Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Kelly LeBrock aka Charlotte in "The Woman in Red" aka Lisa in "Weird Science" aka Nurse Andrea 'Andy' Stewart in "Hard to Kill" aka Lauren Goodhue in "Wrongfully Accused" (age 51)
[Tolo News] Two groups of Talibs laid down their weapons in Baghlan province on Tuesday and surrendered to Afghan government, provincial officials said.
"A total of 20 Talibs laid down their weapons and joined the Afghan government," Abdul Rahman Rahimi, police chief of Baghlan told news hounds.
The men were active in Baghlan-e-Jadid district fighting against the government, but have now renounced violence and promised to work for peace, he added.
Mr Rahimi said the security will be further strengthened in the province as more cut-throats embrace the grinding of the peace processor.
These are the first groups of beturbanned goons to have surrendered since the beginning of the Afghan new year.
Baghlan was one of the insecure provinces in the north of Afghanistan, but it was cleared of beturbanned goons after heavy operations by Afghan and foreign forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"A total of 20 Talibs laid down their weapons and joined the Afghan government,"
Have patience my brothers. Do not discourage the departure of the pork eating infidels. Our job will be much easier when the infidels and their warbirds have left. Turn in your old rifles, take their dollars, and smile. Alan wills it.
Keep your eye on the regular forces, g(r)omgoru. Pay no attention to what the Special Forces and their special ROEs are doing... on both sides of the Durand Line.
[Tolo News] At least one civilian was killed and another was maimed in five rockets attacks on Wednesday in eastern Kunar city, local officials said.
The incident happened in Yaar Gull area in Asadabad city of Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Binny's house in Chitral... today when faceless myrmidons fired five rockets, Khalilullah Ziayee, police chief of Kunar told TOLOnews news hound.
The incident happened near foreign forces' base in the area but there was no reports of any foreign and Afghan forces casualties in the attack, he added.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Esquimeau village... Zabihullah Mujahid, a front man for Taliban grabbed credit for the attacks and said some foreign soldiers were killed.
But foreign forces have denied the claims and said they have had no causalities in the attacks.
Insurgents have become active in most villages in the province and often use Improvised Explosive Devices to target Afghan and foreign forces.
Kunar is bordered by Pakistain and Afghan officials have previously said that beturbanned goons sometimes infiltrate from the other side of the border and target Afghan border police check posts in the province.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] 22 Tunisian sailors freed March 17th by Somali pirates will arrive Tuesday night (March 22nd) at Tunis-Carthage airport, TAP reported. The Tunisair flight dispatched to Djibouti to retrieve the Hannibal II crew carried a medical team and representatives of Gabes Marine Tankers, the Tunisian transport ministry said. The 24,105-tonne tanker was transporting vegetable oil from Malaysia to Suez when it was seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden last November.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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French fighter jets shot down a Libyan warplane, amid allegations that forces loyal to leader Col. Muammar Qaddafi violated the country's UN-sanctioned no-fly zone.
The Libyan warplane, a Soko G-2 Galeb, was flying over Misrata prior to being shot down by the French jets, a U.S. defense official told Fox News on Thursday. The incident is believed to be the first time a Libyan jet was sent into Libyan airspace since the coalition bombing began, and the first time a warplane was shot down since the coalition began bombing Libya.
#5
Odd that they should put up a Galeb. I wonder if the pilot knew he was being sacrificed. Gadaffy is probably hoping that this would cause more dissention in the coalition or garner sympathy from whoever.
#6
I was doing some more snooping around in Libya a couple of days ago, and found an airfield near the town of Hun (yeah, that's right). In addition to several Mig-25s, there was a squadron of TU-22 "Blinder" aircraft. Those were the ones the Russians used in Georgia that usually missed their intended target by a quarter-mile or so. I wonder if the Libyan models even fly...
Posted by: OId Patriot ||
03/24/2011 13:05 Comments ||
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Posted by: Total War ||
03/24/2011 15:19 Comments ||
Top||
#11
No not a good dog-fighting platform but a good air-ground attack ship. I am pretty sure the Libyan know they can't win any air-air victories, but they can bomb the bejesus out of the rebels. I saw a piece on the rebels in the news this morning and I really don't see them winning against Gadaffy. They simply don't have the equipment and personnel.
We have the Dems in Congress sniveling over our involvement in Libya. DailyKos is having a nervous breakdown and the FREAKINGFRENCH are out there getting tone, lock and missile away on Libyan aircraft.
I wonder what PMSNBC has to say about that. I wonder what would have said if it was a US plane doing the splash on the sacrificial lamb/Libyan aircraft?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/24/2011 22:10 Comments ||
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[Maghrebia] Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb issued ransom demands for the kidnapped Frenchies kidnapped last September in Niger, AFP reported on Monday (March 21st). The Islamic fascistiwant 90 million euros and the release of AQIM prisoners held in La Belle France. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe confirmed from Brussels Monday that his country had rejected the ransom demand. "We cannot negotiate on these bases," he said.
Three of the seven foreigners snatched in Arlit were freed in February, The remaining kidnapped Frenchies are allegedly being held in Mali's Timetrine region (100km from the Algerian border) by Abdel Hamid Abou Zeid, leader of the "Taregh ibn Ziyad" brigade. The katibate is one of four such brigades operating in al-Qaeda's Southern Zone, which stretches from northeast Mauritania to Somalia. Abou Zeid was responsible for beheading British hostage Edwin Dyer in 2009 and 78-year-old Frenchie Michel Germaneau in 2010.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
I wish Spain would take a lesson from the French & stop paying ransoms to al Qaeda. Just sayin...
Posted by: American Delight ||
03/24/2011 9:26 Comments ||
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[Maghrebia] A Nouakchott court on Monday (March 21st) sentenced Malian national Abderrahmane Ould Meddou and Taleb Ould Ahmednah, an al-Qaeda member extradited from Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... , to five years in prison for the 2009 kidnapping of an Italian couple. Four months after their abduction in eastern Mauritania, Sergio Cicala, 65, and his Burkina Faso-born wife Philomene Kabore, 39, were freed by al-Qaeda cut-throats in Mali.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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Western warplanes have flown more than 300 sorties over Libya and more than 162 Tomahawk cruise missiles have been fired in the United Nations ... aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... -mandated mission to protect Libyan civilians against government troops.
US President Barack B.O. Obama said the allies should be able to announce soon that they have achieved the objective of creating the no-fly zone. But, he said, Qadhafi would present a potential threat to his people "unless he is willing to step down."
"We will continue to support the efforts to protect the Libyan people. But we will not be in the lead," Obama said. Because it's wrong for America to lead the fight against a brutal thug...
Obama, facing questions at home about the Libyan mission, duration and cost, wants the United States to give up operational control of enforcing the no-fly zone within days.
Obama spoke with French President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He married singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit, in 2008... and British Prime Minister David Cameron ... British PM Cameron describes himself as a modern compassionate conservative and has spoken of a need for a new style of politics that doesn't involve calling people names. He has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's probably not. He has also claimed to be a liberal Conservative, and a very tall short person. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has urged politicians to concentrate on improving people's happiness and general well-being, instead of focusing solely on financial wealth, which is easy for a stockbroker's kid to say. Ask him to lend you ten quid and see how that works out. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... on Tuesday and they agreed NATO should play an important role in enforcing the Libyan no-fly zone, the White House said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
nd more than 162 Tomahawk cruise missiles have been fired in the United Nations
Was your, sentence breaking, interjection accidental, Fred?
#2
The green text comments are automatically generated, g(r)omgoru, keyed to key words and phrases. It started as a defence against R1ghth4ven, then took on a life of its own.
#4
So now we have a well equipped technologically advanced rabble fighting a somewhat technologically advanced delusional thug fighting a rabble armed with used shotguns, sling shots and vintage muskets?
So....we really have no one is charge anywhere? Isn't that kinda where the American Revolution started?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/24/2011 10:38 Comments ||
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#10
Appealing to the younger generation there, TW ? ;)
Avoiding R1ght4ven attention, Oscar, just in case. My other purpose in life seems to be alternately amusing or shocking the younger generation, depending on which thing that I learnt from Rantburg has just come out of my mouth.
[Washington Examiner] International Arclight airstrikes forced Moammar Gadhafi's tanks to roll back from the western city of Misrata on Wednesday, a local doctor said, giving respite to civilians who have endured more than a week of attacks and a punishing blockade. In the east, civilians fleeing another strategic city described relentless shelling and dire conditions.
Western diplomats neared an agreement to let NATO assume responsibility for the no-fly zone and its warships began patrolling off Libya's Mediterranean coast.
The international coalition continued Arclight airstrikes and patrols early Wednesday, but the report that Misrata was targeted could not immediately be confirmed. U.S. Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear, the on-scene commander, said Tuesday the coalition was "considering all options" in response to intelligence showing troops were targeting civilians in the city, 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.
A doctor in Misrata said the tanks beat it after the Arclight airstrikes began around midnight, giving a much-needed reprieve to the city, which is inaccessible to human rights ...which are usually entirely different from liberty... monitors or journalists. He said the Arclight airstrikes struck the aviation academy and a vacant lot outside the central hospital, which was under maintenance.
"There were very loud kabooms. It was hard to see the planes," the doctor said, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... for fear of reprisals if Gadhafi's forces take the city. "Today, for the first time in a week, the bakeries opened their doors."
He said the situation was still dangerous, with pro-Gadhafi snipers shooting at people from rooftops.
"Some of the tanks were hit and others decamped," he said. "We fear the tanks that decamped will return if the Arclight airstrikes stop."
Gadhafi made his first public appearance in a week late Tuesday, hours after kabooms sounded in Tripoli. State TV said he spoke from his Bab Al-Aziziya residential compound, the same one hit by a cruise missile Sunday night. "In the short term, we'll beat them, in the long term, we'll beat them," he said.
The withdrawal of the tanks from Misrata was a rare success for the rebels. The disorganized opposition holds much of the east but has struggled to take advantage of the gains from the international air campaign, which appears to have hobbled Gadhafi's air defenses and artillery just as the rebels were facing defeat.
Neither side has mustered the force for an outright victory, raising concerns of a prolonged conflict in the cities were they are locked in combat, such as Misrata and Zintan in the west and Ajdabiya, a city of 140,000 that is the gateway to the east.
In Zintan, a resident said Gadhafi's forces were at the base of a nearby mountain and were shelling in that area, but rebels forced their retreat from all but one side of the city. After five days of fighting, resident Ali al-Azhari said, rebel fighters captured or destroyed several tanks, and seized trucks loaded with 1,200 Grad missiles and fuel tanks. They captured five Gadhafi troops.
Al-Azhari, who spoke to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named by phone from the city, said one officer told rebels he had order "to turn Zintan to a desert to be smashed and flattened." Resentment against Gadhafi runs high in Zintan, a city of 100,000 about 75 miles (120 kilometers) south of Tripoli, because it was the hometown of many of the jugged army officers who took part in a failed coup in 1993.
Pro-Gadhafi troops who have besieged Ajdabiya attacked a few hundred rebels on the outskirts Wednesday. The rebels fired back with Katyusha rockets but have found themselves outgunned. Plumes of smoke rose over the city, which is 95 miles (150 kilometers) south of the de-facto rebel capital of Benghazi.
"The weapons they have are heavy weapons and what we have are light weapons," said Fawzi Hamid, a 33-year-old who joined the Libyan military when he was younger but is now on the rebels' side. "The Gadhafi forces are more powerful than us so we are depending on Arclight airstrikes."
People fleeing the violence said the rebels had control of the city center while Gadhafi's forces were holding the outskirts.
"The pro-Gadhafi forces are just shooting everywhere. There is no electricity, the center of the city has been totally destroyed, even the hospital has been hit," 28-year-old Hafez Boughara said as he drove a white van filled with women and kiddies on a desert road to avoid the main highway.
Mustafa Rani, 43, who was driving a hatchback with seven small children and his wife, described heavy shelling and shooting.
Rashid Khalikov, the U.N. aid coordinator for Libya, said Wednesday he was "extremely concerned" about the plight of civilians there, adding that the global body hasn't received any firsthand information about the humanitarian situation inside the country for a week.
Gadhafi was defiant in his first public appearance in a week late Tuesday, promising enthusiastic supporters at his residential compound in Tripoli, Libyan state TV broadcast what it said was live coverage of him standing on a balcony as he denounced the coalition bombings.
"O great Libyan people, you have to live now, this time of glory, this is a time of glory that we are living," he said.
Heavy anti-aircraft fire and loud kabooms sounded in Tripoli after nightfall, possibly a new attack in the international air campaign. Two kabooms were heard in the city before daybreak Wednesday.
Libyan state TV showed footage of a house that was demolished and burning. Weeping women slapped their faces and heads in grief while men carried a barefoot girl covered in blood on a stretcher to an ambulance. A man screamed "a whole family was killed." The TV labeled the footage as "the crusader imperialism bombs civilians."
Gadhafi's regime has alleged that dozens of civilians have been killed in the international bombardment, but Pentagon front man Marine Maj. Chris Perrine, a Pentagon front man and other coalition officials said no claims of civilian casualties have been independently verified.
One of Gadhafi's sons may have been killed, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Charles Evans Hughes ... told ABC News on Tuesday. She cited unconfirmed reports and did not say which son she meant. She said the "evidence is not sufficient" to confirm this.
Clinton also told ABC that people close to Gadhafi are making contacts abroad to explore options for the future, but she did not say that one of the options might be exile. She said they were asking, "What do we do? How do we get out of this? What happens next?"
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
One of Gadhafi's sons may have been killed
If he ain't dead, he may soon be.
Admiral Samuel Locklear, the head of the US forces in Libya, said coalition aircraft planned to target a Libyan army brigade commanded by one of Col Gaddafi's sons. He said planes would target the 32nd Brigade, a "premier force for Colonel Gaddafi", in the "coming hours and days". The unit, led by Col Gaddafi's youngest son, Khamis, is estimated to have as many as 10,000 troops.
Posted by: Oscar Spineck3066 ||
03/24/2011 0:44 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I think one good ARCLIGHT strike down through the heart of Tripoli would put KaDaffy Duck out of business once and for all. The repercussions would be horrible for the US, though. If we did it right, we'd use about a dozen BUFFs and an equal number of B-1s, in groups of three, coming in from different directions, but dropping all their weapons within thirty minutes. Tripoli would probably cease to exist, looking much like Carthage after the Romans finished there. The rest of the world would be filled with "shock and awe" - actually mortal fear. I do think much would change in the Middle East overnight, however - kind of like thinking in Japan after LeMay began his incendiary campaign.
Posted by: OId Patriot ||
03/24/2011 13:16 Comments ||
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[Ennahar] British parliamentarians have approved almost unanimously the participation of British forces in the ongoing operations in Libya.
After the first parliamentary debate on the subject, members of the House of Commons voted by 557 votes against 13 in
Britain "will adhere strictly to the UN mandate" on Libya, has assured Prime Minister David Cameron ... British PM Cameron describes himself as a modern compassionate conservative and has spoken of a need for a new style of politics that doesn't involve calling people names. He has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's probably not. He has also claimed to be a liberal Conservative, and a very tall short person. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has urged politicians to concentrate on improving people's happiness and general well-being, instead of focusing solely on financial wealth, which is easy for a stockbroker's kid to say. Ask him to lend you ten quid and see how that works out. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... before MPs after conflicting statements from his government, not excluding some strikes against Colonel Muammar Qadaffy. ... dictator of Libya since 1969. From 1972, when he relinquished the title of prime minister, he has been accorded the honorifics Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya or Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution. With the death of Omar Bongo of Gabon on 8 June 2009, he became the longest serving of all current non-royal national leaders. He is also the longest-serving ruler of Libya since Tripoli became an Ottoman province in 1551. When Chairman Mao was all the rage and millions of people were flashing his Little Red Book, Qadaffy came out with his own Little Green Book, which didn't do as well. Qadaffy's instability has been an inspiration to the Arab world and to Africa, which he would like to rule...
If he did not deny that he "believed that Libya must get rid of Qadaffy," Prime Minister stressed that it was "the Libyan people to choose their own future."
Responding to criticism that the vote was not reached before the start of operations, foreign minister William Hague argued that otherwise "it would have been too late" to intervene.
"Once this resolution (of the UN Security Council authorizing the use of force to protect civilians Libyan) was passed, we had to go as fast as possible," he argues. "If we had not been involved in this resolution and the operation, then this resolution and this intervention would probably never happen," he told parliamentarians.
The Minister assured that the operations had nothing to do with "going to war" and promised that parliament would be consulted in cases of "fundamental change" in the mission assigned to British forces.
A Labour MP, Barry Gardiner, criticized British involvement, saying: "North Africa is not in our court. It is not our direct sphere of influence. Libya poses no direct threat on the United Kingdom," he argues.
The majority (53%) of Britons believe that the soldiers of her Majesty should not risk their lives to help the opposition forces in Libya, while 43% disapprove of strikes against the regime of Muammar Qadaffy, according to a survey released Monday by ITV.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"Should NOT risk their lives"
versus
* DEBKA > THE LIBYA NO-FLY ZONE RUNS [winds] DOWN: JUST SIX WARPLANES ALOFT, oer Libyuh now at any one time since imposition of NFZ, start of Allied-Coalition airstrikes.
versus
* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > LIBYA: UK ROYAL NAVY RUNNING SHORT OF TOMAHAWK MISSLES [used 1/5th of their stockpile in support of NFZ Airstrikes].
* SAME > MI5: [Pro-Gaddafi = Anti-Coalition?]LIBYAN EXPATS PLOT TERROR ATTACKS ON UK STREETS.
* SAME > [UK] RAF HALTS ITS ATTACK AFTER TROOPS SPOT HUMAN SHIELDS.
* SAME > LIMITATIONS KEEP [US F-22]RAPTORS ON SIDELINES IN LIBYA [Air = NFZ]CAMPAIGN, as compared to F-15E Strike Eagles + Other.
#2
Methinks that Gardiner should look at a map and make a quick weekend holiday trip to Lockerbee.
To say that Libya is not in the UK's sphrere of influence is almost breathtaking in its ignorance, not to mention it automatically nominates him for a position on Obama's cabinet.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/24/2011 10:46 Comments ||
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#3
"North Africa is not in our court. It is not our direct sphere of influence. Libya poses no direct threat on the United Kingdom," he argues.
"No direct threat on the U.K?" That is naive. Ghadaffi is a threat to anyone who opposes him.
[Dawn] The siege of Misrata, now weeks old, is becoming increasingly desperate, with water cut off for days and food running out, doctors operating on patients in hospital corridors and many of the maimed left untreated or simply turned away.
"The situation in the local hospital is disastrous," said a Misrata doctor in a statement.
"The doctors and medical teams are exhausted beyond human physical ability and some of them cannot reach the hospital because of tanks and snipers."
The rebel effort in the desert scrub of east Libya was bogged down outside Ajdabiyah, with no movement on the strategic town since Qadhafi's remaining tanks holed up there after the government's armoured advance along the open road to Benghazi was blown to bits by French air strikes on Saturday night.
Hiding in the sand dunes from the tank fire coming from the town, the rebels are without heavy weapons, leadership, communication, or even a plan. On Tuesday, groups of fighters lounged around, chatting and smoking cigarettes. This was the spearhead of the counter-offensive.
When asked who was in command, one fighter, Mohamed Bhreka, shrugged and said: "Nobody is. We are volunteers. We just come here. There is no plan."
Their heavy machine guns were bolted to the back of pick-up trucks and there was a good supply of assault rifles. But some just had knives or iron bars. Field radios were not to be seen.
Fighters on the frontline of the uprising against Qadhafi's 41-year rule of this oil-producing north African nation said they had lost the heavy weapons needed to take on his tanks.
It remains to be seen whether the rebel's bravado and faith in God are enough to take towns and advance towards their target of capturing Tripoli.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
the rebels are without heavy weapons, leadership, communication, or even a plan.
No "plan" eh? Same as the Brits, the French, and the Americans, no worries.
#2
Can anybody recall the last time "inshallah" won a battle?
If two armies meet and they're both practicing inshallah type tactics then one of them has to win, right? Or do they both get their asses whipped and it ends in a stalemate?
#4
Al-Dictator came to power in a coup; he will lose it in one. The opposition holds the oil fields. When the leader can't pay the troops, he will be done.
#5
If two armies meet and they're both practicing inshallah type tactics then one of them has to win, right? Or do they both get their asses whipped and it ends in a stalemate?
Remember the eight year long Iran-Iraq war, Ebbang Uluque6305?
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Allied forces have destroyed the Libyan air force and are flying with impunity across its airspace, attacking ground troops wherever they threaten the civilian population, a senior British commander said on Wednesday.
"We are now applying sustained and unrelenting pressure on the Libyan armed forces," Air Vice Marshal Greg Bagwell said, according to the text of remarks at an airbase in southern Italy where British jets are based.
"Effectively, their air force no longer exists as a fighting force, and his integrated air defense system and command and control networks are severely degraded to the point that we can operate with near impunity across Libya." He said he expected "some changes" in the command structure of allied forces but said the operation would continue seamlessly.
Western Arclight airstrikes hit Libyan government forces' positions in the rebel-held city of Misrata on Wednesday, silencing an artillery bombardment but not snipers who were firing from rooftops near the hospital, residents said.
Rebels in Misrata who have been fighting for weeks to hold off attacks on Libya's third largest city welcomed the air strikes, saying they would help even out their unequal battle against heavily-armed forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy. ... a proud Arab institution for 42 years ...
Unlike the main rebel strongholds in the east of Libya, Misrata is encircled by pro-Qadaffy forces. Residents say dozens of people have been killed in tank and artillery bombardments in the past few days.
"Now with the air strikes we are more optimistic," Saadoun, a Misrata resident, told Rooters by telephone. "These strikes gives us hope, especially the fact they are precise and are targeting the (Qadaffy) forces and not only the bases."
He said there had been two strikes and, judging from columns of smoke rising up afterwards, they targeted locations in the south-west of the city where pro-Qadaffy forces are positioned.
"Before the strikes, tanks shelled the city...but now they haven't fired a single artillery (round) since the air strike."
Another resident said the strikes had hit an air base and military training college about 7 km south of the city center, which pro-Qadaffy forces have been using as their main base for launching attacks on Misrata.
Reports from Misrata were impossible to independently verify because Libyan authorities have prevented journalists from reaching the city, about 200 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli. Libyan officials made no comment on developments in the city.
The air strikes in Misrata followed a warning from the US military that it would, in addition to its mission to destroy anti aircraft systems, send warplanes to attack Qadaffy's forces if they threaten civilians.
But the air strikes had not stopped snipers loyal to Qadaffy, who have been staked out on rooftops in the center of Misrata for several days.
Residents said snipers killed at least five people on Wednesday, including three shot near the clinic where hundreds maimed in the fighting are being treated.
"The snipers are ... shooting at the hospital and its two entrances are under heavy attack. No one can get in or out," said Saadoun. "We have lost all communication with people inside. The last thing we knew is that three are killed and three are critically maimed."
A second resident, Sami, told Rooters two more people were killed by snipers on rooftops around the city's main thoroughfare, Tripoli street.
"Two people were killed by snipers an hour ago in the center of the town. Their bodies are now at the hospital, which I visited a while ago. Shooting is still going on there."
He said snipers appeared to be targeting people trying to get access to the hospital. "It is very difficult to get in or out of the hospital because of the snipers being positioned there," he said.
"The humanitarian situation is critical because of a shortage of food, water and electricity."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
OTOH PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > LIBYA: STALEMATE [long-term = protractive]COULD BECOME HALLMARK OF CIVIL WAR.
In POST-MUBARAK EGYPT, politically-powerful Unions, etc. within Egypt's Oil-Gas industries are threatening to strike + shutdown domestic production + pipelines which in turn may seriously affect Egypt's energy exports - to placate same, Corporate HQS want Cairo to pay higher $$$ subsidies which Post-Mubarak Cairo is reluctant to do. THE THREAT OF EGYPTIAN ENERGY SHUTDOWN MAKES THE OUTCOME IN LIBYUH, ESPEC AS PER WHOM CONTROLS EAST LIBYA, MAJOR PORTS + ENERGY FACS, FIELDS, ALL THE MORE IMPORTANT.
You-know-what hasn't even started wid the SAUDIS yet.
#7
I wonder how long it would take the Army to deploy a squadron or six of Apaches to US carriers/LHAs? After all, it's just like any other front-line operating base, except it moves. I think they'd be more effective than the Marines' Super-Cobras against snipers, and much harder to take down.
I'm STILL hoping for a squadron of Marine A-10s, flying out of Benghazi.
Posted by: OId Patriot ||
03/24/2011 13:26 Comments ||
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#8
In case anyone's wondering, I spent a lot of manhours trying to keep track of all of KaDaffy's terror training camps, and know first-hand how many US citizens he's killed, either directly or indirectly. I want him hanging from a gaff hook on the Wheelus flagpole, yesterday.
Posted by: OId Patriot ||
03/24/2011 13:29 Comments ||
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#9
Yesterday is long overdue , OP . Long time supporter/financer of the IRA, to add to his many many crimes
Posted by: Oscar ||
03/24/2011 13:37 Comments ||
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#10
If the "rebels" in Libya get their hands on Qadaffi (or however you spell that slimeball's name), you won't have to worry.
His head will be on a gate post somewhere in Tripoli.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/24/2011 22:19 Comments ||
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#11
"Libyan air force no longer exists"
Libya had an air force?
Who knew?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/24/2011 23:24 Comments ||
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#12
Libya had an air force?
Who knew?
Old Patriot knew, Barbara. In impressively great detail, as he shared in response to questions thrown out by Dribble2716 the day before yesterday.
[Dawn] Western powers attacking Libya will end up in the dustbin of history, Muammar Qadhafi said as his troops held back poorly equipped rebel forces despite four nights of coalition air strikes.
While Western air power has grounded Qadhafi's warplanes and pushed back his forces from the brink of rebel stronghold Benghazi, disorganised and poorly equipped Death Eaters have failed to capitalise on the ground and are pinned down.
The rebels have been unable to dislodge Qadhafi's forces from the key junction of Ajdabiyah in the east, while government tanks are besieging the last big rebel hold-out of Misrata.
There is a big risk of stalemate on the ground, analysts say.
At least two kabooms were heard in the Libyan capital Tripoli before dawn on Wednesday, Rooters witnesses said. The roar of a warplane was heard above the city followed by a barrage of anti-aircraft gunfire.
"We will not surrender," Qadhafi earlier told supporters forming a human shield to protect him at his Tripoli compound, which came under attack in 1986 from the Reagan administration and once again in the current round of air strikes.
"We will defeat them by any means ... We are ready for the fight, whether it will be a short or a long one ... We will be victorious in the end," he said in a live television broadcast, his first public appearance since the air strikes began.
"This assault ... is by a bunch of fascists who will end up in the dustbin of history," Qadhafi said in a speech followed by fireworks in the Libyan capital as crowds cheered and supporters fired guns into the air.
The Libyan government denies its army is conducting any offensive operations and says troops are only defending themselves when they come under attack.
But rebels and residents say Qadhafi's tanks have kept up their shelling of Misrata in the west, killing 40 people on Monday alone, and also attacked the small town of Zintan near the border with Tunisia.
It was impossible to independently verify the reports.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
West will end in "dustbin of history", says Qadhafi
#2
Only if the current POTUS manages to steal another election, KaDaffy. Either way, you'll be there long before us, and no one anywhere in the world will mourn.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/24/2011 13:31 Comments ||
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#3
West will end in "dustbin of history", says Qadhafi
Snort. That's where we all end up Q*. Ashes to ashes. Some of us just get there sooner than others. But when all is said and done, we will still be here (and you won't). The sun goes up and the sun goes down...
*For all the civilizations he destroyed, I think Q in Star Trek TNG got off too easily.
[Ennahar] The outcome of the unrest in Yemen, where President Ali Abdullah Saleh is highly contested, remains uncertain, said the U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates Wednesday in Cairo. My guess would be that Saleh is toast. Probably Gates thinks so, too, but he can't say so for fear of bunching State Department scanties.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Uncertainty
versus
* WORLD NEWS > SHIITE REBELS STEP ATTACKS IN YEMEN, DOWN GOVT. MIG.
HEZBOLLAH = Saudi + GCC mil intervention in Yemeni affairs has destroyed any chance for negotiated = peaceful settlement of crisis.
#2
In the past, many similar things took place. The opposition would stir things up until the bullets flew, and then instead of being left out, they would again join with Saleh to not be left out.
Seeing Iran's support for the Shite rebels and the houthi, accelerated this year. Just caught a plane headed for Yemen full of munitions yesterday.
#3
The lack of a coherent foreign policy by the US (thank you Barack HUSSEIN Obama) has left a huge power vacuum in the Middle East.
The ever astute Mad Mullahs have done a very good job of filling the void and snatching the initiative in the progression of the Middle East off of Obama's plate.
One thing you could say about Bush and Rummy, they were always way out in front of the troglidytes, knuckle draggers and psychopaths that rule in the Middle East.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/24/2011 10:42 Comments ||
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[Arab News] About 100 Omani demonstrators set up tents on Tuesday in a district of the capital housing the main government ministries, demanding political reform.
Protests against autocratic rulers sweeping the region have not spared conservative and usually tranquil Oman at the southeast end of the Arabian Peninsula whose Gulf Arab dynasty has long been backed by Washington. In power for 40 years, Sultan Qaboos this month began moves to cede some legislative powers to the partially elected Oman Council, which is so far only an advisory body. At present, only the sultan and his Cabinet can legislate.
The government also said it would double monthly welfare payments and increase pension benefits. But workers at many public and private companies have continued to stage sit-ins and strikes over wages, including at two refineries on Sunday. The camp in Al-Khuwair is the second in the capital. Several weeks ago protesters set up tents outside Parliament. Activists are also camped out nightly in tents in front of the governor's office in Salalah in the far south and in Sohar where at least one person died in protests and festivities with police last month.
"The new appointed ministers can't miss us here. We hope some of them to step out from their offices to have discussions with us," said Ahmed Al-Zadjali, an unemployed protester. Huge placards will greet ministers when they drive into the zone: "We are still waiting for the jobs," "Get rid of corruption," and "All officials must be accountable."
Qaboos has ordered a salary hike of up to 100 rials ($260) a month from April 1 for civil servants, including the security forces, but protesters say the private sector has been ignored.
"Nothing for the private sector so far, apart from the unemployment benefit. The people in these government buildings are benefiting from the demonstrations," said Yacoub Al-Mawli, a receptionist at the Rusayl Industry Zone in Muscat.
Gulf Arab oil producers launched a $20 billion aid package this month for their less prosperous neighbors Oman and Bahrain -- a job-generating measure that should enable the two countries to upgrade their housing and infrastructure.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Yemen's parliament enacted sweeping emergency laws Wednesday after the country's embattled president asked for new powers of arrest, detention and censorship to quash a popular uprising demanding his ouster.
The move escalates the showdown between U.S.-backed leader President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ... and the movement that has unified military commanders, religious leaders and protesting youth in demands for his immediate departure.
The law suspends the constitution, allows media censorship, bars street protests and gives security forces 30 days of far-reaching powers to arrest and detain suspects.
Its adoption was a virtual certainty because Saleh's ruling party dominates the 301-seat legislature.
The accelerating conflict has raised fears that Yemen could be pushed into even greater instability. Rival factions of the military have deployed tanks in the capital, Sanaa -- with units commanded by Saleh's son protecting the president's palace, and units loyal to a top dissident commander protecting the protesters.
Saleh, who has worked closely with a U.S.-offensive against the Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda, has already dramatically increased his crackdown on anti-government demonstrators, with his security forces shooting dead more than 40 protesters on Friday in Sanaa.
On Tuesday he offered to step down by the year's end, but the opposition rejected his offer.
He also warned that the country would slide into civil war following the defection of senior army commanders to the opposition.
Tribal leaders, diplomats, politicians, provincial governors and newspaper editors have also joined the opposition.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Saudi authorities jugged 100 Shia protesters following a series of anti-government demonstrations in the east of the country last week, a Saudi human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... group says.
Human Rights First Society (HRFS) announced on Wednesday that the protesters were jugged for taking part or organizing anti-government demonstrations demanding political reforms and the immediate release of political prisoners.
Protesters say the prisoners, mostly Shias, are being held unjustly and without trial, some for as long as 16 years.
The protesters also condemned Soddy Arabia's military intervention in Bahrain and called for the withdrawal of Saudi forces from the country.
Scores of protesters were maimed when Saudi security forces fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds.
"During the peaceful protests last week in the Eastern Province, in the Shia populated areas of Safwa, Qatif and its villages and Alhassa, 100 protesters were jugged," Rooters quoted HRFS as saying in an emailed statement on Wednesday.
According to HRFS, some of the Shia detainees were subject to both physical and mental torture.
"Human Rights First Society is appalled by the reports that some of these 100 detainees were subjected to physical and psychological torture particularly in Alhassa," the statement added.
Soddy Arabia's Interior Ministry front man Mansour al-Turki refused to comment on the report.
"Anybody who committed a violent act that is criminalized by law in Soddy Arabia will be jugged and anybody proved to be involved in calling for demonstrations will be jugged and sent to the court of law," Turki told Rooters.
In Soddy Arabia, protest rallies or any public display of dissent are forbidden and considered illegal. Senior Wahhabi holy men in the kingdom have also censured opposition demonstrations as "un-Islamic."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
Instead of "Shiite protesters", insert "Iranian-backed Shiite agitators". It's been what?, 2 or 3 times the Iranians have sent agitators over to try and disrupt the Hajj, like with that mass machete attack, been arrested and had their heads cut off?
They just can't resist trying it on. The Iranians crave control over Mecca like nothing else.
Including new information about Olivas Salinas, and another shooting later that night.
A Chihuahua state police agent was ambushed and killed in the third day of attacks on state police agents in Chihuahua, Chihuahua Wednesday evening, according to Mexican press accounts.
Olivas Salinas is the third Chihuahua state police agent murdered making good a threat by the criminal gang La Linea to kill one state police agent per day until the state attorney general resigns.
Olivas Salinas is also a bodyguard to the state attorney general, Carlos Manuel Salas.
La Linea is an armed wing of the Juarez drug cartel. Messages posted as graffiti the day of the first shooting Sunday claimed that state attorney general Manuel Salas been supporting the Sinaloa drug cartel through his office.
The message also demanded Manuel Salas' resignation. One state police agent would be killed until Manuel Salas complies. To read background material about the first murder in La Linea's terror campagn click here. To read background material about the second murder,click here.
Several shootings incidents in the Rosario colony have taken place as well, as reports say police agencies from all three level of government have conducted sweeps to search for the killers of police agents in the last two says.
The incidents were reported at calles Niños Heroes and Colon, 27th and Rosales, 31st and Aldama and 33rd and Rosales.
Two Chihuahua municipal police officers were wounded in an exchange of gunfire, and an unidentified civilian female who was a passenger in a car was wounded. Details on this shooting were not made available.
Two Chihuahua state police agents were wounded early Thursday morning in a shootout between Mexican Policia Federal and Chihuahua state police agents, and armed suspects near the corner of calles Paseo Azteca and Paseo Pastizal in the Camino Real colony.
An armored Jeep Cherokee with an AK-47 assault rifle and a 9mm pistol were seized by police at the scene.
Reports say Manuel Salinas has been trying to downplay the shootings earleir in the week by saying they are part of his agency's counternarcotics activities.
[Dawn] Militants on Wednesday released 20 people who were kidnapped from Lower Kurram, DawnNews reported.
Militants had kidnapped 24 rustics along with their 15 vehicles from the Baggan, Parao and Talokunj areas of Lower Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended... and shifted them to their hideout in the central Kurram on Tuesday.
Efforts made by the tribal elders forced faceless myrmidons to free the kidnapped men, however, four of them were still missing, said sources.
The political administration has taken notice of the incident and started investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Mine and kabooms targeting police in northwest Pakistain on Wednesday killed one person and maimed 11, including nine officers, police said.
In the first attack a donkey cart went over a mine buried by the roadside on the outskirts of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, police said.
"Both the donkey cart owner and donkey were killed. Basically the mine was planted to target police," Kalam Khan, a senior police official, told AFP.
In the second incident a remote control bomb hit a police patrol pick-up, injuring 11, in the village of Darsamand, in Hangu district. ... Hangu is famous for its greenery, hills, beauty and water. Most of the people of this area are Bangash & Orakzai Pashtuns. Part of the Bangash are Shia. The Orakzai and the Sunni Bangash are determined to kill them...
"Nine coppers and two passers-by were maimed in this kaboom. Talibs are responsible for this attack," Abdur Rashid Khan, district police chief told AFP by telephone.
Hangu lies 150 kilometres south of Peshawar and has a history of sectarian festivities between Pakistain's majority Sunni Mohammedans and minority Shias.
The area borders the tribal regions of Kurram and Orakzai, where entrenched forces of Evil oppose jobs and education for women.
Militants in Pakistain's northwest often target police and other law enforcement agencies and are engaged in a campaign of violence against security forces in the country.
More than 4,000 have died in suicide and kabooms across Pakistain since 2007.
The bombings have been blamed on terror networks linked to the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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Palestinian police arrested two members of Islamic Jihad in Jenin on Thursday in connection to Wednesday's bombing in Jerusalem. A statement released by Islamic Jihad said, "Palestinian security forces broke into the home of Jihad official Khaled Jaradat and arrested him. Other forces arrested organization official Tarek Kaadan near his home."
Islamic Jihad in Gaza ordered its leaders to go into hiding for at least the next few days, fearing IDF reprisals. This measure reinforces the IDF estimate that Islamic Jihad was behind Wednesday's bus bombing in Jerusalem. While they did not claim responsibility for the bombing, an Islamic Jihad spokesman praised the attack and said it was a "natural response to the enemy's crimes."
Israeli officials have indicated a firm yet measured response to the recent terror wave, with the aim of avoiding escalation.
The IDF resumed strikes across the Gaza Strip early Thursday. Paleo sources reported that two training camps near Gaza City and a smuggling tunnel near the Rafah border were targeted. The IDF confirmed the attacks and said the intended targets were accurately hit.
#1
You should not do firm yet measured response. You need decisive, decimating and overwhelming response. Hit the perps and then take out the car swarms.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/24/2011 1:42 Comments ||
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#2
There used to be a bumper sticker in Israel "Have Arabs, have terrorism". The courts proclaimed it illegal, of course.
#3
Given the way things have been going since their policy of appeasement has begun, Israel ought to go back to just bombing them whenever they stick their heads up. And maybe even poking them with a stick at every opportunity to get them to stick their heads up.
#4
Artillery + Napalm = dead Gazans. It doesn't matter who they are, they're either perpetrators or supporters. Drive them into the sea, and then shoot 'em from the beaches. One thing about napalm - if there are explosives buried under a strike, they will usually heat up enough to detonate. That includes land mines as well as buried missiles. Weapons centersMosques HAVE been known to spontaneously catch fire and explode, but napalm is quicker.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/24/2011 17:15 Comments ||
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#5
The IDF should play whack the gopher with the Paleos every chance they get.
I think a roving band of IDF black ops guys could pretty well send these whiney little weasels back to Iran.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/24/2011 22:15 Comments ||
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[Ma'an] Since shortly before midnight on Tuesday, Paleostinian resistance factions have claimed three rounds of projectile fire aimed at both Israeli military and civilian targets.
The Al-Quds Brigades released a statement shortly after midnight Wednesday morning, saying fighters had launched a Grad-style missile toward the Israeli town of Ashdod and three mortar shells at the Israeli military base Nahal Oz east of Gazoo City.
A second statement released by the group after sunrise said a second Grad had been launched at Beersheba 5:30 a.m. "in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli aggression."
Israel's military confirmed the strikes, saying at 1:30 a.m. that a fighter jet "targeted a terrorist in the northern Gazoo Strip, in the same location from which a Grad missile was fired towards the city of Ashdod a number of hours ago. A hit was confirmed."
One Israeli civilian was lightly injured by the first Grad, Israel's daily newspaper Haaretz reported.
After 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, the Popular Resistance Committees released a statement saying its fighters fired seven mortar shells toward the Israeli military posts at Sufa and Kerem Shalom, both in the southern Gazoo Strip.
Israeli media reported that the seven projectiles "landed in an open field in Eshkol Regional Council," noting no injuries.
Shortly before 10 a.m. the Al-Quds Brigades released a third statement saying fighters fired a third Grad and second projectile at Beersheba.
'New phase' of resistance
Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades vowed to fire rockets at cities deep inside Israel as it entered "a new phase" of resistance, a front man said.
"The Al Quds Brigade has entered a new phase of bombing targets which are further away, where thousands of Israelis live," Abu Ahmad told AFP.
"The stage of targeting Sderot and Ashkelon in southern Israel are behind us," he said, referring to a small Israeli town which lies very close to the border, and to a port city which lies 18 kilometers to the north.
"From now on, there are no more red lines for the resistance as long as the enemy doesn't respect UN conventions and keeps killing civilians," he said, vowing that the group would "respond in kind."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] AUTHORITIES say they're looking through the cargo of a San Francisco-bound flight from Manila after a telephone threat was made to a Philippine Airlines office.
Police Sgt Michael Rodriguez says the plane was taken to a remote part of San Francisco International Airport when it landed on Tuesday night. He says authorities have not found anything suspicious but that the search is ongoing.
He says the threat made to an airline cargo office was 'unsubstantiated' and did not release any details of the threat or whether it had targeted a specific flight. The airline's website shows it was the only San Francisco-bound flight from Manila on Tuesday.
He says the 337 passengers and 20 crewmembers were taken off the plane as authorities inspected the cargo.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] Syrian security forces opened fire Wednesday at the funeral of two of the five people killed in the night in Deraa, in southern Syria, said a Human Rights activist, speaking about several maimed.
"Live ammunitions were fired while the parents of both victims and protesters were returning from the funeral," the activist said on condition of anonymity, adding: "There were injuries."
An AFP photographer saw a person "head injuries" in a city hospital.
The two people buried were a young girl, Ibtissam Massalmeh, and a doctor, Ali Ghoudab al- Mahamid, both killed in the night by police, said the activist.
At the same time, exchanges of fire took place between security forces and protesters around the al-Omari, which became their rallying point round which took place on the night festivities, according to an AFP news hound who has seen a casualty.
Deraa, a hundred miles south of Damascus, is encircled by the army and the anti-terrorist forces. In the afternoon, the streets were deserted and most shops closed.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
Yesterday's action by Syrian security forces killed over a dozen. The people killed were in stores, homes and in a mosque. Protests are continuing but as of now, as Gromgoru says this is low on the world's scope
#6
Aren't most of young President Assad's ministers and staff holdovers from his father's time? He may not even have any say where/when the next Hama response will occur.
[Asharq al-Aswat] The former leader of the Syrian Moslem Brüderbund, Ali Sadr al-Din al-Bayanouni AKA Abu Anas yesterday told Asharq Al-Awsat that reforms in Syria are long overdue, and stressed that there is a popular intifada [uprising] in the Syrian street today. Al-Bayanouni also clarified that he has been calling for serious and genuine reforms for months.
Al-Bayanouni told Asharq Al-Awsat that all the factors which led to revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya, are also present in Syria, from the absence of freedom to the presence of tyranny, corruption, poverty, and unemployment, not to mention the arrest of opposition figures and unfulfilled promises of reform.
The former Syrian Moslem Brüderbund leader also commented on Syria's hereditary President Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. Also head of Syria's Baath Party, an old-fashioned fascist operation that's seldom described as one in the press... February interview with the Wall Street Journal in which he said that reforms would require more time, stressing to Asharq Al-Awsat that reforms are long overdue and that the people of Syria have no choice but to rise up against what is happening. Al-Bayanouni stressed that the popular intifada that is taking place in Syria's cities will not stop until the people's demands for reform are fulfilled.
As for what these demands are, al-Bayanouni told Asharq Al-Awsat that "the people are demanding the fall of the regime, the abolition of the emergency law that has been in place in Syria since March 1963, the granting of general freedoms, and an end to people being tossed in the calaboose for their political views or affiliations, as well as the abolition of laws and special courts, and the confrontation of corruption in a serious and effective manner."
The former Syrian Moslem Brüderbund leader stressed to Asharq Al-Awsat that "the situation in Syria is much worse than the situation in Egypt [prior to the revolution]." He added "at least the Egyptians had media outlets, they could speak and talk about the situation in their country, whilst a mere whisper in Syria is enough for an individual to ensure his own destruction."
Al-Bayanouni said that "in 1982 former Syrian President Hafiz al-Assad sent forces to the town of Hama to crush the armed wing of the Syrian Moslem Brüderbund. The Syrian armed forces killed 30,000 people."
Al-Bayanouni also told Asharq Al-Awsat that dozens of names were added to the missing persons list after the Syrian authorities put down an uprising at the Sednaya prison 3 years ago.
Al-Bayanouni stressed that "all Syrian governorates will revolt, and there is an almost unanimous view that this regime is not viable, as the people do not want it." He added that the Syrian regime is corrupt down to its core, and stressed that 60 percent of the Syrian population are suffering from poverty, whilst nearly a third of the Syrian workforce is unemployed. Al-Bayanouni said that Syria must rein in its security apparatus, release thousands of political prisoners, and allow freedom of expression, as well as reveal the fate of tens of thousands of political dissidents who disappeared in the 1980s.
On Monday, thousands of people took part in anti-government protests in Dara'a in southern Syria, following the funeral of a youth killed during protests in the city. Syrian troops are currently deployed throughout the city, dealing with the unprecedented protests in this city which lies just 120 km south of Damascus.
The Syrian protest movement was launched on 15 March 2011 via a Facebook group entitled "the Syrian revolution against Bashir al-Assad in 2011" which demanded an end to corruption, humiliation, and poverty.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Seven European tourists have been kidnapped by a group of gunnies while cycling near the city of Zahle in Leb's eastern Bekaa Valley.
Masked gunnies in a black Mercedes and two white vans kidnapped the tourists, who had entered the country from neighboring Syria, The Washington Post quoted a local police official as saying on Wednesday.
It is not yet clear whether or not the tourists, who were believed to be Estonian and Ukrainian nationals, were kidnapped for political reasons.
Last year, two Polish tourists were kidnapped in Bekaa Valley but were later released by Lebanese security forces in an armed assault on the captors at a security checkpoint.
During Leb's civil war, a spike in foreign kidnappings was recorded in the country.
Various factions took at least 88 foreigners hostage between 1984 and 1990, including 17 Americans.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
they should be released soon... ukrainians and estonians aren't known to be rich so not much ransom there. Plus estonian women.... they will scream the gunnies into submission. they'll be pleading for mercy
Armed men wearing masks kidnapped seven Estonians who were cycling in eastern Lebanon on Wednesday, bundling them into two vans and driving away, a senior police official said Wednesday. The group, which entered the country from Syria, was abducted near the city of Zahle in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information to the media.
Posted by: Oscar Spineck3066 ||
03/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Hold the presses and explain something to me... In what alternate reality mindspace do morons even consider go cycling in Lebanon?
Further, why would somebody from Estonia even go to that hell hole? They couldn't book an hotel in Zimbabwe? I just don't get it....
Posted by: Water Modem ||
03/24/2011 1:42 Comments ||
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#2
As usual Monty Python explains it all.
Posted by: Joger Oppressor of the Lichtensteiners9577 ||
03/24/2011 20:40 Comments ||
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#3
In what alternate reality mindspace do morons even consider go cycling in Lebanon? Maybe North Korea wouldn't admit them.
DARAA, Syria -- Syrian police launched a relentless assault Wednesday on a neighborhood sheltering anti-government protesters, fatally shooting at least 15 in an operation that lasted nearly 24 hours, witnesses said.
Posted by: Oscar Spineck3066 ||
03/24/2011 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.
laid down their weapons
Somali pirates
French fighter jets shot down a Libyan warplane, amid allegations that forces loyal to leader Col. Muammar Qaddafi violated the country's UN-sanctioned no-fly zone.
[Maghrebia] A Nouakchott court on Monday (March 21st) sentenced Malian national Abderrahmane Ould Meddou and Taleb Ould Ahmednah, an al-Qaeda member extradited from 
Obama spoke with French President 
[Washington Examiner] International 
Hillary Clinton
[Ennahar] British parliamentarians have approved almost unanimously the participation of British forces in the ongoing operations in Libya.
[Dawn] The siege of Misrata, now weeks old, is becoming increasingly desperate, with water cut off for days and food running out, doctors operating on patients in hospital corridors and many of the 
leader Muammar Qadaffy.
[Dawn] Western powers attacking Libya will end up in the dustbin of history, Muammar Qadhafi said as his troops held back poorly equipped rebel forces despite four nights of coalition air strikes.
[Arab News] About 100 Omani demonstrators set up tents on Tuesday in a district of the capital housing the main government ministries, demanding political reform.
President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
[Iran Press TV] Saudi authorities 
[Dawn] At least four people including two traffic 
[Dawn] Militants on Wednesday released 20 people who were kidnapped from Lower Kurram, DawnNews reported.
[Dawn] Mine and 
Islamic Jihad in Gaza ordered its leaders to go into hiding for at least the next few days, fearing IDF reprisals. This measure reinforces the IDF estimate that Islamic Jihad was behind Wednesday's bus bombing in Jerusalem. While they did not claim responsibility for the bombing, an Islamic Jihad spokesman praised the attack and said it was a "natural response to the enemy's crimes." 
[Ma'an] Since shortly before midnight on Tuesday, Paleostinian resistance factions have claimed three rounds of projectile fire aimed at both Israeli military and civilian targets. 
[Straits Times] AUTHORITIES say they're looking through the cargo of a San Francisco-bound flight from Manila after a telephone threat was made to a Philippine Airlines office.
[Ennahar] Syrian security forces opened fire Wednesday at the funeral of two of the five people killed in the night in Deraa, in southern Syria, said a Human Rights activist, speaking about several 
Syria's hereditary President Bashir 
[Iran Press TV] Seven European tourists have been kidnapped by a group of 
Armed men wearing masks kidnapped seven Estonians who were cycling in eastern Lebanon on Wednesday, bundling them into two vans and driving away, a senior police official said Wednesday. The group, which entered the country from Syria, was abducted near the city of Zahle in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information to the media.
