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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Iraq forces fire tear gas to disperse protesters
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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3 23:32 Zenobia Floger6220 [2]
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Page 4: Opinion
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2 11:41 Abu Uluque [1]
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Page 6: Politix
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7 21:13 Thing From Snowy Mountain []
Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  she's a beauty
Posted by: Frank G || 05/28/2016 8:22 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Boko Haram Militants Kill 11 in Raid on Five Nigerian Villages
[BLOOMBERG] 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...
gunnies killed 11 people in a raid on five villages near Maiduguri in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, according to a pro-government militia member.

The bandidos Lion of Islams razed the villages in an attack that lasted for two hours in the evening of May 24, Hassan Ibrahim, a member of a youth vigilante group that fights alongside the Nigerian army, said by phone.

Boko Haram has killed thousands of people and displaced more than 2 million Nigerians in a seven-year campaign to establish its version of Islamic law in Africa’s biggest economy and top oil producer. The group was beaten back from territories it held early last year but continues to carry out suicide kabooms and hit-and-run attacks on soft targets such as markets and bus terminals.

Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Arabia
Saudi forces repel Houthi attack on Jazan
[Al Arabiya] Al Arabiya news channel’s correspondent said Saudi Arabia's army thwarted an attack on positions in Jazan.

He added that skirmishes has erupted, and that Saudi forces repelled the attack by Houthi militias on Al Khubah and Tawal in Jazan.

Days ago, the Saudi Interior Ministry said that one Saudi soldier was killed and three others were wounded when a landmine exploded on the border with Yemen.

The blast hit a border patrol in the southwestern province of Jazan, the ministry said in a statement.
Video report at the link
Posted by: badanov || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Britain
UK woman jailed for planning to move to ISIS-held lands with kids
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A British Muslim mother who was planning to move with her three children to ISIS-held territories in Syria has lost parental custody after her arrest last week, a UK newspaper reported.

The children - whose ages were not reported - are expected to live with relatives pending a decision by authorities over their long-term future, according to The Guardian.

Their Northern Ireland-born 34-year-old mother, Lorna Moore, was sentenced with a two and-a-half year jail term earlier this week for her planned attempts to take her children with her to an area of Syria controlled by ISIS back in August 2014.

Lawyers representing social services who are responsible for the children’s welfare said that the children would live with family members in the short term and that the mother would be able to stay in touch with them.

A decision is later expected to decide where they will live in the long term after social workers have assessed options.

Moore was found guilty of failing to tell authorities that her husband Sajid Aslam, 34, was about to leave for Syria to join ISIS.

However,
alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk...
she had told the court that by the time her husband left, they "were only together for the sake of the children" and that Aslam had even subscribed to a Muslim dating site, the Daily Mail reported in February.

Moore - who had converted to Islam before marrying Aslam - said that she had thrown her husband out of the house years earlier, but was forced to take him back when a Muslim holy man told her she would not get to paradise if she got a divorce.

The judge who imposed the jail term said she "knew perfectly well of [her] husband’s dedication to terrorism" and that she had told "lie after lie."
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Europe
More than 2,000 boat migrants rescued off Italy, more deaths feared
[Al Ahram] More than 2,000 migrants colonists were rescued from boats in the Mediterranean on Friday, Italia's coastguard said, as numbers soared for the third year running in the build up to summer.

Around 14,000 people were taken off often flimsy vessels over the whole week, the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
and the coastguard said, and hundreds may have drowned, survivors and boat crews added, though there no official estimates of casualties.

Italian Navy ship Vega plucked about 130 people off a "half-submerged" large rubber boat - one of 17 operations coordinated by the coastguard on Friday. There were no details on how many were on board before it deflated.

The coastguard said the warmer weather and calmer seas had caused a surge in the number of people trying to cross from Libya, where people smugglers operate with relative impunity. Numbers managing to reach Italia were comparable to the same period last year and the year before.

The migrants colonists - many of whom do not know how to swim and do not have life jackets - pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to make the crossing.

They are piled onto flimsy rubber boats or old fishing vessels, and as dramatic images from the crew of the Italian Navy ship Bettica showed on Wednesday, they can be tossed into the water in a matter of seconds.

The images show the moment a blue fishing boat capsized, sending hundreds of migrants colonists tumbling into the sea. About 240 women and kiddies had already been rescued, but an unknown number were trapped in the hull. Only five bodies were recovered and 562 were saved.

Testimony from survivors suggests there were still many people below deck who were not able to escape, according to the U.N. refugee agency, while the Bettica captain estimated that "some 100" may have been lost.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Human Trafficking


The Grand Turk
Five wounded in rockets fired from Syria in Turkey’s Kilis
Five people were injured on May 27 when rockets fired from ISIL-controlled territory in northern Syria hit Turkey’s border province of Kilis, 20 days after the last such attack by the jihadist group targeting the province.

Three Katyusha rockets fired from the Bab region of Syria hit the Hürriyet neighborhood in the Elbeyli district of Kilis. The projectile hit the wall of a house and exploded, injuring five locals.

Turkish artillery units and multiple rocket launchers on the border retailated to the attack.

Rocket attacks from the ISIL-controlled Bab region have claimed the lives of 21 people, including eight Syrians, in Kilis since January.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


India-Pakistan
‘Terror attack’ on Bahawalnagar shrine foiled; three arrested
[DAWN] Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of police claimed on Thursday to have foiled a terror attack on a shrine in Bahawalnagar district and tossed in the calaboose
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
three alleged turbans of banned outfits Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ...
(LeJ).

A CTD front man said after receiving information about the presence of suspected terrorists, a team raided a house near the shrine and arrested three people. He said the suspects were identified as Muhammad Asif of Khushab, Muhammad Jamil of Lahore and Muhammad Sadiq of Toba Tek Singh.

He said the police team also recovered three IEDs, arms and ammunition and the shrine was saved from destruction with the help of bomb disposal squad.

He said initial investigations revealed that the turbans were planning to attack the shrine.

In another raid, an alleged terrorist of banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain
...a Sunni Deobandi organization, a formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts...
(SSP) was arrested from Faisalabad
...formerly known as Lyallpur, the third largest metropolis in Pakistain, the second largest in Punjab after Lahore. It is named after some Arab because the Paks didn't have anybody notable of their own to name it after...
, said the front man. He said after receiving information, a CTD team raided PSO pump near Roshanwali Jhal at Sumundari Road and arrested suspect Shakeel Ahmad Khan.

He said police team also recovered 575 grams explosives, 9 feet 6 inches prima cord and 8 electric circuit, detonators from him.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Senate, Odius Sepulcher called for war against the Visigoths...
a CTD team arrested two members of a banned outfit in Alipur tehsil.

During a search operation at Azmatpur area, the CTD personnel arrested the suspected snuffies and found Jehadi literature from their custody.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


3 militants, Army jawan killed in North Kashmir
[Daily Excelsior] Two Hizbul Mujahideen gunnies were killed in Tangmarg area of North Kashmire’s Baramulla district today while a murderous Moslem and an Army jawan were killed in an ongoing operation in Nowgam sector of Kupwara district.

Police said that on a specific information about the presence of gunnies in village Khonchipora Tangmarg, Baramulla Police, 2-RR and 176-battalion of CRPF cordoned off the area and launched the search operation. "The hiding gunnies were asked to surrender which they refused and instead fired upon the joint search party, ensuing an encounter", Police said.

The Police front man said that during the encounter two Hizbul Mujahideen gunnies identified as Mehraj Ahmad Bhat resident of Andargam Pattan and Aadil Ahmad resident of Brath Sopore were killed. "They were wanted in many subversive activities. Two AK series rifles and other arms and ammunition were recovered at the encounter site", he said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hizbul Mujaheddin


Iraq
Turkish warbirds hit Kurd kommies in Dohuk
(IraqiNews.com) Dohuk – Witnesses in Dohuk province said on Friday, that Turkish warplanes attacked border areas in Dohuk Province, stressing that the attack resulted in the burning of large tracts of forest.

One of the witnesses reported for IraqiNews.com, “Turkish warplanes attacked areas in the border area of Kani Masi in the province of Dohuk,” pointing out that, “The attack caused no casualties.”

The statement added, “The areas that came under attack are free from the PKK militants,” noting that, “The attack caused the outbreak of fires in the forests of the region.”
Posted by: badanov || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


ISIS Bad Guys die in aerial attacks in Ninevah
Including 2 Top Turbans and four of their closest friends
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – The Joint Operations Command announced on Friday the killing of tens of ISIS elements during an aerial bombing that targeted ISIS positions in the city of Mosul, while pointed out that the air strike resulted in the death of the ISIS bombers officer as well as the financial officer in the so-called Wilayat Nineveh.

Joint Operations said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “The Iraqi [Army] Aviation, based on intelligence information, conducted an aerial strike that targeted ISIS gatherings in the beloved Mosul, resulting in the death of tens of terrorists including notable leaders.”

The statement added, “The [ISIS] financial officer of Wilayat Nineveh as well as the suicide bombers officer and four of his adies
...either that's a typo for aides or my vocabulary needs expanding...
were among the dead.”
Things you'll never hear a suicide bomber's officer say: Do I have to do everything myself?
Posted by: badanov || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraqi forces destroy communications center in Fallujah
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – A source in the Rapid Intervention Division announced on Friday destroying the ISIS communications headquarters in the area of al-Sajar north of Fallujah.

The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The Rapid Intervention Division destructed the ISIS communications center in the area of al-Sajar north of Fallujah,” adding also that, “The division’s [forces] had managed to kill four suicide bombers and detonate two booby-trapped vehicles.”
Posted by: badanov || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Baghdad Bomb and Bullet Bulletin: 2 die

1 wounded in car bomb attack in al-Rashdiya

(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source within the police force in Baghdad province said on Friday, that a civilian had been injured in a car bomb blast north of the capital Baghdad.

The source, said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “This morning, an explosive device that was emplaced on the road side in the area of al-Rashdiya, north of Baghdad, has exploded against a civilian vehicle, resulting in the injury of its driver,” adding that, “A security force imposed a security cordon around the area of the incident, while transferred the injured to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.”

2 die in bombing in al-Mada’an

(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Defense announced on Friday, that ten people had been either killed or injured in a bomb blast south of Baghdad.

The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “This evening, an explosive device went off near a popular cafe in the area of al-Wardiya in the district of al-Mada’an, resulting in the death of two persons and wounding eight others,” adding that, “A security force rushed to the area of the incident and transferred the injured to a nearby hospital for medical treatment and the two dead bodies to the forensic medicine authority.”
Posted by: badanov || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq forces fire tear gas to disperse protesters
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Security forces fired tear gas as thousands of protesters gathered in central Baghdad on Friday and attempted to head to the Green Zone, a fortified area they have breached twice.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called on the demonstrators, most of them supporters of holy man Moqtada Tater al-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah...
, to stay home and security forces deployed to block their way to the Green Zone, but the protesters were undeterred.

Demonstrators pushed past security forces at Tahrir Square, breached a barbed wire barrier and attempted to pull down slabs of heavy concrete blast wall blocking Jumhuriyah Bridge, which leads toward the Gree Zone, where Iraq's main government institutions are located.

Some protesters, who are calling for a new government, gave olive branches and flowers to security personnel at Tahrir, but events quickly escalated, and the forces fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse the demonstration.

"Those with masks, go this way to pick up the injured," one protester instructed those who had brought gas masks.

Demonstrators forced a gate to the Green Zone and stormed the premier’s office last Friday before being driven away by security forces.

They used tear gas, water cannons, sound bombs and a barrage of bullets largely had gun sex to disperse the protesters and harry them away from the Green Zone and back across the Tigris River, killing at least two people and injuring dozens.

Abadi had sought to head off a repeat this week, calling on Thursday for protesters to postpone their demonstration, as security forces are busy fighting to retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS.

Demonstrators faced little resistance when they entered the Green Zone and overran parliament in late April, but the period of tolerance of such actions has ended.

Protests have been held almost every Friday for weeks by people demanding the current government be replaced with technocrats.

Abadi proposed that measure in February, but has faced opposition from powerful parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds.

Sadr, a Najaf-based holy man who led an insurgency against US-led forces, has also demanded a technocratic government, encouraging his supporters to call for the change.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


US strikes kill ISIS commander in Iraq’s Fallujah
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] US-led coalition air and artillery strikes have killed 70 ISIS fighters in Fallujah,
... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids...
including the murderous Moslems’ leader in the Iraqi city, a military front man said Friday.

Baghdad-based Colonel Steve Warren said that over the last four days, 20 strikes in the besieged city had destroyed ISIS fighting positions and gun emplacements.

"We’ve killed more than 70 enemy fighters, including Maher Al-Bilawi, who is the commander of ISIS forces in Fallujah," Warren said, using an acronym for the ISIS group.

"This, of course, won’t completely cause the enemy to stop fighting, but it’s a blow. And it creates confusion and it causes the second-in-command to have to move up. It causes other leadership to have to move around," he added.

Iraqi forces launched an operation to recapture Fallujah, an ISIS stronghold located just 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Baghdad, at the start of this week.

Between 500 and 1,000 ISIS fighters hold Fallujah, and about 50,000 civilians are trapped inside the city, with the jihadists trying to kill those who attempt to flee.

US planes have dropped leaflets telling locals to avoid ISIS areas, Warren said.

"Those leaflets directed those who cannot leave to put white sheets on their roofs to mark their locations. The Iraqi Army is working hard to establish evacuation routes. And the local Anbar government has set up camps for displaced civilians."

Meanwhile,
...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a hurried meeting of his closest advisors. It was to be his last. They discussed the officers's efficiency rating system...
the spiritual leader of Iraq’s Shiites on Friday has called on Iraqi forces battling to retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS bandidos bully boyz to protect civilians trapped there.

"Saving innocent people from harm’s way is the most important thing, even more so than targeting the enemy," the News Agency that Dare Not be Named quoted Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani as saying.

His comments were delivered at Friday prayers by his representative Ahmed al-Safi in the holy city of Karbala.

Rights groups have expressed concern
...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended...
s for the tens of thousands of civilians estimated to still be in the city, which has been in ISIS hands for more than two years.

Head of Iraq’s federal police said 720 civilians have been evacuated from northern Fallujah so far, the independent Al-Sumaria News reported on Friday.

"The families [evacuated] were mostly women, children and they have been transferred to a secure location after aid was channeled to them," Lieutenant Shakir Jawodat said.

The United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
said in a statement released Thursday that only 800 people have been able to flee Fallujah since Iraqi forces launched a major offensive to retake the city.

Residents contacted inside Fallujah by the UN have said that the amount of bombs and booby traps laid by ISIS in and around the city would make any flight very perilous.

Meanwhile,
...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a hurried meeting of his closest advisors. It was to be his last. They discussed the officers's efficiency rating system...
Iraq’s emergency task force said on Friday that ISIS communication center in northern Fallujah was destroyed and four would-be jacket wallahs were killed.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
4 Kurds die in bombing attack in Hakasah
[ARA News] HASAKAH – Militants of the Islamic State (ISIS) launched three suicide attacks in northeastern Syria, targeting security checkpoints for the Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) near Hasakah, military sources reported on Friday.

Three ISIS jihadis detonated their explosive belts near Kurdish security checkpoints in Shaddadi district south of Hasakah, killing at least four Kurdish YPG forces and injuring more than a dozen.

“The attacks targeted our checkpoints in the villages of Azzawi, al-Ziyanat and Kashkash in southern Shaddadi. The terrorists carried out the attacks after infiltrating into the area coming from the direction of Deir ez-Zor province,” a spokesman for the YPG told ARA News in Hasakah.

“The terror attacks led to the death of four YPG fighters and the injury of 18 others,” the source reported.

This comes after hundreds of Arab civilians who escaped the ISIS-held province of Deir ez-Zor arrived in Hasakah province.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) –including the YPG– liberated Shaddadi in southern Hasakah from ISIS militants last February. “More than 275 ISIS militants were killed and 33 ISIS vehicles were destroyed at the hands of the SDF fighters in the battle for Shaddadi,” the SDF spokesman Talal Silo had told ARA News at the time. However, since then ISIS has been trying to infiltrate into the area, launching several car bomb attacks.
Posted by: badanov || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


SDF liberates large area north of Raqqa
[RUDAW.NET] Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) liberated a large area in northern Raqqa, Syria.

Raqqa is 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....
’s main stronghold in Syria.

Commander of the SDF, Fayath Alghanim, said the morale of Syrian fighters is high in spite of the difficulties they face because of the mines planted by ISIS.

SDF received US ground support, the first of its kind, and they got new weapons as well.

US special forces soldiers are advising the Kurdish-led Syrian alliance fighting ISIS on the ground.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Blast kills 3 people in Idlib city: media center
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Three people were killed Friday in northern Idlib city when an explosives-laden car detonated near a mosque, local media center said.

In the nearby Kafr Rouma town, a child was killed an two people wounded in regi,e air strike, al-Marra media center said.

On Thursday, 4 people killed in air strike hit the sheep market of Saraqeb town.

In Aleppo province, At least 10 people, including children, have been killed Friday in regime air strike on a bakery in Hreitan town, activists said.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Islamic State drives Syria rebels from near Turkish border
[Al Ahram] 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....
fighters captured territory from Syrian rebels near the Turkish border on Friday and inched closer to a town on a supply route for foreign-backed holy warriors fighting the jihadists, a monitoring group said.

The ultra-hardline group has been fighting against rebels in the area for several months. The rebels, who are supplied via The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, last month staged a major push against IS, but the group counter-attacked and beat them back.

The United States has identified the area north of Syria's former commercial hub Aleppo as a priority in the fight against the IS group (IS).

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday's advance was the biggest by IS in Aleppo province for two years. It brought the jihadists to within 5 km (3 miles) of Azaz, a town near the border with Turkey through which holy warriors have been supplied.

IS said in an online statement it had captured several villages near Azaz.

International medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said it evacuated patients and staff from a hospital in the area as the fighting got closer, and that tens of thousands of people were trapped between the front lines and Turkish border.

A Syrian NGO operating in the area said the latest assault by IS had displaced 20,000 more people towards Turkey.

The advance also cut rebel supply lines from Azaz to the town of Marea farther southeast, isolating the latter from other rebel-held areas, the Observatory said.

In April, IS murderous Moslems seized another strategic town near the Turkish border from rebel factions fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
The IS advances on Friday encroach on a corridor of rebel-held territory that leads from the Turkish border towards Aleppo city, which is divided between turban and government control.

ALEPPO BATTLEGROUND
Aleppo's northern countryside is the theatre of several separate battles between multiple warring sides in the five-year Syrian conflict, which has drawn in military involvement of regional and world powers that back different groups.

Rebels supplied through Turkey have been fighting IS and separately battling Kurdish forces in other areas.

Ankara is concerned by Kurdish advances along its border, where the Kurdish YPG militia already controls an uninterrupted 400 km (250 mile) stretch.

The United States supports the YPG and allied fighters in its battle against IS farther east, including in Hasaka and Raqqa provinces.

IS has declared a cross-border Islamic caliphate in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

Separately, al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Nusra Front and other holy warriors late on Thursday seized control of a town south of Damascus from government forces.

Nusra Front said in a statement it had captured Deir Khabiyeh, which is near an area where government forces and allies have sought to tighten control of a road leading south.

Last week, government forces and Lebanese Hezbollah captured territory in Damascus's eastern suburbs from turbans.

Nusra Front and IS are rivals in the Syrian conflict and have been fighting each other, including near Damascus, in separate battles from those between holy warriors and government forces.
Posted by: Fred || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Terror Networks
The Beatings Will Continue: Raqqa and Fallujah Editions
ISIS using human shields in Raqqa

[ARA News] RAQQA – Radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) is using civilians as human shields in Syria’s northeastern Raqqa province, in a bid to impede the ongoing progress by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), activists reported on Thursday.

Backed by the US-led coalition’s air cover, the SDF has been advancing against ISIS militants in the northern countryside of Raqqa province over the past few days.

“ISIS has forced hundreds of civilians to stay inside buildings in central Raqqa that used to be security centres for the radical group. Many people are locked inside those locations,” local sources told ARA News in Raqqa, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Several buildings of al-Hisba police and Sharia institutions have been filled with civilians in Raqqa city, according to media activist Salman al-Hamwi.

“The main goal is that the SDF-led shelling and US-led airstrikes kill as much civilians as possible. ISIS is trying to increase the civilian casualties to claim that the western-backed SDF are targeting peaceful people,” al-Hamwi told ARA News.

Also, in the villages of Tal Shahin, al-Adriya and Mlehan north of Raqqa civilians were prevented from escaping their houses.

“Hundreds of villagers in Mlehan, Tal Shahin and al-Adriya are held hostage by ISIS militants, who are engaged in clashes with SDF forces in the vicinity of those villages,” SDF officer Habun Osman told ARA News on the phone.

“We are aware of such barbaric tactics by ISIS terrorists. We’re trying to avoid using heavy weapons at such fronts to prevent civilian casualties,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Kurdish-led SDF alliance recaptured four villages and towns in northern Raqqa–the de facto capital of the Islamic State. Subsequent to clashes with ISIS militant fighters, the SDF alliance liberated the villages of Qartaja, al-Fastah, Indebin and Matmasraja.

“The battle for northern Raqqa has started, and our advance will continue until we cleanse the entire province from ISIS,” Osman said.

The western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday afternoon launched an operation to capture the countryside of Raqqa from the Islamic State (ISIS) group.

“Cleansing these territories from ISIS starts now from the north of Raqqa,” Kurdish Defence Minister of the Rojava Auto-Administration told ARA News in Kobane.

ISIS executes 5 for desertion in Fallujah

[ARA News] DUHOK – The radical group of Islamic State (ISIS) has executed five of its own militant fighters for escaping the battlefront in Fallujah, where clashes are ongoing between ISIS and the Iraqi army, local activists reported on Friday.

“They have left their post at the battlefront in the northeastern suburb of Fallujah without permission from their leadership, which ISIS deems as a treason,” media activist Salwan Rashidi told ARA News in Fallujah.

The five fighters were arrested inside the city of Fallujah, and the Sharia Court decided to execute them publicly on charges of “high treason”.

“They were shot dead in central Fallujah after an ISIS officer read a statement, vowing that any fighter who would desert his fighting position will face the same punishment,” the source reported.

This comes just one day after the Iraqi army forces recaptured the strategic town of Karma near Fallujah from the Islamic State (ISIS) group.

“Subsequent to fierce clashes, our forces liberated Karma town from ISIS terrorists on Thursday afternoon,” Iraqi army officer Karrar al-Saadi told ARA News. The official added that at least twenty ISIS militant fighters were killed in the clashes in Karma–about 16km northeastern Fallujah. “By liberating Karma, the entire eastern Fallujah area is now under the control of the government forces,” he said.
Posted by: badanov || 05/28/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



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