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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Algeria: court issues arrest warrant on Khaled Nezzar, ex-General accused of alleged mass killings in the 1990s
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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Afghanistan
Taliban militants suffer casualties in Special Forces raids, airstrike in 3 provinces
[KhaamaPress] The security forces conducted separate operations in three provinces in the past 24 hours inflicting casualties on Talibs.

The military officials said Tuesday that the Special Forces killed 2 Talibs during an operation in Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
The officials further added that the Special Forces killed one Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
Death Eater during an operation in Nike district of Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
. They also arrested four Lions of Islam during the operation.

Furthermore, the security forces conducted an Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
in Tarin Kot district of Uruzgan which killed 2 Talibs and maimed another Death Eater.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


AAF airstrikes pound Taliban positions in Faryab leaving at least 51 dead, wounded
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan Air Force carried out a series of Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s in northern Faryab province which killed or maimed at least 51 Talibs.

The 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan National Army in the North said in a statement said the A-29 light attack planes of the Afghan Air Force bombed Taliban
...Arabic for students...
positions in Bulcheragh district.

The statement further added that the airstrikes killed 31 Talibs and maimed at least 20 others.

Furthermore, the 209th Shaheen Corps said the airstrikes also destroyed a compound of Taliban group, several vehicles and cycle of violences and some military equipment in possession of Taliban.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


IED Blast In Kabul Leaves Five Dead
[ToloNews] The Interior Ministry says the earth-shattering kaboom happened in Khairkhana area at around 4 pm Kabul time.

At least five people were killed and seven others were maimed in a magnetic IED explosion in the north of Kabul on Tuesday afternoon.

The Ministry of Interior said the earth-shattering kaboom was placed on a bicycle and targeted a vehicle of the Interior Ministry Counter-Narcotics Department which was passing through the road.

The blast happened in Parwan Bostan Circle in Khairkhana area in Kabul’s police district 11 (PD11) at around 4 pm Kabul time, the ministry said.

This comes after a rise in attacks in the city of Kabul which have left dozens of people dead and maimed.

No group has grabbed credit for the attack.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336081 views] Top|| File under:


Ghazni: Thunder Corps sends 8 Talibs toes up, Talib radio transmitter airstruck


Taliban militants suffer heavy casualties in the outskirts of Ghazni city: Thunder Corps

[KhaamaPress] The Afghan forces have inflicted heavy casualties on Talibs in the outskirts of the quiet provincial capital of Ghazni province.

The 203rd Thunder Corps in a statement said the security forces conducted air and artillery strikes in Shahbaz area located in the outskirts of Ghazni city.

The statement further added that the security forces killed 8 Talibs and maimed 15 others during the operation.

Furthermore, the 203rd Thunder Corps said the security forces also destroyed five cycle of violences of the holy warriors.

The Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
group has not commented regarding the operation so far.

Airstrike targets Taliban’s ‘Sharia Voice’ radio transmitter site in Ghazni

An airstrike targeted the radio transmitter site of Taliban group in Ghazni province of Afghanistan.

Sources in the Afghan Air Force confirmed Tuesday that the Afghan Air Force conducted the airstrike in Zana Khan district of Ghazni.

The sources further added that the airstrike destroyed the radio transmitter of the ‘Sharia Voice’ belonging to Taliban group.

Furthermore, the sources said the airstrike also killed eight Taliban militants.

The Taliban group has not commented in this regard so far.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


AAF Airstrike targets Taliban vehicles in Farah leaving at least 10 dead
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan Air Force conducted an Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
targeting the vehicles of Talibs in western Farah province.

The Provincial Police Headquarters of Farah in a statement said the airstriek targeted two vehicles of Talibs in Bakwa district.

The statement further added that the airstrike hit the two vehicles in Jawzja Village, leaving at least ten Talibs.

Furthermore, the Farah Police Headquarters said the vehicles were carrying Death Eaters of Mullah Sardar Ashkun, the deputy shadow governor of Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
for Farah.

The Farah Police also added that the airstrike destroyed the two vehicles and various types of weapons and explosives.

The Taliban group has not commented in this regard so far.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Special Forces kill, detain 13 Taliban militants during the operations in Wardak
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan Special Forces killed 9 Talibs during the operations in central Wardak province.

The informed military sources said Tuesday that the Special Force killed or detained 13 Talibs during an operation in Nerkh district of Wardak.

The sources further added that the Special Forces also arrested 4 Talibs during the same operation.

Furthermore, the Special Forces killed 5 Talibs during a similar raid which they conducted in Maidan Shahr district of Wardak.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336088 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Zabul: Afghan forces repulse major Taliban attack on Shamalzo district
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan cops repulsed a major Taliban
...Arabic for students...
offensive on Shamalzo district in southern Zabul province of Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said in a statement said the Talibs attacked Shamalzo district on Monday night.

The statement further added that the Afghan forces quickly responded to the attack and inflicted heavy casualties on Talibs.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Defense said a Humvee Armored Personnel Carrier packed with explosives also went off during the festivities.

The Ministry of Defense also added that the security forces confiscated another explosives-laden Humvee.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa North
Khalifa Hartar pursues attacks on #Misrata as death toll in #Tripoli reaches 1,100
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Forces loyal to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar said they launched air strikes early Tuesday against an airbase in third city Misrata held by government loyalists. “Our air force carried out several raids against the Misrata airbase, targeting anti-air defences as well as a Turkish aircraft transporting ammunition, drones and missiles,” Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army said in a statement on its Facebook page.

Pro-Haftar television channel Libya Al-Hadath said a Turkish Ilyushin aircraft “was destroyed as it landed at the Misrata base”.

Posted by: Fred || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336098 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Algeria: court issues arrest warrant on Khaled Nezzar, ex-General accused of alleged mass killings in the 1990s
[NORTH-AFRICA] An Algerian court has issued an arrest warrant against a former defence minister and army chief, along with his son, for alleged "conspiracy", state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported Tuesday. The warrant against Khaled Nezzar follows a series of legal moves against high-profile figures in the regime of ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika
... 10th president-for-life of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and is currently on his third or fourth term. Maybe it's the fifth....
. The court in Blida, southwest of Algiers, said Nezzar was suspected of "conspiracy and breach of public order", according to a news ticker on national TV.

The retired general has for weeks been on the run in Spain, where he has been joined by his son, according to Algerian media reports. Nezzar recently claimed that as protests mounted against Bouteflika in April, the president’s powerful brother had sought his advice on how to crush the protest movement. The former minister told the Algeria Patriotique news website ‐ run by his son Lotfi Nezzar ‐ that Said Bouteflika had mulled declaring a state of emergency and firing army chief Ahmed Gaid Salah. He repeated those accusations in May when he appeared as a witness against Said Bouteflika, who was arrested along with two former intelligence chiefs on charges including "conspiring" against the state and "undermining the authority of the army".

Gaid Salah, a longtime ally of president Bouteflika, has become Algeria’s de facto strongman since the 82-year-old president left office on April 2 following weeks of protests against his bid to seek a fifth term. Protesters have welcome the arrests of high-profile figures from Bouteflika’s regime. But many fear they are little more than a high-level purge and a power struggle between regime clans, rather than a genuine effort to reform the state.

Nezzar was at the head of the army in 1992 when it cancelled the electoral process, denying Islamist groups a victory at the polls and pitching the country into a devastating, decade-long civil war. A Swiss court in mid-2018 cleared the way for Nezzar to face war crimes charges after he was arrested in Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
. In a complaint filed by rights group TRIAL International, a group of alleged victims accused him of torture and arbitrary arrests.
Posted by: Fred || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336140 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Sahel: Red Cross suspends operations in Timbuktu, Mali, as violence escalates
[NORTH-AFRICA] Twin attacks in Mali have killed four people, including two Malian soldiers, security sources said Tuesday, as the International Committee of the Red Thingy suspended activities in Timbuktu due to "growing insecurity". A gendarme was killed in an ambush the Segou region, east of the capital Bamako on Tuesday, while at the scene of a robbery, a security source said. A day earlier, two army trucks were targeted by an bomb in the Koro area near the Burkina Faso
...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other...
border, in which a soldier and two non-combatants were killed, a senior army officer told AFP. No one grabbed credit for the attacks.

They were made public as the ICRC temporarily suspended its work in the northern city of Timbuktu following a carjacking at gunpoint close to the Geneva-based organization’s office. "We ask for measures to improve security in town and in the region," said the head of ICRC’s Mali delegation Jean-Nicolas Marti in a tweet. In a statement, the ICRC said gunnies stole one of its vehicles on Monday in the middle of the city and that several other thefts had happened in the region this year. "This latest incident is symptomatic of the level of insecurity prevailing in the city and region, which has reached an unacceptable threshold for the population," the ICRC said.

Despite military help from La Belle France and the United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
, Mali’s government has struggled to quell the violence that began in the north of the country in 2012, sparked by radical Islamist and Tuareg militias. Ethnic violence in central Mali surged after a predominantly Fulani
... a peculiarly brutal tribe of Moslem herdsmen infesting Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and probably other places that are light on law and order and heavy on tribal identity...
jihadist group led by preacher Amadou Koufa emerged in 2015. They recruit mainly from among the Fulani ‐ primarily cattle breeders and traders ‐ and they have clashed with the Dogon and Bambara ‐ farmers who have formed their own self-defence militias. Whole areas of the country remain beyond the control of Malian, French and UN forces.
Posted by: Fred || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336092 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Arabia
U.N. Accuses Yemeni Forces of Attacks against Northerners
“Yew ain’t from around these here parts ayr ya, stranger?”
[AnNahar] The U.N.'s human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
office on Tuesday accused southern Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
i security forces of perpetrating "retaliatory attacks" against citizens from the country's north.

"We have received information from multiple sources about arbitrary arrests and detention, forced displacement, physical assaults and harassment," spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement.

She said the UAE-backed Security Belt forces are "reportedly carrying out and enabling retaliatory attacks against civilians" originating from northern Yemen.

The United Arab Emirates is part of a Saudi-led military coalition backing the U.N.-recognized government against Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s
in the country's conflict.

Shamdasani said the alleged targeting of northerners is "apparent retaliation" for deadly attacks last week by jihadists and the Iran-aligned rebels.

At least 49 people were killed in two separate attacks Thursday in government-held Aden, on Yemen's southern coast.

The first was a suicide boom-mobileing carried out by jihadists on a cop shoppe, which was followed by a Huthi assault targeting newly trained police cadets, officials said.

A day later, al-Qaeda button men killed 19 soldiers in an attack on an army base in southern Yemen, according to security officials.

The UN human rights office cited reports suggesting "security forces searched hotels and restaurants, stopping people, demanding their identification, and rounding up those hailing from the northern parts of Yemen."

"We are continuing to gather... details of the violations they have been subjected to, but initial reports suggest hundreds have already been displaced," said Shamdasani.

"Such arrests and forced displacements breach international human rights and humanitarian law," she added.

Yemen's Prime Minister Moeen Abdulmalik Saeed on Sunday decried "violations of citizens' rights", in a Twitter post warning of negative repercussions for Yemeni unity.

Yemen has been at war for more than four years.

The Huthis control the capital Sanaa and most cities in northern, central and western regions, while the government maintains a makeshift capital in Aden.

In the south, where secessionists claim independence, there is strong resentment of citizens from the north.

Southern Yemen was an independent state until 1990 and the north is perceived to have imposed unification by force.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2019 01:49 || Comments || Link || [336101 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
One killed, 10 injured in blast on Quetta's Mission Road
[DAWN] At least one person was killed and 10 others injured in a kaboom in Quetta's Mission Road area on Tuesday evening, police said.

The bomb went off in a market located on Mission Road where most of the shops are owned by members of the Hazara
...a grouping of Dari-speaking people of Sino-Tibetan descent inhabiting Afghanistan and Pakistain. They are predominantly Shia Moslems and not particularly warlike, which makes them favored targets...
community, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Quetta Abdul Razzaq Cheema said.

He said the injured were rushed to nearby Civil Hospital Quetta for treatment.

"We are investigating the nature of the blast," the police officer told DawnNewsTV.

The explosion smashed the windows of nearby shops and shopping malls. Police reached the spot as an investigation into the incident went underway.

It was the third blast in the last fortnight in the lovely provincial capital. All three attacks took place on consecutive Tuesdays.

On July 23, a blast had occurred in the Eastern Bypass area which left four people dead and 32 injured. And on July 30, a kaboom near a cop shoppe in the city had left five people dead and 30 others injured.

The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban
...Arabic for students...
Pakistain had grabbed credit for the blast near the cop shoppe.
Posted by: Fred || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336084 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Iraq
Iraqi troops arrest five Islamic State militants in Mosul
djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
(IraqiNews.com) ‐ The Iraqi Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday that four members of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
terrorist group were arrested in the northern province of Nineveh.

"Of all the arrestees, four gunnies were found to have been members of the Islamic State’s Diwan al-Jund (soldiers department)," Dijlah TV quoted Maj. Gen. Saad Maan, the ministry front man, as saying.

They were arrested in North Garage neighborhood in the eastern side of Mosul, according to the front man.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336116 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Turkish jets ‘neutralize’ 7 PKK terrorists in northern Iraq
Ankara (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Ottoman Turkish fighter jets neutralized seven PKK Lions of Islam during a counter-terrorism operation in northern Iraq, Yeni Safak quoted the Ottoman Turkish Defense Ministry as saying on Tuesday morning.

Airstrikes were carried out in the Gara region as part of the ongoing Operation Claw, the ministry said on Twitter.

Ottoman Turkish authorities often use the term "neutralized" in statements to imply the Lions of Islam in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

On May 27, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...
launched Operation Claw against the PKK in the Hakurk region of northern Iraq.

On July 13, Turkey launched Operation Claw-2 as a follow-up on the successfully ongoing Claw-1, which revealed new information on terrorist activities, according to the ministry.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336082 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Diyala dead dudes: 2 Iranian sock puppets kaboomed, extra bad turban tied up


Bomb explosion kills two Iraqi paramilitary fighters in Diyala

Diyala (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Two Iraqi paramilitary fighters were killed Tuesday in a bomb explosion in Diyala province, a pro-government force said.

In a blurb carried by Alforat News website, the 28th brigade of the Popular Mobilization Forces said that two of its "fighters were killed when a kaboom hit their vehicle, north of Khanaqin in Diyala."

The two fighters were identified as Saddam Kazem Abbas and Latif Sajit, according to the statement.

No group has so far grabbed credit for the attack, but the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(IS) murderous Moslem group, in most cases, is responsible for attacks targeting crowded areas, including markets, cafes and mosques across Iraq.

Security forces apprehend terrorist for killing 100 persons in 2015

Diyala (IraqiNews) Military Intelligence Director ate announced, on Monday, apprehending a terrorist who was responsible for a car bomb attack in 2015 in central Khan Beni Saad, in Diyala Province. The car bomb attack killed more than 100 persons and left dozens of of injured people.

The directorate said in a statement that based on accurate intelligence information and wel-set ambush, the troops of the Military intelligence managed to apprehend one of the dangerous terrorists in al-Ayt Village, in Khan Beni Saad in Diyala.

The statement added that the terrorist detonated a booby-trapped vehicle in Khan Beni saad in 2015, killing over 100 citizens and injuring dozens, due to the Eid crowdedness then.

The terrorist is one of important and dangerous wanted people in the area, the statement explained.

It is noteworthy that the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the car bomb attack that hit a market in Khan Beni Saad area, in Diyala province in 2015, killing more than 100 persons and injuring dozens others.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Two Iraqi citizens wounded as bomb blast rocks Iraq’s Baghdad
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Two Iraqi people were maimed Tuesday in a kaboom in Baghdad, a security source was quoted as saying.

Speaking to Iraqi website Alforat News, the source said that an explosive charge went off Tuesday in al Baladiyat district in Baghdad, leaving two people maimed.

According to the source, the maimed citizens were moved to a nearby hospital for treatment.

He added that security forces cordoned off the blast site and launched a manhunt for the perpetrators.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336085 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel involved in US-led naval mission in Strait of Hormuz — foreign minister
[IsraelTimes] Israel Katz quoted telling Knesset committee that Israeli participation helping counter Iran, boost ties with Gulf states.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday that Israel was involved in a US-led naval mission to provide maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz, where 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 a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
recently seized merchant ships.

Speaking at a closed session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Katz said Israel was assisting the mission with intelligence and other unspecified fields, the Ynet news reported.

He said the mission was in Israel’s strategic interest of countering Iran and boost ties with Gulf countries.

According to the Israeli news site, Katz told the committee that he instructed his ministry to work to include Israel in the mission after a recent visit to Abu Dhabi. The foreign minister was said to have discussed this at the time with an unnamed senior Emirati official, with whom he discussed the "Iranian threat."

Katz also reportedly praised Britannia’s announcement Monday that it would join the mission, making it the only country so far to officially do so.

The report did not specify whether Katz said Israel would send naval vessels to take part in the US-led mission. A report from the Kan public broadcaster last month said that Israel was not expected to send ships, but would provide intelligence.

The United States has thus far struggled to piece together an international coalition to protect cargo ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, with allies concerned about being dragged into conflict with Iran.

But even as ships were seized in the narrow maritime thoroughfare, countries have been reticent about a US plan to send in military escorts.

On Sunday, Australia became the latest ally seeming to give the plan a wide berth.

Australian Defense Minister Linda Reynolds told the visiting US secretaries of state and defense that their "very serious" and "complex" request would be given "very serious consideration" ‐ but stopped short of offering a full response.

Washington floated the idea of a naval coalition in June, after multiple attacks on ships in the Gulf, which the United States had blamed on Iran ‐ but which Tehran denies.

The plan was to have each country provide a military escort for its ships, with US military providing a security backstop, monitoring the zone of operations and providing command and control.

Mark Esper, the US defense secretary, said the United States had gotten "various degrees of response," adding "I think there’ll be some announcements coming out in the coming days."

Referencing the prospect of Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
an-only cooperation, Esper plaid down a bifurcation of effort.

"I think the purpose remains the same whether it’s an operation conducted under the United States command and control, or conducted by somebody else, a European partnership," he said.

Gay Paree, Berlin and London plan to coordinate and share information in the Gulf to reinforce maritime security, but without deploying additional assets, according to French Defense Minister Florence Parly.

Germany has distanced itself from a military operation in the Strait of Hormuz, considering it could hinder European efforts to reach a diplomatic solution with Iran.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2019 01:50 || Comments || Link || [336099 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Shin Bet busts Hamas cell planning Jerusalem bombing attack
[IsraelTimes] Bomb-maker kept materials in school next to his house, endangering civilians, agency says; 3-kilogram device had dozens of pieces of metal attached to it for maximum damage.

The Shin Bet security service on Tuesday said it thwarted plans by Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, members from Hebron to conduct a bombing attack in Jerusalem earlier this summer, retrieving the three-kilogram (6.6 pounds) bomb they intended to use.

The Shin Bet said the cell, along with others arrested by Israeli forces in recent months, had been directed to carry out attacks against Israeli and Paleostinian Authority targets by Hamas’s military wing in the Gazoo
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2019 01:50 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Southeast Asia
Thai army destroys thousands of land mines in jungle
[ARABNEWS] Pulling back to a safe distance atop a hill, Thai troops blew up thousands of anti-personnel land mines on Tuesday with controlled explosions that sent black plumes of smoke high above jungle treetops. Thailand is one of more than 160 countries to have signed the Ottawa Treaty, which prohibits the use and stockpiling of the destructive weapon and aims to clear all mines by 2025.

As part of a dayslong operation to destroy the rest of Thailand’s stockpile, soldiers clad in protective vests placed stacks of unwent kaboom! ordnance in a pit and gingerly laid explosive charges on top. "From now on, Thailand will no longer retain any more anti-personnel land mines," said General Chaichana Nakkerd with the Thai armed forces joint chiefs of staff.

Standing on an observation hill as technicians detonated the charges, he said 3,133 land mines would be destroyed in Sa Kaeo province to "affirm our stance in not using" them. But the border between Thailand and Cambodia is still littered with land mines from decades of civil war in Cambodia, where the remnants of the defeated Khmer Rouge retreated in the 1980s.

Chaichana said Thailand, which signed the treaty in 1998, still has a long way to go to clear a 360-kilometer area along the border by its deadline of 2023. "The problem we still have is... the border with neighboring countries are in rural areas and on hills," he said, making them challenging to remove.

Local residents who had been maimed by leftover mines were given gifts by the army after watching the operation. The Ottawa treaty has helped eliminate 51 million land mines over the past two decades since it was enacted in 1997. But the United States, China, Egypt, India, Israel, Pakistain and Russia have not signed it.

A recent Landmine Monitor report shows that the number of people killed or injured from land mines nearly doubled in 2015 to 6,461 from 3,695 the year before ‐ making it the highest recorded total in a decade.
Posted by: Fred || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under:


Authorities believe southern insurgents behind Bangkok blasts
[Bernama] Southern insurgents are believed responsible for the series of bombings in the Bangkok last Friday, Thai authorities said. Thai Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said police believed a mastermind was behind the blasts but have yet to establish if they were politically motivated.

“The incidents were planned. We are in the process to trace how they (suspects) travelled and where they got the bombs from,” he told the media after his weekly cabinet meeting today. He said police have not ruled out any motive for the blasts which involved “many” people.

Prawit, who oversees security matters, briefed the cabinet on the explosions, which rocked the capital at a time when it was hosting the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and Post Ministerial Conferences and Related Meetings.

Last Friday, police found nine bombs, including some unexploded devices, at five locations after several small explosions left hurt four people.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan o-cha said police had arrested seven suspects in connection with the bombings. He did not disclose when and where they were arrested.

So far nine suspects have been arrested. The other two men from Narathiwat were arrested for allegedly planting explosive devices on the sidewalk near the Royal Thai Police headquarters in Rama I Road in Bangkok on Thursday evening.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


Three Abu Sayyaf rebels gunned down in Basilan
[Xinhua] Three suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels were killed in a raid conducted by Philippine security forces conducted before dawn on Friday on the island province of Basilan. Police said four others were injured.

A joint team of policemen and soldiers raided the hideout of Hajan Apino, alias Abu Omar in the remote village of Cadiis of the Hadji Mohammad Ajul town. Apino is reportedly a senior member of the terrorist group with two arrest warrants for committing robbery with multiple homicide and frustrated homicide and double murder in connection with Wednesday's attack in Lamitan, Basilan's capital city.

Police said the suspects resisted arrest, forcing the government team to fire shots. Those injued were arrested, police added.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336124 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
After failed Idlib truce: Russian air strikes and gov’t vs Nusra fire exchanged, leaving 7 civilians dead
[AnNahar] Pro-government forces and opposition fighters exchanged fire in northwest Syria on Tuesday, killing seven civilians, a war monitor said, after Damascus scrapped a ceasefire.

A Friday truce was supposed to protect three million people living in the Idlib region after three months of deadly bombardment.

But jihadists running the region on Saturday refused to comply with a key condition to that truce, declaring they would never withdraw from a planned buffer zone around the area.

On Monday, Damascus declared the truce over, accusing its opponents of attacking civilian areas and bombarding an air base of its ally Russia.

On Tuesday, Russian air strikes on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province killed four civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

In two government-held villages in Hama province, rocket fire by jihadist groups and allied rebels took the lives of three civilians including a child, the Britannia-based monitor said.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said however that air strikes were not as intense as the previous day.

After the truce was scrapped on Monday, regime barrel bombs killed four civilians in the town of Morek in the northern Hama region, the Observatory said.

During the truce, air raids had stopped but land-to-land fire continued, killing one civilian on each side, according to the monitor.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
, a jihadist group led by Syria's former al-Qaeda affiliate, has since January controlled most of Idlib province as well as adjacent parts of the Hama, Aleppo and Latakia governorates.

Other rebels and jihadists are also present.

A Ottoman Turkish-Russian deal struck in September last year was supposed to avert a massive government offensive on Idlib.

But that deal was never fully implemented as jihadists refused to withdraw from the planned demilitarized cordon.

Instead, heightened attacks by the regime and Russia have killed 800 civilians and pushed 400,000 people from their homes since the end of April, according to the U.N.

Syria's conflict has killed more than 370,000 people and driven millions from their homes since it started with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/07/2019 01:49 || Comments || Link || [336090 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


US Treasury has added Lebanese businessman Fadi Hussein Serhan to a list of sanctioned foreign nationals for providing material support to Hezbollah
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/07/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336082 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah



Who's in the News
27[untagged]
8Taliban
6Commies
4Sublime Porte
4Islamic State
2Govt of Pakistan
2Govt of Iran
2Arab Spring
2Hezbollah
1Thai Insurgency
1TTP
1Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)
1al-Nusra
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Govt of Iraq
1Hamas
1Moslem Colonists
1Narcos
1Salafists

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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2019-08-07
  Algeria: court issues arrest warrant on Khaled Nezzar, ex-General accused of alleged mass killings in the 1990s
Tue 2019-08-06
  Benghazi flight to Mitiga Tripoli survives rocket attack while landing
Mon 2019-08-05
  Indian Kashmir Dissolved.
Sun 2019-08-04
  Special Forces arrest Taliban fighter disguised in women’s dress
Sat 2019-08-03
  6000 protest at Gaza border, rioters hurl explosive devices toward IDF troops
Fri 2019-08-02
  TTP warns against playing music, women going out alone in Miramshah
Thu 2019-08-01
  Iran slashes four zeroes from rial currency over inflation
Wed 2019-07-31
  Breaking : Hamza Bin Laden Dead.
Tue 2019-07-30
  Accused 9/11 mastermind open to role in victims' lawsuit if not executed
Mon 2019-07-29
   British warship arrives in Gulf to escort UK-flagged vessels
Sun 2019-07-28
  15 killed in Islamist militant attack in Burkina Faso
Sat 2019-07-27
  U.N. says air strikes by Syria, allies killed more than 100 civilians
Fri 2019-07-26
  Libya Militia Arrests al-Qaida Leaders
Thu 2019-07-25
  Shabaab tries to assassinate US diplomat
Wed 2019-07-24
  Libya government forces say repel Haftar attack on Tripoli

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