[Iran Press TV] A number of US-led liquidation drone strikes have killed scores of people in three provinces across Afghanistan, local sources say.
According to Afghan officials, more than 70 Talibs were killed in two air raids that struck Afghanistan's eastern and southeastern provinces of Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. and Pashtun-infested Logar late on Friday.
Meanwhile, ...back at the palazzo, Count Guido stepped from behind the suit of armor, rapier in hand. Ciccolini snarled and reached for his own weapon... local police forces said four other Talibs also died in an American drone attack that hit the war-ravaged country's northeastern province of Kunar.
The Taliban Death Eater group has not commented on the reports yet.
Earlier on Saturday, Afghan officials said a similar US-led drone attack had left three Talibs dead in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost ...which coincidentally borders North Wazoo and Kurram Agency... .
US-led foreign forces have recently expanded their aerial attacks across the country, leaving a large number of Afghan civilians dead.
Washington claims the targets of the drone attacks are Death Eaters, but local officials and witnesses maintain that civilians have been the main victims of such raids over the past few years.
The United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... and several human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... organizations have identified the US as the world's number one user of "assassinations," largely due to its drone strikes in Pakistain and Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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An intense conflict erupted between pastoralists and Al-Shabaab fighters in some neighborhoods under Bay's Bardaale district.
The news reports coming from the region indicates that Al-Shabaab requested from the pastoralists to pay Zakat but they refused, allegedly why the battle broke out.
The casualties and losses caused by the skirmishes have not been specified, and local residents are reporting that the pastoralists have been supported in the clashes by troops of the Somali National Army.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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According to news reports from the Lower Shabelle region, strong and intense clashes occurred between rival militias in areas under the region.
The fight was between the joint forces of Somali National Army troops with African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) against Al-Shabaab insurgents near KM50. Shabelle has received reports of severe fatalities but the precise number has not been specified. Locals have reported exchange of gunfire for which they could hear it for hours.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Fire tore through 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... 's main fuel depot on Saturday after rockets fired by one of Libya's militias struck and ignited a tank, the National Oil company (NOC) said.
Black plumes of smoke rose over the fuel tanks, which store oil for use in the capital and are located near Tripoli's international airport.
Firefighters deployed to tackle the blaze were forced back by the fighting, NOC front man Mohammed al-Harari said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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The pesh merga are known for their fighting prowess, but rocky relations with Baghdad mean they have no munitions supplies from the central government and their soldiers have not received salaries for months. Meanwhile, their lack of sovereignty complicates arms purchases from abroad and Baghdad put a temporary hold on cargo flights to the north last month.
The senior Kurdish intelligence official said pesh merga forces had made a tactical retreat from Sinjar to allow civilians to leave after overnight fighting in the area. However, soldiers withdrawing from the town said that they had run out of ammunition, said Falah Hassan, 42, a Yazidi resident who spoke by phone as he fled across the mountains on Sunday.
Sinjar is an ethnically and religiously mixed town, and its population had swelled in recent weeks as those displaced from nearby areas by the advancing extremists sought refuge. Among them were thousands of Shiites and Yazidis from Tal Afar, which Islamic State seized last month.
It's hard to fight when you run out of ammo and the sectarians in Baghdad won't support you.
#1
Sectarians in DC as well - we had them fairly well supplied during the no-fly zone times. The Intelligence and Defense folks can do it, if they only had orders to help the Kurds instead of sitting on their hands under Obama/State doctrine, effectively screwing our only true allies in the region
#2
Before Obama we only had to deal with Al Qaeda. Now we have to deal with Al Qaeda, ISIL, and Boko Haram. But wait, Obama still has at least 2 more years to go.
#3
I know its likely Obama is MB but this is really rude. the Yazdi don't bother anybody. Could the king in his castle (er whitehouse) find it in his cold heart of coal to give a few tidbits to the kurds?
#4
At last check, the ISIS/ISIL has suppos seized three towns + an oil field in Iraq, to which the Kurds + pro-Iran IGA + Iran proper is responding wid Reinforcements + new MilOps.
* TOPIX > [Daily Star] IRAN ELITE GUARDS [IRGC] FIGHTING IN IRAQ TO PUSH BACK ISIS.
TEHRAN = IRAN of course cannot confirm or deny they have forces in Iraq, but perhaps more imortantly ITS WHY GLOBALIST POTUS OBAMA IS SSSSHHHHH ... CCCCCCCCC ALLOWING, N-O-T DISALLOWING, IRAN TO KEEP + EXPAND? ITS NUCPROGS.
[Al Ahram] Kurdish troops fought off a jihadist attack on an oil facility and a dam near the Iraqi city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... but lost 14 of their number in intense combat, Kurdish sources said Saturday.
The Islamic State (IS), which controls the northern city, "attacked a peshmerga post in Zumar (Friday) and a fierce battle erupted," an official in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan told AFP.
He said 14 peshmerga fighters were killed, a toll confirmed by a senior officer in the Kurdish force.
The PUK official said the peshmerga killed "around 100" IS fighters and captured 38 in a battle that lasted several hours.
Zumar is a small Kurdish-majority outpost northwest of Mosul, which used to be under federal government control but was taken over by the peshmerga in June.
IS fighters, who had already been running large swathes of neighbouring Syria, launched a blistering offensive on June 9 that saw them capture Mosul, Iraq's second city, and move into much of the country's Sunni heartland.
Many government forces retreated in the face of the onslaught, and peshmerga troops seized the opportunity to fill the vacuum and seize long-coveted areas the Kurds were in dispute with Baghdad over.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
Is this the poorly constructed Mosul dam that is always in danger of breaking?
[Al Ahram] Islamic State jihadist fighters killed at least 30 Iraqi soldiers and members of allied Shiite militia in a flashpoint area south of Baghdad, army sources said Saturday.
IS murderous Moslems firing salvos of mortar rounds began attacking the town of Jurf al-Sakhr late Friday, killing 11 soldiers and 12 members of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia, an officer and army medic said.
Another seven soldiers had their throats slit during a subsequent government operation against jihadist fighters in Jurf al-Sakhr, Al-Hamya and Latifiya, the sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Royal Jordanian, one of the main airlines serving Iraq, said on Saturday it had suspended all flights to Baghdad for at least 24 hours on security grounds.
The Jordanian state carrier was "monitoring security developments" in Iraq and would review the resumption of flights over Iraqi airspace on Sunday, said Basel Al Kilani, an airline front man.
Royal Jordanian until recently had an extensive network over Iraq, with a weekly total of 30 flights, serving Baghdad 11 times a week, as well as Basra in the south, and Irbil and Sulaymaniya in the Kurdish north.
It stopped its twice-weekly flights to djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... shortly after the northern city fell in June to the Islamic State (IS) hard boy group.
Royal Jordanian's suspension follows similar action by other major airlines after the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-17 on June 17 over a conflict zone in eastern Ukraine with the loss of 298 people on board.
Air La Belle France-KLM, Britannia's Virgin Atlantic, Air Berlin and Poland's LOT said earlier this week they had suspended flights over Iraq for security reasons.
Emirates had already said it was avoiding the area.. Germany's Lufthansa said it was avoiding certain areas of Iraq though sticking to frequently used paths.
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad said it was still flying to and over Iraq, while Australia's Qantas was continuing to fly over the country, according to Australian media reports.
About 30 airlines temporarily suspended flights to Tel Aviv earlier this month to comply with a ban by the Federal Aviation Authority issued when hostilities erupted between Israel and the Paleostinian organization Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,. The ban has since been lifted.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] At least 107 Paleostinians were killed and an Israeli soldier was missing presumed captured as a fresh wave of violence swept through the Gazoo Strip Saturday following the failure of an agreed ceasefire.
The attacks continued throughout the night, leaving at least 35 Paleostinians dead in the Gazoo town of Rafah alone in a series of Israeli air raids in the hours since midnight (2100 GMT) Friday.
US President Barack Obama Because I won... called for the missing soldier, 23-year-old Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin to be "unconditionally" released, but also said more must be done to protect Gazoo civilians.
Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, a member of the eight-strong security cabinet, accused Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, of being behind the disappearance of the missing soldier and said the group would pay a high price.
However early Saturday the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, said it had no information on the whereabouts of the missing soldier.
"The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades has no information on this soldier. We have lost contact with one of our combatant groups, which was fighting in the sector where the soldier went missing and it is possible that our fighters and this soldier were killed," the group said in a statement.
The intensive fighting resumed after the planned three-day ceasefire, which began at 0500 GMT on Friday, swiftly collapsed.
The toll on the Paleostinian side was 107 people dead and hundreds others maimed since the toll collapsed, said Paleostinian emergency services front man Ashraf al-Qudra.
Some 1,650 Paleostinians, the vast majority of them civilians, have been killed in the 26 days since the present conflict started, Qudra said. On the Israeli side, 63 soldiers and three civilians have died.
Hamas accused Israel of breaking the short-lived ceasefire, while Tel Aviv said it was responding to the Death Eater attacks.
The chances of a durable truce seemed as remote as ever after the presumed capture of the Israeli soldier.
Obama said the United States "unequivocally condemned Hamas and the Paleostinian factions that were responsible for killing two Israeli soldiers, and abducting a third almost minutes after a ceasefire had been announced".
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Here's some vey bad luck, family killed twice in separate fighting.
They hauled off a dead body. Too late now.The Israelis think that Hamas has him. All they have is a corpse who bled out in the same attack that killed the other two.
Now they have to find a way out of what the Israelis believe.
That 107 Palestinians are actually dead. That is good news. Nice to wake up at this early hour with my coffee in hand and see that 107 Palestinians are no longer with us. Makes a nice thought to begin the day. How do they count them so fast?
Posted by: Big Thromoth3646 ||
08/03/2014 5:08 Comments ||
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#3
The fact that the Hammies say they don't have him means he is dead, and of no more use to them.
Also, if the Juice continue looking for him, all the resulting carnage is the Juice's fault.
Hard to imagine he'll get a decent burial.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/03/2014 8:45 Comments ||
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#4
The fact that Hamas claims they don't have him means they may not know. anything more than that they sent out a team which has not reported in. If the kidnap group went to ground, nobody may actually know where they are, especially if they dumped the body first.
The Israelis have released prisoners in exchange for the bodies of soldiers before, so their enemies will keep bodies for years for the purpose. See here for details.
[Al Ahram] The Israeli army on Saturday informed residents of Beit Lahiya in northern Gazoo that it was "safe" to return to their homes, as witnesses said troops were seen withdrawing from the area.
"Messages have been conveyed to residents of the northern Gazoo Strip that they may return to the Beit Lahiya area," an army statement said, with a spokeswoman indicating the message had been relayed to authorities in the Paleostinian enclave.
"They have been informed it is safe for civilians to return to Beit Lahiya and Al-Atatra," the spokeswoman told AFP, in what was understood to be a confirmation that troops had stopped operating there.
Witnesses in Al-Atatra, which is part of Beit Lahiya, reported seeing troops pulling back, in a move mirrored in the south, where residents said the soldiers had withdrawn from villages east of Khan Yunis, close to the Israeli border.
The announcement came as unconfirmed media reports said Israel would not be sending a delegation to truce talks in Cairo, with some suggesting the pullback could signal the start of a unilateral Israeli withdrawal.
UN figures show that the fighting has forced up to 25 percent of Gazoo's population of 1.8 million to flee their homes, with a quarter of a million of them taking refugee in shelters run by the UN agency for Paleostinian refugees (UNRWA).
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] The IDF late Saturday night confirmed that Givati Brigade officer Hadar Goldin, kidnapped in Gaza on Friday morning in a Hamas attack, had been killed, and IDF Chief Rabbi Rafi Peretz and other officials broke the news to the family. Prime Minister Netanyahu announced earlier Saturday that the IDF would redeploy when it completes demolishing Hamas tunnels, but that the operation in Gaza would continue for as long as needed to ensure sustained calm for Israel.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Paleostinian resistance fighters have launched a barrage of rockets into Israeli cities in response to Tel Aviv's atrocities in the besieged Gazoo Strip.
On Saturday, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Paleostinian resistance movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, fired the rockets at Israeli town of Sderot and its surrounding areas in the western Negev desert.
Nahal Oz and Alumim, located in the northwestern part of the Negev desert, also came under Hamas attacks.
The Hamas military wing also targeted Zikim naval base in the northern Negev desert.
A blaze broke out after another retaliatory rocket landed in Eshkol.
While Tel Aviv puts the Israeli military corpse count from 26 days of attacks at 64, Hamas sources put the number at much higher.
Israeli warplanes have been pounding numerous sites in the Gazoo Strip, since July 8, demolishing houses and burying families under the rubble. Israeli forces also began a ground offensive against the impoverished Paleostinian land on July 17.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
They fired rockets said the headline. But the headline fails to mention if they actually hit anything. One can presume that they didn't. But then, they ARE Moslems.
Even the headline smells Moslem. Baghdad Bob wins again.
Posted by: Big Thromoth3646 ||
08/03/2014 5:12 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Israel needs to push back the Gaza borders. There is a price to pay for tunnels and rockets. Slowly put the squeeze on Gaza. Leave the sewage ponds.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/03/2014 14:24 Comments ||
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[CHRON] Israel signaled Saturday it plans to scale back its military operation in the Gazoo war and will not participate for now in any cease-fire negotiations in Cairo with Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,. The Islamic Death Eater group suggested it won't hold its fire in the case of a unilateral Israeli pullout, raising the prospect of renewed hostilities in the future.
Israel continued to pound Gazoo with Arclight airstrikes Saturday, killing at least 72 Paleostinians, many in the southern border town of Rafah where Israeli troops searched for a soldier feared captured by Death Eaters.
In a televised address, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that the Israeli military will reassess its Gazoo operation once troops complete the demolition of Hamas tunnels under the Gazoo-Israel border. Once the tunnels are demolished, "the military will prepare for continuing action in according to our security needs," he said, stressing all options remain on the table.
"We promised to return the quiet to Israel and that is what we will do. We will continue to act until that goal is reached, however long it will take and with as much force needed," Netanyahu said. "Hamas needs to understand that it will pay an intolerable price as far as it is concerned for continuing to fire."
Since the Gazoo war began July 8, at least 1,712 Paleostinians — most of them civilians — have been killed and more than 9,000 have been maimed, Paleostinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra said. Israel has lost 63 soldiers and three civilians, its highest corpse count since its 2006 with Leb's Hezbollah. Hundreds of soldiers have been maimed.
Large swaths of Gazoo have been destroyed and some 250,000 people have been forced to flee their homes. In Israel, much of the country has been exposed to Hamas rocket fire.
Earlier Saturday, Cabinet Minister Yuval Steinitz said Israel won't send a delegation to proposed truce talks in Cairo for now. Speaking to Israel's Channel 10 television station, he alleged that Hamas repeatedly violated previous cease-fire deals.
"That leads us to the conclusion that with this organization there is no point in speaking about an agreement or a cease-fire because we have tried it too many times," Steinitz said.
Already, there were signs of troop redeployments in Gazoo.
The Israeli military told residents of the northern Gazoo town of Beit Lahiya that it would be safe for them to return to their homes. The area, from which Gazoobully boyz had fired rockets at Israel in the past, came under heavy tank fire during Israel's ground operation, forcing thousands to flee.
Israeli troops and tanks also started a gradual pullback from the area east of the Gazoo town of Khan Younis to the border with Israel, residents and police officials there said.
Israel ended a previous major military operation in Gazoo more than five years ago with a unilateral pullback.
From an Israeli perspective, the advantage of a unilateral pullout or troop redeployment to the strip's fringes is that it can do so on its own terms, rather than becoming entangled in negotiations with Hamas. Hamas has said it will only halt fire if Israel and Egypt lift their seven-year-old border blockade of the territory.
However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... a unilateral pullback does not address the underlying causes of cross-border tensions and carries the risk of a new flare-up of violence in the future, a prospect underlined by defiant Hamas messages Saturday.
"We will continue to resist until we achieve our goals," Hamas front man Fawzi Barhoum said after Netanyahu's speech, dismissing the Israeli leader's remarks as "confused."
News of a possible reduction in Israeli military operations in Gazoo came as troops continued their search for infantry 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin. The military has said it believes Goldin was captured in a Hamas ambush east of Rafah about an hour after Friday's internationally brokered and failed cease-fire took effect.
Hamas has distanced itself from the purported capture, saying it was "not aware until this moment of a missing soldier or his whereabouts or the circumstances of his disappearance."
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the space pirate fleet to attack Zemblonia... the extent of destruction around Rafah became clear after intense Israeli shelling in response to Goldin's suspected capture killed 70 and maimed some 450.
Entire apartment buildings in Rafah were flattened. Rescue teams sprayed water on charred rubble as families searched the wreckage for any salvageable belongings. Nearly two dozen bodies wrapped in blood-stained white cloth lay piled on the ground and the shelves of a cold storage room in a flower farm.
The farm's owner, Ghazi Hijazi, said the Health Ministry asked him to keep the bodies.
Imad Baroud, his wife and three kids fled by foot from their home near the Gazoo-Egypt border to his parents' home in the center of Rafah to escape the shelling. He said his home was hit by artillery shells immediately after they left.
"The situation could not be described in words. The kids were yelling, they were scared, my wife was scared. I felt death was close," Baroud said.
Goldin's family, meanwhile, spoke to news hounds Saturday, urging the government not to leave their son behind in Gazoo.
"It is inconceivable that now we will leave Gazoo with my brother kidnapped inside. That is a real failure," said his brother, Hemi Golden.
His mother, Hedva, was more assertive: "He was sent there to protect Israel. I demand from the state of Israel that it not leave Gazoo until it brings my son home."
Paleostinian officials reported more than 150 Israeli Arclight airstrikes Saturday across Gazoo, including several against mosques and one against the Hamas-linked Islamic University in Gazoo City. Heavy shelling also continued along the border areas.
The Israeli military said it struck 200 targets over the previous 24 hours. It said it attacked five mosques that concealed weapons and that the Islamic University was being used as a research and weapons manufacturing site for Hamas. The claim could not be independently verified.
Gazoo Death Eaters, meanwhile, fired about 90 rockets at Israel since midnight, according to the Israeli military. Seven were intercepted by Israel's rocket defense system, it said, while a mortar attack seriously injured a 70-year-old Israeli civilian.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Hamas engagingly reprises the Black Knight bit from MP & the Holy Grail.
[Al Ahram] Two people were killed Saturday when gunnies stormed a police post in eastern Leb after clashing with army troops following the arrest of an alleged Syrian jihadist, security sources said.
The two men were reportedly killed trying to prevent a group of gunnies from storming the police post inside the town of Arsal, which lies on the border with Syria, security sources said.
Leb's official National News Agency also reported the attack and deaths.
Local media reported that the gunnies were holding a number of coppers, but there was no immediate confirmation.
A security source said the gunnies had also briefly detained several soldiers, but they were subsequently released.
Security sources and residents said troops and unidentified gunnies exchanged fire after the detention of Imad Ahmed Jomaa, a suspected member of Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian affiliate of Al-Qaeda.
The festivities broke out near Arsal, where many residents support the uprising against Syria's Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... .
Local media said the army had deployed in force in the area after gunnies surrounded several army checkpoints following the arrest, and that two military helicopters were headed to the region.
The army said in a statement it had tossed in the clink Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! Jomaa at noon and that he had admitted to belonging to Al-Nusra Front.
Arsal is a predominantly Sunni town hosting tens of thousands of Syrian refugees and has supported the Sunni-led uprising against Assad.
The area has been the scene of frequent tensions with Lebanese security forces, as well as air raids and cross-border shelling by Syrian troops who say they are targeting rebels holed up in the mountainous region.
Al-Nusra Front has been fighting against Syrian government forces along with other rebel groups.
It has also fought against the Islamic State (IS), a radical jihadist group which has declared a "caliphate" in territory it has seized straddling Syria and Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] At least 50 jihadists from the Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front were killed overnight by Syrian troops backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters near the Lebanese border, a monitor said Saturday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the jihadists clashed throughout Friday night and into Saturday morning with the regime troops and allied forces in the Qalamun region by the Lebanese border.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Gunmen on Saturday encircled several Lebanese army checkpoints near Arsal on the border with Syria after troops detained a suspected member of a Syrian jihadist rebel group, security sources said.
The standoff close to the town, many of whose residents support the uprising against Syria's Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... , came after the arrest at a checkpoint.
"Armed groups surrounded army checkpoints in the Arsal area after the detention of Syrian Imad Ahmed Jomaa who is linked to Al-Nusra Front," a security source said.
He did not specify how many army checkpoints had been surrounded or identify the gunnies.
In a statement, the army said it had locked away Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! Jomaa at noon and that he had admitted to belonging to Al-Nusra Front, which is Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate.
A local official told AFP that the situation in the area was "tense" and the security source said the army was "ready for all eventualities," including possible attacks on the checkpoints.
Arsal is a predominantly Sunni town hosting tens of thousands of Syrian refugees and has supported the Sunni-led uprising against Assad.
The area has been the scene of frequent tensions with Lebanese security forces, as well as air raids and shelling by Syrian troops across the border who say they are targeting rebel forces holed up in the mountainous region.
Al-Nusra Front has been fighting against Syrian government forces along with other rebel groups.
It has also fought against the Islamic State (IS), a radical jihadist group which has declared a "caliphate" in territory it has seized straddling Syria and Iraq.
Despite the conflict between the two jihadist groups, they have also fought alongside each other in some areas of Syria, including the Qalamun region which borders Leb.
A monitoring group said at least 50 members of Al-Nusra and the IS were killed in fighting in the area late Friday against regime troops and their allies from Leb's Shiite movement Hezbollah.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Nusra
[Iran Press TV] Gunmen have attacked a Lebanese police post near the border with Syria, killing at least two people after the country's soldiers detained a leader of foreign-backed Death Eaters fighting the Syrian government.
A security source said gunnies surrounded an army checkpoint in Arsal on Saturday, exchanging fire with Lebanese troops. Two people were killed in the shootout.
Another official said the gunnies also took control of the main cop shoppe in the town, but he did not provide further details.
The conflict occurred hours after the Lebanese army said it has detained Imad Ahmed Jomaa, who identified himself as a leader of al-Qaeda-linked Death Eaters and admitted to belonging to al-Nusra Front.
Al-Nusra Front along with other Lion of Islam groups has been fighting against the Syrian government.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Nusra
Tribesmen have risen up against the Islamic State group in eastern Syria, forcing it to withdraw from three villages after heavy clashes that killed more than a dozen people, activists said on Saturday.
The violence in eastern Syria came amid tension on the border with Lebanon after an ambush killed dozens of opposition fighters. The Lebanese army said in a statement that troops also detained Syrian citizen Imad Ahmad Jomaa, who identified himself as a member of Syria’s Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.
A Lebanese army general said that after Jomaa’s capture, gunmen deployed in Lebanon’s border village of Arsal near army positions. He said the government sent reinforcements to the area.
Arsal is home to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees and rebels enjoy wide support among its population. Syria’s civil war has spilled over to Lebanon on several occasions, leaving scores dead.
The tribesmen’s rise against the Islamic State group was the first sign of local resistance to the extremists since its fighters captured large parts of the oil-rich eastern province of Deir El Zour in recent weeks.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Turkey-based activist Mustafa Osso said the group was forced to bring in reinforcements from neighbouring Iraq after members of the Shueitat tribe drove the fighters out of the villages of Kishkiyeh, Abu Hamam and Granij.
Wonder if the Iraqi army can take advantage of that...
The Observatory, a Britain-based group relying on activists inside Syria, said tribesmen torched the local headquarters of the Islamic State group in the nearby town of Ashara and that residents demonstrated against the group.
Osso and the Observatory said fighting first broke out on Wednesday after militants detained three tribesmen, allegedly breaking an agreement between the two sides reached after Islamic State fighters captured the villages.
“There has been wide resentment recently because of Islamic State’s acts,” said Osso, who is in contact with activists in different parts of Syria. He said one of the group’s top commanders, an ethnic Chechen known as Omar Al Shishani, is believed to be leading the militants in the area.
Osso added about Deir El-Zour: “This is a very important area for Islamic State because it is rich with oil and borders Iraq.”
The Observatory said tribesmen captured the nearby Tanak oil field on Friday. It added that the Islamic State group has sent a large number of fighters from the Iraqi border town of Qaim to reinforce the group’s positions.
The Observatory said four days of fighting killed nine militants, three tribesmen and five civilians.
In a separate incident, the Observatory said Syrian troops and members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group ambushed a large number of opposition fighters in the Qalamoun region near the Lebanese border on Saturday, killing at least 50 of them. It said seven troops and Hezbollah fighters were killed in the fighting.
Syrian state television reported clashes in Qalamoun that killed “tens of terrorists.” Syrian media refers to all opposition fighters as terrorists.
Government troops backed by Hezbollah fighters have seized nearly all the strategic Qalamoun region since launching an offensive there last November, severing rebel supply lines from neighbouring Lebanon.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/03/2014 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.
[Al Ahram] Fire tore through 
[Al Ahram] Royal Jordanian, one of the main airlines serving Iraq, said on Saturday it had suspended all flights to Baghdad for at least 24 hours on security grounds. 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
