and the inscription on this scroll read, "The Jewish Congregation, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In honor of King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and all of their ministers and advisers."
The Torah scroll was adorned according to Ashkenazi custom although Karhi is of Tunisian descent, perhaps indicating that the scroll had been in Saudi Arabia prior to his visit. The kingdom has no organized Jewish community, though Jews have traveled there for business.
Truly we live in an age of miracles.
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/05/2023 00:00 ||
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#1
"Miracles" doesn't begin to describe it. I worked in Riyadh in the 1990s, and this was unimaginable back then.
Posted by: Tom ||
10/05/2023 15:17 Comments ||
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[Jpost] The World Jewish Center in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, was vandalized on Tuesday night in an act thought to be directly related to Israel’s growing relations with neighboring adversary Azerbaijan.
The Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in Azerbaijan, historically inhabited by ethnic Armenian Christians, has been at the center of a longstanding conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The improved relations between Israel and Azerbaijan prompted supporters of the Armenian separatist government in Nagorno-Karabakh to target the Jewish center in Yerevan.
The attackers issued a statement saying: “The Jews are the enemies of the Armenian nation, complicit in Turkish crimes and the regime of [Azerbaijan President Ilhan] Aliyev. The Jewish state provides weapons to Aliyev’s criminal regime, and Jews from America and Europe actively support him. Turkey, Aliyev’s regime, and the Jews are the sworn enemies of the Armenian state and people.”
They added: “If Jewish rabbis in the United States and Europe continue to support Aliyev’s regime, we will continue to burn their synagogues in other countries. Every rabbi will be a target for us. No Israeli Jew will feel safe in these countries.”
ARMENIA'S JEWISH COMMUNITY
The center in Yerevan was damaged, but not by fire, according to reports.
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), responded that “the vandalism of the World Jewish Center in Armenia is distressing. The Jewish community in Armenia is not a party to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
He urged Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan to condemn the act and called for increased security measures for the Jewish community. Goldschmidt expressed his solidarity with the Jewish community in Armenia and hoped they could peacefully observe the holiday of Sukkot.
According to World Jewish Congress estimates, Armenia is home to about 500-1,000 Jews, mostly of Ashkenazi origin, and some Mizrahi and Georgian Jews, localized in Yerevan.
An ethnically diverse country, Armenia has had a deep historical connection to Judaism. Today, the small Armenian Jewish community is able to practice freely but there have been several manifestations of antisemitism.
[AlAhram] Ottoman Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan revealed on Wednesday that the two assailants responsible for a recent suicide kaboom in the capital city of Ankara hailed from Syria.
Telling a presser in Ankara, the minister said that "it has become clear that the two Death Eaters came from Syria and received training here," vowing "extremely clear" responses to the attack.
The incident, which took place in front of the Ottoman Turkish Interior Ministry's building on Sunday, resulted in the injuries of two coppers.
During the attack, one jacket wallahwent kaboom! while the other assailant was rubbed out by the police.
Although the Ottoman Turkish Interior Ministry had not identified the two attackers as members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) until Wednesday, Ottoman Turkish warplanes had carried out Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on suspected PKK targets in northern Iraq, where the group has bases, hours after the Ankara kaboom.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, 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... , has rebelled against the Ottoman Turkish government for more than three decades. Turkiye has launched numerous cross-border offensives against the PKK in northern Iraq.
The country has also been trying to create a safe zone along its border with Syria to secure itself from "terrorist" attacks by 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.... hard boyz and the Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara sees as a Syrian branch of the PKK.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/05/2023 00:00 ||
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[BLAZE] Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is calling for the construction of barriers and roads near the U.S. border in a bid to avert unlawful entries into the country.
"There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas," Mayorkas declared in a document filed on the Federal Register. While the document is currently available to read, the Federal Register website describes it as "unpublished," but indicates that it is slated to be published on Thursday.
Month after month America's southern border is inundated by massive numbers of people.
"The United States Border Patrol's (Border Patrol) Rio Grande Valley Sector is an area of 'high illegal entry.' As of early August 2023, Border Patrol had encountered over 245,000 such entrants attempting to enter the United States between ports of entry in the Rio Grande Valley Sector in Fiscal Year 2023," Mayorkas noted. "Therefore, I must use my authority under section 102 of IIRIRA to install additional physical barriers and roads in the Rio Grande Valley Sector."
#4
Through the first half of Biden's term from January 2021 through January 2023, Customs and Border Protection reported 5,118,661 (5.1+M) encounters, with 1.2+ million seen and confirmed walk-ins.
Note the use of confirmed. That's how many the FED's knowingly let illegally enter the USA. Logically a sane person has to wonder how many they missed seeing? Thus allowing a free pass, to a US taxpayer paid meal ticket.
#5
"There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas," Mayorkas declared
Only the fact it was a written document kept his lips from falling off.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/05/2023 10:42 Comments ||
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#6
But not a Trumpian Wall, no, never.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/05/2023 10:43 Comments ||
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#7
Was there ever a face more deserving for a full frontal bitch-slap? What a vile and utterly disgusting creature!
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/05/2023 14:51 Comments ||
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#12
Watch the hands, not the mouth.
Next election's getting closer, ain't it?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2023 14:57 Comments ||
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#13
^^^ Next election that they are suddenly afraid of losing...
Posted by: Tom ||
10/05/2023 15:16 Comments ||
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#14
interestingly, Trump also waited about 2 years before he got around to building a wall
much of that 2 years was wasted on futile legislative stuff and Trump's admin only went into high speed on wall installation after the Republicans lost their house majority in the 2018 elections
still they managed to achieve a lot of miles of construction of good quality wall - if they had started in 2017 it would have been mostly completed by 2020
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/05/2023 15:36 Comments ||
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#15
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said he will waive dozens of federal regulations—26 in total—in order to fast-track the construction of roads and barriers along the southern border in Texas.
#17
[AP, via Townhall] The Biden administration announced it waived 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow border wall construction on Wednesday, marking the administration’s first use of a sweeping executive power employed often during the Trump presidency.
I am so confused! Unless the AP is prevaricating.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/05/2023 16:48 Comments ||
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#18
So, are they going to drop their lawfare efforts to get TX governor to take floating barriers out of the Rio Grande?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/05/2023 17:17 Comments ||
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#19
No MM. That wasn't their idea so it has no merit.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [KavkazUzel] In the North Caucasus, there is widespread use of torture, extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, and in Chechnya, in particular, harsh suppression of political opponents, infringement of women's rights and persecution of people of non-traditional sexual orientation are widespread, noted the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Russia Mariana Katsarova.
As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, during the years of the counter-terrorism operation and the rule of Ramzan Kadyrov, thousands of people disappeared in Chechnya, but Russia did not take measures to investigate their disappearances, says the report of human rights activists Oleg Orlov and Alexander Cherkasov. They called on the OSCE to take measures to investigate the abductions, in particular, to establish an international court for crimes against humanity in Chechnya.
It was a long time ago, which makes it Page 2: WoT Background.
[Jpost] A newly released document by the commander of the Israel Navy during the Yom Kippur War has shed some more light on the course of the conflict half a century ago.
"We’ve gone into battle to defend the peace of Israel, its rights and its freedoms," V-Adm. Benjamin Telem, the head of the Israel Navy, wrote in a telegram to his naval commanders at the conflict’s outset. "Luckily, we were fighting Arabs"
The war broke out on October 6, 1973, when Israel was largely taken by surprise when the forces of Egypt and Syria attacked together in the Sinai and Golan Heights, respectively.
Two thousand, six hundred and eighty-nine Israeli soldiers were killed during the war and thousands more suffered physical wounds and mental trauma, and hundreds were taken captive.
During that most difficult of wars, Telem led the navy to decisive victories at sea and quickly achieved maritime supremacy over Syria and Egypt.
...THE BATTLE OF LATAKIA
One of the most notable naval conflicts of the war was the Battle of Latakia, which according to the IDF, was the first time in naval history in which sea-to-sea missiles were deployed.
"In the battle between navy missile boats and the Syrian vessels that took place in the sea opposite the Latakia Port, they eliminated three missile boats of the ’Komar’ and ’Osa’ class, eliminated one [Project] 123-K class torpedo boat, and eliminated a T43 minelayer," read the post-battle report from October 7.
"The Syrian missile boats fired on the navy missile boats about eight ’Styx’ missiles but all missed our forces. Two ’Styx’ missiles were shot down by the missile boats’ anti-missile fire from 40- and 20-mm cannons. The navy missile boats that engaged the Syrian vessels attacked with ’Gabriel’ sea-to-sea missiles and their cannons. They fired eight ’Gabriel’ missiles during battle and confirmed that six of them hit the enemy."
...In his summary of the war, Telem wrote how the navy had been painstakingly developed since 1963, establishing clear training regimens, ranks, and logistics and maintenance procedures.
Posted by: Grom the Reflective ||
10/05/2023 01:28 ||
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[AlAhram] Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... barred a number of ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors assigned to it last month due to their countries' "harsh" behaviors toward Tehran, Iran's nuclear chief said Wednesday.
President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami made the remarks to news hounds on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting in Tehran, while commenting on Iran's barring of several IAEA inspectors in September.
Eslami said the barred inspectors were from three European countries that constantly adopt "harsh" political behaviors toward Iran, without naming the states.
He added that the IAEA has 127 confirmed inspectors for Iran, stressing that the barred ones fail to constitute a significant proportion of the total.
As for the cooperation with the IAEA, Eslami assured that the country's nuclear activities are entirely under the supervision and regulations of the agency.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said on Sept. 16 that Tehran had informed him of its decision to bar several "experienced" agency inspectors from conducting verification activities in Iran. Grossi criticized Iran's move as "disproportionate and unprecedented."
In remarks on the same day, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said barring IAEA inspectors assigned to Iran is allowed and reasonable under the bilateral safeguards agreement.
Text taken from the article in the link, via Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
This is a bit of "inside baseball" of the Russian role in the defeat of ISIS in 2017 in Syria.
[BOOSTY] In the fall of 2017, an incident occurred in the Syrian Arab Republic that immortalized for all time the names of two Russian citizens who bravely fought in the Syrian desert and were captured by militants of the Islamic State terrorist group banned in the Russian Federation. After a fierce battle in the village of Ash-Shola, southwest of Deir ez-Zor, press reports appeared that militants had captured two Russian fighters from the Wagner PMC - Grigory Tsurkana and Roman Zabolotny. Soon, reports arrived that they had been killed on October 3, 2017.
The names of Grigory Turcanu and Roman Zabolotny subsequently surfaced more than once in the media. Patriotic media noted the courage and heroism with which the two fighters entered into an unequal battle with superior enemy forces. Years later, the names of the two fighters forever entered the pantheon of Russian heroes; The IS militants responsible for their deaths were eliminated, and a monument to Tsurkan and Zabolotny was erected near the chapel of the Wagner PMC in Goryachiy Klyuch.
Commissioner Yarrick, head of the military-political Telegram channel Astra Militarum, talks about how the heroes of the Syrian war who came from Russia to protect civilians from international terrorism fought.
DEEP IN THE DESERT
September 2017 in the Syrian Arab Republic marked a radical turning point in the protracted war against Islamic State militants. At the beginning of the month, forces on the side of the Syrian government and President Bashar al-Assad managed to break the siege of Deir ez-Zor and begin the systematic destruction of the terrorist underground on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. And at the forefront of the forces going on the offensive against the militants’ positions was a group of Russian military specialists and volunteers, which became known as the Wagner PMC.
As we already know from previous texts on the history of the Orchestra, the Wagner Group included experienced and motivated fighters. The main core of volunteers and military specialists previously participated in battles in the Donbass, where, through the efforts of a small detachment of “musicians,” they managed to stop the advance of Ukrainian troops on Lugansk and protect civilians from the massacre unleashed by Ukrainian formations. A detachment of the future PMC "Wagner", which at that time was a small battalion-tactical group, stormed the Lugansk airport - the key stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Lugansk region, thereby driving Ukrainian forces away from the capital of the LPR.
By 2017, the Wagnerites had already achieved a considerable number of feats of arms as part of the operation in Syria. Since 2015, Wagner fighters have taken part in the most complex and dangerous operations as effective and efficient assault infantry - the culmination of their activities were the two assaults on Palmyra in 2016 and 2017, which we will definitely talk about in the very near future. After stabilizing the situation around Palmyra, liberating the gas fields of Al-Shair and storming the ISIS fortified area in Akerbat , Wagner PMC units broke through the siege of Deir ez-Zor and crossed the Euphrates River , thereby bringing the military defeat of the jihadists closer.
Among the attack aircraft that successfully operated in Deir ez-Zor and the desert areas along the M-20 highway were two heroes of our history. Their fate turned out to be inseparably linked with the fate of bloodless Syria, to the defense of which two volunteers from Russia rose up.
Little is known about the personalities and lives of Grigory Turcanu and Roman Zabolotny before the fateful Syrian events. According to Komsomolskaya Pravda, Tsurkanu was born in 1978 in Syktyvkar, in 1996-1998 he served in an airborne reconnaissance company in the Moscow region, and signed a contract there after military service. In 2012, after serving in the 137th Guards Parachute Regiment in Ryazan, BMD mechanic-driver Tsurkanu retired from the army and changed several occupations.
The fact that Tsurkanu, even before joining the Wagner PMC, decided to devote his life to protecting peace, order and justice around the world, is evidenced by several facts from his biography. According to the recollections of his colleagues, Turcanu went to fight as a volunteer in other hot spots even before the “Orchestra” was created - in particular, he went to the war in Yugoslavia, but nothing is known about his participation in hostilities there. It is known that Tsurkanu was already familiar with Syria from a previous trip - in 2013, he came to the SAR along with other Russian specialists to guard oil production facilities, where, apparently, he met the future commander of the Wagner PMC, Dmitry Utkin.
After a short business trip to Syria, Tsurcanu is engaged in public work as part of the branch of the veterans’ charity organization “Combat Brotherhood” at his place of residence in Domodedovo. Several photographs have been preserved online from meetings of the Combat Brotherhood organization, at which Turcanu is present. However, after the outbreak of hostilities in Donbass, the retired paratrooper voluntarily decides to join the ranks of the militia. Thanks to his acquaintance with Dmitry Utkin, Tsurcanu joins the battalion-tactical group he created under the leadership of Yevgeny Prigozhin, consisting of Russian volunteers and veterans of hot spots.
As the head of the GRAY ZONE Telegram channel, who personally knew Grigory Turcanu, recalls, among the “musicians” he bore the call sign “Gal”. His other comrades recall that the former paratrooper was modest and taciturn throughout his life. We will remember this character trait of “Gala” in this text.
“I knew Turcanu personally; we met him in 2014. Grisha was a fighting man, he fought for a long time in different locations, if you don’t give away all the secrets, said the GRAY ZONE administrator. “5 years ago, fortune turned away from him: despite the fact that he is a trained pro, there are situations in life that we cannot change.”
Even less information has been preserved on the Internet about Roman Zabolotny. It is known that he was born in 1979 in the Rostov region into a family of hereditary Don Cossacks. The memory of his great ancestors led Zabolotny to the Russian Cossack movement: after serving in the border troops, the young man joined the organization of the All-Great Don Army, took part in reviews and public activities of the military-patriotic movement.
In 2014, like many Cossacks from the Don, Zabolotny went to Donbass to fight as part of the militia after the coup in Ukraine and the outbreak of the civil war. It is known that Roman Zabolotny took part in the battles at Saur-Mogila and Novoazovsk, as well as in the operation near Zelenopole. After the end of the “hot” phase of the conflict in Donbass, Zabolotny returned to Rostov and changed a number of civilian professions, in particular he worked as a cook. However, when the Cossack heard about the recruitment of volunteers for the Wagner PMC, he made a decision and went to Syria - to meet his fate.
BATTLE OF ASH-SHOLA
In the fall of 2017, when attack aircraft from the Wagner PMC had already crossed the Euphrates and began fighting with Islamic State terrorists on the eastern bank of the great river, the militants tried to turn the situation around by complicating the position of pro-government forces near Deir ez-Zor. For this purpose, IS flying squads in pickup trucks planned a series of attacks on the Damascus-Palmyra-Deir ez-Zor highway in order to tie up the supply of the advancing forces. At that time, attack aircraft from the Wagner PMC drove the militants away from the key highway, but fast and maneuverable IS units could easily break through to the highway - especially in those places that were controlled exclusively by soldiers of the Syrian army. According to the recollections of the fighters of the Wagner PMC, the militants had the opportunity to cross the highway without hindrance - somewhere they slipped past a checkpoint,
The most dangerous section of the Damascus-Palmyra-Deir ez-Zor route was considered to be the route between the city of Es-Sukhneh in Homs province and the village of Ash-Shola, southwest of Deir ez-Zor. At that time, these settlements were located deep in the rear, but the militants had the opportunity to conduct raids and raids, using the vast and uncontrolled spaces of the Syrian desert for their own purposes. In addition, the Syrian army and various local militias lacked the discipline and organization to properly protect communications, and therefore the command decided to use fighters from the Wagner PMC to escort Syrian convoys.
Apparently, the IS militants knew nothing about this. And so, on September 28, 2017, in the area of the village of Ash-Shola, militant groups attacked a small column of Syrian troops. Similar incidents occurred that day in three places along the highway section - in particular, near Es-Sukhneh, and in the area of the village of Kabajib, and therefore, as news agencies Al Masdar News and DeirEzzor 24 reported at the time, traffic on the Deir Ezzor highway -Zor - Palmyra was suspended. This, however, did not prevent the “flying” IS units from going deep into the rear of the Syrian army and, two days after the breakthrough, briefly capturing the city of El-Qaryatein, southwest of Palmyra.
The media then reported that at least ten Syrian soldiers were killed during the clashes near Ash-Shola, but the convoy managed to avoid complete destruction and withdraw from the battle. The militants moved in mobile groups, mainly consisting of pickup trucks with ZU-23 or heavy machine guns mounted on board. At the same time, as the sources note, not only Syrian soldiers traveling in buses and minibuses came under fire from the jihadists, but also civilians traveling separately in a passenger car and stopping at the request of the militants.
In that very convoy near Ash-Shola were the heroes of our story today - Grigory Tsurkanu and Roman Zabolotny: their detachment was tasked with escorting the convoy and preventing an attack by militants. According to the testimony of a Syrian soldier who survived the battle, cited by Arab media, a detachment of 50-80 terrorists in pickup trucks was waiting for the convoy in an ambush near Ash-Shola.
The Syrian military was unable to provide adequate resistance to the militants and died one after another in an attempt to escape from the battlefield under fire. According to eyewitnesses, Tsurkanu and Zabolotny were able to stop the stampede of the Syrians and organize a retreat, covering the surviving fighters. Despite the disparity in strength, Russian specialists managed to hold the line, even when a group of militants began to bypass them under the cover of machine-gun fire.
“Since there were and are conversations about whether there was a battle (contact) or not, we will make our contribution: a group of 10 of our fighters and two small buses with gardeners, went for some little thing from point A to point B, where and the situation happened. The Sadyks were the first to be taken out of the battle while they were on wheels; most did not even have time to dismount,” the head of the GRAY ZONE Telegram channel later said. – Based on the results of the battle, there were seven 200s on our side, two were captured and one survived. How he got to his people is a separate miracle and a separate story.”
CAPTIVITY
The fact that individual soldiers of the Syrian army managed to survive is, of course, the merit of the Wagnerites. However, as a result of the battle, Tsurkanu and Zabolotny were captured after a fierce hand-to-hand fight: as eyewitnesses testify, shell-shocked and having spent all their ammunition, they did not lose their dignity and continued to fight in close combat.
Islamic State propagandists tried to use prisoners and force them to declare on camera that they would go over to the Islamic State. However, they did not fall for the militants’ tricks, and in the video published by the IS media center they only gave their names. As a result, the militants had no choice but to release a video of captured soldiers of the Wagner PMC (who, due to ignorance, were simply called “Russian military”) on the Internet through the IS-controlled propaganda organ Al-Amak.
While captured by the militants, the “Wagnerites” also showed themselves with dignity. Grigory Turcanu, who had one eye blackened during the battle near Ash-Shola, remained silent during interrogations - this was especially affected by the fact that “Gal”, in principle, was a man of few words in life. Roman Zabolotny mainly spoke for the two: he provided the militants with obviously false and incorrect information, trying to confuse the enemy as much as possible with his testimony. This detail subsequently became known after the publication of a video recording that captured the moment Turcanu and Zabolotny were captured after being shell-shocked.
In the recording, the Cossack told the militants that the minibus they were traveling in when they were ambushed by ISIS was moving towards the headquarters - although in fact the headquarters was in a completely different direction. A number of media outlets, including the Damascus Herald portal, suggested then that Zabolotny deliberately misinformed the militants by sending IS on a false trail, because if Zabolotny had agreed to cooperate with the militants, the defense of the Syrian army in Deir ez-Zor would have collapsed overnight.
BLOOD FOR BLOOD
Realizing that the prisoners would not agree with the demands of the Islamists, would not go over to their side and were openly fooling them, the militants executed Tsurkana and Zabolotny on October 3, 2017. In the same message from the Al-Amaq portal on September 28, the terrorists immediately announced that they intended to execute prisoners publicly in IS-controlled territory. However, the circumstances surrounding the death of the two Russians are still the subject of controversy.
One of the versions of the death of Turcanu and Zabolotny, which appeared in the media at the end of 2017, states that the captured Russians and another unknown person were brutally executed by militants in al-Jardak Square in the city of Al-Mayadeen by beheading and burning. According to this version, the execution of the prisoners was immediately followed by at least 50 raids by Russian and Syrian aircraft. However, no confirmation of this version was subsequently found.
The reprisal of two captured Wagnerites did not in any way ease the situation for the terrorists. By October 2017, the situation of the Islamic State in the province of Deir ez-Zor had become catastrophic. The assault troops of the Wagner PMC were already breaking into the defenses of the Islamists on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, while the militants themselves in Deir ez-Zor, deprived of supplies due to the advance of the “musicians,” were surrendering block after block to the Syrian army. In November 2017, the Syrian military will enter Al-Mayadin, which by that time the militants had declared their “capital” - already the third after Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor. At this time, the “Wagnerites” completed the defeat of the Islamic State in Deir ez-Zor and cleared the last fortified area of the militants on the island of Huwayja Katya. And already in December 2017, pro-government forces and Russia jointly inflicted a military defeat on the forces of the pseudo-caliphate.
During the battle for the last stronghold of the Islamic State in Al-Bu Kemal, the field commander of the Islamic State, who was responsible for the capture and execution of Grigory Turcanu and Roman Zabolotny, was eliminated. The terrorists involved in the capture of the Russians were eliminated during a special operation carried out by detachments of the Wagner PMC together with the forces of the Syrian special forces “ISIS Hunters” - the latter, by the way, promised to take revenge on ISIS for the execution of two Russians. The terrorist field commander and his accomplices were discovered north of the city of Al Bu Kamal, in the desert region of Deir ez-Zor province. When the terrorists realized that their location was known, they attempted a breakout, during which they were eliminated.
EVERLASTING MEMORY
Unfortunately, in the first days after the capture and execution of Turcanu and Zabolotny, Russian official agencies did not help in any way in the rescue of prisoners from the dungeons of the Islamic State. On September 28, when IS militants published the first video of the interrogation of Tsurkana and Zabolotny, representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defense denied statements about the capture of “Russian military personnel” in Syria and stated that there were no incidents in Deir ez-Zor or other areas of the country.
“All military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation located in the Syrian Arab Republic are performing their assigned tasks as intended,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
Representatives of the Wagner PMC had a different opinion on the substance of the issue. Since for a long time nothing was known about the fate of Turcanu and Zabolotny, representatives of the “orchestra” tried to get their comrades out of captivity by any possible means. In particular, the only official communication channel at that time was used for these purposes - the official Twitter account of ISIS Hunters. So, on October 4, a proposal was published there to pay one million dollars for each Russian. In November, “Hunters” offered to exchange 250 Islamic State militants captured on the island of Huveyja Katya for Tsurkana and Zabolotny. Neither proposal was ever considered by the leaders of the Islamic State, since the militants had already executed the captives by that time.
Grigory Turcanu and Roman Zabolotny remained in the memory of people as exemplary warriors who fought bravely and died with dignity. The memory of two heroes who bravely fought in the Syrian desert and were captured by IS militants is still alive today. Former and current fighters of the Wagner PMC annually remember the feat of Turcanu and Zabolotny. The fact that two Russians were in the ranks of the “orchestra” was officially confirmed by Yevgeny Prigozhin in 2023 - talking about the events near Palmyra and the subsequent battles of the “orchestra”, the head of the Wagner PMC especially noted the feat of the two heroes in the battle near Ash-Shola. Finally, the memory of the fighters was immortalized in the legendary chapel of the Wagner PMC in Goryachiy Klyuch - a monument standing in the park near the temple recorded the moment of the last battle between Turcan and Zabolotny.
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