[Free Beacon] The drug trade in Afghanistan has strengthened in recent years despite billions of dollars in U.S.-funded counternarcotics operations aimed at choking the Taliban's top revenue source, a government watchdog said Thursday.
The United States alone has spent $8.6 billion on counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan since 2002, but the country remains the world's largest producer of opium, with poppy cultivation reaching a record high last year.
According to a new report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), opium cultivation in 2017 reached 1,265 square miles‐more than 20 times the size of Washington, D.C.‐marking a 63 percent increase from the year before. The unprecedented harvest could produce 900 tons of export-quality heroin and helps to fuel insurgent violence, SIGAR said.
"To put it bluntly, these numbers spell failure and the outlook is not encouraging," John Sopko, the special inspector general, said in prepared remarks at the New America think tank in Washington.
The United States in November retooled its air campaign to target Taliban drug labs as part of a sustained effort to undercut the group's $200 million-a-year opium trade. Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told reporters at the time that American and Afghan warplanes had taken out several of the labs, which he said numbered some 400 to 500 across the country.
SIGAR acknowledged the bombing campaign as a "good start," but said it was too early to determine the effectiveness given that setting up new labs takes three to four days at a cost of just a few hundred dollars.
#1
That's where the opioids devastating America are coming from. Why would they cut off the supply?
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
06/18/2018 4:23 Comments ||
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#2
Would napalm cost that much?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/18/2018 10:22 Comments ||
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#3
Best to decriminalize it and watch the price fall.
Of course make the entitlement to take it difficult and separate those who decide to be temporarily mentally ill for the duration the drug has an effect.
[PRESSTV] A kaboom has killed at least 32 people in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. amid an announcement by the Talibs that they would not extend their temporary ceasefire with Afghan cops and that fighting would resume in the crisis-hit country.
The deadly kaboom occurred outside the governor’s office in the bustling provincial capital Jalalabad on Sunday, reported Afghanistan's Tolo News channel, citing Najibullah Kamawal, the head of the provincial health department.
The huge blast, which also inflicted injuries upon 45 others, took place after a terrorist detonated his explosives vest in the police district one (PD1) of the city at around 3:00 p.m. local time, Kamawal added.
According to Attaullah Khogyani, the provincial governor's front man, all the victims were civilians.
No group or individual has grabbed credit for the attack, but it has the hallmark of the 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... ISIS terrorist group, which grabbed credit for a similar attack in the same province a day earlier.
The Saturday attack, which was carried out in Rodat district, some 25 kilometers from Jalalabad, killed at least 36 people and maimed 65 others. Reports said that civilians, security forces and Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... members were among the casualties as people had gathered to celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr, an Islamic holiday that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
[Khaama Press] The Taliban ...Arabic for students... group leadership has ordered the fighters of the group to refrain from movements in the areas under the control of government and major cities after a deadly kaboomdestroyed a gathering of Taliban, civilians, and security forces in Nangarhar late on Saturday.
Taliban front man Zabiullah Mujahid in a statement said the decision has been taken in a bid to prevent civilian casualties.
Mujahid went on to claim that the enemies are attempting to misuse from the ceasefire opportunity and there are chances that more such incidents would occur.
He said the Talibs have been ordered not to participate in such gatherings and those violating the orders would be dealt with strictly.
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06/18/2018 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Libya’s air force carried out successful air strikes on Sunday on positions of forces that carried out the attack in the oil crescent region.
The Libyan army’s media arm published videos showing kabooms of ammunition depots which belonged to whom they called "hostile forces" amid the sounds of heavy flights.
A military source told Al Arabiya English that the air strikes were not limited on destroying the ammunition depots, but also destroyed focused on tanks and other equipment.
For his part, the emergency team of the Libyan Red Islamic Thingy Ajdabia branch announced on its official page on Friday evening that it received 28 bodies resulting from festivities between the army and the attacking forces in oil crescent region.
Another military source explained that the air strike which the army announced after launching an offensive on Saturday came after armed forces "pursued the remnants of the attacking forces around the crescent region, especially in the south amid the desert" asserting the wounding of big shots, including Ahmed al-Tagouri, a leader in "the defense of Benghazi brigades" bad boy organization during the air strikes.
This comes as an oil storage tank at the Ras Lanuf port in Libya was ablaze on Sunday amid fighting between rival factions for control of the terminals in Libya's oil crescent, a firefighting official said.
Ras Lanuf's storage tank No. 2 held 200,000 barrels of crude at the time, the official said. Another Ras Lanuf tank, No. 12, had already been set alight and damaged on Thursday, when gangs stormed Ras Lanuf and the neighbouring terminal of Es Sider.
Groups opposed to Khalifa Haftar ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... 's Libyan National Army (LNA), which has held ports in the oil crescent since 2016, mounted Thursday's attack. It led the National Oil Corporation (NOC) to shut the terminals and evacuate them, declaring force majeure on exports.
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06/18/2018 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] At least 31 people have been killed in a twin suicide kaboom by suspected Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... fighters on a town in northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... , according to local sources.
Two blasts destroyed the Damboa government area in Borno state on Saturday evening targeting people returning from celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
Following the suicide kabooms, the attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades into the crowds that had gathered at the scene of the blasts, driving the number of casualties higher.
"There were two suicide kabooms and rocket-propelled grenade kabooms in Damboa last night which killed 31 people and left several others injured," Babakura Kola, from the Civilian Joint Task Force, a militia assisting the military with security, told AFP news agency on Sunday.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attack bore all the hallmarks of Boko Haram, a group waging an armed campaign in northeast Nigeria for nearly a decade.
The blasts on Saturday occurred in the Shuwari and Abachari districts of the local government area, which is about 90km from state capital Maiduguri.
"It has destroyed our houses. We have also counted 31 innocent people including children and elderly killed in the attack," said local resident Modu Usman, son of a community leader, according to the Rooters news agency.
Boko Haram roughly translates to "Western education is forbidden".
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06/18/2018 00:00 ||
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ADEN (Reuters) - Saudi-led coalition aircraft bombarded Houthi fighters holed up at the airport of Yemen’s main port Hodeidah on Monday as a senior alliance official said he hoped U.N. diplomacy could coax the Iran-aligned movement to relinquish the city.
There are fears that a prolonged battle for the city, where the Houthis are dug in to protect critical supply lines from the Red Sea to their bastion in the capital Sanaa, could aggravate what is already the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis.
The Western-backed Arab alliance launched an onslaught on Hodeidah six days ago in order to turn the tables in a long stalemated, proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran that has compounded instability across the Middle East.
The United Arab Emirates, a key component of the coalition, is spearheading the Hodeidah offensive, now focused on the airport of the Red Sea city.
[PRESSTV] Yemen's Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... fighters have dismissed reports that Saudi-led forces have seized the airport in the port city of Hudaydah, saying the aggressors are on the retreat on all front lines.
Militants and foreign mercenaries armed by 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 United Arab Emirates are attempting to capture the well-defended city and push the Houthis out of their sole Red Sea port in the biggest battle of the war.
"A battle of attrition awaits the Saudi alliance which it cannot withstand. The Saudi coalition will not win the battle in Hudaydah," Houthi front man Mohammed Abdulsalam told Leb-based al-Mayadeen TV.
Saudi Arabia on Sunday conducted Arclight airstrikes on the airport, to support forces attempting to seize it. The official SABA news agency said warplanes carried out five strikes on Hudaydah - a lifeline to millions of Yemenis.
Ground troops including Emiratis, Sudanese and Yemenis have surrounded the main airport compound.
Mohammed al-Sharif, deputy head of Yemen's civil aviation, said images circulated online about the airport had been taken in October 2016.
A fence shown as proof of the airport's capture is actually situated near the al-Durayhimi district, on a piece of land belonging to a Yemeni politician, the official Saba news agency quoted him as saying.
Ahmed Taresh, the head of Hudaydah airport, also denied news of the airport's capture, but said that it has been completely destroyed in airstrikes conducted by the Saudi-led coalition.
Abdulsalam warned that the Saudi-UAE offensive against the port city would undermine chances for a peaceful settlement of the 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... crisis.
The rebuttals came after the media office of the Saudi-backed Yemeni forces loyal to ex-president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi said on Twitter that they had "freed Hudaydah international airport from the grip of" the Houthis.
Reports on Sunday said Saudi-backed forces had been surrounded in the al-Durayhimi Bayt al-Faqih district and at least 40 Saudi mercenaries killed by Yemeni sniper fire over the past two days.
Al-Mayadeen, meanwhile, cited informed sources as saying that the invading forces had retreated from all fronts in Hudaydah's west.
A Yemeni military source said festivities had left 50 Saudi-backed forces dead and destroyed 13 of their armored vehicles in southern Hudaydah
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2018 00:00 ||
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[PRESSTV] Bahraini regime officials have handed down death sentences to three Shia clergymen and condemned eight others to life imprisonment as the ruling Al Khalifah regime continues with its repressive measures and heavy-handed crackdown on members of the religious community.
Bahrain’s dissolved main opposition group, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, announced in a statement that Shia religious figures are being systematically subjected to arbitrary arrests, torture, trials, revocation of citizenship as well as forced deportation.
The statement added that al-Wefaq has recorded more than 347 cases of arrests, summons and various security prosecutions of Shia holy mans in Bahrain.
It added that Bahraini security authorities have summoned more than 156 Shia clergymen over their speeches, ideological tendencies or political views. They have also jugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! 99 religious scholars arbitrarily.
Al-Wefaq further noted that "harsh and unfair verdicts" have targeted more than 50 holy mans, ranging from hefty fines and abolition nationality to life imprisonment and death penalty .
The statement went on to say that three Shia scholars have been sentenced to death, eight to life imprisonment and a number of others been stripped of their citizenship. Among those whose nationality has been revoked are prominent Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Ahmed Qassim and Sheikh Hussein Najati.
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06/18/2018 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Yemeni army announced on Sunday the opening of safe corridors for residents in several areas and neighborhoods where fierce fighting is still ongoing as the coalition and armed forces attempt to liberate Hodeidah west of the country from Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... militias.
This comes as Houthi militias have imposed an undeclared state of emergency after they have dug trenches on public areas and street sides in and around Hodeidah, amid reports of them preventing civilians from leaving their homes and being used as human shields.
According to the official website of the Yemeni army, its armed forces are attempting to provide security for Houthi militias who agree to surrender themselves.
Reports have also revealed the at least 500 Houthi militias have been killed during the past six days in battle for Hodeidah.
Coalition aircrafts have been launching intensive air raids in recent days described by field sources as "the most violent" yet on sites still being held by the Houthis in Hodeidah as Yemen’s armed and popular resistance forces continue their advancements on the grounds.
A military source said that the army and popular resistance forces’ plan in coordination with the coalition to besiege the Houthi militias and encircle them is ongoing to ensure the liberation of the city without civilian casualties, stressing that this tactic will surprise the militias planning an urban warfare in Hodeidah who are hiding behind civilians as human shields.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2018 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Official front man of the coalition fighting to restore legitimacy in 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... has said that a ballistic Missile fired by Iranian-backed Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... militias from inside Saada toward Jazan city resulted in one Pak resident being injured.
Col. Turki al-Malki said that the missile was heading towards the city of Jazan and was deliberately launched to target civilian and populated areas. The missile fell in a remote area and the Pak expatriate was slightly injured.
Al-Turki added this "this hostile act by the Iran-backed Houthi militias proves the continuing involvement of the Iranian regime in supporting the Houthi militias equipped with qualitative capabilities in a flagrant and explicit violation of the two UN resolutions No. 2216 and 2231 aiming to threaten the security of the Kingdom of 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... as well as the regional and international security and that launching ballistic missiles towards densely populated cities and villages is considered contradictory to the humanitarian international law".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
that's some range if it hit a Pak resident!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2018 14:48 Comments ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Police in India’s Kashmire investigating the killing of a prominent journalist and two of his security guards incarcerated Please don't kill me! a suspect on Friday, an official said.
Syed Shujaat Bukhari, editor of the Rising Kashmire newspaper, was leaving his office in Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s Jammu and Kashmire state, when he was shot at close range on Thursday by button men on cycle of violences.
The suspect, named as Zubair Qadri, was seen in a video stealing the pistol of one of the guards rubbed out with Bukhari, Inspector General of Kashmire S.P. Pani told news hounds.
"The pistol has since been recovered and he is being questioned about his presence at the scene of the crime. So far, he has not been able to give any convincing answers," Pani said.
Pani, who described the killing of the journalist as a terror attack, said the identities of the three other button men were still being ascertained.
Militant groups Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... and United Jehad Council also condemned the killing and denied involvement. Instead, they blamed "Indian agencies".
Bukhari had been a strong advocate of peace in disputed Kashmire, at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistain, both of which claim the Moslem majority region.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2018 00:00 ||
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[Rudaw] ERBIL, Kurdistan Region ‐ The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... ’s president has claimed to have hit a "critical gathering" of the PKK in Qandil, possibly killing senior members of the Kurdish group.
"During these last operations, we hit their very critical gathering," he said in an interview with Kanal 7 on Saturday. "We have not received the results yet, but it is certain that we have hit them."
He added there was a possibility they had hit senior PKK members, but was scant on details.
Ottoman TurkishArclight airstrikes hit PKK shelters and ammunition depots on the north side of Qandil on Friday, according to the most recent statement of activity from the armed forces in their campaign against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region.
The PKK issued a statement refuting Turkey’s recent claims.
The armed wing of the PKK, the HPG, confirmed Ottoman Turkish airstrikes in the Qandil region on Friday evening, but said "we have had no guerrilla losses in these bombardments," in a statement published Saturday by ANF news.
The HPG reported it had carried out three actions against Ottoman Turkish forces in the Kurdistan Region on the same day, claiming they had killed one soldier and there were additional undetermined casualties.
The PKK is a named terror organization in Turkey.
Ottoman Turkish forces have pushed at least 30 kilometres into the Kurdistan Region with the aim of reaching PKK headquarters in Qandil.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/18/2018 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Defending rocket attacks on Israel, guide claims terror group never intends to target children, but 'mistakes are made'
Video can be seen at the link.
A US news hound was granted access to a Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... tunnel in the Gazoo Strip, as well as to training exercises during which members of the terror group showed off a rocket launcher they claimed had recently been used to fire at Israel.
In a video clip published Sunday, CNN’s Ian Lee spoke with the Islamic Jihad about why it indiscriminately fires rockets at Israel and what it hopes to achieve with the attacks. Lee was blindfolded as he was brought to each location on his tour, apparently to prevent him from identifying the location.
The tour, during which Lee walked with armed fighters through a tunnel "somewhere in the Gazoo Strip," came two weeks after Islamic Jihad was involved in the heaviest exchange of fire between Israel and the Gazoo Strip since the 2014 50-day war known as Operation Protective Edge.
Lee described the concrete tunnel, which had the straight walls and low arched ceiling commonly seen in such passages dug by the Paleostinians, as hot and humid, saying "it feels claustrophobic."
An Islamic Jihad fighter, identified only as Abu Abdallah, explained in Arabic that the tunnels are used for moving fighters so that they can "play their role and defend the Paleostinian people."
The Islamic Jihad members, armed with rifles were seen crouching in the tunnel and receiving a "pep talk" from their commander.
The news hound said the tunnels are also used for smuggling weapons [from Egypt] and carrying out cross-border attacks in Israel.
Above ground, at another location, Abdallah showed Lee a four-barrel rocket launcher he claimed was used in the recent attacks against Israel.
"The world hears the conflict only through Netanyahu’s voice," Abdallah said according to an English translation of his comments provided by CNN. "We are trying to make it hear us through the sound of these simple missiles."
Three weeks ago, Islamic Jihad fired dozens of mortar shells and rockets at Israel, one of which landed next to a kindergarten, apparently in response to the Israeli army’s killing three of its members in a cross-border exchange that came amid violent border festivities between Paleostinian protesters and the IDF.
Asked by Lee why Islamic Jihad fires rockets at Israel’s civilian population, Abdallah responded that "the world needs to know that the resistance never plans to target children," but that mistakes are made.
"Israel is proud of its support from the United States and we are proud of Iran’s support of the Paleostinian resistance, on the moral and logistical level," he continued. "There is nothing wrong with it and that is not a secret."
[Jpost] 20-member cell from Nablus planned attacks in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and West Bank
While the Shin Bet identified the cell as being part of the Hamas terror group, the idea to carry out the attacks began after Zavidi spoke to a member of the Al-Nusra Front in Syria
Twenty Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbung millipede, members from the West Bank city of Nablus who planned lethal attacks across the country ‐ including a suicide kaboom in Jerusalem ‐ have been locked away Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! , the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said in a statement on Sunday.
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] Authorities on Sunday said they counted at least 20 brush fires during the day around the Gazoo border area caused by incendiary balloons launched from the coastal enclave. A similar number of fires were set the day before.
Israel has been hard pressed to find a way to thwart the attacks, and the army recently stepped up Arclight airstrikes against Gazooks connected to the kite and balloons launches.
In recent days, the military has taken to firing warning shots at groups launching the flaming kites and balloons, which have already burned thousands of acres of farmland, forests and parks, and caused millions of shekels in damage.
The Israeli Air Force on Sunday evening attacked three targets connected to a group of Paleostinians who had launched incendiary balloons into southern Israel on Sunday evening.
The airstrikes, which caused no casualties, came as multiple balloons with small bombs touched down in southern Israel and others bearing pouches of burning material set fire to large swaths of land in the area.
The army said it first fired a warning shot near the Paleostinians who were launching the balloons toward Israel. Approximately half an hour later, the Israel Defense Forces said it conducted a second round of strikes, hitting the tent in which the group was operating and a car that had been used to bring people to the area.
The IDF’s attack on Sunday evening was its third airstrike of the day.
On Sunday afternoon, an Israeli aircraft also targeted a group of Paleostinians who had sent incendiary balloons into southern Israel from the southern Gazoo Strip, near the city of Khan Younis.
In the predawn hours of Sunday, the air force also bombed a car that the army said belonged to one of the leaders of the Gazook kite and balloon attacks.
[IsraelTimes] An army front man tells Israeli residents near the Gazoo border that if the IDF responds more harshly to the incendiary kites and balloons being sent into Israel, it would lead to war, Hebrew media report Sunday.
The front man is addressing residents of the towns adjacent to the coastal enclave, who were losing patience with daily arson attacks, which have led to the loss of thousands of acres of farmland, forests and parks, and caused millions of shekels in damage. He explains the IDF’s latest policy of firing warning shots at groups launching the flaming kites and balloons.
"The alternative to kite terror is war," he says. "If we respond too strongly it could lead to escalation. You would be in your bomb shelters and you don’t want that, especially when the construction of the barrier against the tunnels has not yet been completed."
[Rudaw] ERBIL, Kurdistan Region ‐ The SDF have taken control of the key town of Dashisha from ISIS and are mere kilometres away from the border with Iraq, the force announced on Sunday.
"The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday liberated the town of Dashisha from the terrorist organization ISIS," the SDF’s media centre announced.
Their forces then pushed to the town of Naserah, two kilometres eastward, bringing them within three kilometres of the Syria-Iraq border.
Taking control of the Dashisha pocket in southeastern Hasaka province is the goal of this phase of Operation Roundup that was launched by the SDF and the international coalition two weeks ago.
Iraqi Security Forces are also involved in the operation, given the proximity to the border.
"In Syria, the ISF has been instrumental in targeting and destroying key facilities that ISIS [ISIS] uses to export violence elsewhere. As ISISholy warriors run away from the SDF, the ISF is instrumental in preventing them from escaping the battlefield by crossing into Iraq," coalition spokesperson Col. Sean Ryan told Rudaw English by email earlier this week.
The SDF and coalition also have their eyes set on ISIS in the Middle Euphrates River Valley, around the town of Hajin, north of al-Boukamal.
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06/18/2018 00:00 ||
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[Jpost] Syrian rebel sources claim up to 500 Iranian-backed militia and members of Hezbollah changed uniforms and are digging in near the Golan in preparation for a major offensive.
Hezbollah and Iranian- backed Shi’ite militias are concentrating in an area dubbed the "triangle of death" near the Golan Heights, as the Syrian regime prepares its major post-Ramadan offensive.
The offensive is designed to defeat the rebels in southern Syria and has raised concerns in Jerusalem, Washington, Moscow and Amman as a potential crisis looms.
This comes as Israel continues warning the Syrian regime to remove Iranian forces from the country.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he reiterated Israel’s demand that Iran withdraw from all of Syria, in conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over the weekend.
With the defeat of Syrian rebels in Damascus, the regime has begun to concentrate forces along its long front line that stretches from the environs of the southern Damascus countryside down to Daraa near the Jordanian border.
This front line ranges from 10 kilometers to just one kilometer from the Golan Heights.
According to foreign reports, Israel previously stressed to Moscow and Washington that Iranian forces must be kept 40-60 km. (25-37 mi.) from the Golan border.
However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... Syrian rebels have accused the Iranian forces and Iranian-backed militias, such as thousands of Shi’ites recruited from Pakistain and Afghanistan, of changing uniform and pretending to be regime soldiers.
Bassam Jaara, a commentator on the conflict, asserted on June 15 that there were suspicious movements of Iranian- backed forces north of Daraa.
In the lead-up to the end of Ramadan, which is traditionally considered to be a joyous and peaceful time, the regime escalated shelling in the "triangle of death" area, not far from Quneitra and Daraa.
The villages of Akraba, Kafr Shams and Alhara were struck with shells fired by the regime, according to a report at Orient.net.
Rebel activists told the Arabic- language website that Iranian- backed militias and Hezbollah carried out the attacks.
The latest reports strengthen Syrian rebel claims that various militias had "changed their uniforms to those of the sectarian Tigers Militia," a regime unit.
These allegedly included members of the Quds Brigade, which is Paleostinian, and Abu al-Fadl Abbas, a Shi’ite unit, as well as Hezbollah.
"These militias use the weapons of the regime and have settled in fortified positions along the triangle of death," the report said, adding that 500 members of these Iranian-backed forces have moved into the positions not far from the Golan.
"Abu Zein Khalid, the military commander of the Southern Front [rebels] told Orient that the Iranian militias met in the area of the triangle of death and wore the dress [uniform] of the regime."
A source close to the Syrian rebels said the claims were accurate. "Yes, it is right and more details will emerge today," the source said. "In short the regime forces are crowding into the area of north Daraa in this triangle of death area because the offensive will include Quneitra."
Any regime movement toward Quneitra, the Syrian rebel-held area along the Golan, would be highly sensitive to Israel and risk spillover conflict or the flight of refugees from the shelling.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) has stepped up their Arclight airstrikes over the southeastern countryside of the Homs Governorate recently, targeting several areas controlled by 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.... (ISIS).
Earlier this afternoon, the Syrian Air Force carried out a number of airstrikes near the T-2 Pumping Station, inflicting heavy damage on the terrorist group’s defenses.
According to a military report from nearby Deir Ezzor, the Syrian Air Force has been working overtime, today, after the Islamic State carried out a number of attacks in the surrounding areas of the T-2 and T-3 pumping stations.
While ISIS is mostly confined the desert, they often head towards the Syrian Army’s lines at night in order to carry out powerful attacks before retreating back into the desert.
To combat these ISIS hit-and-run attacks, the Syrian and Russian air forces have been carrying out overnight airstrikes in a bid to deter any future terrorist strikes.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2018 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The US-led Coalition has alegedly bombed the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) troops in the eastern countryside of the Deir Ezzor Governorate tonight.
According to a military report from Deir Ezzor, the US-led Coalition bombed the Syrian Army’s positions near the town of al-Harri, which is located right next to the border-city of Albukamal.
The military report added that several soldiers were killed or maimed as a result of this attack by the US-led Coalition.
If the US-led Coalition did in fact carry out this attack, this would be the second major bombing of Syrian Army troops in the last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2018 00:00 ||
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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.
...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...
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
ADEN (Reuters) - Saudi-led coalition aircraft bombarded Houthi fighters holed up at the airport of Yemen’s main port Hodeidah on Monday as a senior alliance official said he hoped U.N. diplomacy could coax the Iran-aligned movement to relinquish the city.
...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...
...the 
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
