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Today: 76 articles and 213 comments as of 13:04.
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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
ISIS burns Jordanian Pilot Alive
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
No Government Privileges for Extremists: Abdullah
[Tolo News] Turning down extremism in strong words, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah
... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun...
declared that bully boy groups would have no privileges from the government with their continued violence and killing of innocent lives.

At a conference Sunday assessing the impacts of extremism, Abdullah, pointing out the growing rumors of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(IS) fighters in Afghanistan, declared that bully boy groups including the Taliban and IS are in the wrong path of reaching their goal.

"We strongly condemn the killing of innocent lives by whoever they were, whether the Taliban or IS," Abdullah said at the event attended by high-profile governments officials and dignitaries.

"The government would never give privileges to the Lions of Islam in order to achieve peace," Abdullah declared.

"These groups must know that our people are awake now and would not give them such privileges," he said following rumors that President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
had allegedly offered cabinet seats to the Taliban in order for the group to renounce violence.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I was hoping he was referring to the Obama Regime
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2015 12:46 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Somaliland responds to allegations by Puntland
BERBERA, Somalia(land) -- Somaliland’s separatist administration in northwestern Somalia has responded to allegations by Puntland of aiding terrorist in Galgala, Garowe Online reports.

Addressing reporters in Berbera Port City on Monday, Somaliland’s Minister for Interior Ali Mohamed Waran Adde said remarks by Puntland security minister are inconsistent with what he described ‘ongoing dialogue’ between the two sides, a day after the breakaway region put consignment of illegal arms on public display. He has not spotlighted the nature of the negotiations despite Turkey-brokered bilateral talks between Somalia Federal Government and Somaliland.

“The man [Puntland security Minister] who spoke in Garowe is detrimental to the talks between Puntland and Somaliland and revealed filthy hostility to Somaliland people,” he went on, confirming that the heavy weapons on Sudanese-registered ship, MV Shakir are on the ground.

Meanwhile, Somaliland for the first time unveiled that officials in Sudan are in direct contact with the government.

Last Friday, Puntland-neighbor to the east-censured Somaliland over the ownership of the weapons shipment, with security Minister lambasting the separatist administration for throwing financial and military support behind militants operating in hideouts along Golis Mountain Ranges and in the rugged terrain of Galgala.

Nevertheless, Somaliland minister called Puntland accusations ‘distorted and unfounded’.

Earlier in early 2014, Puntland President Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali accused Somaliland of financing beleaguered Al Shabaab fighters.

Puntland forces have been engaging in sporadic and fierce clashes with militants since mid-2010 when underground cells came into open. Somaliland and Puntland have long vied for the control of vast territories in the disputed Sool and Sanaag regions where politicians carved out the self-declared administration of Khaatumo.
So there are three sides to the story, and under all of it is oil...
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "It is not heelpful to our 'ongoing dialogue' to point out that we are smuggling weapons"
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2015 8:55 Comments || Top||


DPP appeals acquittal of British terror suspect Jermaine Grant
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The Director of Public Prosecutions has appealed the acquittal of British terror suspect Jermaine Grant of nine charges he was facing at a magistrate's court.

Through Principal Prosecution Counsel Jami Yamina, the DPP wants the High Court to reverse the decision of the magistrate and substitute the order for acquittal in each count with a finding of guilt and consequently sentence Mr Grant.

Last week, Shanzu Senior Resident Magistrate Anastasia Ndung'u acquitted Mr Grant of the charges, among them making a false statement for register of birth.

The DPP said the magistrate erred in law by acquitting Mr Grant, having found offences had been committed, and hence the acquittal amounted to a miscarriage of justice.

"The magistrate erred in law by acquitting the respondent on all the nine counts against the weight of evidence," said Mr Yamina.

Mr Yamina further argued that Ms Ndung'u erred in law by acquitting the respondent having found the accomplice's evidence was credible and corroborated hence the same could form a basis for a conviction.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Ansar al-Sharia


Africa Subsaharan
It's disgraceful for soldiers to run away from Boko Haram -- Buhari
[Nigerian Tribune] THE All Progressives Congress (APC) standard-bearer in this month's presidential election, General Muhammadu Buhari, on Saturday evening, declared that it was disgraceful for Nigerian soldiers to run away from bandidos Lion of Islams and abandon their weapons in the process.

This is even as he declared that if voted as Nigeria's next president, his administration would tackle insurgency, corruption and unemployment headlong with a view to positioning the country on the path of greatness.

The retired General stated these at the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) Square in Bauchi, where he addressed a mammoth crowd of supporters in continuation of his nationwide campaign tour ahead the presidential election.

According to the former head of state, the Nigerian military had performed excellently in peacekeeping operations in Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sudan, which had been globally acknowledged, wondering why they could not replicate same in their fatherland in the war against terrorism.

He stated that on coming on board, he would look into the challenges facing the country's armed forces with a view to making them modern forces capable of tacking challenges like insurgency.

"APC government at the federal level will find a lasting solution to the problem of insecurity. We are going to look into the problems confronting the police, army, navy and Air Force who, despite the huge money being spent on them as salaries and for procuring weapons for them by the government, could still find it difficult to face Lion of Islams.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram

#1  "They're supposed to stay there and fight and die for me!"
Posted by: ed in texas || 02/03/2015 7:06 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Imam blasted for joy over King Abdullah's death
[Gulf News] Dr. Anwar Mohammad Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said that Iran's Guardian Council Chairman, Ahmad Jannati is compounding Tehran's relations with the Arab capitals.

On Friday, Jannati congratulated Moslems over the death of Saudi king Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz.

"We should express condolences to the Israelis and Americans and congratulation to Moslems," Jannati said on during his Friday sermon in Tehran, Iran's Mehr news agency reported.

However,
denial ain't just a river in Egypt...
Gargash blasted the rejoice over the death of the King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques as fuelling sectarianism.

"The attack by the mosque imam Jannati on our departed King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and on his life has sectarian overtones," he posted. "It targets all of us and compounds Iran's relations with Arab countries," the minister posted on his Twitter account.

Dr. Gargash said that mosques should not be used to target the dead.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  mosques should not be used to target the dead

Instead, they should be used as armories to target the living.
Posted by: gorb || 02/03/2015 15:15 Comments || Top||


Europe
Norway banishes ‘hate preacher’ to remote village
[IsraelTimes] Mullah Krekar co-founded radical Islamist group Ansar al-Islam, but he maintains he has not been involved since 2002

A court in Oslo on Monday authorized police to banish Iraqi Kurd "hate preacher" Mullah Krekar to a remote Norwegian village.

The mullah, 58, who has been living in Norway since 1991, founded the radical Islamist group Ansar al-Islam.

He was released from prison at the end of January after serving a two-year, 10-month sentence for making threats against Prime Minister Erna Solberg, before she came to office, and three Kurds.

The police had invoked special measures to order Krekar, whose real name is Najmeddine Faraj Ahmad, to live in a refugee center in Kyrksaeteroera, a village of 2,500 people situated 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the capital.

The defense had argued that the court needed to examine the legality of the decision, which prohibits the married father of four from leaving the village and which requires him to report to local police three times a week.

"With some misgivings, the court considers that the basic national interest, at least until 31 December 2015, must take precedence over Faraj's right to a family life, freedom to move freely throughout the country and to choose his own place of residence," read the court's decision.

Krekar's lawyer, Brynjar Meling, appealed the decision and asked that it be suspended pending review.

Krekar has been living under risk of deportation since 2003 after Norwegian authorities ordered him to be expelled, claiming he posed a threat to national security.

While Norway's court system has upheld the ruling, Norwegian law bars him from being deported to Iraq, where he risks the death penalty.

While Krekar acknowledges having co-founded Ansar al-Islam, he insists he has not led the group since 2002.

The preacher and the group Ansar al-Islam figure on United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
and US lists of terrorist groups or individuals.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/03/2015 08:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Kyrksaeteroera <-- zoom out on the map - Remote, Hell it is the new "End of the Earth"

Posted by: Vortigern Snoluse9089 || 02/03/2015 9:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Hopefully his cell phone won't work there.
Posted by: gorb || 02/03/2015 15:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Let's hope he encounters a caribou in heat. Spring is coming...


Posted by: BigEdLB || 02/03/2015 20:34 Comments || Top||


McClatchy: Europe’s Jews ponder: Is it time to flee again?
BERLIN — Eighty years ago, Jael Botsch-Fitterling’s parents decided something was very wrong in Germany, the nation they called home. Chancellor Adolf Hitler had just named himself fuhrer, and anti-Semitism was becoming national law. Her parents and other relatives packed up and fled.

Because of that move, six years later she was born in Jerusalem in what was then Palestine. When she was 7, the land beneath her feet became Israel, making her one of the original Jews in a new Jewish homeland. All because her parents had sensed in time that Germany was becoming very dangerous for Jews.

Then, in the 1950s, they trusted their instincts again and returned to Germany. Botsch-Fitterling has never left.

But today, in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in Paris, she’s been thinking about that first decision to leave – thinking about it quite a bit, in fact.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2015 06:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't ponder too long.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/03/2015 14:21 Comments || Top||

#2  As said or inferred long ago, 9-11 + GWOT = WAR FOR [US-vs-Anti-US]OWG-NWO = ... ... WAR FOR CONTROL OF THE WORLD, exclusive of the fact that the Radical Islam's Jihad is actually a GLOBAL JIHAD = GLOBAL MUSLIM/ISLAMIC/MOHAMMEDDAN CONQUEST.

Where are these Jews or anyone going to run to in a War for Control of the World/Planet???

Just, you know, askin'.

D *** NG IT, DON'T HATE ME BECAUSE I'M NOT PRETTY!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/03/2015 22:00 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
'Risk desks' set up to stanch jihadist flow
[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkey has taken a new step in its struggle against the flow of imported muscle heading to Syria via its soil, establishing "risk desks" at airports, border gates and ports in order to prevent potential imported muscle from passing into conflict-driven Syria.

The entrance of many of the fighters stems from failures in intelligence-sharing with EU countries, according to Turkish authorities.

Following the Jan. 7 terrorist attacks in Gay Paree against the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo
...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
and a Jewish supermarket that left 17 people dead, Ankara rapidly put new measures in place.

Ankara has complained that many European countries, especially La Belle France, have either not shared intelligence or provided intelligence belatedly concerning the passage of imported muscle through Turkish territory aiming to join the ranks of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Because of European countries' ostensible reluctance to share intelligence, Turkey increased measures at border gates and cruise ship berths.

In addition to risk or crisis desks, interrogation rooms have been established at airports, border gates and ports. Suspects who have entered Turkey have been interrogated there by anti-terrorism and intelligence units. If any sign of connection with a terrorist group is determined following the interrogation, Turkish authorities first contact the home countries of the suspects and share the information they have gathered. Afterwards, the suspects are deported.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm not sure why countries should want to prevent jihadis from leaving for Syria. What I don't understand is why they would let them back in.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/03/2015 8:01 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Obama: We Should Stop "Overinflating" Importance Of Terror Groups As If "They Are An Existential Threat" To U.S.
[REALCLEARPOLITICS] PRESIDENT OBAMA: Why -- look, I have to talk to the families of those who are killed by terrorists. I have to talk to the families of soldiers of ours who fought to make sure al Qaeda and the Fatah couldn't carry out attacks against us again. So I think I'm pretty mindful of the terrible costs of terrorism around the world.

What I do insist on is that we maintain a proper perspective and that we do not provide a victory to these terrorist networks by overinflating their importance and suggesting in some fashion that they are an existential threat to the United States or the world order. You know, the truth of the matter is that they can do harm. But we have the capacity to control how we respond in ways that do not undercut what's the -- you know, what's essence of who we are.

That means that we don't torture, for example, and thereby undermine our values and credibility around the world. It means that we don't approach this with a strategy of sending out occupying armies and playing Whac-A-Mole wherever a terrorist group appears because that drains our economic strength and it puts enormous burdens on our military.

What's required is a surgical, precise response to a very specific problem. And if we do that effectively, then ultimately these terrorist organizations will be defeated because they don't have a vision that appeals to ordinary people. It is -- it really is, as has been described in some cases, a death cult, or an entirely backward looking fantasy that can't function in the world.

When you look at ISIL, it has no governing strategy. It can talk about sitting up the new caliphate but nobody is under any illusions that they can actually, you know, sustain or feed people or educate people or organize a society that would work. And so we can't give them the victory of overinflating what they do, and we can't make the mistake of being reactive to them. We have to have a precise strategy in terms of how to defeat them.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 12:57 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "...we can't make the mistake of being reactive to them. We have to have a precise strategy in terms of how to defeat them. "

Because reacting to those who want to eliminate you is just too... simple... to be a sophisticated statesmanlike response.

IS needs to be utterly destroyed. The appropriate response doesn't involve nuance and beating round the bush. Everyone piles in until they are utterly eliminated. Obama really is a useless piece of sh!t.

Posted by: Bulldog || 02/03/2015 13:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Section 3 defines treason and its punishment.

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

Getting close are we?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/03/2015 13:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Because "I'm an Existential Threat To U.S."?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/03/2015 14:11 Comments || Top||

#4  He personally knows at least one terrorist so at least he is speaking from experience.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/03/2015 14:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Explain then, you leftist, kommunis fok, the burning alive of the Jordanian pilot.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2015 14:45 Comments || Top||

#6  I don't think he's wrong - ISIS et al are probably not existential threats to us. at least not physically. If they threaten our existence psychologically, that's our own failing. We don't need to go big footprint, big war on them - just quietly target anyone we can get and otherwise ignore them. We certainly don't need all his babbling.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/03/2015 14:56 Comments || Top||

#7  Not an existential threat until they get a nuke. The thing is, they will use it(them) on large cities, which are blue by nature. But not for long . . . .
Posted by: gorb || 02/03/2015 15:00 Comments || Top||

#8  blue by nature. But not for long . . . .
Nothing can conquer invincible ignorance.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/03/2015 15:41 Comments || Top||

#9  So, does he have the same opinion of those he calls "Domestic Terrorists" (like you and me?).
Posted by: Glavise Slaviter5093 || 02/03/2015 16:02 Comments || Top||

#10  Glenmore, my theory is that they are a symptom of existential threat. ISIS is just the latest version of jerk water death cults dripping out of the ME.

We used to rely on the Maxim Gun and breach loading cannon to keep them at home with their goats, now we have nukes, Arab-specific bombs and a heavy that could starve them out in 18 months. What is lacking is maturity in the west.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/03/2015 16:22 Comments || Top||

#11  And that lack of maturity is the real threat.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/03/2015 16:23 Comments || Top||

#12  We have to have a precise strategy in terms of how to defeat them.
Isn't that your job? Shit for brains.
Posted by: irishrageboy || 02/03/2015 16:26 Comments || Top||

#13  Remember Bill Clinton and Co thought AQs wasn't an 'existential threat' to the US too. Remember Sandy Berger trying to remove evidence as such after 9/11.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/03/2015 16:32 Comments || Top||

#14  Jimmy Carter's "inordinate fear of Communism" 2.0.

"What I do insist on is that we maintain a proper perspective "

Obama continued:

"Why, some of my best friends are terrorists! Amirite, Bill? (gestures toward audience) Bill Ayers, ladies and gentlemen! Good ol' Bill Ayers! Stand up and take a bow, ya knucklehead!"
Posted by: charger || 02/03/2015 17:00 Comments || Top||

#15  We Should Stop "Overinflating" Importance Of hollywood type Presidents As If "They Are of any use" To U.S.
Posted by: newc || 02/03/2015 21:34 Comments || Top||

#16  The US-Allies is helping or allowing the Muslim World to NUCLEARIZE in the name of OWG Globalism - by extension, the risk or scenario is there that we are directly or indirectly helping Radical Islam's Hard Boyz to dev andor acquire NUKES-WMDS which one day may be used in new terror attacks agz the US proper.

UNLIKE PAST EMPIRES OR "GREAT POWERS", BAMMER-LED GLOBALIST AMERIKA PREFERS TO TRUST SOON-TO-BE-NUCLEAR ISLAM + REGIONAL, GLOBAL CALIPHATE TO HANDLE + REGULATE ITSELF FROM THE BEGINNING WID LITTLE-TO-NO US OVERSIGHT OR MILITARY SECURITY.

Again, OWG Globalism = NOT "PEACE THRU STRENGTH" OR "TRUST BUT VERIFY" BUT "RETREAT IS PEACE" where the "Sole" Superpower USA is the One-n-Only-One whom has to unilaterally voluntarily pullback or reduce its Power-N-Influence across the World.

ONE CAN MAKE A GOOD ARGUMENT THAT THE REASON ISLAMIC TERROR GROUPS ARE NOT AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO THE US IS BECAUSE THE US UNDER GLOBALISM HAS BECOME AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO ITELF, BY + FOR + AGZ ITSELF.

The Globies have NOT yet answered the question "HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH"? for the USA to unilaterally voluntarily PCorrectly to its fellow OWG Co-Superpowers + Nukulaar? NGOS.

D *** NG IT, NOT, NOT - SPELLED "N-Y-U-T-T - NOT!

* See also TOPIX > [Fox News Channel] FORBES: UKRAINE AND ISIS PUTS PACIFIC RE-BALANCE AT RISK.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/03/2015 22:30 Comments || Top||

#17  Iff OWG Globalist Amerika = No-more-Royal-Navy UK = HAS IT STOPPED OR PREVENTED RADICAL ISLAM FRM DEMANDING LOCAL SHARIA LAW OR FROM THREATENING TO ATTACK BRITAIN BOTH WIDIN AND WIDOUT???

ANSWER = NO, as the UK + all of Europe is under [increasing] direct threat of domestic + foreign Jihadi = MilTerr attack.

Lest we fergit, UK + EUROPE = DEMOCRATIC/LIBERAL SOCIALIST UK + EUROPE, WHERE THE UK IS ALREADY ONE OF THE MOST PUBLICLY MONITORED, SUPER-REGULATED COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD.

The US is NOT immune or invincible.

SURRENDERING OR FALLING TO AUTHORITARIAN OR TOTALITARIAN SECULAR MARXISM-COMMUNISM WON'T SAVE THE US OR WESTERN WORLD FROM THE [Nuclear}JIHAD.

* GROONG > [ICH] THE POLICE [or Warfare-Army] STATE IS UPON US.

* TOPIX > COUPLE FANCIED THEMSELVES AS "AL QAIDA IN CANADA" [AQ Canada].

["AMERICAN SNIPER" > USDIA FIELD OFFICER = [paraph]THIS WAR IN IRAQ [GWOT?] WILL BE WON OR LOST IN THE MINDS OF AMERICA'S MUSLIM ENEMIES = JIHADIS].

"GREAT GAME" > MACHIAVELLI + SUN TZU, ETAL.= STRENGTH IS STRENGTH, WEAKNESS IS WEAKNESS = ISIS + ALIGNED SEE OBAMA [USA] + "RED LINES" AS "US/US-WEST IS WEAK" ERGO CAN + SHOULD BE ATTACKED + CONQUERED BY ISLAM.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/03/2015 22:54 Comments || Top||

#18  SUN TZU = However imperfect, bad or violent or malicious, the ISIS/ISIL + Aligned are N-O-T responsible for America's = Amerika's strength or weakness.

Only America = Amerika is.

The Hard Boyz will defeat or destroy the US because they CAN, for the same reason the Hard Boyz will NOT defeat or destroy the US because they CAN'T.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/03/2015 23:00 Comments || Top||


US woman pleads guilty in terror support case
[Ynet] A Virginia woman has pleaded guilty to lying to federal Sherlocks about supporting the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
turban group. Heather Elizabeth Coffman entered her plea to the single charge Monday in US District Court. She remains in federal custody and faces up to eight years in prison when she is sentenced May 11.

Coffman, wearing leg shackles, answered a series of yes-or-no questions and said nothing else at the 35-minute plea hearing. An FBI agent's affidavit says the 29-year-old Coffman is suspected of conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the turban group known as Islamic State. Coffman allegedly promoted the bully boy organization on Facebook and offered to use her contacts to help an undercover FBI agent and his fictitious friend travel to Syria to join the group.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/03/2015 08:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


President Obama says US doing everything to rescue woman held by IS group
[Ynet] President Barack Obama
Because I won...
on Sunday said the US is doing everything in its power to rescue a 26-year-old woman held by the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
, speaking in a wide-ranging interview also covering politics and a measles outbreak.

Obama's comments to NBC came a day after a Japanese journalist held by the snuffies was purportedly beheaded.

Obama said he has watched videos of hostages being beheaded. "Every morning I get a presidential daily briefing, and it gives me a pretty clear sense of the terrible stuff that's happening. And it's part of the reason why we have to be so vigilant and so aggressive in going after a vicious organization like ISIL," Obama said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.
Well, I'm impressed.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  "Every morning I get a presidential daily briefing,

Is that before or after SportsCenter?
Posted by: Raj || 02/03/2015 0:12 Comments || Top||

#2  And yet he still doesn't get what is going on, he only has a "sense", You Sir are nonsense.
Posted by: Vortigern Snoluse9089 || 02/03/2015 0:20 Comments || Top||

#3  "Every morning I get a presidential daily briefing, and it gives me a pretty clear sense of the terrible stuff that's happening.

Champ receiving the daily is indeed 'terrible stuff.'
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2015 3:25 Comments || Top||

#4  I guess that means she's dead.
Posted by: mystic || 02/03/2015 4:10 Comments || Top||

#5  Well, after Jordan ups the ante, our citizen is, sorrowfully enough, toast.
Posted by: Glavise Slaviter5093 || 02/03/2015 16:11 Comments || Top||

#6  our citizen is, sorrowfully enough, toast.

There's no indication in the article as quoted above to indicate that the woman is an American... and this is the first I've noticed about a young, female hostage -- though to be fair I don't pay close attention to President Obama's public appearances.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/03/2015 18:43 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan N-capable cruise missile successfully test-fired
Islamabad: Pakistan on Monday conducted a successful flight test of the indigenously-developed Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) ‘Ra’ad’, just over a week after its arch-rival India reached a new civilian nuclear accord with the United States. The military said the missile, with a range of 350km, enables Pakistan to achieve ‘strategic standoff capability’ on land and at sea.

“Cruise Technology” is extremely complex and has been developed by only a few countries in the world. The state of the art Ra’ad Cruise Missile with stealth capabilities is a low altitude, terrain hugging missile with high manoeuvrability; can deliver nuclear and conventional warheads with pin point accuracy.

The agreement reached during President Barack Obama’s visit to New Delhi broke a deadlock that stalled a civilian atomic power agreement for years. But it drew condemnation from Pakistan,
...of course it did...
which said the deal could destabilise South Asian security.
...by allowing the evil Hindooz to defend themselves...
The US and India in 2008 signed a landmark deal giving India access to civilian nuclear technology. But it had been held up since then by US concerns over India’s strict laws on liability in the event of a nuclear accident.

Director-General Strategic Plans Division, Lt-Gen. Zubair Mahmood Hayat, while congratulating the scientists and engineers on achieving yet another milestone of historic significance, termed it a major step towards strengthening Pakistan’s full spectrum credible minimum deterrence capability. Pakistan’s strategic pursuits are aimed at achieving strategic stability in the region, he said.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


'Hanged Russian's body went missing for two days'
[DAWN] Akhlaq Ahmed alias Roosi was hanged and buried in Pakistain on December 21, against the wishes of Moscow, for a murderous attack on former president Gen Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
in 2003.

But his body "disappeared for two days" to end up in Russia on December 26.

Red-faced Pak authorities suspended two Islamabad coppers after a hasty inquiry into the melodrama.

Local police had no immediate comment to offer on record. But Inspector General Tahir Alam Khan emailed Dawn that "Temuri (his deputy) will brief you in this regard."

However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all...
a Russian embassy's blurb of December 22, and multiple official sources in the Ministry of Interior and the Islamabad administration and police, revealed a tale of human emotions at play.

In its press statement, the Russian embassy regretted that Islamabad not only "did not respond" to its appeals to commute the death sentence of "Russian citizen Akhlak, who also had a Pak citizenship" but also did not inform it about the decision to carry out the death sentence.

Akhlaq was once district health officer in Rawlakot, Azad Kashmire.

His Pak father, Akhlas, collected the body after the execution in Faisalabad
...formerly known as Lyallpur, the third largest metropolis in Pakistain, the second largest in Punjab after Lahore. It is named after some Arab because the Paks didn't have anybody notable of their own to name it after...
on December 21 and buried it in his native town Hajeera the same day.

His Russian mother arrived in Islamabad to take her son's body with the help of the Russian embassy, according to the official sources.

"After getting no response, she and Russian diplomats proceeded to Hajeera. In two days, they managed to get the body exhumed and returned to Islamabad with it late on December 23," the officials said.

When they appeared at the Pakistain Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) to put the body in its mortuary, "some intelligence sleuths alerted the police and the administration and directives came to confiscate it," they said.

The police and capital administration officials rushed to the hospital and found the diplomats arguing over the hospital's refusal to keep the body in the mortuary for want of a death certificate and other documents.

"Senior officers of the police and concerned authorities were contacted who advised to take the body to a private hospital and keep it there until further orders," the sources said.

However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all...
the reluctant Russian diplomats said they were taking the body to the kidney centre in Rawalpindi.

The body was put in an ambulance with the mother and some Russian diplomats accompanying it.

But, according to the sources, the ambulance suddenly changed directions and instead of going to Rawalpindi headed for the diplomatic enclave at a very high speed.

The police gave it a chase but had to stop when it entered the Russian embassy.

All "concerned high-ups" were informed who ordered the elite police to surround the Russian embassy, which they did.

But they were recalled after Moscow conveyed to Islamabad that the body would not be handed over and demanded that the police cordon should be lifted immediately, added the sources.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Nisar orders crackdown against illegal transactions
[DAWN] Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan on Monday tasked the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to track all suspicious and illegal transactions and put an end to the financing of terrorist networks.

Nisar issued the directive while chairing a high level meeting to discuss FIA's targets for 2015.

The FIA was directed to work in collaboration with financial monitoring unit (FMU) of Ministry of Finance and launch an immediate crackdown against Hawala/Hundi under the recently formulated National Action Plan (NAP) on counter terrorism.

Read also: Nisar orders blocking of bank accounts linked to banned
...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organization
s

The FIA officials informed the participants of the meeting that 18 cases of Hawala/Hundi have been detected in which 24 accused were locked away
You have the right to remain silent...
and an amount of Rs71.5 million was recovered since the formulation of NAP.

"As part of financial monitoring mechanism of the FIA, 3 cases of suspicious transaction and 5 cases of anti-money laundering were detected in which 8 accused were arrested," the official added.

"20 persons were arrested and spurious drugs amounting to tens of thousands of rupees were confiscated in 27 raids since January 2014," the FIA officials said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel gave the UN information that led to head of Gaza probe's resignation
[Haaretz] Four days ago, the Israeli government provided the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva with the “incriminating” information that led to the resignation of Professor William Schabas as head of the UN inquiry into the last summer’s Gaza conflict.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 12:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mary McGowan Davis to head UNHRC Gaza probe
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/03/2015 14:27 Comments || Top||


Islamic State terror cell in Israel slaughtered sheep as part of training
[Ynet] Indictment states members of cell trained at farm that belongs to Attorney Adnan Jamil Ala a-Din, the self-proclaimed 'IS chief of staff in Paleostine'; Haifa court extends suspects'

The Israeli-Arab terror cell charged two weeks ago with attempting to join the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
trained for the fighting in Syria and Iraq by slaughtering sheep. The Haifa District Court on Monday extended the cell members' remand for the duration of the proceedings against them.

The seven suspects from northern Israel turned to news hounds present at the court Monday, denying the allegations attributed to them.

According to the indictment, six of the suspects used to meet and plan their trip to Syria to join the Islamic State. During the meetings in the Sakhnin area, the six would argue about whether to support the Islamic State or Jabhat al-Nusra
...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant...
. Eventually, they decide to join the Islamic State in June of 2014.

Later, the six met Adnan Jamil Ala a-Din, a 39-year-old former public defender from Nazareth, who has branded himself the "Islamic State chief of staff in Paleostine," whom they contacted via Facebook.

According to the indictment, the members of the cell trained in a farm in Kafr Manda owned by the attorney. They learned how to ride horses and how to prepare Molotov cocktails and purchased sheep to slaughter them as part of their training.

When asked to comment on the indictment filed against him, Attorney Ala a-Din cursed at the news hounds.

Another defendant said that "there's no basis to all of the accusations, we have nothing to do with Daesh (Islamic State) or any other organization. I still don't understand why they tossed in the calaboose
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
me."

A third defendant said "it's all lies. I think the arrests were made so Prime Minister Netanyahu's support rate will increase on our expense. We're ahead of elections and he just wants to prove himself. We're sure we didn't support Daesh and all that is attributed to us lacks evidence."

Family members of the accused also responded to the indictment, saying "we're sure they'll be released, they didn't commit any crime."

The defendants' lawyers said they will respond to the indictment after studying it.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Islamic State terror cell in Israel slaughtered buggered sheep as part of training
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2015 9:01 Comments || Top||

#2  That's much worse than slaughtering sheep as part of -- dinner!
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/03/2015 9:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Strong condemnation from the animal rights crowd in 3, 2, 1,... crickets.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/03/2015 21:26 Comments || Top||


IDF soldier went solo into Hamas terror tunnel
[Ynet] Sergeant Major Ohad receives citation for mission after entering tunnel to gather information that would allow its destruction and prevent Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, from infiltrating Israel last summer.

A sergeant major who volunteered to enter a Hamas tunnel alone during Operation Protective Edge, and by doing so provided vital intelligence, will receive a citation on Monday in a special ceremony at the Southern Command at the Palmachim base.

"The deputy commander told us that the only way to figure out how to destroy the tunnel would be to send down a soldier alone. I volunteered right away," said Sergeant Major Ohad of Sayeret Yahalom, an IDF special missions engineering unit.

Ohad is one of 53 officers who will receive citations for their work during Operation Protective Edge at the special ceremony at the IDF's Southern Command on Monday.

He will receive a medal from the General Officer Commanding (GOC) over the Southern Command for his bravery in entering the Hamas tunnel alone in order to provide information as to how the tunnel could be destroyed.

During Operation Protective Edge, the IDF's intelligence unit and the Shin Bet had been in a race against time to locate the precise positions of 30 tunnels that reached into Israeli territory.

The tunnel to which Ohad and his unit were called to was found in the southern Gazoo strip during the night. The fear had been that Hamas was on the brink of sending its secret commando unit, known as the "Nukhba" unit, through the tunnel.

The intelligence provided on the tunnel before its destruction was incomplete and both robots and dogs from the IDF canine unit had trouble entering the narrow shaft, making it impossible for the engineering unit to ascertain the depth, length and height of the tunnel and whether there were any weapons or bombs inside.

At that point, the unit decided it had to send in a soldier to assess the situation and decide whether the tunnel could be destroyed.

Sergeant Major Ohad volunteered immediately. Because of the narrowness of the tunnel, Ohad was unable to enter with his personal weapon or bullet-proof vest. Attached to wires, Ohad entered the tunnel wearing a helmet and carrying flashlight, camera, and gun.

"The circle of light from above began to disappear in the distance and the tunnel was deeper than we anticipated," the sergeant major explained.

"Because of the construction of the tunnel, I went down with only my gun drawn, a helmet with a GoPro camera, no vest, and a flashlight that I turned on only when I understood that it was safe," said Ohad. "The mission was supposed to last 10 minutes and stretched out for an hour because of professional difficulties."

As his friends and fellow soldiers waited for him up above, Ohad assessed the height, width and depth of the tunnel.

"I was focused on the mission, even though the thought that I could be kidnapped crossed my mind. Because of this, I was prepared and ready. I did not look at the time ‐ nobody promised me that the tunnel was clear of terrorists," said Ohad.

Ohad's comrades stayed nearby as he surveyed the tunnel, even as Hamas launched mortar shells in the area.

After completing the mission, Ohad was notified a day later that he would have to return to the tunnel to complete an additional intelligence assessment. During his second mission, he was faced with a surprise.

"The agreement was that if I saw any sort of change in the tunnel, I would go straight back up. And on the second descent, I immediately saw equipment and weaponry that had been left behind by gunnies who had been in the place in the past 24 hours," said Ohad.

Ohad immediately signaled that he was going back up. The mission was accomplished.

"The intelligence I gathered was enough for our unit to blow up the tunnel within hours, instead of days," explained Ohad.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  That's some serious balls - good going, Ohad!
Posted by: Raj || 02/03/2015 0:15 Comments || Top||

#2  U.S. Army EEO chiefs, union stewards, and enlisted chains of command sergeants majors take note. This is the type of example you should be setting.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2015 3:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Tunnel rats. Usually it's the short scrawny guy get's to be Lucky Pierre.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/03/2015 8:04 Comments || Top||

#4  they had to enlarge the tunnels of Chu Chi so American tourists could do the tour. Still a tight fit.
Posted by: bman || 02/03/2015 12:39 Comments || Top||

#5  "I was focused on the mission, even though the thought that I could be kidnapped crossed my mind. Because of this, I was prepared and ready."

To commit suicide.
Posted by: gorb || 02/03/2015 15:08 Comments || Top||

#6  Surprised he could get in the tunnel with balls that big.
Posted by: Tony || 02/03/2015 16:59 Comments || Top||


Jordan to send ambassador back to Israel after tensions eased
[Ynet] Amman says it's sending envoy back after improvement in numbers of Moslem worshipers being allowed on the Temple Mount to pray at al-Aqsa.

Jordan will return its ambassador to Israel, the government said on Monday, three months after withdrawing the envoy in protest at Israeli restrictions on access to Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque.

For the first time since making peace with its neighbour in 1994, Jordan announced in November it was pulling its envoy out of Israel following growing tensions over the sacred compound housing Al Aqsa mosque - the third holiest site in Islam.

Government front man Mohammad al-Momani said that since then, Israel had taken significant steps to ease the friction and was allowing many more Moslems to access the site, which is also the holiest place in Judaism.

"We noticed in the last period a significant improvement in Haram al-Sharif with numbers of worshipers reaching unprecedented levels," Momani said. Haram al-Sharif, known in Judaism as Temple Mount, is where the mosque is located.

Israel welcomed the move.

"This is an important decision that reflects the shared interests of Israel and Jordan, chief among them being stability, security and peace," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

Israel shut the Al Aqsa compound for one day last November after a far-right Israeli-American activist, who had spoken out against a ban on Jews praying at the ancient compound, was shot and seriously maimed in Jerusalem.

Jordanian officials said the mosque complex was swiftly reopened after the personal intervention of King Abdullah, whose custodianship of the holy site was recognized in the 1994 peace treaty with Israel.

The compound, which also houses the Dome of the Rock, the gold-plated shrine from where the Prophet Mohammad is said to have ascended to heaven, is run by several hundred Jordanian government employees.

Momani said the ambassador would be returning to Israel later on Monday, adding that the government hoped the relative calm around the holy site would continue.

Jordan blamed Israel for the tensions, saying it had not moved to restrain Israeli far-right nationalists who sought to overturn the Jewish prayer ban.

"The message was delivered and reached the Israelis and on this basis we have asked our ambassador to go back to his work in the embassy this evening," Momani said.

Jordan is one of only two Arab states to have made peace with Israel. But this has never won much domestic favor, given Israel's continued presence in the neighboring West Bank.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Color me shocked cyan.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/03/2015 16:25 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran launches first satellite since 2012, says state TV
[Ynet] Iran said Monday it had launched an observation satellite -- its first since 2012 -- with President Hassan Rouhani declaring it safely entered orbit and that he had personally ordered the mission. The Fajr (Dawn) satellite was to be placed 450 kilometres (280 miles) above Earth's surface, said Al-Alam television, an Arabic-language station owned by the Islamic republic.

It is the fourth such satellite launch by Iran, after three others between 2009 and 2012.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/03/2015 08:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Photoshop came out with a new version last week?
Posted by: Raj || 02/03/2015 10:58 Comments || Top||

#2  What does Mo have to say about space exploration?
Posted by: Bobby || 02/03/2015 12:43 Comments || Top||

#3  What happens if their rocket hits the moon god in the face?
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/03/2015 14:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Has any RELIABLE agency confirmed this launch? I know at least one other supposed satellite launch was a bust.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/03/2015 15:52 Comments || Top||


Syrian Kurds say Islamic State may open new fronts in northeast
[Ynet] The Syrian Kurdish militia that drove Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
Death Eaters from Kobani with the help of US-led air strikes said on Monday the radical Islamist group may now open new fronts against it in northeastern Syria.

Redur Xelil, front man for the Kurdish YPG militia, said Islamic State forces were collapsing around Kobani, a town at the border with Turkey that became a focal point for the US-led military campaign against Islamic State in Syria.

"We believe Daesh received a big and very severe blow but it is normal for terrorist organizations such as Daesh to open other fronts to recover what is left of its standing," Xelil told Rooters in a telephone interview, using a pejorative Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

"There are daily festivities and perhaps these battles and festivities will increase, particularly in the Jazeera region, because Daesh will turn to other areas to recover what is left of its standing," he said. The Jazeera region is the Kurdish name for northeastern Syria.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/03/2015 08:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Read, TURKEY + CAUCASUS + CENTASIA.

Yuuup.

* FYI GROONG > PKK THREATENS TURKEY, TELLS KURDISH PEOPLE TO BE READY FOR "UPRISING".

KCK Leader SABRI OK.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > ISIL'S SOUTH ASIA BRANCH THREATENS PAKISTAN.

New Alliance-Council between Pak TTP, Lashkar-e-Islam, JUA, + "ISIL Khorasan".

Sniff, sniff, why it 'twas only yesterday - literally - that Saudi Arabia + Jordan was being threatened.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/03/2015 22:08 Comments || Top||


IS militants admit defeat in Kobane
[SAUDIGAZETTE.SA] The self-proclaimed Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group has acknowledged for the first time that its fighters have been defeated in the Syrian town of Kobane and vowed to attack the town again.

In a video released by the pro-IS Aamaq News Agency late Friday, two fighters said the Arclight airstrikes by the US-led coalition were the main reason why IS fighters were forced to withdraw from Kobane. One fighter vowed to defeat the main Kurdish militia in Syria, the People's Protection Units known as the YPG.

On Monday, activists and Kurdish officials said the town was almost cleared of IS fighters, who once held nearly half of Kobane. An News Agency that Dare Not be Named video from inside the town showed widespread destruction, streets littered with debris and abandoned neighborhoods. The video also showed a new cemetery with fresh graves.

The town's famous Freedom Square, with a statue of an eagle spreading its wings, stood intact in the middle of the destruction. The square is near the so-called Kurdish security quarter -- an eastern district where Kurdish murderous Moslems maintained security buildings and offices, and which was occupied by IS fighters for about two months until they were forced out earlier in January.

In the newly released IS video, the myrmidon fighters acknowledged that they have been driven from the town.

"A while ago we retreated a bit from Ayn Al-Islam because of the bombardment and the killing of some brothers," said one masked fighter, using the group's preferred name for Kobane. He spoke Arabic with a north African accent.

The failure to capture and hold Kobane was a major blow to the hard boys. Their hopes for an easy victory dissolved into a costly siege under withering Arclight airstrikes by coalition forces and an assault by Kurdish militiamen.

The United States and several Arab allies have been striking IS positions in Syria since Sept. 23. The campaign aims to push back the myrmidon organization after it took over about a third of Iraq and Syria.

Now Kurdish officials are hailing the retaking of Kobane as an important step toward rolling back the Islamic State group's territorial gains.

"Kobane Canton is a representative of the resistance against terrorism in the world," said senior Syrian Kurdish official in Kobane, Anwar Moslem. "We hope that the world will support us to come through our struggle against IS."

Meanwhile the IS fighters vowed that their defeat in Kobane will not weaken them. The fighters both laid blame for their defeat on the coalition air campaign, seemingly downplaying the role played by Kurdish murderous Moslems -- whom they refer to as "rats."
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Will ISIS do the Soviet thing and ask the leaders of the failed offensive to commit suicide?

Or has that been taken care of for them?
Posted by: mystic || 02/03/2015 0:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Suicide? I thought it was 'fallen while leading the troops at the front succumbing to egregious injuries'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/03/2015 7:59 Comments || Top||

#3  I'd settle for just "dead".
Posted by: Bobby || 02/03/2015 12:37 Comments || Top||

#4  I STILL want an ARCLIGHT strike on al Raqqah. I'm sure that will have a much longer lasting effect, especially if the IS leaders are home at the time. It'll never happen as long as Obumble is president, but I still want it.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/03/2015 15:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Mighty mighty pleasing,
Pappy's corn-squeezing,
Urp, Frank! I can see it!
Hallelujah!

http://youtu.be/WmMf7Ogy-kw


Posted by: Shipman || 02/03/2015 16:39 Comments || Top||


Angry Lebanese mourners vow dire revenge™ over Damascus bus blast
[Beirut Daily Star] DOUEIR/BEIRUT: Angry masses mourning the deaths of six Lebanese Shiite pilgrims killed in a Damascus bus blast vowed Dire Revenge Monday during funerals across Leb.

"The Lions of Islam are delusional if they think we will fall back quietly," the father of Chadi Houmani, one of the blast victims, told The Daily Star during a funeral for his son in the south Leb town of Doueir.

"We have days where we will win, and the [terrorists] will have days where they will win, but their days are numbered."

Sunday's attack is believed to be linked to the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Islamist gunnies who have been targeting Lebanese Shiites over the past two years over Hezbollah's involvement in the Syrian war.

A Twitter account associated with the Nusra Front, Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate, grabbed credit for the blast, saying a Saudi member of the group identified as Abu al-Ezz al-Ansari went kaboom! inside the bus. Syrian media and the trip's organizers, however, said the blast was caused by an bomb planted on the bus.

The bereaved father stressed that terrorist attacks will not deter Shiite pilgrims from worshipping at the highly revered Sayyida Roqaya shrine and the Sayyida Zeinab shrine in southeast Damascus, which the pilgrims were visiting Sunday, as he vowed to take Dire Revenge against the killers.

"We will miss you Chadi, we will take Dire Revenge," the victim's seven siblings yelled as they approached his casket.

The bereaved mother said: "May God not forgive these killers that have kept me from you," addressing a portrait of her son that she pressed against her chest as she wept. "You fell as a martyr while visiting the family of the prophet."

The anger reverberated across a sea of mourners who chanted: "Death to takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
s. Death to Nusra and ISIS."

Draped in a Hezbollah flag, Houmani's casket was carried through the town before being placed on a stage.

The climate was also saturated with anger and grief in a separate funeral procession in the Beirut suburb of Burj al-Barajneh.

The sound of machine guns filled the air as friends and relatives of a 24-year-old carried his coffin through the streets.

Angry young men armed with automatic rifles had gun sex shot off fired their weapons in the air before the funeral procession, only a couple meters from a TV news hound, disrupting her broadcast.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Terror Networks
'Honey trap' hackers stole Syria rebel plans
[Gulf News] Hackers targeted Syrian opposition members with online "honey traps," posing as female supporters to steal battle plans and the identity of defectors, a security firm said on Monday.

A report produced by US cybersecurity firm FireEye describes how the hacking operations in late 2013 and early 2014 targeted Syrian opposition fighters, media activists and humanitarian aid workers.

The group said it was unclear whether the information had been passed onto the Syrian government, and who the hackers were.

But the hacked material included a detailed opposition military plan to recapture the town of Khirbet Ghazaleh, strategically located in southern Daraa province, in 2013.

"The hackers stole a cache of critical documents and Skype conversations revealing the Syrian opposition's strategy, tactical battle plans, supply needs, and troves of personal information and chat sessions," the report said.

The hacking provided "actionable military intelligence for an immediate battlefield advantage" in the case of the planned Khirbet Ghazaleh attack.

It captured "the type of insight that can thwart a vital supply route, reveal a planned ambush and identify and track key individuals."

Despite the high-tech tools used in the attack, the hackers also relied on a well-worn tactic: the "honey trap."

Targets were contacted on the chat and online phone service Skype by hackers posing as pro-opposition women.

They would ask the target whether they were on a smartphone or computer, apparently in a bid to tailor their attacks.

Then the hackers would send the target a photo of themselves loaded with malware that penetrated their personal files and stole information.

The method was particularly fruitful because Syrian opposition members were often sharing computers, meaning one machine yielded information from multiple victims.

Most of the data stolen was created between May 2013 and December 2013, but some of the stolen Skype chat logs went back to 2012 and others included information from as recently as January 2014.

The hackers also used other tactics, including creating fake social media accounts and Syrian opposition websites that encouraged visitors to click on links that would infect their computers.

In May 2013, regime troops stormed Khirbet Ghazaleh which was rebel-held at the time and being used to block the highway between Damascus and Daraa.

The report was unable to identify where the hackers were based, or who they might have reported to.

But it noted that the hackers' servers were based outside of Syria and they used tools and tactics that were different from other Syrian hackers.

Syria's conflict has involved other documented cases of cyberwarfare, by both pro-regime and opposition activists.

Some of the most high-profile include attacks by the so-called Syrian Electronic Army, a group of pro-government hackers who have attacked websites and social media accounts belonging to media outlets and politicians.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Well, now we know what Mr. Snowden does for a living in Moscow...
Posted by: Pappy || 02/03/2015 13:15 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
34[untagged]
11Islamic State
6Govt of Pakistan
5Boko Haram
2Govt of Iran
2al-Nusra
1Ansar al-Sharia
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis
1Arab Spring
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Govt of Syria
1Hamas
1Hezbollah
1Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
1Abu Sayyaf
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Lashkar-e-Islam
1Palestinian Authority
1al-Qaeda
1Taliban
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1al-Qaeda in Europe

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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2015-02-03
  ISIS burns Jordanian Pilot Alive
Mon 2015-02-02
  Nigeria's Military Repels Boko Haram's Attack on Maiduguri
Sun 2015-02-01
  Drone Attack Kills Four Qaida Suspects in Yemen
Sat 2015-01-31
  Al-Nusra Launches Assault on Western-Backed Syria Rebels
Fri 2015-01-30
  Today's Pakaboom: 49 dead in bomb blast at Shiite mosque
Thu 2015-01-29
  US drone strike kills seven in North Waziristan
Wed 2015-01-28
  Nigeria Loses City Of 100,000 To Boko Haram
Tue 2015-01-27
  Official: Eight dead, including five foreigners, in Tripoli hotel attack
Mon 2015-01-26
  Kurds 'Expel ISIS' from Strategic Kobane
Sun 2015-01-25
  U.S.: Coalition Air Raids Back up Kurdish Advance in Iraq
Sat 2015-01-24
  Iranian General Killed By Unlimited Minutes Cell Plan and Israeli Missiles
Fri 2015-01-23
  Yemen prez, govt quit
Thu 2015-01-22
  King Abdullah Tango Uniform
Wed 2015-01-21
  Shiite rebels shell Yemen president’s home, take over palace
Tue 2015-01-20
  45 Churches Torched in Niger Capital in Cartoon Demos

Better than the average link...



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