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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Israeli airstrikes kill 40 Palestinians in 24 hours
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  kookiez
Posted by: badanov || 07/15/2014 20:09 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Car bomb kills at least 50 at busy Afghan market
At least 50 people have been killed in a car bomb blast at a busy market in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan, the district governor says. Officials say the assailant drove a 4x4 vehicle into the market in Orgun district and then detonated the explosives. The market was crowded at the time of the attack.

Orgun is one of Paktika's safest areas, though members of the Haqqani network are thought to have a presence there.

The district governor of Orgun District, Mohammad Raza Kharoti, said most of those killed were shopkeepers and civilians "and people who were busy doing Ramadan shopping".

A spokesman for Afghanistan's defense ministry earlier said that soldiers had recovered 40 bodies from the rubble. General Zahir Azimi said, "Our soldiers are still trying to recover bodies. Almost all of the shops have fallen."

Officials say that at least 30 people were also injured in the attack.

Eyewitnesses saw police and security forces pursuing the attacker before he entered the busy market and detonated the explosives.
Posted by: ryuge || 07/15/2014 06:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


21 Talibs Killed in Afghan Operation
[Tolo News] At least 21 Talibs were killed and 15 others injured during an Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) operation in the past 24 hours across the country, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement on Sunday.

Fifteen other snuffies were incarcerated
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!

The statement said: "Within the past 24 hours, Afghan army, police and intelligence agency carried out several operations in Balkh, Ghazni, Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
, Farah and Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
provinces to rid the area of Lion of Islams."

The operation was launched to clear the snuffies from the areas, the statement read.

The Afghan forces have also seized weapons during the raids, it added.

However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
the statement did not provide details about the number of Afghan forces casualties.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Helmand Police Chief Dismissed Over Sangin Attacks
[Tolo News] On Monday, local officials said southern Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
's Police Chief, Abdul Qayoum Baqizoy, was dismissed because of the continuing festivities in Sangin district of the province.

The security officials have not commented about the dismissal, but have appointed Juma Gul Hemat as the new police chief of Helmand.

The reports state that Baqizoy was dismissed after the Taliban murderous Moslems attacked Sangin district.

Two weeks ago, more than 800 Taliban murderous Moslems attacked Sangin district and took control of the area for more than a week. The clash ended when an increase of troops were deployed in efforts of the clearing operation.

The clash claimed the lives civilians, Afghan forces and Taliban Death Eaters.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


US-led airstrike leaves 3 dead in E Afghanistan
[Iran Press TV] At least three people have bit the dust in the latest US-led Arclight airstrike in Afghanistan's east.

The deadly Arclight airstrike was carried out on Monday in the eastern province of Wardak, local officials said, adding that the victims were members of the Taliban holy warrior group.

The Taliban, however, has made no comments on the incident so far.

The assault came a day after five people were killed in another Arclight airstrike by US-led forces in the province of Ghazni.

A US liquidation drone attack also left two people dead in the northeastern province of Kunar on Friday.

US-led forces have recently expanded their aerial attacks across Afghanistan. Most of such attacks are carried out by US forces.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Fierce clashes erupt in Bay region
An intense conflict broke out between joint African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops and Somali National Army soldiers against fighters of the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab terrorist group in Seydhalow and Labatan-jirow, approximately 30km from Baidoa.

The battle was provoked by the terrorist insurgents when they launched an attack on a co-allied AMISOM and SNA military base in both towns near the provincial capital of the Bay region. The Bardaale district commissioner of the Bay Regional Administration reported to Shabelle that the Al-Shabaab launched the initial attack but that the pro-government troops repelled the cowardly attack.

The precise numbers of casualties caused in the physical confrontations between the Somali National Army and Ethiopian contingent of AMISOM against the insurgents, have not been specified yet.

Ultimately, Seydhalow and Labatan-jirow were seized by the government forces from Al-Shabaab yesterday. Both towns which are roughly around 30km from Baidoa add to the string of towns liberated from the terrorist organization.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab

#1  I was hoping it was San Francisco, dang!
Posted by: Steven || 07/15/2014 1:29 Comments || Top||

#2  That would prove interesting...
Posted by: Pappy || 07/15/2014 10:52 Comments || Top||

#3  "Hey, ya boob, ya got khat in my wat!"
"Infidel, you got wat on my khat!"
Someone threw a tomato;
That's how, down in Dago,
The War of the Cabbies went hot.

Hurling meters from enemy hacks,
Smashing windows with handles of jacks,
Ethiopian cabs
Fiercely fought al-Shabaabs
In a battle of afternoon snacks.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 07/15/2014 18:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Oh dear, Zenobia Floger6220. I most certainly was not expecting that.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2014 23:32 Comments || Top||


Military jets hunt down attackers in Lamu forests
Kenya Air Force jets overflew two forests in Lamu where the gunmen behind the recent killings are believed to be hiding and witnesses reported hearing two loud bangs, raising the possibility that there could have been targeted attacks against the suspects.

In interviews with the Nation, residents of Pandanguo and Jima areas, some 30 kilometres North of Witu trading centre, claimed the jets dropped explosives inside Gorji and Belasange forests.

A senior security official in Lamu County confirmed the raids but a KDF information operations officer, Colonel Willy Wesonga, could not either confirm or deny the reports. "We are in an operation and the person you could talk to would be the one on the ground with our troops," he said.

The Nation team visited Jima area and found soldiers who had parked several vehicles there. Villagers said they had seen over 100 soldiers headed for the two forests.

Despite the military campaign, families were still leaving the area yesterday heading towards Witu after an attack on Saturday night. The attackers, who villagers say claimed to be members of Al-Shabaab, raided the village and left after harvesting green maize from a farm there. The farm's owner, Mr Mohammed Ali Gelogelo, said the raiders arrived shortly after 9 pm and ransacked his house before descending on the farm.

"I was hiding behind a tree deep in the farm and I could see them walking around. They were heavily armed young men. I watched them as they harvested," he said.

Mr Jarajara, who said he came face with the attackers, among them a tall man who appeared to be of European descent, said the raiders identified themselves as members of Al-Shabaab.

"They asked me whether I was a Muslim. When I responded in the affirmative, two of them started talking to me in Kiswahili and then translated (the conversation) into Arabic to the tall white man. They told me that they were Al-Shabaab members and they would return once more."

He claimed that the attackers were of different nationalities including Somalis and Kenyans.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Sudan's Bashir: 163 troops 'martyred'
[Al Ahram] Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
, giving a rare battlefield toll, says 163 members of the controversial Rapid Support Forces have been killed in Darfur and South Kordofan.

Bashir "referred to the martyrdom of 163 of the troops and the wounding of others in the operations during five months," according to comments carried late Sunday by the official SUNA news agency.

In an April report, UN chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
said Rapid Support elements had attacked and burned villages in Darfur, where Khartoum said they were deployed against rebels.

After Sudanese opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi reportedly made similar accusations, state security agents detained him for about a month.

Rapid Support, which is under the authority of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), has denied that their unit raped, looted or committed arson.

Violence throughout Darfur reached its worst levels in a decade this year, displacing about 300,000 people from late February to mid-April before unrest began to ease.

Mohammed Ibn Chambas, head of the UNAMID peacekeeping mission in Darfur, has said that activities of the RSF were of "particular concern".

But rebel offensives, criminal activity and inter-communal fighting also contributed to this year's "alarming escalation of violence", he said.

Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court
... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
(ICC), has called Rapid Support Forces a new version of the Janjaweed militia.

Insurgents from black tribes in Darfur rose up 11 years ago against what they said was the domination of Sudan's power and wealth by Arab elites.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan

#1  Its a good bet that very very few of the dead are Arabs. The Sudan Armed Forces is led by inept Arab officers and manned by men from the numerous ethnic minorities found in Sudan.
Posted by: Omomock Speaking for Boskone4589 || 07/15/2014 11:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Background information from the Sudan Tribune:

[Rapid Support] forces operate as an arm for the security service that replaced the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) which the National Congress Party (NCP) regime has increasing doubts about their loyalty, sincerity and obviously has no full trust in it.

The RSF Commander Major General Abbas Abdul-Aziz said in a televised statement that the majority of the members in the (RSF/Rapid Respond Force) are Darfurians who usually adored military service and love engaging in the armed forces. That formal statement of the Major General Abdul-Aziz confirms that the constitution of the RSF formed essentially by the infamous Janjaweed militias.

By the way this Major General Abbas Abdul-Aziz is from the town of Matamma, in the Northern Nilotic region. He is a person entrusted by Omer al-Bashir as a close relative. Furthermore, Abdul-Aziz is a [National Intelligence and Security Services] officer and his leadership for the RSF is more ceremonial.
Posted by: Pappy || 07/15/2014 13:47 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Minor explosion in Egypt's northern Samannoud court leaves no injuries
[Al Ahram] An improvised bomb detonated early on Monday morning at the courthouse of Samannoud, a city in Egypt's northern Al-Gharbiya Governorate, reported Rooters' Aswat Masriya.

No injuries or fatalities were reported.

Explosives experts defused another IED uncovered in the same location, the same source added.

According to a Ministry of Interior report released earlier this month, explosives experts have defused more than 150 devices in various governorates over the past three months.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Wanted Gamaa Islamiya leader detained at southern border
[Al Ahram] Five Islamist figures have been tossed in the slammer
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
while attempting to flee Egypt via the southern border, a military front man announced via Facebook.

Former Shura Council member and head of Gamaa Islamiya's Building and Development, Safwat Abdel-Ghani, was among those arrested late on Sunday.

Meanwhile,
...back at the game, the Babe was wondering why the baseball kept getting bigger and bigger. Finally it hit him...
the pro-Brotherhood National Alliance to Support Legitimacy (NASL) said security forces have arrested Nasr Abdel-Salam, acting head of the Building and Development Party.

Last year, prosecutors ordered the arrest of Moslem Brüderbund Supreme Guide Mohammed Badei and nine Islamist figures, including Abdel-Ghani, for allegedly inciting violence at the Republican Guard headquarters.

Gamaa Islamiya was responsible for the liquidation of president Anwar Sadat in 1981. It also allegedly murdered 58 tourists and four Egyptians in an attack in Luxor in 1997.

The group formed a political party after the 2011 revolution and won 13 seats in the Shura Council election of 2011-12.

It has played a key role in the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, which calls for the reinstatement of deposed president Mohammed Morsi and the 2012 constitution.

Some critics say the group, along with the Brotherhood, has been involved in recent terrorist attacks across the country.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Gemaa Al-Islamiya


Libya closes Misrata airport after Tripoli clashes
[Iran Press TV] Libya has suspended all flights to and from the airport of its third largest city, Misrata, a day after deadly festivities closed the country's main international airport in the capital, Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...

An airport source in Tripoli said on Monday that the decision to shut down the airport was taken for "technical reasons."

"The headquarters for the entire western region is at Tripoli airport, and following its closure, Misrata airport also has to close," said the unnamed official of the facility.

Tripoli international airport closed for three days on Sunday after festivities erupted between the militias from the town of Zintan — who have controlled the airport since the overthrow of late ruler, Muammar Qadaffy
...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest...
, in 2011 — and their rivals. At least six people were killed in the skirmishes.

"Libya is now practically cut off from the outside world," the airport source added, noting that the three-day closure of Tripoli airport may be extended.

Currently, only two other airports are reportedly operating at Bayda and Tobruk in Libya's east. However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried...
foreigners are not allowed to fly to the east of the country under a government decision.

The decision was taken after renegade general, Khalifa Haftar, launched an offensive in the eastern city of Benghazi against armed murderous Moslem groups in May, saying that he wants to crush them and establish stability in Libya.

Libyan authorities have denounced Haftar's attack as a "coup" bid.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Rocket attacks in Egypt's Sinai peninsula kill eight
[BBC] Seven civilians and one soldier have been killed in two rocket attacks in the northern Sinai peninsula, Egypt's military has said.

One rocket hit a crowded market place in the coastal city of el-Arish on Sunday night.

Minutes later, two more rockets fell on a nearby security compound.

Jihadist holy warriors based in Sinai have stepped up attacks on soldiers and police since the army ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last year.

Egyptian media quoted a security source as saying early reports suggested that Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda, fired the rocket that hit the market place.

The target was probably the adjoining military headquarters for the Sinai region, the source added.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis

#1  The Gazooks shooting in two directions? Don't they know the dangers of opening a two front war?

Egypt & Israel need to get together on a hammer meets anvil operation.
Posted by: AlanC || 07/15/2014 7:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Egyptian media quoted a security source as saying early reports suggested that Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda, fired the rocket that hit the market place.

Not Gazans, AlanC, but Egyptians -- Ansar Beit al Maqdis is also known round here as Al Qaeda in the Sinai. They may very well have been supplied by Gaza, though.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2014 10:40 Comments || Top||

#3  ..prompting the Egyptian military to put Gaza back under the original ownership (Egypt)? Pass the popcorn.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/15/2014 11:20 Comments || Top||

#4  prompting the Egyptian military to put Gaza back under the original ownership (Egypt)?

I'm not sure even Egypt wants it any more...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 07/15/2014 17:01 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm not sure even Egypt wants it any more...

They did refuse to take it back after the Yom Kippur War, though they did most graciously accept most of the Sinai for signing that peace treaty.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2014 23:38 Comments || Top||


Libyan rival militias clash near Tripoli airport
[BBC] At least seven people have been killed and 30 hurt in festivities between rival militias at Libya's airport near the capital, Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
, officials say.

Rebels from the Zintan region who control the international airport have been attacked by a rival group trying to take over the area.

Flights have been suspended amid reports of heavy shelling and gunfire.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  I guess I need to start circulating my resume. I don't think I am going back to Libya any time soon.

Lots of work over there and lots of money to be made if you are willing. The Brits, Italians, Chinese, French, and Koreans are yanking the table cloth off the table and most US companies cower in the corner.

Dang
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 07/15/2014 20:09 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Cameroon Gendarmerie Reports Boko Haram Attack on Brigade
[BLOOMBERG] Over 50 members of Islamic activist group 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...
launched an attack on the Bonderi Gendarmerie Brigade, seven kilometres from the border with Nigeria, the Senior Divisional Officer for Mayo-Sava district said.

The assailants maimed one gendarme, seized a gendarmerie service vehicle, two boxes containing about 1,000 ammunitions, and four cycle of violences, Babila Akao said by phone.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Boko Haram blows up Madafuma bridge
[SUNNEWSONLINE] Apparently jolted by the on-going military operations against its dreaded bases, the Boko Haram sect has blown up the popular Madafuma bridge, linking 185km Biu- Damboa-Maid­uguri federal road.

Daily Sun learnt that some gunmen, suspected to be members of Boko Haram had, at the weekend, planted Im­provised Explosive Devices (IEDs) under the bridge and blew it up, damaging some re­markable portion of the bridge, with motorists and passengers stranded

Hundreds of motorists and passengers had been killed on the road, while many others had been kidnapped in the last two years, making the road a deathtrap for travellers.

The notoriety of the road had forced many motorists and people of Biu, Garkida, Numan, Shani, Tarabato to abandon it for the alterna­tive route linking the state to Gombe State.

The bombing of the bridge, according to a witness, Mal­lam Musa Yakubu, took place last Saturday around 2a.m. when residents of the area were already asleep.

"We heard a bang on Satur­day and on Sunday morning when we gathered in Mada­fuma village to go round our surroundings early in the morning, we found out that the bridge linking us with Biu Lo­cal Government Area and MA Dara Girau, had been blown up; all motorists heading to Maiduguri from Biu, espe­cially long vehicles had no option than to make U-turn to Gombe. Unfortunately, small vehicles had to manage the re­maining portion which had not been affected in the blast, but it is very risky," Yakubu stated.

Trucks loaded with tubers of yam from Taraba and Benue states, according to residents of Biu had to return to Biu on Sunday and took another road through Gombe-Potiskum- Damaturu-Maiduguri road, which they described as a long and hectic journey.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram

#1  those bastards
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2014 12:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Hey Frank, wonder if you can get the job to rebuild that bridge?
Posted by: Glenmore || 07/15/2014 13:48 Comments || Top||


Boko Haram Kill 27 In Fresh Borno Attack
[SAHARAREPORTERS] 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...
holy warriors have attacked Bille village, in Askira/Uba LGA Borno state today, as many are feared dead, and several homes have been burned down. The holy warriors stormed the Bille district at about 7:05 am Nigerian time on Monday.

They reportedly opened fire on the villagers indiscriminately. Villagers who fought back killed five Boko Haram members. Several villages lost their homes to the notorious group, who also burned and razed churches, as well as shops and other houses in the area.

local vigilante, Yohana Musa, who spoke to our news hound by phone said, "the attackers were well armed with weapons of mass destruction, such as anti aircraft guns, and rocket propelled launchers, and other dangerous weapons.

The source noted that, "five of our (armed) members were killed, as well as over ten villagers. Several were maimed. I am confused in fact. Right now, the village is on fire."

He added that two Nigeria Air Force fighter jets had arrived in Bille, and started an immediate bombardment of the bully boys. Fatalities and injuries stemming from that fire-fight are yet to surface with accurate numbers. But the situation is currently calm, as many villagers had fled for safety, the source said.

SaharaReporters has learned that some of the villagers fled to the bush and other nearby villages for their safety.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Arabia
Yemen tribesmen blow up vital oil pipeline
[BBC] Yemeni rustics have blown up a major oil pipeline, officials say, disrupting supplies from the interior to the Ras Isa export terminal on the Red Sea. The pipeline, carrying some 100,000 barrels daily, was blown up in Habab district of Marib province.

The attack strikes at a key revenue stream for Yemen's government, which relies on oil exports to fund spending. Tribesmen in the area have used violent tactics and sabotage in a campaign for a bigger share of jobs and revenues.

Marib province has also seen attacks by holy warriors allied to al-Qaeda.

The oil pipeline, Yemen's largest, was last attacked in May.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Home Front: WoT
The odd book a Texas rancher found near the border.
Well not entirely "odd" if one has been following events closely.
An Urdu-to-English dictionary was not something Mike Vickers expected to find on the rocky earth underneath the cattle fencing around his 1,000-acre Texas ranch.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yet there it was — dropped, Vickers guesses, when its carrier got zapped by his fence’s electricity,

115 volts for up to 75 miles of cattle fence.
Posted by: Thineng Angailet7166 || 07/15/2014 0:07 Comments || Top||

#2  It is no accident that people carrying this are "sneaking" through.

If I was paranoid I might even think this was a false flag operation by our government for a pretext to martial law when another terrorist strike hits us in 6 months.

Fortunately I am not that paranoid.... yet.
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/15/2014 0:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Probably part of the travel kit handed out by the US Embassy, San Salvador.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2014 5:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Darth, I AM that paranoid. It's coming and it will be ugly.
Posted by: AlanC || 07/15/2014 7:24 Comments || Top||

#5  The approval rate among muslims for our taqiyya-in-chief is 72%.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/15/2014 17:05 Comments || Top||


US appeals court vacates two convictions of Qaeda propagandist
[ZEENEWS.INDIA] A US federal appeals court vacated two convictions Monday of a former al Qaeda propagandist and questioned the authority of the military commissions system at Guantanamo Bay to prosecute suspects on certain charges.

In a split 4-3 decision, the US Court of Appeals in Washington tossed out Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al-Bahlul's conviction for providing material support for terrorism and solicitation of others to commit war crimes, but rejected his challenge to a charge of conspiracy to commit war crimes.

A military commission -- one of the special military tribunals at Guantanamo -- had convicted Bahlul of all three crimes and sentenced him to life in prison.

As a result of its ruling by a panel of seven judges, the appellate court demanded that the military commissions conduct a review for possible changes to Bahlul's sentence after a smaller panel of the court considers remaining challenges to his conspiracy conviction.

The court found that the military commissions lack the authority to try suspects on material support and solicitation charges for actions predating the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which laid out those charges.

"Solicitation of others to commit war crimes is plainly not an offense traditionally triable by military commission," Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson wrote in the 150-page ruling.

"The government concedes it is not an international law-of-war offense."

She noted the government also does not consider material support to be an international war crime.

"The government offers little domestic precedent to support the notion that material support or a sufficiently analogous offense has historically been triable by military commission," Henderson added.

Because Bahlul was not charged with either spying or aiding the enemy -- the only offenses then listed by statute -- "the military commission trying him had jurisdiction only over violations triable by military commission under 'the law of war,'" thus excluding material support and solicitation, she explained.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  Obamas cousins?
Posted by: Chris || 07/15/2014 10:41 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Two 'Lyari gangsters' among four killed in encounters
[DAWN] KARACHI: Four suspects were rubbed out in two separate encounters in Clifton and Lyari, officials said on Sunday.

They said that police received information that two men were on their way to collect protection money in Clifton's Block-1 late on Saturday night.

SP Clifton Ibadat Nisar said that the suspects riding on a cycle of violence sensed danger as soon as they arrived at the scene and resorted to firing in a bid to escape. However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
the police returned fire killing both suspects. A 9mm pistol, a TT pistol and a snatched motorbike were seized from them.

The area SP said that the dear departed were wanted in several extortion-related cases. One of them, identified as Rashid, was also booked in a murder case at the Orangi Town Police station, he added.

In another incident, two suspected gangsters were killed in Lyari's Baghdadi area on late Saturday night.

SSP-City Shiraz Nazeer said that following the killing of suspected gangster Babu Kuchhi, police and Rangers launched a search operation in Khadda Market, where they were attacked by gunnies.

In an exchange of gunfire, two men, identified as Daud Memon and Asim Dada, were killed.

He said they were involved in extortion and other crimes. Daud Memon was allegedly a member of the Sajjad Khatri gang, while Dada belonged to the Sheraz Comrade group.

The SSP said different gangs in Lyari
...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot....
had been fighting against one another since their "main gang leaders" had fled and collection of extortion affected badly due to the 'targeted operation' in the old city areas.

Meanwhile,
...back at the saw mill, Scarface Al had tied Little Nell to the log and was about to turn on the buzz saw...
acting IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali announced a cash reward of Rs200,000 each for the two police teams that killed the four suspects.

Also in Lyari, two suspects sustained bullet wounds and were jugged
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
following a shoot-out with police near Slaughterhouse.

They were identified as Hunen and Tanveer and were said to be involved in extortion and robberies.

Student recovered, kidnapper killed

A suspected kidnapper was killed in a police raid that resulted in the recovery of a student, who was kidnapped on June 28, in the Northern Bypass area on Sunday.

CPCL chief Ahmed Chinoy said that a joint team of the anti-violent crime cell and the CPLC also arrested another suspected kidnapper, while his two accomplices escaped.

He added that Haseebullah, 18, a student of a local college was kidnapped on June 28 while he was coming home from a mosque after Isha prayers.

The Mauripur police registered a kidnapping case and the investigations were given to the CPLC-AVCC team. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of Rs20 million for his safe release.

However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
the law-enforcers conducted a targeted raid on a hideout in Gulshan-e-Mazdoor along Northern Bypass on Sunday morning. On seeing the coppers, the suspects opened fire and the police retaliated. An encounter continued for two hours and resulted in the killing of a suspect, whose identity was yet to be known.

Another suspect, identified as Miran Malik, was arrested, he added.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Pak Shia high court judges receive death threats
[ZEENEWS.INDIA] Three Pak Shia judges of the Lahore High Court have received death threats from a banned sectarian organization prompting the government to enhance their security.

A senior Punjab police officer said that the three Shia judges of High Court here had recently received threatening letters from unnamed person or organization.

"However,
the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits...
the law enforcement agencies are suspecting anti-Shia organization - 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 ...
- behind the threats to Justice Ali Baqar Najfi, Justice Muzahir Ali Naqvi and Justice Mazhar Iqbal," he said.

Additional police personnel have also been deployed at the court's entry and exit points and outside the courtrooms.

"The Elite Force commandos have also been deployed for the security of the three judges," the official said.

According to the Lahore police, top Shia professionals have threats to their lives.

"There has been a general threat perception to top Shia professionals. The police could only provide security to those who have received threats from any sectarian group," the official said.

Three eminent Shia figures, an eye surgeon, a chartered accountant and a lawyer, were recently killed in Lahore.

Shia organization, Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen front man Muzahir Shigri told PTI that the three Shias died in assassinations, pointing a finger at the LeJ.

"All the prominent Shia personalities including professionals are under threat from the banned sectarian groups especially LeJ and government must provide them security and take action against it (LeJ)," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


Man handed down death sentence under Pak blasphemy law
[ZEENEWS.INDIA] A 35-year-old man was on Monday sentenced to death under Pakistain's controversial blasphemy law, in the latest case highlighting religious intolerance in the country.

Lahore's additional session's court awarded the capital punishment to Zulfiqar Ali and also?imposed a fine of Rs 100,000 on him in a case filed in 2008.

A complaint was filed against him that year for allegedly writing blasphemous contents on a wall in the city's Islampura area.

Ali was later jugged
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
and charged for blasphemy. The trial continued for five years.

Judge Naveed Iqbal announced the verdict after a number of Ali's neighbours testified against him. He denied the charges and said the complainant has implicated him as he has a monetary dispute with him.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  If they execute him, does he still have to pay the fine?
Posted by: Steven || 07/15/2014 1:36 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Bodies found north of Baghdad as Sunni insurgents turn on each other
[ZEENEWS.INDIA] Residents of a town north of Baghdad found 12 corpses with execution-style bullet wounds on Monday following fighting between rival Sunni faceless myrmidons that could eventually unravel a coalition which has seized much of northern and western Iraq.
Might be the best way to stop them...
The incident points to an intensification of infighting between the Islamic State and other Sunni groups, such as supporters of former dictator Saddam Hussein, which rallied behind the al Qaeda offshoot last month because of shared hatred for the Shi'ite-led Iraqi government.

Police in Muqdadiya, a town 80 km (50 miles) northeast of the capital, said residents from the nearby town of Saadiya found the 12 corpses on Monday after fighting overnight between Islamic State fighters and the Naqshbandi Army, a group led by Saddam allies.

Since the Islamic State swept through Iraqi cities and proclaimed its leader caliph of all Mohammedans last month, there have been increasing signs of conflict with other Sunni groups which do not necessarily share its rejection of Iraq's borders or its severe interpretation of Islam.

Washington, which recruited other Sunni fighters to defeat al Qaeda during the U.S. surge offensive in 2006-2007, hopes other Sunnis will again turn against the Islamic State and can be lured back into a power-sharing government in Baghdad.

The White House has pressed for an inclusive government but so far Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ignored calls from Sunnis and Kurds to step down in favour of a less polarising figure who would allow Sunnis a greater voice.

Saadiya, a mostly Sunni town, was overrun by Islamic State snuffies on June 10, the same day the city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
fell to the Lion of Islams. It is in Diyala, a mainly rural province where lush irrigated fields have long sheltered gangs that resent the arrival of outsiders.

Residents say the town is a stronghold of Naqshbandi Army fighters who supported the Islamic State when it swept into the area, but have since clashed with the group.

A doctor in the Baquba morgue, where the corpses were taken, said the men all bore bullet wounds to their heads and chest, though there was no sign of torture. He said the men had been dead no more than 24 hours.

The people who found the bodies said the men were Naqshbandi fighters in their 20s and 30s, and blamed the Islamic State for the execution-style killings. The Saadiya residents brought the corpses to police in Muqdadiya because the police in their town fled on June 10 when the faceless myrmidons swept in.

Local government official Ahmad al-Zarghosi, who also fled, told Rooters that he estimated 90 percent of the town had left to the north. Zarghosi, speaking from the town of Khanaqin, said fighting had been raging for a week between Naqshbandi locals and the Islamic State bad boys.

MILITANTS IN HUMVEES

Though local people said the Naqshbandi Army enjoys strong support in Saadiya, the Islamist snuffies are far better equipped. They have been seen with heavy weapons and military vehicles including Humvees in towns they seized last month, equipment apparently taken from the army which received billions of dollars' worth of U.S. hardware in recent years.

Infighting between Sunni faceless myrmidons could doom their attempt to reach Baghdad, as well as prospects for consolidating control under the Islamic State's black flag in regions they have taken.

Though the Islamic State, then known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), led last month's offensive, it relied on support from fellow Sunnis eager to drive out forces loyal to Maliki's government.

A key ally for ISIL was the Naqshbandi Army, believed to be led by Ezzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Saddam's former deputy and the only top member of the dictator's entourage still on the lam since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled him.

An audio recording of Douri's voice surfaced on a website loyal to Saddam's ousted Baath Party on Saturday night with a message heaping praise on the al Qaeda offshoot, although apparently acknowledging divisions among Lion of Islam ranks. The authenticity of the recording cannot be verified.

Iraq's national army and allied Shi'ite militias have been fighting the Islamic State for days over a military base next to Muqdadiya and trading control of nearby town of Sadur, which Maliki's military front man said on Sunday the army had retaken.

The bodies of three Sunni men enjugged
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
on Sunday in Muqdadiya on terrorism charges by Iraqi SWAT forces turned up dead in the town of Abu Saida 10 km (six miles) away, police said. A morgue official in Baquba said the men had been shot in the head and chest. Further details were not immediately available.

In the Kurdish controlled-town of Qara Tippa near the Iranian border, two members of Kurdish peshmerga forces were killed and five others maimed when a suicide kaboom hit their local headquarters.

Though the front line has yet to reach Baghdad, frequent kabooms are striking the capital. Three separate kabooms occurred before nightfall on Monday, killing at least eight people and wounding more than 20.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant

#1  And I am out of popcorn. Hold everything, I am off to the store!
Posted by: Steven || 07/15/2014 1:37 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
The hidden intelligence agendas behind Hamas' 1,000-rocket barrage and Israel's 1,500 air strike
Debka so salt.
Speculation has been rife about the motivations behind Hamas' more than 100-rocket-a-day barrage against the Israeli population, week after week. The most popular theory is that the Palestinian Islamists are aiming for a spectacular victory over Israel by hitting an important strategic target and/or causing a high number of fatalities. Until one or both those objectives is achieved, the Palestinian Islamists won't stop shooting.

But, as the Israeli Operation Defends Edge ended its first week on July 14, another explanation was finding acceptance among well-informed military and intelligence observers: They don't believe Hamas tacticians have squandered 1,000 rockets thus far on a whim or at random. They are most likely motivated by three goals, which are also important to Hamas' future plans -- and not just Hamas:

1. Why would Hamas keep on shooting when so many of its rockets miss their targets or are destined to be downed by Israel's Iron Dome interception batteries? The answer is that its tacticians have a hidden agenda. The rocket crews and their masters are testing the strengths and weaknesses of Israel's wonder weapon for future reference. Hamas knew in advance of the massive rocket blitz it launched against Israel in the last week of June that the Iron Dome defensive shield was if not impermeable then a major impediment.

At the same time, by battering the very areas where this shield was deployed, Hamas planners sought to expose its weak points and provide the Palestinians terrorists and their allies, Iran and Hizballah, with valuable data about the linchpin of Israel's defenses.

This explanation would account for the changing focus of the rocket barrage: After three days of concentrated fire on Israel's three main cities, the Tel Aviv conurbation, Jerusalem and Haifa, Hamas turned Monday, July 14, to its familiar victims around the Gaza Strip's borders. In those three days, data had been collected on Iron Dome's performance and handed over to the analysts.

2. When the distribution of Hamas targets is examined, a premeditated program becomes visible: They were not randomly aimed at Dimona, Tel Aviv, Modiin and Hadera, but sought out the nuclear reactor (Dimona), Israel's national and business heartland (Tel Aviv), the national power center (Hadera), Ben Gurion airport (Modiin), Israeli air bases near Negev towns, and military and port installations in Haifa, Ashkelon and Ashdod.

Hamas strategists noted that when the rocket fire intensified, so too did the Iron Dome interceptions.

While not averse to hitting Israel's prime strategic sites directly, the Palestinians were their missed launches to develop data for guidance systems that would make their rockets and mortars more accurate in future conflicts.

The first Hamas drone from Gaza over Ashdod coast, shot down by a Patriot anti-missile early Monday, served this strategy,

The drone appears to have spent some time over the Mediterranean without approaching the Israeli coast before it was detected and downed. It may have been gathering information on the Israel coast and the strategic facilities located there.
Hamas later boasted that it had lofted not one but six unmanned aerial vehicles, whose range was 60 km and which were claimed capable of both surveillance and attack.

The IDF responded fast by declaring the southern coastal area a closed military zone.
Israel's armed forces have been engaged in rocket-air combat for seven days, conducting a total of 1,470 air strikes, compared with more than 1,000 rockets fired by Hamas and its partner Jihad Islami.

Hamas still retains the bulk of its rocket stockpile. Some observers suggest that the Israeli Air Force will soon run out of worthwhile targets. The air force's target bank is renewed almost hourly by incoming data. To replenish the dwindling stock, the military would have to expand its intelligence assets and resources, including surveillance and other means of monitoring the sites used by the enemy for control and command, as welll as informers.

Inserting a variety of sensitive intelligence resources at key points in the Gaza Strip is an essential requisite - not just for the current conflict, but for the long term. They would be there to have quality intelligence ready and available in real time, so providing a key factor for tipping the scales in the current and future rounds of violence.

Special forces working under cover to "label" targets for dedicated payloads to be delivered by air or "smart artillery" would provide such intelligence, just as Hamas uses rocket attacks and drones to suss out the secrets of Israel's advanced defenses.
Above all, the clandestine insertion of special forces into the Gaza Strip could break the standoff between Israel and Hamas by cracking the control and surveillance communications systems linking commanders with the ranks and the politicians running the territory.

Ironically, the primitive nature of those communications makes them invulnerable to the IDF's sophisticated Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) methods.
Posted by: 3dc || 07/15/2014 12:05 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the Palestinians were their missed launches to develop data for guidance systems

What? The Paleos don't got GPS?
Posted by: AlanC || 07/15/2014 12:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Even if this were not their plans, originally, they (both) be dumb to not take advantage of the opportunity.

But the Paleos never miss an opportunity ... to miss an opportunity.
Posted by: Bobby || 07/15/2014 13:08 Comments || Top||

#3  And here I thought they did it because they're a bunch of murderous, subnormal psychopaths who got accustomed to "progressive humanity" stopping Israel from really hurting them back.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/15/2014 13:25 Comments || Top||

#4  Hamas is drawing attention to themselves to get Israel to respond militarily and to continue the battle in the media and public opinion. Only this time it does not seem to be working. Hey, the playbook is getting in sore need of a major revision.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/15/2014 14:52 Comments || Top||

#5  "Inteligence" and "Hamas" in the same sentence?

DoesnotcomputeDoesnotcomputeDoesnotcompute . . . .
Posted by: Barbara || 07/15/2014 15:42 Comments || Top||

#6  Its time for Israel to pound them hard, every building.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 07/15/2014 15:58 Comments || Top||

#7  the IDF announced that about 100 of the 1000+ rockets fired at Israel have actually landed in Gaza

hidden intelligence indeed
Posted by: lord garth || 07/15/2014 16:34 Comments || Top||

#8 
Posted by: Lemuel tse Tung6767 || 07/15/2014 17:15 Comments || Top||

#9  Lemuel,

I'm not sure if you are serious but Hamas has tried to overload Iron Dome several times. The problem is that, while they have a fair number of longer range missiles, they need special larger capacity launchers to fire them. Every time they use one of their larger capacity launchers they risk the IDF taking it out (Hamas has already lost several dozen of them already)
Posted by: lord garth || 07/15/2014 18:20 Comments || Top||

#10  I'm not sure if you are serious

Let's go with "a few fries short of a Happy Meal."
Posted by: Pappy || 07/15/2014 20:45 Comments || Top||

#11  But Braaaain if they called them Sad Meals kids wouldn't want them.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 07/15/2014 21:12 Comments || Top||


Netanyahu Instructs IAF To Resume Airstrikes
[Ynet] Following ceaseless barrages of rockets, army instructed to hit back at terror targets with full force; a total of 132 terror targets attacked overnight before ceasefire came into effect, 5 Paleostinians killed, 4 maimed.

The ceaseless barrages of rockets after the one-sided truce has led the cabinet to authorize the IDF to resume aerial strikes in Gazoo, a senior IDF official said Tuesday afternoon.
As Henry Kissinger famously said, the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
The resumption of aerial strikes might just be the first step on the road to a ground offensive, which seemed like a long-shot this morning when the cabinet accepted the Egyptian ceasefire proposal.

"A ground offensive could help combat the many tunnels in the Strip, where the Air Force is not effective," the bigwig said.

Israel held its fire at 9am, as part of the Egyptian ceasefire proposal, but the heavy rocket fire from the Strip, which included long-range rockets to the Karmel area and to the Shfela area, brought about the change of tactics.

Government officials said that after Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
refused Egypt's offer and fired dozens of rockets, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon instructed them to forcefully strike terror targets.

Prior to the security cabinet's decision to accept the Egyptian ceasefire offer, the IDF struck 132 terror targets overnight. Among the targets attacked were a Hamas' drones facility, a military site attacked by special forces, and the home of the leader of Hamas' military wing Marwan Issa. The house is used as a command center.
Homes as command centers and mosques as armories...
Other targets attacked include 35 hidden rocket launchers, 12 command and control sites, six operation centers and 10 smuggling and terror tunnels.

Paleostinians reported five people had been killed overnight in Gazoo, bringing the corpse count to 192, with over 1,400 maimed.

The Gazoo health ministry said three people had been killed in an Arclight airstrike early Tuesday morning in Khas Younis.

Earlier, two Paleostinians were killed in an Arclight airstrike near area of Israeli settlements evacuated in 2005.

At least four Paleostinians were maimed in an Arclight airstrike in northern Gazoo.

Paleostinians reported that the Air Force also attacked the homes of two senior Islamic Jihad members in Gazoo, as well as the home of Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
's adviser, Basim Naim, destroyed it. Two houses in the al-Shati refugee camp and in Beit Lahiya were destroyed in a 7:30am strike.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2014 08:55 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  man! I never could have seen that happening. Not in a million years. Palos not accepting peace, that's never in the script!

Posted by: 3dc || 07/15/2014 11:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Never should have stopped.

In fact, increase the bombing the second the Paleos ask for a truce.
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/15/2014 17:23 Comments || Top||

#3  See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS, CNN > NETANYAHU: HAMAS LEAVES NO CHOICE BUT TO EXPAND OP | HAARETZ.

and

* BHARAT RAKSHAK, CNN > ISRAEL TO ESCALATE GAZA MILITARY OFFENSIVE AFTER FIRST [Israeli]CITIZEN KILLED.

Tel Aviv has resumed warning Paleos in Gaza to leave their areas ASAP.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/15/2014 20:46 Comments || Top||


Israeli Truck Driver Blocks Several Kilometre Long Gaza-Bound Aid Convoy
h/t Gates of Vienna
An Israeli truck driver, fed up at near-incessant Hamas rocket fire into Israel, took matters into his own hands on Sunday and used his truck to block an aid convoy from entering the coastal enclave, Israel's Channel 2 reported.

Israel's Civil Authority (COGAT) has continued to allow hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid in, in order to alleviate daily conditions for the strip's 1.6 million residents inhabiting the 139 square mile area.

But on Sunday, Kerem Shalom resident and married dad, Daniel Meteri, 27, snapped.

He'd had enough of the hundreds of rockets in the sixth day of Operation Protective Edge, and the thousands before then, and for three hours refused to move his vehicle parked across the two-lane road leading to the crossing point, at the southern end of the Strip.

His wildcat strike halted a several-kilometer-long line of trucks carrying goods to the Palestinians.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/15/2014 01:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  One heroic man.
Posted by: borgboy || 07/15/2014 4:46 Comments || Top||

#2  This is a perfect demonstration of fungibility.

If the Gazooks don't have to spend money on "humanitarian" supplies because they are given for free, they'd have less or no money to spend on rockets and bullets.

This is a disgusting situation and demonstrates the prevalent Jew-hatred in much of the world.
Posted by: AlanC || 07/15/2014 7:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Israel's Civil Authority (COGAT) has continued to allow hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid in

Ah...I think I see the problem.
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/15/2014 14:08 Comments || Top||


Liveblogging Operation Protective Edge: Day 8
[IsraelTimes] Egypt intensified its ceasefire efforts Monday night, a week into Operation Protective Edge. As Israel and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, weigh its terms, rocket fire has continued, as have Israeli air strikes on Hamas. Two rockets hit the city of Eilat at Israel's southernmost tip on Monday night, lightly injuring five people in the first attack on the city from Gazoo since the campaign began. The Times of Israel is liveblogging events as they unfold through Tuesday.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Israeli airstrikes kill 40 Palestinians in 24 hours
[Iran Press TV] Some 40 more Paleostinians have been killed in Israel's ongoing Arclight airstrikes on the besieged Gazoo Strip over the past 24 hours.

This comes after Israeli warplanes targeted several residential areas of the besieged enclave.

Paleostinian officials say at least three people including a woman were killed on the seventh day of Israeli Arclight airstrikes on Monday. Two of the victims died of injuries sustained in the air raids on Sunday.

The latest deaths bring the number of Paleostinians killed in the Israeli bombardment to 175. Latest figures show over 1,270 others have been also injured in the ongoing Israeli assaults.

Gazook homes, mosques and schools are also being targeted by the Israeli army operations. According to the Gazoo-based Paleostinian Center for Human Rights, more than three-quarters of the victims are civilians.

Meanwhile,
...back at the precinct house, Don Calamari's lawyer was getting even redder in the face...
the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
is urging the international community to end Israeli Arclight airstrikes on the Gazoo Strip. The League's foreign ministers are due to hold a meeting on the crisis later on Monday.

The Arab League has affirmed the necessity of urgent actions to end the Israeli aggression and provide protection for the Paleostinians.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Mebbe the 'League' will discuss the 175,000 dead in Syria? Think so?
Posted by: borgboy || 07/15/2014 4:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Before you start blathering about proportionality, jot this down: nemo me impune lacessit

Learn it. Know it. Live it.
Posted by: regular joe || 07/15/2014 15:51 Comments || Top||

#3  "Israeli airstrikes kill 40 Palestinians in 24 hours"

It's a start . . . .
Posted by: Barbara || 07/15/2014 15:58 Comments || Top||

#4  At that rate, 41,425 days. Don't tell me you weren't wondering. Of course, that's just back of the envelope and ignores certain... economies of scale.
Posted by: SteveS || 07/15/2014 20:39 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Militant killed in Mindanao attacks
A member of the renegade Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) was killed after they staged simultaneous attacks in southern Philippines yesterday.

Colonel Dickson Hermoso said BIFF members opened fire on farmers harvesting their crops in President Quirino town of Sultan Kudarat province on Sunday afternoon. Hermoso said government militias in the area returned fire. The gun battle resulted in the displacement of hundreds of families.

In nearby Tulunan town, around 100 BIFF members raided a banana plantation and burned heavy equipment.

The town's police commander said security personnel from the plantation and civilian volunteers killed a militant and recovered a AK-47 rifle.

The BIFF claimed responsibility for the separate attacks. The group's spokesman, Abu Misry Mama, said the attacks were in retaliation for the Philippine military's alleged abduction of a farmer and his son in Maguindanao province.
Posted by: ryuge || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
16 dead in Hezbollah-Syria rebels battle on Lebanon border
[Al Ahram] At least 16 fighters were killed in festivities between Syrian rebels and Leb's Shiite bad boy group Hezbollah on the Lebanese border over the weekend, a monitoring group said Monday.

"Seven members of Hezbollah were killed and 31 maimed" in the festivities which raged from Saturday until Sunday night, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

He told AFP that the Syrian rebels lost nine fighters and 23 of them were maimed in the battle waged in an undemarcated area of the border between Qalamun in Syria and Leb's Arsal.

Hezbollah initiated the showdown in a bid to rid the region of rebel fighters following a string of daily festivities, said Abdel Rahman.

"But they fell into an ambush by rebels ... before Hezbollah reinforcements arrived and the fighting intensified," he said, adding that the Shiite group captured 11 rebels.

On Sunday, a Hezbollah source and a Lebanese security official gave a preliminary toll of three Hezbollah fighters and three Syrian rebels killed.

The long and mostly non-existent border region is often used by smugglers, refugees and fighters.

Arsal and the area around it are largely Sunni Mohammedan, and residents sympathise with the Sunni-led uprising against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Lebanon rocket hits northern Israel
[Al Ahram] A rocket fired from Lebanese territory hit northern Israel on Monday, the army said, after overnight rocket fire from both Syria and Leb.

"At least one rocket fired from Leb hit an open area north of Nahariya," a coastal city not far from the Lebanese border, the army said in a statement.

No casualties or damage were reported, it added.

The army said it responded shortly after with artillery fire "towards the launching site" of the rocket.

A rocket fired from Syria hit the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights late Sunday, falling on open ground and causing no casualties, the army said.

And early on Monday the army said that "several rockets were fired from Leb at the western Galilee, one hitting an open area," with no damage reported.

The army said Israel responded with artillery fire at Syrian military posts and that "hits were identified" and that it also shelled the source of the fire from Leb, lodging a complaint with UN peacekeepers.

Sunday's fire was the first of its kind from Syrian territory since Israel launched a fierce air campaign against Gazoo on Tuesday with the stated aim of stemming a rising tide of rocket fire by Paleostinian bully boys.

But rockets fired from Leb struck northern Israel on Friday and Saturday, without causing casualties.

Military officials said they believed the attacks were carried out by a small Paleostinian group in an act of solidarity with Gazook bully boys.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


ISIL pushes out rival militants from Syrian city
[Iran Press TV] In a fresh infighting, forces of Evil from the so-called ISIL have pushed out rival hard boy groups from a Syrian city.

According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Monday, forces of Evil from the so-called Ahrar al-Sham and al-Nusra Front fled the city of Deir Ezzor after festivities with the ISIL hard boys.

Reports say that parts of the oil-rich city are now held by the ISIL terrorists.

The Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
group is also fighting against the government in neighboring Iraq. The so-called ISIL has committed numerous crimes against civilians in both Syria and Iraq.

The crisis in Iraq escalated after Takfiri ISIL turbans took control of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
on June 10, which was followed by the fall of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers northwest of the capital Baghdad. The terrorist group has vowed to continue its raid toward Baghdad.

The ISIL forces of Evil have forced over 150,000 residents in Syria's Deir Ezzor to leave their homes. Reports said the large displacement has left thousands sleeping in the open, facing food and water shortages.

The development comes as Syrian forces have achieved major victories in their battle against foreign-backed groups and inflicted heavy losses on them across the country over the past months.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant

#1  As per DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS, looks like a big armed or violent showdown is looming between the ISIS/ISIL + anti-ISIS/ISIL factions amongst the AL-NUSRA Boyz in Syria???

More local militant groups inside Syria have repor allied themselves to Al-Nusra agz the ISIS, Syrian towns continue to be taken or captured by one agz the other.

* BHARAT RAKSHAK > [Independent.UK] SYRIA CONFLICT: ISIS REACHES FURTHER INTO SYRIA TIPPING THE BALANCE OF POWER IN THE CIVIL WAR.

and

* TOPIX > [Real Clear Politics] ISIS' CALIPHATE ABOUT POWER, NOT RELIGION.

Group, Ideo, Theological, World Domination???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/15/2014 20:54 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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