Hi there, !
Today Sun 05/31/2015 Sat 05/30/2015 Fri 05/29/2015 Thu 05/28/2015 Wed 05/27/2015 Tue 05/26/2015 Mon 05/25/2015 Archives
Rantburg
531206 articles and 1854419 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 69 articles and 137 comments as of 4:29.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Airstrikes kill at least 80 in deadliest bombings of Yemen war
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
2 19:01 Pappy [336087] 
0 [336067] 
4 07:59 AlanC [336065] 
0 [336067] 
0 [336066] 
0 [336083] 
0 [336065] 
0 [336067] 
0 [336067] 
0 [336070] 
4 19:08 phil_b [336077] 
0 [336073] 
0 [336068] 
0 [336101] 
0 [336064] 
0 [336081] 
0 [336064] 
0 [336066] 
0 [336079] 
19 23:47 JosephMendiola [336094] 
7 14:22 Anguper Hupomosing9418 [336068] 
Page 2: WoT Background
6 20:34 Large B. Hayes3020 [336097]
0 [336067]
0 [336065]
3 22:30 JosephMendiola [336075]
4 13:58 Bobby [336067]
0 [336082]
1 17:03 trailing wife [336079]
0 [336066]
0 [336065]
0 [336077]
1 14:00 swksvolFF [336067]
0 [336078]
0 [336064]
0 [336063]
0 [336065]
0 [336064]
0 [336077]
0 [336063]
0 [336063]
0 [336067]
0 [336067]
4 13:53 Pappy [336063]
0 [336065]
1 06:57 g(r)omgoru [336067]
Page 3: Non-WoT
3 22:53 OldSpook [336077]
1 07:52 Frank G [336068]
1 12:24 frozen al [336065]
6 15:55 regular joe [336065]
9 23:08 Rambler in Virginia [336089]
4 09:41 Frank G [336064]
7 19:15 Rob Crawford [336070]
0 [336064]
0 [336064]
0 [336066]
0 [336065]
0 [336067]
0 [336065]
11 15:18 USN, Ret. [336072]
4 20:02 swksvolFF [336094]
Page 4: Opinion
2 10:40 Besoeker [336062]
18 19:19 CrazyFool [336092]
5 23:50 JosephMendiola [336095]
0 [336068]
0 [336068]
0 [336066]
1 09:26 Procopius2k [336066]
0 [336072]
Page 6: Politix
9 22:53 OldSpook [336073]
Afghanistan
Afghan forces repel guest house attack
[WASHINGTONPOST] 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. ..
praised security forces on Wednesday for repelling a Taliban assault on a Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which gave Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
guesthouse, which sparked a six-hour shootout that kept nearby residents cowering until dawn.

The stand by Afghan forces was a rare chance for authorities to boast about protection in the capital, which has faced a string of krazed killer attacks targeting foreigners -- including an assault on a hotel earlier this month that left at least 14 people dead.

But the ability of the attackers to penetrate into central Kabul, armed with a cache of weapons and ammunition, is likely to raise even more questions about whether Afghan cops can keep the capital secure.

The latest attack began about 11 p.m. Tuesday when four heavily-armed Death Eaters tried to storm a guesthouse owned by a prominent Afghan family and frequented by foreigners. The Death Eaters were armed with assault rifles, rocket launchers and hand-grenades. At least one of them was also wearing a boom jacket.

But when the attackers approached the guesthouse in Kabul's upscale Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood, several security guards began firing on them. One of the Death Eaters then went kaboom! on the street in front of the Heetal Plaza Hotel.

The other three hid in a concrete bunker near the front gate of the guesthouse. As Afghan police and soldiers rushed to the scene, the surrounding neighborhood became an urban battlefield.

The attackers repeatedly lobbed grenades, resulting in more than two dozen kabooms. More than 100 bullets were also fired by Death Eaters or police, neighbors said.

Around dawn, however, Afghan forces riding in armored vehicles blasted through the concrete outpost, killing all three attackers. Sediq Sediqqi, front man for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said there were no police or civilian casualties.
"Mahmoud! What's that sound?"
"Which sound?"
"Some kinda rumble and some clanking..."
"Sounds like some kinda armored vehicle."
"Heh. Lucky we got this neat concrete bunker to hide in!"
"Ummm... What's a tank weigh?"
"Depends. What kinda tank?"
"A T-55?"
"36 tons."
"You don't think--?"
[RUMBLE!] [CRUSH!] Aaaiiieeeeee!

In a statement, the president Ghani said Afghan "security forces once again proved that they are capable of defending our country and people against any threats."
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  "We're gonna get Corrie'd! Aiigghheeee!"
Posted by: Frank G || 05/28/2015 8:46 Comments || Top||

#2  I've had the honor to work with the NATO SOF mentors of the CRU 222 over the past 6 months. Bad ass dudes who risk their lives on regular basis to save lives.

The most recent incident took place about 1 km from the embassy. When the CRU made the final push around 0500, it sounded like all hell broke loose. Suffice to say we had a ... birds eye view. Good night for the visiting side.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy || 05/28/2015 10:52 Comments || Top||

#3  ....Crisis Response Unit CRU
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/28/2015 10:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Yes Mr. B - shudda spelled that out. There are 3 units: 222, 333, and 444. Each has oversight/training from a different NATO SOF element and a different mission set. CRU 222 is Kabul-based and responds to complex/high profile attacks w/in the city.

They've come a long way but still have a ways to go. For example: they used to breach doors with RPGs (certainly A technique). Now they use .12 ga but just shoot through the door.

SOF guys said this - the Afghans they work with are absolutely fearless so there's that. I had some mentor over last week to look around the campus, have lunch, and meet the Ambo. Good times.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy || 05/28/2015 11:50 Comments || Top||

#5  No problem. Thanks for the gouge.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/28/2015 12:51 Comments || Top||

#6  They've come a long way but still have a ways to go.

Unfortunately patience doesn't appear to be a strong suit with the USG.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/28/2015 13:44 Comments || Top||

#7  The USG's lack of patience is based on the attention span of the 47%'ers, a few seconds at most.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/28/2015 14:22 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Airstrikes kill at least 80 in deadliest bombings of Yemen war
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Saudi-led Arclight airstrikes killed at least 80 people near Yemen's border with 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 in the capital Sanaa Wednesday, residents said, the deadliest day of bombing in over two months of war in Yemen.

Iranian-backed Houthi
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336101 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Airstrike in Yemen kills 36 police commandos
[FOXNEWS] Yemen's Health Ministry has raised the corpse count from a Saudi-led Arclight airstrike that targeted a sprawling police camp in the capital, Sanaa, earlier in the day, saying 36 commandos were killed.

The ministry -- which is controlled by Yemen's Iranian catspaws known as Houthis -- says at least 100 members of the force were also maimed. It gave no further details.

The camp is run by commanders loyal to ousted Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
who has backed the power grab by Houthis. The rebels and Saleh's loyalists now control Sanaa and much of the country's north.

Security officials say 150 troops were present at the camp at the time of the Arclight airstrike. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.


Boeing B-17G-70-BO Fortress 43-37675, of the 532d Bomb Squadron, RAF Ridgewell, en route to targets over Nazi-occupied territory. Named "Patches", "Flak Magnet" and "Trudie's Terror" by various aircrews, This aircraft survived the war and was retired to Kingman AAF Arizona on 17 December 1945.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Home Front: WoT
Yemeni Pleads Guilty in New York to al-Qaida Conspiracy
[AnNahar] A 40-year-old Yemeni, who fought U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, pleaded guilty in New York Tuesday to conspiring to murder Americans and to supporting al-Qaeda, prosecutors said.

Saddiq al-Abbadi, who was locked away
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
with an alleged co-conspirator in 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...
on a U.S. warrant, now faces a maximum life sentence in an American jail.

According to court papers, Abbadi left 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...
for Iraq to fight against U.S. troops from late 2005 to early 2007.

In early 2008, he traveled to northwestern Pakistain to fight for al-Qaeda before slipping across the border into Afghanistan to fight U.S. troops that summer.

Abbadi also used his connections to help an American from Long Island -- who has testified against him -- to join al-Qaeda.

Bryant Neal Vinas, who also traveled to Pakistain, has been accused of plotting to attack the Long Island Rail Road in New York.

Prosecutors said Abbadi pleaded guilty to conspiring to murder Americans, providing and conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaeda and using a machine gun in furtherance of those crimes.

"The defendant was a high-level al-Qaeda operative with ties to the terrorist group's big shotship in both Pakistain and Yemen," said Kelly Currie, acting U.S. attorney for the eastern district of New York.

"We stand resolute in our commitment to bring to justice those who would try to harm members of our military or who assist al-Qaeda's efforts to kill Americans at home or abroad," he added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336083 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


India-Pakistan
Militants Target Telecom Operations in Indian Kashmir
[AnNahar] Suspected holy warriors in Indian Kashmire have shot and killed a man for failing to shut down a state-run telecoms tower on his land, police said Wednesday.

Militants had ordered a shut-down of transmission towers belonging to the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) telecoms operator after police found illegal communication devices installed on them.

A police officer speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
said holy warriors had been "using the network of transmission towers for their own communications" before their devices were detected.

Police said the gunnies barged into Ghulam Hassan Dar's home near Sopore town and shot him, ignoring his family's pleas for mercy.

"The holy warriors asked him (Dar) why he restarted the cell phone transmission tower after they had ordered it shut," local superintendent of police Abdul Qayoom told Agence La Belle France Presse.

The shooting late Tuesday came a day after gunnies attacked a BSNL franchise, killing one employee and injuring three others.

Police and residents of Sopore, 45 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of the main city of Srinagar, said a hitherto unknown group named Lashkar-e-Islam
...a group of Islamic bandidos infesting Khyber Agency. It's headed by a former bus driver....
i had ordered that the towers be shut down.
Not all that unknown, if Fred already had information on them.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336065 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islam


Gunmen Kill Two Shopkeepers in Southwest Pakistan
[ALMANAR.LB] Unidentified gunnies on Wednesday killed two shopkeepers when they opened fire in a congested market in the southwest of the country, the second such attack in a week.

Police said two other shopkeepers and a passerby were maimed in the attack in central Quetta, the capital of restive Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
province.

"The attackers came on cycle of violences and opened fire indiscriminately, killing two cloth merchants and wounding two shopkeepers and a passerby," Quetta police chief Abdul Razzak Cheema told
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


Gunmen kill three cops in Karachi
[DAWN] At least three coppers, including a sub-inspector and two constables, were killed and another maimed early on Wednesday when unidentified attackers opened fire on a police mobile van in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
's Bhangoria Goth area, a shanty-town in the limits of the Azizabad police.

The assailants managed to escape from the scene after the attack.

The director-general of Rangers, Major General Bilal Akbar, also visited the attack site.

Sindh's newly-appointed Home Minister Suhail Anwar Siyal also took notice of the incident and sought a report from DIG west Feroz Shah within two days.

Rescue sources said that the coppers were performing their routine night duties when they were attacked. They added that the victims were shifted to a nearby hospital.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under:


Nine security personnel injured in Mohmand Agency blasts
[DAWN] Nine security personnel sustained injuries Wednesday in two separate Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts in Mohmand Agency
... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar...
.

The first blast occurred in Safai tehsil when an IED went kaboom! near a security forces' vehicle, wounding eight security personnel. The injured were shifted to Mamad Gut hospital for treatment.

The second kaboom also took place in Safai tehsil when an IED went off during a bomb disposal exercise, injuring one security man.

According to the area's political administration, two Lion of Islam hideouts were destroyed in the Halemzai tehsil of Mohmand Agency when security forces conducted an operation in the area.

Read more: IED blast in Hub targets President Mamnoon's son

Mohmand is one of Pakistain's seven tribal agencies near the Afghan border which are rife with homegrown bandidos bad boys and are said to be strongholds of Taliban and al Qaeda operatives.

In February 2015, Mohmand Rifles Commandant Colonel Umar Haider Bokhari while speaking to journalists said that the security forces, with the support of local rustics, have cleared most areas of Mohmand Agency of murderous Moslems and restored peace there.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Police claim arrest of prime suspect in Dr Soomro assassination case
[DAWN] SUKKUR: Sukkur police on Tuesday claimed to have enjugged
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
the prime suspect in the Nov 29, 2014 liquidation of the then Sindh secretary general of the Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl
...the political wing of the Pak Taliban...
Dr Khalid Mahmood Soomro.
JUI-F's armed wing is the Pak Taliban, or at least a branch or two. Presumably one of the other branches found the Dear Departed lacking in piety.
Sukkur SSP Tanveer Hussain Tunio disclosed the arrest of the suspect, Lutufullah Jamali, in his messages to some journalists and later speaking to the media in his office on Tuesday.

The SSP said that acting upon a tip-off, 11 vehicles carrying a big police force crossed into Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
to conduct a raid on a hideout in Osta Mohammed. Jamali was found present there and the police arrested him, he said, without giving other details about the raid.

He said that five suspects involved in the liquidation had already been arrested.

Dr Soomro was bumped off while he was saying Fajr prayers in a mosque next to his seminary in the SITE area of Sukkur on Nov 29, 2014.
Saying prayers at your local could cause your life insurance premiums to rise.
While the killer(s) remained on the lam for weeks after the attack, the JUI-F held a series of rallies and demonstrations in Sindh and other parts of the country for their arrest. Police picked up and interrogated scores of suspects and let off most of them until they short-listed five of them and undertook an extensive investigation into the case in December 2014.

One of the five suspects, Mohammed Hanif Bhutto, a resident of Sachal Colony in Larkana, was then declared the criminal mastermind of the liquidation. Two others, Altaf Hussain Jamali and his brother Darya Khan Jamali, were stated to be residents of Jacobabad while Sarang Ali and Mushtaq Ali were said to be residents of Qambar and Lakhi Ghulam Shah, respectively.
Mushtaq Ali, think you better slow your mustang down.
Mushtaq Ali, think you better slow your mustang down.
You been running all over the town now.
Oh! I guess I'll have to put your flat feet on the ground.

All you want to do is ride around Ali, ride, Ali, ride.
All you want to do is ride around Ali, ride, Ali, ride.
All you want to do is ride around Ali, ride, Ali, ride.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336064 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Iraq
American '€˜foreign fighter' says he's helping Iraqi Christians fight ISIS
[MSN] Volunteers from dozens of countries around the world have flocked to join the ranks of ISIS in Syria and Iraq. The United Nations says more than 25,000 of these so-called foreign fighters have answered the extremists' call. But other foreigners -- though far fewer in number -- have also traveled to the front lines to do battle with ISIS. And that includes an American named Matthew VanDyke.

VanDyke says he has founded a group called the Sons of Liberty in order to, in his words, "provide free consulting and training to Iraqi Christians who are fighting against ISIS."

With the help of US military veterans, VanDyke says he is working with Christians from the Iraqi province of Nineveh to build a force to defend their lands against the extremists of ISIS. In the future, VanDyke says he hopes to start providing non-lethal equipment to Christian militiamen, so they can go on the offensive to re-capture territory seized by ISIS fighters in Iraq.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/28/2015 06:51 || Comments || Link || [336087 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good for him, and them. But how would non-lethal equipment help them recapture territory from such a vicious foe?
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/28/2015 16:52 Comments || Top||

#2  radios, body armor, helmets, personal equipment harnesses, etc.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/28/2015 19:01 Comments || Top||


Iraq re-names its campaign against ISIS over claims of insensitivity
The United States said it was "unhelpful" that the militias had dubbed the operation to retake Iraq's western province of Anbar "Labeyk Ya Hussein." The name translates to "At your service, Hussein," in honor of one of the most revered figures in Shi'ite Islam.

The name also provoked complaints from Iraqis in Anbar.

"This is extremely sectarian," said unemployed resident Salam Ahmed, 41. "We have no more trust in them (the paramilitaries). They follow a foreign, Iranian agenda."

State TV said the paramilitaries had renamed the campaign "Labeyk Ya Iraq" (At Your Service Iraq) on Wednesday.
What's Arabic for "Iraq is FUBAR"?
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/28/2015 00:53 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under:


ISIS blows up historical mosque in Mosul
"There is no "history", there is only Allah's eternal now, when we, his chosen ones, rule, and you whom he despises are forever conquered and enslaved. Capish?"
[Rudaw] 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....
snuffies have blown up a historical mosque in their latest destruction of historical landmarks in the city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, according to a Kurdish official.

"The Islamic State snuffies blew up the historical mosque of Bakr al-Afandi in Mosul's western neighborhood of Bab Al-Top on Wednesday," Saeed Mamuzini, a media officer of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Mosul, told Rudaw on Wednesday.

"ISIS blew up the mosque under the pretext of it having shrines inside, which is forbidden," Mamuzni said. "The mosque of Bakr Al-Afandi was established in 1207."

Earlier this month, ISIS also blew up the nearly 200-year-old Maryam Khatoon Mosque in Mosul, Mamuzni told Rudaw.

Mosul fell in early June 2014 after the rapid capitulation of the Iraqi military, whose members reportedly abandoned their posts as the jihadists advanced.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336065 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Forget! The Islamist consistory
Shakes furious fists at its history,
But why henna-dyed heirs,
Like Elisha's she-bears,
Devour their future's a mystery.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 05/28/2015 0:38 Comments || Top||

#2  I am looking forward to seeing the ISIS monsters seize Karbala, and destroy the Husayn Ibn Ali mosque/shrine. That will definitely get the Shias foaming at the mouth crazy - which is guaranteed to bring about more wanton slaughter of muzzies by other muzzies. Pass the popcorn. More bullets for both sides.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 05/28/2015 1:30 Comments || Top||

#3  That would be a prudent RLTW solution Ranger. Our current regime could not abide such an effort.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/28/2015 4:56 Comments || Top||

#4  I want to see them turn the black boulder to black gravel. I'd have to find something better than pop-corn for that.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/28/2015 7:59 Comments || Top||


ISIS’ Mosul governor reportedly killed in airstrikes
And another one bites the dust...
[Rudaw] 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....
governor of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, Ibrahim Younis Hamdani, was killed in an American Arclight airstrike Wednesday according to the Iraqi Defense Ministry.

"Today, the ISIS governor was killed by US-led Arclight airstrikes in the Mosul neighborhood of Badoush in western Mosul," the ministry said in a statement. "Ibrahim Younis Hamdani was on the way to Badoush areas when the warplanes bombed his convoy."

Since the city of Mosul fell to ISIS, many of the group's governors have been killed by coalition warplanes.
I guess in the ISIS hierarchy, governors are Number Threes.
In early March, coalition fighter jets targeted the vehicle of Shakir al-Hamdani, the second ISIS governor of Mosul, killing him and a number of his bodyguards, Ismat Rajab, a Kurdistan Democratic Party official, told Rudaw.

Warplanes also killed Radhwan Hamoudi, aka Abu Laith, the first ISIS governor of Mosul, on November 19.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Multiple ISIS suicide attacks in Iraq's Anbar kill 17 troops
[Rudaw] 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....
gunnies unleashed a wave of suicide kabooms targeting the Iraqi army in western Anbar province, killing at least 17 troops in a major blow to government efforts to dislodge the bully boyz from the sprawling Sunni heartland, an Iraqi military front man said Wednesday.

The attacks came just hours after the Iraqi government announced the start of a wide-scale operation to recapture areas under the control of the IS group in Anbar.

Brig. Gen Saad Maan Ibrahim, the front man for the Joint Military Command, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named on Wednesday that the attacks took place outside the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah late the previous night.

The bully boyz struck near a water control station and a lock system on a canal between Lake Tharthar and the Euphrates River where army forces have been deployed for the Anbar offensive, he said.

Ibrahim added that the Islamic State gunnies used a sandstorm that engulfed most of Iraq on Tuesday night to launch the deadly wave of bombings.
They do like attacking during sandstorms...
He said it was not clear how many suicide attackers were involved in the bombings but they hit the military from multiple directions.
And they do like multiple jacket wallahs to start the attack, whether on foot or in vehicles.
Last month, the water station fell into the hands of IS bully boyz -- following attacks that also included multiple suicide kabooms and that killed a general commanding the 1st Division and a dozen other officers and soldiers.

Iraqi government forces recaptured the station a few days later.

The Iraqi operation to retake Anbar, which is said to be backed by Shiite militias and Sunni pro-government fighters, is deemed critical in regaining momentum in the fight against the Islamic State.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Video shows militia fighters' attack Baiji oil refinery
[TELEGRAPH.CO.UK] Iraqi military operations to retake the contested Baiji oil refinery were underway on Wednesday.
Shia militia, known as Popular Mobilisation Units, were filmed firing rifles and rockets at alleged 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....
(Isil) group positions in the area.

The fighting took place just hours after the Iraqi government announced the start of a wide-scale operation to recapture areas under the control of the Isil in western Anbar province.

The IS-held town of Baiji and its refinery is seen as a key step in the fight against Isil, who rely on it as a major source of revenue. It is Iraq's largest oil refinery.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Kurds Oust ISIL from Christian Villages in Syria
[ALMANAR.LB] Kurdish forces have driven the so-called 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....
in Iraq and the Levant terrorist group from more than a dozen Assyrian Christian villages that the forces of Evil had captured in northeastern Syria, a monitor said Wednesday.

"Following a 10-day offensive, Kurdish fighters took control early this week of 14 Assyrian villages that ISIL had controlled since February," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Thousands of Christians fled an assault by the forces of Evil in the northeastern province of Hasakeh in February after a spate of kidnappings by ISIL, which is still holding 210 Assyrians hostage.

Assyrians number about 30,000 among Syria's 1.2 million Christians and mostly live in 35 villages in Hasakeh, all of which are now held by Kurdish or regime forces.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syrian Airstrikes Kill over 140 ISIL Terrorists in Raqqa
[ALMANAR.LB] Syrian fighter jets hit the ISIL positions in Raqqa province, killing at least 140 terrorists, a military source said.

A senior Syrian military commander, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, said that more than 140 ISIL bad boyz were potted in Raqqa on Tuesday, after the Syrian warplanes heavily targeted their sites, FNA reported.

"The Syrian air force has killed at least 140 ISIL elements in an air raid that targeted Tabaqa airbase in the province of Raqqa, located North of Syria," the source said.

In Daraa, the Syrian Army units killed 30 holy warriors from al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, Nusra Front, and destroyed an armored vehicle with holy warriors on board near al-Faqie checkpoint and in al-Farouq farm and Mleihet al-Atash in the countryside of the southern Daraa province, according to a military source.

More Nusra bad boyz were potted to south of al-Karak prison in Daraa al-Balad in Daraa city and in western Atman town in the countryside.

Sweida

In the southern province of Sweida, an army unit carried out strikes against dens and hideouts of ISIL in the countryside of the province.

The strikes left scores of ISIL holy warriors dead and others injured in Rajm al-Dawleh village in the northeastern countryside of the province.

Arms and various types of ammunition used by the holy warriors were destroyed.

Damascus Countryside

In Damascus countryside province, units of army and the armed forces killed holy warriors from al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
including a sniper and destroyed their arms in al-Huseinyia village and Khan al-Sheih farms in the south western side of the province.

Meanwhile,
...back at the desert island, Irene was indignant at the thought of doing such a thing without benefit of clergy...
a unit of army killed a number of holy warriors including a sniper and destroyed a heavy machine gun, arms and ammunition in al-Huseinyia village to the south of Khan al-Sheih.

The source added that a unit of army destroyed a den for al-Nusra with its arms and ammunition and killed a number of holy warriors and injured others in Khan al-Sheih farms.

Latakia

In the northern countryside of the coastal province of Latakia, army units destroyed terrorists' vehicles- equipped with heavy machineguns- and mortar launchers in al-Eido village, Kensabba town and al-Noubeh Mountain. A number of al-Nusra bad boyz were potted in the process.

Idleb

In the neighboring province of Idleb, an army unit destroyed a den for al-Nusra terrorist organization in the area of al-Maqal'e to the north of Tal al-Mintar in Jisr al- Shughour city in the countryside of the province, killing all the holy warriors inside it.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Hezbullies Resistance Fighters Ambush Nusra Militants in Arsal Barrens
[ALMANAR.LB] Fighters of the Lebanese resistance ambushed a Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
group in Arsal barrens on Wednesday, killing all members of a Takfiri group operating there.
"Lebanese resistance," of course, means Hezbollah. Nobody else in Leb resists anything.
Security sources told al-Manar that the group belongs to "al-Ghurabaa" Brigade of Nusra Front, noting that the ambush was perfect and that the snuffies were observed through surveillance drone.

The Takfiris were planning a terrorist attack in Arsal barrens near the barrens of the Lebanese town of Nahle, the sources added.

Among the killed snuffies was a commander, the sources said, addding that the terrorists' vehicle as well as a room used by them were totally destroyed.

The Syrian army and the resistance fighters have been for weeks engaged in a wide-scale operation to secure the barrens of Qalamoun. This area lies on the border between Syria and Leb and is considered as stronghold for the Syria-based Takfiri Lion of Islams.

Controlling this area is of mush significance since it secures the Lebanese towns in Bekaa from the Terrorists' attacks.

The video below shows the ambush which targeted the terrorists.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra

#1  Qalamoun is a sideshow. The Rebels are coming from the north and east.

I don't think Assad has long left. If he doesn't suffer an unfortunate accident, a Russian ship in Tartus would appear his best bet.

The T4 airbase appears the next domino to fall.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/28/2015 2:12 Comments || Top||

#2  He can always fall back on the London Opthalmology gig...
Posted by: Frank G || 05/28/2015 8:58 Comments || Top||

#3  The Hizb's fate will be "interesting" if Pencil neck bug off...Their Iraqi "friends" are pretty much useless...Iran is a long way out...unless Pooty Poot decide to wade on in...which is a possibility but not a probability...
Posted by: Large B. Hayes3020 || 05/28/2015 16:50 Comments || Top||

#4  If the rebels win, they aint going to stop at the Lebanese border. Scores will be settled.

Note the Nusra statement that Allawites will be safe, as long as they convert to being Sunni, of course.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/28/2015 19:08 Comments || Top||


ISIS frees 2 Christian women held in Syria
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Syrian activists say ISIS has released two Christian women who had been held along with dozens others since February in northeastern Syria.

ISIS kidnapped more than 220 Assyrian Christians in February, after overrunning several farming communities on the southern bank of the Khabur River in Hassakeh province.

Osama Edwards, director of the Assyrian Network for Human Rights, says the women, who are 70 and 75 years old, were released Tuesday and have now reached the northwestern city of Hassakeh.
Too old to bring any price at the slave market, not cost effective to keep feeding them nor to expend the bullet to send them on to the next life.
And now that the ransom has been cashed, the women are free to go.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, said Wednesday the two were likely released because of their poor health. Some of the captives were released previously.

Edwards says ISIS is still holding 210 Assyrian Christians and is demanding $100,000 for each hostage.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336064 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


ISIS shoots dead 20 at Palmyra amphitheater
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] ISIS murderous Moslems rubbed out around 20 men inside an ancient amphitheater in the Syrian city of Palmyra Wednesday, accusing them of being government supporters, an activist group monitoring the conflict said.

Rooters was unable to independently confirm the report from the Britannia-based activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The hardline Sunni murderous Moslems took control of the central city, also known as Tadmur, from government forces last week and have already killed at least 200 people and taken around 600 captive, according to the Observatory.

"They executed around 20 men in the Roman amphitheatre and called people to watch," said the Observatory's Rami Abdulrahman, who cited sources inside the city.

Supporters of ISIS wrote on Twitter that a number of people had been killed by the group inside the amphitheatre, which forms part of the city's 2,000-year-old ruins which are a UNESCO World Heritage site.

ISIS's takeover of Palmyra marked the first time the group had seized a Syrian city directly from government control. The other population centres it holds were mostly taken from rival Death Eater groups in Syria's four-year conflict.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336081 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Government
UK Based F-15Es Flew A Secret Long-Range Mission Over Africa On Monday
[FOXTROT ALPHA] A pair of RAF Lakenheath based USAF F-15E Strike Eagles that were bristling with live bombs and air-to-air missiles, along five KC-135R tankers, flew on a secretive and grueling 12 hour mission over the Southern Mediterranean on Monday, May 25th, Memorial Day.

Multiple radio interceptors and plane spotters state that four F-15E's, callsigns ABLE 01 through 04, took off from their home base at RAF Lakenheath laden with yellow banded (live) AIM-9M sidewinders, AIM-120 AMRAAMS and no less than seven 500lb Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs). These aircraft were accompanied by five KC-135Rs tankers, callsign QUID 91 through 95, that launched out of their base at RAF Mildenhall, just as the Lakenheath based F-15Es were departing.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/28/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336094 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like AFRICOM has some SpecOps who found a very lucrative target.
Posted by: OldSpook || 05/28/2015 0:03 Comments || Top||

#2  I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
Posted by: anymouse || 05/28/2015 1:44 Comments || Top||

#3 
Posted by: || 05/28/2015 4:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Some gratuitous B-2 refueling eye candy.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/28/2015 4:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Just a Memorial Day flyby.
Move along, nothing to see here...
Posted by: ed in texas || 05/28/2015 5:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Why fly from the UK? Surely closer bases?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/28/2015 7:00 Comments || Top||

#7  Spotters. Today with internet et al, just Charlie sitting at a window can punch a key and everyone who is interested knows that armed birds are in the air. Some places are rather uncomfortably close to a 'light a match' moment which makes it probably a choice to go with someplace that is unlikely to provoke or alert a player along the sidelines to a particular game play.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/28/2015 7:49 Comments || Top||

#8  "a pair" says the headline, "four" say the spotters.
The Eagle carries its ordnance externally, which means dragging it through the air, thus reducing its mpg. Ditto external fuel tanks. The latter can be refueled through the fueling system from tankers. But they also reduce manuverability, full or empty. So you drop them when the stuff gets serious. Five tankers is a hell of a lot of gas, and there are or should be tankers available elsewhere, nearer the target(s). Maybe from Italy if they're going over the Med. Are there not, any longer? Or was the target someplace else entirely without any tankers on the way? Or did they use more? Who told anybody these things were heading over the southern Med?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 05/28/2015 8:01 Comments || Top||

#9  Time for a massive floating concrete airbase.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/28/2015 9:10 Comments || Top||

#10  We have one its called, England
Posted by: Ebbatle Slinesing1040 || 05/28/2015 15:31 Comments || Top||

#11  It's harder to hide taking off from Lakenheath, and a lot lot further to fly.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/28/2015 16:13 Comments || Top||

#12  At Ramstein Air Base there were oftentimes groups of civilian observers along the road at the end of the runway taking fotos, tail numbers, types and descriptions. Someone told me the Germans had actual clubs devoted to such activities.

One must wonder if they have distinctive club beer steins, badges, gorgets and the like ?

Posted by: Besoeker || 05/28/2015 16:30 Comments || Top||

#13  A critical question encumbers
Kraut planespotters' orderly slumbers:
Are government agents
In windowless basements
Collecting our party card numbers?
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 05/28/2015 17:41 Comments || Top||

#14  #12 At Ramstein Air Base there were oftentimes groups of civilian observers along the road at the end of the runway taking fotos, tail numbers, types and descriptions. Someone told me the Germans had actual clubs devoted to such activities. One must wonder if they have distinctive club beer steins, badges, gorgets and the like?

Yes. Some of the clubs have thousands of members, identification cards, and more. They have a network to alert people to unique sightings. They're also active (in fact, even larger) in England. There would be three hundred people at the end of the runway AT Mildenhall every time an SR-71 took off on a practice sortie.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/28/2015 17:46 Comments || Top||

#15  Why not Diego Garcia?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 05/28/2015 19:10 Comments || Top||

#16  @#15: Indeed.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 05/28/2015 20:03 Comments || Top||

#17  Message sent. Consider that. Plus taking off heavy = offloading fuel, grab gas at altitude.
Posted by: OldSpook || 05/28/2015 22:50 Comments || Top||

#18  Besides England, seems Vlad's Boyz = Russia have noticed the presence of US air assets in IRELAND.

I suspect a test of Global Strike or Global Prompt Strike - not all LR missions per same involve only heavy or strategic bomber US aircraft e.g. B-52's, B-1's, andor B-2's, or Drones.

* FYI DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US PACOM'S PACIFIC MANDATE: [Rapid] DEPLOYMENT, SEABASING [MOABS/MOBS], FACILITATION.

As said or inferred times before, given advances in various MilTechs the proverbial Clock is ticking as to how long the US = USDOD will need ANY MILBASES OUTSIDE OF CONUS PROPER.

In future time as Pearl Harbor, ETC. becomes obsolete as a CENTCOM as it most assuredly will, what will save HAWAII or USDOD, HAWAII will be its status as a de facto US State.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/28/2015 23:43 Comments || Top||

#19  A US State whom by definition will still have powerful leverage via a mandated Constitutional say in Any Each + All US Govt Appropriations.

OWG OR NO OWG, "GREAT GAME" OR NO "GREAT GAME".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/28/2015 23:47 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
28[untagged]
12Islamic State
10Govt of Pakistan
2Taliban
2Govt of Syria
2Houthis
2al-Nusra
2Govt of Iran
2Lashkar e-Jhangvi
1TTP
1al-Qaeda
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Arab Spring
1Hamas
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Lashkar-e-Islam

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2015-05-28
  Airstrikes kill at least 80 in deadliest bombings of Yemen war
Wed 2015-05-27
  Shiite militia claims ISIS leader killed near Fallujah
Tue 2015-05-26
  Suicide bomber blows himself up during Rangers operation in Karachi
Mon 2015-05-25
  Syria: IS executes hundreds in Palmyra
Sun 2015-05-24
  Prayer leader explodes in mosque
Sat 2015-05-23
  Kunar Drone Strike Kills Four Taliban
Fri 2015-05-22
  Air strikes kill 15 militants in North Waziristan
Thu 2015-05-21
  Kurds advance against Islamic State in northeastern Syria
Wed 2015-05-20
  IS Attacks Syria Druze Village, Battles for Palmyra
Tue 2015-05-19
  US drone strike in North Waziristan leaves six 'militants' dead
Mon 2015-05-18
  ISIS confirms Ramadi capture
Sun 2015-05-17
  US special forces kill senior IS leader in Syria: Pentagon
Sat 2015-05-16
  Jury sentences Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death for marathon attack
Fri 2015-05-15
  Belmokhtar's Jihadist Group in N. Africa Pledges Allegiance to IS
Thu 2015-05-14
  ISIS acting leader al-Afri killed by US-led airstrike

Better than the average link...



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.
44.221.43.208
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (24)    Non-WoT (15)    Opinion (8)    (0)    Politix (1)