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Today: 61 articles and 173 comments as of 12:17.
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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Philippine military: Omar Maute likely dead
Today's Headlines
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Arabia
Qatar rejects claim of supporting Syrian 'terror group'
[Al Jazeera] Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
has never supported Jabhat Fateh al-Sham
...formerly al-Nusra, the current false nose and mustache of al-Qaeda in the Levant...
, the Syrian group formerly known as the Nusra Front, or any other "terrorist group", its foreign minister says.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said in an interview with La Belle France 24 Arabic on Thursday that Qatar had always "abided by international laws" and played a key role in the international coalition fighting 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 (ISIS).

"Qatar does not support the Nusra Front in Syria ... and it does not support any terrorist organization," he told La Belle France 24.

The foreign minister added that he expects to receive a list of demands from Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
and the UAE in the next two days, but stressed Qatar would not accept any "foreign dictations" and "rejected discussing any matter related to the Al Jazeera channel as it considered it an internal affair".

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt severed diplomatic ties and cut off sea and air links with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting "terrorism" - a charge Doha strongly denies.

Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Qatar (MB)


Amnesty urges probe into report of UAE torture in Yemen
[Al Jazeera] Human Rights group Amnesia Amnesty International has called on the UN to lead an investigation into allegations that the United Arab Emirates and its allied Yemeni security forces detained and tortured hundreds of people.

In a statement released on Thursday, Amnesty called for an urgent investigation after a news report from the News Agency that Dare Not be Named news agency alleged that the UAE financed, armed and trained Yemeni forces responsible for grave human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
violations during security operations against the Yemeni branches of al-Qaeda and 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 (ISIS, also known as ISIS).

The AP documented at least 18 clandestine lockups across 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. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
run by the UAE or by Yemeni forces, drawing on accounts from former detainees, families of prisoners, civil rights lawyers and Yemeni military officials.

Hundreds of men were swept up in the hunt for al-Qaeda and ISIS fighters and subject to extreme torture - including the 'grill', in which victims were tied to a spit like a roast and spun in a circle of fire.

"A UN-led investigation must immediately be launched into the UAE's and other parties' role in setting up this horrific network of torture," Lynn Maalouf, the director of research at Amnesia Amnesty International in the Middle East said.

Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


US Interrogates Detainees in Yemen Prisons Rife with Torture
Note the carefully wording of the headline, dear Reader, then as you read these key bits from a much longer article, ponder the purpose of releasing it now.
[AnNahar] Hundreds of men swept up in the hunt for al-Qaeda gunnies have disappeared into a secret network of prisons in 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. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
where abuse is routine and torture extreme -- including the "grill," in which the victim is tied to a spit like a roast and spun in a circle of fire, an News Agency that Dare Not be Named investigation has found.

Senior American defense officials acknowledged Wednesday that U.S. forces have been involved in interrogations of detainees in Yemen but denied any participation in or knowledge of human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
abuses. Interrogating detainees who have been abused could violate international law, which prohibits complicity in torture.

The AP documented at least 18 clandestine lockups across southern Yemen run by the United Arab Emirates or by Yemeni forces created and trained by the Gulf nation, drawing on accounts from former detainees, families of prisoners, civil rights lawyers and Yemeni military officials. All are either hidden or off limits to Yemen's government, which has been getting Emirati help in its civil war with rebels over the last two years.

The secret prisons are inside military bases, ports, an airport, private villas and even a nightclub. Some detainees have been flown to an Emirati base across the Red Sea in Eritrea
...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age...
, according to Yemen Interior Minister Hussein Arab and others.

Several U.S. defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
...unidentified officials speaking anonymously are all the rage in journalistic writing these days. Sometimes they even really exist...
to discuss the topic, told AP that American forces do participate in interrogations of detainees at locations in Yemen, provide questions for others to ask, and receive transcripts of interrogations from Emirati allies. They said U.S. senior military leaders were aware of allegations of torture at the prisons in Yemen, looked into them, but were satisfied that there had not been any abuse when U.S. forces were present.
This can't have been done recently. Since January 20th American senior military leaders have been busy.
"We always adhere to the highest standards of personal and professional conduct," said chief Defense Department spokeswoman Dana White when presented with AP's findings. "We would not turn a blind eye, because we are obligated to report any violations of human rights."

Inside war-torn Yemen, however, lawyers and families say nearly 2,000 men have disappeared into the clandestine prisons, a number so high that it has triggered near-weekly protests among families seeking information about missing sons, brothers and fathers.

None of the dozens of people interviewed by AP contended that American interrogators were involved in the actual abuses. Nevertheless, obtaining intelligence that may have been extracted by torture inflicted by another party would violate the International Convention Against Torture and could qualify as war crimes, said Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University who served as special counsel to the Defense Department until last year.
So he worked for the Obama administration, then probably found a more congenial environment after that unexpected election.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

#1  It's their culture. Who are we to judge?

/Alinskey - make the left play by their own rules
Posted by: Frank G || 06/23/2017 9:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Water boarding is a lot less messy and far less harmful than an Arab with a drill and edged tools.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 06/23/2017 10:27 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
US tells Turkey it will take back weapons from Kurdish militia- Turkish sources
[Ynet] Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told his Turkish counterpart that weapons provided to the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria would be taken back once 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....
was defeated, Turkish defence ministry sources said on Thursday.

In a letter to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's Defence Minister Fikri Isik, Mattis said the United States had informed Turkey about the weapons it had given the YPG and that it would provide monthly lists of the arms supplied, the sources said in a statement.

Relations between the two NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
allies have become strained due to the support the United States has given the YPG, which Turkey has fought in northern Syria, to support the campaign against Islamic State.

In his letter, Mattis told Isik that the United States would take determined measures to address Turkey's security concerns, the sources said, and that Arabs would comprise 80 percent of the forces to capture Syria's Raqqa from Islamic State.

The YPG is a leading part of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which launched an operation earlier this month to capture Raqqa, Islamic State's de facto Syrian capital. Turkey has said that it would retaliate against the YPG if it felt a threat from the group.
Interesting that it is anonymous Turks said to be somewhere in the defense ministry telling us what the American defense secretary wrote, and not Secretary Mattis himself or his representative....or even the Turkish defense secretary himself. Based on what we've seen since the American election last year, the odds are good the anonymous sources live only in the journalist's imagination, or have no connection to the matter being reported and therefore have only malice to contribute instead of actual facts.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Home Front: WoT
US judge in Michigan blocks deportation of 100 Iraqis
[Al Jazeera] A US judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the deportation of about 100 Iraqi nationals rounded up in Michigan in recent weeks who argued that they could face persecution or torture in Iraq because they are religious minorities.

US District Judge Mark Goldsmith in Michigan issued an order staying the deportation of the Iraqis for at least two weeks as he decides whether he has jurisdiction over the matter. Goldsmith said it was unclear whether the Iraqis would ultimately succeed.

The arrests shocked the close-knit Iraqi community in Michigan. Six Michigan lawmakers in the US House of Representatives urged the government to hold off on the removals until congress can be given assurances about the deportees' safety.

The Michigan arrests were part of a coordinated sweep in recent weeks by immigration authorities who detained about 199 Iraqi immigrants around the country. They had final deportation orders and convictions for serious crimes.

The roundup followed Iraq's agreement to accept deportees as part of a deal that removed the country from US President Donald Trump's revised temporary travel ban.

Some of those affected came to the US as children and committed their crimes decades ago, but they had been allowed to stay because Iraq previously declined to issue travel documents for them. That changed after the two governments came to the agreement in March.

A US Department of Justice spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment on the ruling.

Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union representing the Iraqis in Michigan, said: "The court's action today was legally correct and may very well have saved numerous people from abuse and possible death."

The US government has argued that the district court does not have jurisdiction over the case. Only immigration courts can decide deportation issues, which can then only be reviewed by an appeals court, it said.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said that people with convictions for murder, rape, assault, kidnapping, burglary, and drugs and weapons charges were among the Iraqis arrested nationwide.

The ACLU argued that many of those affected in Michigan are Chaldean Catholics who are "widely recognised as targets of brutal persecution in Iraq".
Then they should have been especially careful to abide by the laws of their refuge, and their parents should have been especially careful to teach them.
Shia Muslims and Christian converts were also detained in Detroit. Kurdish Iraqis were also picked up in Nashville, Tennessee, activists and family members told Al Jazeera.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  'Shocking' facts - he was appointed by Obama, and he's rocking a bowtie.
Posted by: Raj || 06/23/2017 1:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Note that the word felon appears nowhere in the article. It should. But then this is al Jazeera.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 06/23/2017 2:16 Comments || Top||

#3  A few of the miscreants mentioned here: A convicted murderer who was known to police as the “Godfather of the Chaldean Mafia” and two of his lieutenants are among the Metro Detroit Iraqi immigrants with criminal records who were recently arrested and targeted for deportation.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 06/23/2017 11:56 Comments || Top||

#4  So the Chaldean Mafia bought themselves a judge?
Posted by: Pappy || 06/23/2017 15:24 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
CTD seeks ban on 25 websites spreading ‘terrorism, extremism’
[DAWN] The Counter-Terrorism Department of Sindh police has prepared a consolidated list of websites, web pages and social media accounts spreading extremism and terrorism, it emerged on Wednesday.

The CTD has written a letter to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Federal Investigation Agency and other authorities for closing/banning of such websites, web pages and social media accounts to foil the designs of banned militant organisations.

“We have identified 25 such websites, which were involved in spreading religious and ethnic extremism and terrorism,” said Additional IG Dr Sanaullah Abbasi heading the CTD.

He said the CTD had sent a list of 25 sites with the recommendation that they should be banned by the PTA. These sites were linked with banned organisations or promoting radical thought, he added.

Although not all the websites were spreading terror, they were promoting radical thought and it was the assessment of the CTD that such sites often acted as ‘entry sites’ for individuals who were easily influenced to join extremist groups, he added.

Dr Abbasi said on the CTD’s recommendations, the relevant authorities had banned some websites including those which ‘misrepresented’ the teachings of the Holy Quran, condemned those religious scholars who did not support the extremist point of view, and were actively promoting intolerance by pronouncing controversial decrees.

The officer said there were certain social media pages on Facebook which were glorifying Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and other extremist groups. Such pages must be banned, he added.

Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Prisoners belonging to banned militant outfits act like 'dons' in Karachi jail
[DAWN] The Counter-Terrorism Department is likely to recommend the trial of 227 high-profile under-trial prisoners (UTPs) belonging to banned outfits be forwarded to military courts, CTD Senior Superintendent of Police Omer Shahid Hamid said during a press conference on Thursday.

"[The] Counter-Terrorism Department is likely to recommend the trial of 227 UTPs languishing in Central Prison Karachi belonging to banned militants outfits before military courts," said Hamid.

Hamid, critical of the behaviour of certain prisoners in jail, claimed that "militants of banned outfits operate like 'dons' inside Central Prison", and noted that the high-profile militants had created an ‘intimidating atmosphere’ in jail.

The CTD SSP said the decision had been taken after the recent escape of two high-profile prisoners affiliated with the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) from Karachi's Central Prison.

Hamid was of the opinion that a military trial of these convicts had become imperative as Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATCs) were delaying cases.

The CTD SSP revealed that around three months ago they wrote a letter to concerned authorities that around 60 UTPs ─ including the two convicts who escaped recently from the prison ─ should be shifted from Central Prison to other jails in Sindh.

He disclosed that the police had recommended shifting of such prisoners from Karachi to other jails within the province partly because the CTD had apprehensions that they might activate their networks within the metropolis.

The CTD SSP said that the escaped prisoners ─ namely Mumtaz Shaikh and Ahmed alias Munna ─ had vindicated the CTD's stance.

Hamid said Mumtaz Shaikh, who was involved in multiple targeted killings, was a roommate of Hafiz Qasim Rasheed, a terrorist known for operating his own faction of LJ in Karachi.

He pointed out that Hafiz Qasim had been arrested five years ago but his case had yet to be decided.

Besides the 227 high-profile prisoners, there are 34 convicted militants linked with banned outfits including Akram Lahori of LJ. He recalled that Lahori had been convicted in 2002 but his appeal had still not been decided.

"The conduct of high profile militants in the prison was alarming," said Hamid.

"In fact, they acted like dons in the jail and the prison staff was fearful of adverse consequences in case of not obliging their undue favours."

The SSP, who was a member of the CTD team probing the jailbreak, said that so far no evidence had emerged that the escaped prisoners had threatened the jail staff or their families. However, their past role showed that they had been involved in killings and threatening prison staff as well as prosecutors.

Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi

#1  Did 'Goodfellas' finally make it over to Pakistan?
Posted by: Raj || 06/23/2017 10:33 Comments || Top||

#2  so "languishing" or "acting like Dons"? Can't be both
Posted by: Frank G || 06/23/2017 10:53 Comments || Top||


'Safe havens' inside, not outside, Afghanistan, Pakistan tells UNSC
[DAWN] Terrorist "safe havens" are inside, not outside, Afghanistan, Pakistain told the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday.

"The resilience of the insurgency led by the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
cannot be explained away by convenient references to external 'safe havens' or 'support centres'," Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistain's permanent representative to the UN, said during a debate on Afghanistan.

Relations between the two countries have turned sour since Afghanistan's Caped 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. ..
accused Pakistain of waging an 'undeclared war of aggression' against Afghanistan. Pakistain and Afghanistan have long accused each other of turning a blind eye to forces of Evil operating along their mostly non-existent border.

Pakistain, Lodhi asserted at the UNSC, was committed not to allow its territory to be used for terrorism against other countries. Pakistain's Zarb-e-Azb
..the Pak offensive against Qaeda in Pakistain and the Pak Taliban in North Wazoo. The name refers to the sword of the Prophet (PTUI!)...
and subsequent Raddul Fasaad military operations had succeeded in eliminating all terrorist and murderous Moslem groups from its tribal territory bordering Afghanistan, she said.

She told the 15-member Council that Pakistain is "implementing border controls, including the fencing and monitoring of vulnerable sections of the Pakistain-Afghanistan border."

Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  two days before two major terror attacks in west Pakistan
Posted by: lord garth || 06/23/2017 18:23 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Abbas defends payments to convicted terrorists as ‘social responsibility’
[IsraelTimes] PA president accuses Netanyahu of using issue of ’incitement’ as pretext to avoid serious negotiations.
At their second meeting President Trump yelled at him for lying about incitement. But the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, so here he is, digging his incitement hole even deeper.
Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
on Thursday defended payments to Paleostinian prisoners, including convicted terrorists, as a "social responsibility," and said Israel was using the issue as a pretext to avoid peace talks.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority


Southeast Asia
Thai military says ex-rebel leader detained in Malaysia
[FMT] Ismail Ternang, a former top leader of the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (PULO), was arrested in Malaysia several days ago for security offenses allegedly related to arms smuggling.

Thailand's Fourth Army commander Lt Gen Piyawat Nakwanich confirmed Ternang's arrest. He said, "I was informed that he was arrested by the Malaysian authorities. My men have double checked (with reliable sources) on his reported arrest."

He said the former PULO leader was not wanted for any security offense, nor did he carry an arrest warrent in Thailand since his release from prison two years ago. However, security authorities had exercised normal monitoring to keep an eye on him.

According to a source, Ismail was arrested several days ago at his family-run restaurant in Perak following an investigation by Malaysian police. His arrest followed a police operation in Kedah several days ago where a man was gunned down after a brief clash.

The dead man was suspected to have been involved in arms smuggling at the Malaysian-Thai border area. The source said, "The police checked the deceased’s handphone and found Ismail’s handphone number, which led to his arrest days later."

The source also claimed Ismail had since been released by Malaysian authorities, but this has not been confirmed.
Posted by: ryuge || 06/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Turkey and Russia to deploy in Syria’s Idlib: Erdogan spokesman
(IraqiNews) Turkish and Russian personnel will be deployed in Syria’s northern Idlib region as part of a de-escalation agreement brokered by Russia last month, Turkish broadcasters quoted President Tayyip Erdogan’s front man as saying on Thursday.

Ibrahim Kalin said the de-escalation zones, agreed by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, Russia and Iran, would be further discussed during talks in the Kazakh capital Astana in early July, Haberturk television channel said.

"We will probably be most prominent in the Idlib region with the Russians; mostly Russia and Iran around Damascus, and a mechanism involving the Americans and Jordan in the south in the Deraa region is being worked on," Kalin was quoted as saying.

Vladimir Shamanov, head of the Russian Duma defense committee, told RIA news agency Moscow was discussing proposals to send Kazakh and Kyrgyz troops to Syria with representatives of those countries.

"The negotiation process has begun, there is no decision yet," he was quoted as saying

Under their May 4 accord, Russia, Turkey and Iran agreed to establish four separate de-escalation zones in Syria for at least six months.

The largest of the planned zones includes Idlib province, which neighbors Turkey, and adjoining districts of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia provinces.

The other three zones are in northern Homs province, the Eastern Ghouta region east of the capital Damascus and along the Jordanian border in southern Syria.

The three countries had been due to finalize maps of the de-escalation zones by June 4, but have not said whether agreement has been reached.

Political and armed opposition groups in Syria rejected the proposal when it was announced last month, saying Russia has been unwilling or unable to get Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Terror of Aleppo ...
and his Iranian-backed militia allies to respect past ceasefires.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/23/2017 02:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Posing as environmentalists, Hezbollah digging in at border, Israel tells UN
[IsraelTimes] UN envoy Danon, IDF intelligence chief demand action against Lebanese terror group’s violations along border.

Israel told the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
Security Council on Thursday that Hezbollah is establishing observation posts along the Israeli-Lebanese border under cover of a purported environmental NGO.

Israel’s military intelligence chief on Thursday released film and photographs of the Hezbollah positions at the border fence.

In a letter, Israel’s envoy to the UN, Danny Danon, pointed to an incident in April, in which a patrol of the UN Interim Force in Leb (UNIFIL) was denied access to an observation post flying the flag of the NGO "Green Without Borders," by a group of locals.

Hezbollah’s purported use of such facilities under cover of the NGO is a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, passed at the end of the Second Leb War in August 2006.

In the letter, Danon called on the council to demand the Lebanese government dismantle the Hezbollah outposts, as required by the resolution.

The letter came on the same day that IDF intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Hertzl Halevi released video and photographs the IDF said showed the installations in question.

"Hezbollah is using an environmental organization as a cover for activities along the border with Israel," Halevi said.

Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, Halevi warned that "Hezbollah blatantly violates UN Security Council Resolution 1701. We call on UNIFIL to undertake its responsibilities -- not only in keeping the peace, but in removing the possibility of war."

Israel has long criticized what it considers UNIFIL’s failure to disarm or meaningfully challenge Hezbollah, as required by the force’s mandate.

On a tour of the Israeli-Lebanese border earlier this month, US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley
...first woman to serve as Governor of South Carolina, and the second Indian-American governor in the country, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. At the age of 39, Haley is the youngest current governor in the U.S., a distinction formerly held by Jindal. She is a Republican, which really grates on the Dems...
reportedly witnessed a heated exchange between IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi and UNIFIL commander Maj. Gen. Michael Beary.

After Beary reportedly told Haley the situation on the border was stable and did not require further intervention, he was interrupted by Kochavi, who argued that UNIFIL was not doing its job properly and was frightened to enter villages and cities in southern Leb and confront Hezbollah.

Kochavi called on Haley to help change the mandate of the international force to give it the capacity to disarm Hezbollah, said the report, which was carried by Israeli media.

An Israeli diplomat later apologized to Haley for Kochavi’s outburst, but she reportedly said she was glad she had heard the Israeli position, and that it would influence her work at the world body. Haley is considered a staunch supporter of Israel.

UNIFIL is an international force created by the Security Council in March 1978, to maintain quiet along the border between Israel and Leb. Since the 2006 Second Leb War, the force has also been charged with monitoring the cessation of hostilities between the two countries, supporting Lebanese troops deployed in the south of the country, and ensuring humanitarian access to civilians in the region.

The 15,000-strong UN force is also charged with ensuring "the immediate cessation" of attacks by Hezbollah, and of ensuring "the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations."

Hezbollah has significantly built up its weapons stockpile since the 2006 war and has upgraded its arsenal to about 150,000 missiles, Israeli officials say. Israel also fears that some advanced surface-to-sea and anti-aircraft weapons systems have reached Hezbollah from Iran.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/23/2017 01:03 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Hezbollah is establishing observation posts along the Israeli-Lebanese border under cover of a purported environmental NGO.

Very GREEN, soon to be fertilizer.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/23/2017 12:18 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Counterterrorism Director: Al Qaeda Remains No. 1 Terrorism Concern to U.S.
[Free Beacon] Al Qaeda remains a number one terrorism concern to the U.S. intelligence community despite overwhelming media attention focused on the Islamic State, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center said Thursday.

"The fact that you see ISIS on the headlines every day and you read about ISIS being at the forefront of this global terrorism problem, it shouldn't detract from the idea that the government, we as an intelligence community, is still focused--I would argue as a matter of first priority--on al Qaeda as a threat to the U.S interests," Nick Rasmussen, the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center director, said at a national security forum on Capitol Hill.

Rasmussen said affiliates of the terrorist group operating in ungoverned territories such as Syria and Yemen represent the most immediate threat to the United States, particularly al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/23/2017 00:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

#1 
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/23/2017 1:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Let's play the SPLC game against them, The Left is the No.1 Terrorist concern to the US, given the behavioral display that they are seeking another American Civil War.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/23/2017 7:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Indeed, the Left leaves me without contempt for the other JV players.
Posted by: Jack Salami || 06/23/2017 9:32 Comments || Top||

#4  If 50 cal is good, isn't 155 mm M198 better?
Posted by: Glenmore || 06/23/2017 15:08 Comments || Top||


US-led coalition building jihadist database: Envoy
[AlAhram] The US-led coalition battling the Islamic State group is building a database of foreign fighters to track jihadists returning from Iraq and Syria at home, a senior US official said Thursday.

Brett McGurk, the White House envoy to the anti-IS coalition, told an Israeli security conference the effort aimed to help prevent attacks like those recently carried out in Europe.

"Our coalition is building a global database of foreign fighters, through information-sharing networks and Interpol, to ensure that anyone who fought with IS group in Syria and Iraq can be identified in either routine traffic stops, border entry points or in the course of routine police work," McGurk said.

Speaking at the annual Herzliya security conference near Tel Aviv, McGurk said the coalition was also having success in preventing more foreign fighters from joining IS group, also known as ISIS or Daesh, in Syria.

"On foreign fighters we've largely halted the flow into Syria from Turkey; from hundreds a week to now a handful at most a month," he said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Don't wish to dampen Mr. McGurk's enthusiasm, but we've been using the Joint Priority Effects List (JPEL) for at least 16 years with what could certainly be considered, questionable results.

Raising rabbits also has numbering and naming convention downsides.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/23/2017 5:38 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2017-06-23
  Philippine military: Omar Maute likely dead
Thu 2017-06-22
  BIFF Bravely Takes Hostages at Philippine School
Wed 2017-06-21
  ISIS Lord High Holy Man, al-Baghdadi confidant, killed by US-led coalition forces
Tue 2017-06-20
  Afghan forces clear strategic Tora Bora of ISIS militants: Gen. Waziri
Mon 2017-06-19
  IRGC completely dismantles terrorist group in southeast Iran: Commander
Sun 2017-06-18
  Afghan forces recapture Tora Bora in Nangarhar
Sat 2017-06-17
  Taliban rejects report on Kandahar bombing that killed UAE ambassador, diplomats
Fri 2017-06-16
  Army takes over Mosul’s Old City entrance, IS trapped
Thu 2017-06-15
  SDF capture former IS member known as Jihadi Jack
Wed 2017-06-14
  Senior Republican politician and several aides shot at baseball practice near Washington
Tue 2017-06-13
  Taliban’s military commission chief killed in Helmand drone strike
Mon 2017-06-12
  London Police Chief: Terror Victims Show How Diverse We Are
Sun 2017-06-11
  Libyan group says it has freed Gaddafi son Seif al-Islam
Sat 2017-06-10
  Islamic State claims it killed two Chinese in Pakistan
Fri 2017-06-09
  Nearly 70 dead in Al-Shabaab attack on Puntland military base

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