[ToloNews] Officials from 207 Zafar Military Corps in the west of Afghanistan on Monday said a number of soldiers from the territorial army will soon start a mission there.
According to the military corps officials, 300 soldiers from the territorial army have finished three-months' training under the instruction of Afghan and foreign trainers and soon they will be stationed in their areas to defend the people and country against the myrmidons.
Major General Noorullah Qaderi, commander of 207 Zafar Military Corps, said the newly-trained soldiers will be stationed in a number of districts of western Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... and Ghor provinces and as they are familiar with their regions, will play a very effective role in maintaining security in those areas.
"You are familiar with the landscape and know about the areas. Also, people are with you and if you want to gain people’s support, many people will support you," said Qaderi to the soldiers.
"The situation will change one hundred percent. The reason is that they are from those areas and they are familiar with the landscape. They will use all their abilities to support government forces," Mohammad Haseb Akhundzada, commander of the 1st regiment of the military corps said.
Military officials said these soldiers have undertaken extensive training and are able to suppress Taliban ...Arabic for students... "They have received general information about mines, unwent kaboom! devices, practical works and leadership taught by foreign advisors and after completing the training, they received graduation certificates," Colonel Nazir Ahmad, commander of the training battalion of 207 Zafar Military Corps said.
The territorial army soldiers meanwhile said, after starting their mission, they will not let Taliban infiltrate or be stationed in their areas.
"For defending my people, I am ready to fight to the last drop of my blood," Mohammad Osman, a soldier said.
"I joined the territorial army to serve my people. We want the enemy to join in the grinding of the peace processor, otherwise they will be eradicated," Mohammad Asif, another soldier said.
"We will eradicate the enemy. We promise the people that we will fight the enemy to the last drop of our blood," Amir Mohammad, a solider said.
The territorial army was formed after an order issued by 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. .. last year.
Ministry of Defense at the time said, based on the president's order, over 36,000 soldiers would be recruited for territorial army.
Ministry of Interior also said that the territorial army would be similar to Afghan local police.
[RADIOSHABELLE] The newly elected president of Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... regional state of Somalia, Said Abdullahi Deni and his deputy, Ahmed Elmi Osman alias Karash have officially taken office on Sunday.
A brief handover ceremony that was held at Puntland presidential palace in the state administrative headquarters of Garowe was also attended by former regional state president, Abdiweli Mohammed Gas and his deputy, Abdulhakim Omar Amey.
President Deni is expected to unveil his new cabinet in the next coming days.
The new regional leader promised to improve security, develop the economy and mend relations with the federal government in Mogadishu.
He was elected on 8th January with 35 votes defeating his close contender, General Asad Osman Diyano who garnered
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[Libya Observer] The Libyan Foreign Ministry of the Presidential Council has called for explanation by the Lebanese authorities for the desecration of the Libyan flag and the threats against Libyan delegation which was supposed to visit Beirut for the Arab Summit for Economic and Social Development.
The Foreign Ministry urged in a statement Monday the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... to take a clear stance regarding the Lebanese conduct, expressing dismay at the disrespectful acts by Leb, which made Libya boycott the summit.
"The Lebanese president Michel Aoun ...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... ... invited the Head of the Presidential Council Fayez al-Sirraj to attend the summit and he accepted." The statement said.
The statement also voiced utmost rejection to the desecration of the Libyan flag and other acts by protesters and representatives of the Shiite Amal Movement.
"We have found the contradictory statements of the Lebanese officials very strange regarding the participation of the Libyan delegation at the summit, not to mention the lack of preparations for the reception of the delegation if arrived." The statement adds.
A video posted on YouTube on Sunday showed a group of Shiite protesters taking down the Libyan flag from the street, ripping it up and replacing it with the flag of AMAL Movement, a Lebanese political party associated with Leb's Shia community.
The protesters threatened a day earlier to stage nationwide protests to close the airport in a bid to prevent the Libyan delegation from taking part in the summit.
The summit is scheduled to be held in Beirut on Jan. 19-20, but Nabih Knobby Berri Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet... , who heads AMAL Movement, is rejecting to invite Libya because of the disappearance of Shiite holy man and founder of the movement Moussa al-Sadr in Libya in 1978.
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[Al Jazeera] Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... and his American counterpart Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... have spoken over phone on the fate of Kurdish fighters that has triggered a war of words between the two NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... allies.
Erdogan told Trump during Monday's conversation that he has no problem with the Kurds in Syria and that Ankara is only seeking to fight gangs in the war-ravaged country which threaten its national security.
The Ottoman Turkish leader discussed the planned US troop withdrawal from Syria and the establishment of a secure zone in northern Syria free of gangs, a statement from the Ottoman Turkish presidency said.
Erdogan has taken a strong exception to the Trump administration's dictates on Kurdish fighters especially US concerns on the safety of its Kurdish allies, who helped Washington in its fight against 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).
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement: "The president expressed the desire to work together to address The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's security concerns in northeast Syria while stressing the importance to the United States that Turkey does not mistreat the Kurds and other Syrian Democratic Forces with whom we have fought to defeat ISIS."
According to the White House, Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford is set to meet with his Ottoman Turkish counterpart Yasar Guler on Tuesday for further consultations.
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#2
Erdogan told Trump during Monday's conversation that he has no problem with the Kurds in Syria and that Ankara is only seeking to fight gangs in the war-ravaged country which threaten its national security.
"and which ones are in the gangs?"
"All of them"
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[ELUNIVERSAL] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... said on Monday it was not "intimidated" by Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... 's "threats" to "devastate" the Ottoman Turkish economy in the event of Ankara's attack on Kurdish militias backed by Washington in Syria following the announced US withdrawal this country.
"We will not be intimidated by any threat, economic threats do not lead to anything," Ottoman Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in reaction to Trump's warnings , AFP quoted.
This harsh warning from the White House tenant comes when Turkey has been threatening for several weeks to launch a new offensive against the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish gang that Ankara considers "terrorist" but which is supported by Washington. in its fight against the jihadist organization 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.... (ISIS).
Trump warned on Sunday on Twitter that if this attack against the Kurdish forces occurred after the US withdrawal from Syria, the United States would "devastate Turkey economically."
However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... the US president on the other hand made a call to the Kurds not to "provoke" Ankara.
"STRATEGIC ALLIES"
In addition to rejecting any "intimidation", the Ottoman Turkish minister, at a presser in Ankara, said that two "strategic allies should not talk on Twitter" and that "our (communication) channels are open."
The United States and Turkey are allies as member countries of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... . Cavusoglu added however that his country is not against a "security zone" between the Ottoman Turkish border and the positions in neighboring Syria of Syrian Kurdish fighters, an idea raised by Trump on Twitter.
The YPG constitute one of the main points of discord between Turkey and the United States. Indeed, the Ottoman Turkish government had assured this Monday that it would continue its fight against the Kurdish militia, despite the warnings of Trump.
Ottoman Turkish presidential front man Ibrahim Kalin said on Twitter that there was "no difference" between ISIS and the YPG militia and emphasized that he would continue to "fight against all of them."
Trump had announced in December that he would withdraw the 2,000 US troops deployed in Syria, raising concerns about the future of Syrian Kurdish fighters.
Turkey fears that the Syrian Kurds will try to create at the gates of their territory an embryo of Kurdish state capable of stoking the aspirations of the Kurdish separatists in Turkey.
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#1
"not intimidated"? Erdogan was almost immediately on the phone to Washington. In his conversation with the President he showed a willingness to downplay his usual mouthiness. He is aware that there are US military leaders aching to take the Ikhwan leader down a peg.
[Aljazeera] The United States has been "a highly unreliable partner" to Ankara as a result of inconsistencies in Washington's Syria policy, as well as its approach to Turkey and "terrorist" groups, a senior Turkish official told Al Jazeera.
"The problems and misunderstandings between the US and Turkey are results of the confusion and cacophony between the actors at different levels of the US administration and institutions," Yasin Aktay, who advises President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his AK Party, said on Monday in an interview.
Turkish and US officials have been trading barbs over Washington's support for Kurdish fighters in Syria and what will happen to the areas held by them in the north of the country after the planned US troop withdrawal.
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#3
Yeah, we're long-time partners and allies *cough*4th ID*cough*
Seems to me, as long as the Kurds can play nice in Syria, both the US and the Russians might have a common interest in a de facto 'Greater Kurdistan', both as a barrier and as an annoyance to the Turks.
[IsraelTimes] In interview with UK’s Sunday Times, outgoing army commander Gadi Eisenkot says Israel gave opposition groups light arms ’for self-defense’
Outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot this weekend acknowledged for the first time that Israel had indeed provided weaponry to Syrian rebel groups in the Golan Heights during the country’s seven-year civil war.
Until Sunday, Israel would say officially only that it had given humanitarian aid to Syrian opposition groups across the border, while denying or refusing to comment on reports that it had supplied them with arms as well.
Continued on Page 49
[AnNahar] The jihadist group now controlling Idlib province in northwest Syria claims to have broken with al-Qaeda, but analysts say that despite several rebrandings there's no sign it has changed its stripes.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) sealed its hold on Idlib last week after signing a ceasefire with what was left of rival factions in the region.
[Rudaw] Arab families who moved to the northwest Syrian canton of Afrin after its fall to Ottoman Turkish-backed hard boyz last year are being granted official residency, angering Kurds who fear its Kurdish identity could be lost.
"After the people of Sharqiya region fled to liberated areas in the north, their identity cards were lost, they left them behind, or they were burnt due to shelling. They have no alternative papers," Anas al-Tabn, who supervises the registration of al-Bab’s displaced, told the pro-opposition newspaper Enab Baladi on Sunday.
A thousand Arab families have moved from Sharqia in al-Bab since Ottoman Turkish-backed Syrian militias took over Afrin in March 2018, the paper said.
"A large number of adults are without identity card. This complicates their affairs in terms of mobility and housing. The new marriages are not registered in the Sharia courts, and their children are not registered at any point," al-Tabn added.
Chieftains, or Mukhtars, have been appointed by local government to run the process since they have experience and are known by local people, the paper reports.
The newly-established office has the authority to issue or revoke IDs and marriage and birth certificates.
A lawyer from Afrin, who spoke to Rudaw on condition of anonymity, said the IDs are invalid, as Afrin is part of Syria and the regime has control over official documentation.
The scheme would only work if The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... ties Afrin to itself administratively, he said.
The process will change the demography of the region, he said. A larger Arab population is likely to form a majority in the city’s local council elections.
Human rights activists told Rudaw this will likely endanger the property rights of Afrin people who have fled the city. Their homes and businesses have been looted or occupied by newcomers.
They also warn that once the newcomers are registered, it will be difficult for the people of Afrin to return home.
Turkey and its Syrian opposition proxies seized Afrin in an offensive launched January 20, concluding with the capture of Afrin city on March 18. The stated aim of Operation Olive Branch was the removal of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from the Ottoman Turkish border.
Ankara believes the YPG are tied to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) ‐ an gang fighting for greater cultural and political rights for Kurds in Turkey. President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... is threatening to launch a fresh offensive against the YPG east of the Euphrates.
International observers and the Syrian regime condemned but failed to act against Turkey’s Afrin operation, which destabilized a relatively peaceful part of Syria. UN reports found Afrin suffered mass displacement, looting, and lawlessness as a result of the operation.
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[IsraelTimes] The head of a jihadist group dominated by members of the former al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria voices support for The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... ’s plans to attack Kurdish forces.
Turkey has for weeks threatened to launch a vast cross-border offensive against the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which controls most of northeastern Syria. Ankara considers the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to be a terrorist organization.
The head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, does not offer direct military support, but makes it clear that he supports the YPG’s removal from eastern Syria, where it has been battling 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) group.
"We consider the PKK to be an enemy of this revolution. It controls areas inhabited by large numbers of Sunni Arabs," he told the HTS-affiliated Amjad media outlet, referring to the YPG.
The YPG extended its influence beyond Kurdish heartlands in northeastern Syria, when it took the lead role in the US-backed ground battle against IS.
[IsraelTimes] Tehran is preparing to launch a satellite into orbit from its Imam Khomenei Spaceport in northern Iran, an Israeli satellite imagery firm says, citing photographic evidence of the area.
Israel and the United States, among others, are concerned that Iran’s space program could be used to further develop the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s ballistic missile program.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced earlier this month that Iran would be launching two satellites into space "using our domestically made rockets."
According to the Israeli satellite imagery analysis firm ImageSat International, this appears to be imminent, as large numbers of personnel have arrived at the Khomenei Spaceport in recent days and the launch site has been prepared for use.
"ISI satellite imagery reveals that the launch preparation process is in its final stages," the firm says.
Images provided by the company show trucks and private vehicles around the spaceport.
"It is our assessment that the missile that will carry the satellite is already in a construction site, and that checks are being performed on it and on the launcher," ISI says.
[IsraelTimes] A senior US official says the US will step up efforts to counter Iran’s "dangerous activities" around the region including the financing and activities of proxy organizations such as Leb’s Hezbollah.
Referring to the Iran-backed group, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale also says it is "unacceptable" to have a militia outside the control of the state and unanswerable to the people of Leb, digging attack tunnels into Israel and threatening regional stability.
A former US ambassador to Leb, Hale makes the remarks after meetings with Lebanese officials.
He also reiterates that the US will be bringing American troops home from Syria but says America remains committed to ensure 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.... group remains unable to remerge.
[Al Jazeera] Hashem* says he locked the doors, drew the shutters, and hid in his house with his family. He feared being spotted by fighters from the former al-Qaeda-linked group, Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), in Syria's Aleppo province.
"They came in and started shooting everywhere," said Hashem, a father of two in al-Atareb in Western Aleppo. "We are very, very afraid. They will kill us all."
HTS took over Hashem's town on Sunday as it continued its expansion campaign from Idlib - which it already dominates - into surrounding areas held by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... -backed groups of the National Liberation Front ...the Turkic paramilitaries intended to replace with their native jihadi ferocity all the highly trained Turkish soldiers Sultan Erdogan I the much beloved has jailed in the last few years for not worshipping the ground he walks upon. The Uighurs and so forth who did not join Al Nusra or ISIS seem to have ended up here... (NLF).
Over the past seven days, HTS captured several villages and at least one other town, Darat Izza.
The group's aim is to acquire more territory so it has a stronger hand to play as Russia and Turkey prepare a final political agreement over Syria's last rebel-held enclave, which sprawls across Idlib, parts of Aleppo, and a sliver of neighbouring Hama provinces.
Whatever settlement is reached will almost certainly demand the containment and elimination of the gang.
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[ToloNews] Officials from 207 Zafar Military Corps in the west of Afghanistan on Monday said a number of soldiers from the territorial army will soon start a mission there. 
...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. ..
Michel Aoun
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
[IsraelTimes] Tehran is preparing to launch a satellite into orbit from its Imam Khomenei Spaceport in northern Iran, an Israeli satellite imagery firm says, citing photographic evidence of the area.
