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Nine Qaida Militants Killed in Yemen Drone Strike
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
5 23:24 newc [6]
9 19:48 lord garth [10]
5 16:18 Flusort Choluting2730 [5]
4 21:48 USN, Ret. [7]
12 21:09 junkiron [8]
1 09:25 ed in texas [2]
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7 19:18 SteveS [5]
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9 23:20 newc [8]
6 15:04 Airandee [4]
3 12:27 Redneck Jim [2]
Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
15 20:48 OldSpook [10]
7 18:54 KBK [5]
9 23:06 Barbara [8]
Africa Horn
Burhakaba mayor killed in Shaboob ambush
WANLAWEYN, Somalia -- Suspected Al Shabaab gunmen killed Bay regional district of Burhakaba mayor in pre-planned ambush near Baledogle airport, some 90km west of Mogadishu on Saturday, Garowe Online reports.

Late Mohamed Hassan Ali Mamow was travelling along Mogadishu-Baidoa road when militants sprayed his car with bullets. One bodyguard who was accompanying Mamow on the road trip died in the gun attack according to witnesses.

Balidogle airport is situated a few kilometers away from Lower Shabelle region town of Wanlaweyn.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:


Nine killed in twin bomb attack in Somali town
Mogadishu: At least nine people were killed Friday in a twin bomb attack in the central Somali town of Baidoa, police said, the latest in a string of attacks. Two of those killed were journalists and three others were among the scores wounded, colleagues said.

"A suicide bomber detonated himself amongst a crowd of people drinking at a busy teashop in the town. We have so far counted at least nine civilians, among them journalists, who died in the attack," police officer Abdirasak Ali told AFP.

Minutes later a second blast exploded as rescuers went to help those who had been wounded.

"A second explosion, a car loaded with explosives parked nearby, went off as rescuers rushed to the scene, and that caused most of the casualties," Ali added.
Standard splodydope strategy...
The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) said in a statement that it was "saddened at the murder of two journalists and three others wounded in ... the latest and biggest journalists` fatality in a single day in 2014."

The attack comes a day after a new federal regional leader took power in Baidoa, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of the capital Mogadishu.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Somalia`s Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab rebels have previously carried out repeated attacks in the town as part of their fight to overthrow the country`s internationally-backed government.

Witnesses described a scene of carnage, with bodies of wounded victims scattered around the blast site.

"I saw the dead body of seven civilians including a journalist, two other journalists were also wounded," said local resident Abdirahman Hussein.

"Many people were wounded so I fear that the number who are killed could increase."

Recent Shebab attacks in Somalia have targeted key government and security sites in an apparent bid to discredit claims by the authorities and African Union troops that they are winning the war.

On Thursday they wounded an MP and killed a former lawmaker in Mogadishu, while on Wednesday a Shebab suicide bomber killed four when they rammed a car packed with explosives into a United Nations convoy.

The Shebab have also stepped up operations in neighbouring Kenya, and on Tuesday massacred 36 non-Muslim quarry workers in a Kenyan border town.
An Nahar adds:
The toll from a twin bomb attack in the central Somali town of Baidoa has risen to 15, police said on Saturday, as the president decried what he called a desperate strike.

"The number of people who were confirmed dead are fifteen," said Somali police official Osmail Mohamed.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Shaboobs claim to shoot down Kenyan jet
KISMAYO, Somalia -- As Kenya is fending off wave of terror threats, Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab militants claimed credit for Kenyan fighter jet crash on Thursday, Garowe Online reports. The warplane was shot down shortly after it returned from combat mission according to sources close to Islamist insurgents.

Kenyan Air Force made strikes against Al Shabaab hideouts near Buula Gadud, some 50 km west of the southern port city of Kismayo.

A statement released by army reveals that the warplane developed mid-air mechanical crisis and subsequently crashed.
Mid-air mechanical crisis due to sudden, rapidly embedded missile fragments?
Independent sources in Kismayo tell Garowe Online that jets had since been pummeling Al Shabaab bases in the riverside village of Gosha.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Egypt Adds New Measures Against Terror Recruitment
[Ynet] Egyptian airport officials say authorities have enacted new rules that ban their countrymen from travelling to Turkey without a permit, a move intended to stem bully boy recruitment.

They say Egyptians aged 18-40 now need to apply for security clearance in central Cairo ahead of departure to Turkey. Over 200 people have been barred over the past 24 hours.

Interior Ministry front man Hany Abdel-Latif says the new measure was an effort to prevent Egyptians from traveling through Turkey to join bully boy groups in Syria. Security officials estimate that hundreds of Egyptians are fighting alongside bully boyz in Syria and Iraq.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Arabia
Nine Qaida Militants Killed in Yemen Drone Strike
[AnNahar] Drone strikes killed nine suspected al-Qaeda gunnies Saturday in southeast Yemen, where the U.S. military launched a failed operation last month to rescue an American hostage, security and tribal sources said.

"Several drone strikes have targeted al-Qaeda positions in Nusab (in Shabwa province), killing nine members of the network," a security source told AFP.

A tribal leader said soldiers of an unknown nationality were seen parachuting into the area and festivities ensued, suggesting it could be a new operation to try to free the U.S. hostage.

It was not immediately possible to verify that information.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000...
(AQAP) on Thursday threatened the imminent execution of U.S. journalist Luke Somers who was kidnapped more than a year ago in Sanaa.

The United States has said that American and Yemeni forces recently tried unsuccessfully to rescue Somers.

According to Yemen's defense ministry, al-Qaeda moved hostages, including the U.S. journalist, a Briton and a South African, days before last month's U.S.-Yemeni raid in southeastern Hadramawt province.

Yemen is a key U.S. ally in the fight against al-Qaeda, allowing Washington to conduct a longstanding drone war against the group on its territory.

AQAP is considered by Washington as the most dangerous affiliate of al-Qaeda.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Europe
Sunni Sentenced for Deadly Arson Attack on Belgian Shiite Mosque
[AnNahar] A Moroccan man who admitted setting fire to a Shiite mosque in Brussels to protest the crackdown on fellow Sunnis in Syria was sentenced to 27 years in prison on Friday for the attack that killed the imam.
"Don't you bring your nasty religious war into our pretty country," said the judge.
Rachid El-Boukhari, 35, had denied intending to kill the preacher at the main Shiite mosque in the Belgian capital.
"Insh'allah," he added, piously. "It shall be as God wills."
Boukhari, who describes himself as Sunni, had risked a life sentence for carrying out the attack on the Rida mosque just before evening prayers on March 12, 2012.

But earlier on Friday, he was cleared of a "terrorist offence" but found guilty of "arson causing death" under the "aggravating circumstances" that the attack was "based on religion."

Prosecutors had asked the court for a 30-year sentence.

"Yes, I knew that there was at least one or two people in the mosque when I set it on fire," the defendant had told the Brussels court during the trial.

"But I thought they would leave through the door. The problem is that one of these people shut the door and we all found ourselves shut inside the building," he said.

"I didn't think a man would die. I just wanted to wake up the Shiites," he said, denying he intended to kill.

Boukhari was tossed in the clink
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
at the scene after he allegedly hurled abuse at Shiites, blaming them for the repression in Syria. Armed with an axe and a knife, he poured petrol on the building and set fire to it.

The fire spread quickly through the mosque and the imam, Abdellah Dahdouh, a 47-year-old father of four, succumbed to the fumes after having first tried to put out the blaze.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


Home Front: WoT
Chinese Man Extradited to U.S. on Nuclear Smuggling Charges
[AnNahar] A Chinese man accused of smuggling "highly sensitive" parts for nuclear production to Iran was extradited to Boston on Friday where he will face federal charges.

Sihai Cheng, charged alongside an Iranian man and two Iranian businesses, allegedly exported pressure sensors to Iran that could be used to manufacture nuclear weapons, a government statement said.

Cheng was tossed in the clink
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
in February by British authorities and extradited to the United States. He is scheduled to appear in federal court next week.

U.S. sanctions prohibit the export of specific items to Iran due to its nuclear program, which Western powers and Israel say aims to build weapons. Iran adamantly denies the charges..

According to the government indictment, Cheng supplied thousands of parts manufactured in the U.S. to the company Eyvaz, identified by the European Council as an entity implicated in Iranian nuclear or ballistic missile activity.

The pressure sensor parts were illegally obtained from the Massachusetts-based MKS Instruments, the U.S. government claims.

According to the indictment, Cheng would ship the transducers to Iran upon receiving them in China, with the help of Iranian Seyed Jamili.

The pressure sensors can be used in gas centrifuges to "convert natural uranium into a form that can be used for nuclear weapons," the indictment said.

Cheng faces a maximum of 35 years in prison.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Cheng faces a maximum of 35 years in prison ... Good !
Posted by: Buzz the Prolific1786 || 12/07/2014 10:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Cheng faces a maximum of 35 years in prison.

What if millions of people die?
Posted by: gorb || 12/07/2014 14:10 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Key Taliban commander, three others handed over to Pakistan
PESHAWAR: Latif Mehsud, a close aide of former Pakistani Taliban chief Hakeemullah Mehsud, has been handed over to Pakistani authorities along with his two guards and a broker, sources said on Saturday night.

High placed official sources told Dawn.com that Latif Mehsud, the then number-two of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud, was arrested along with his guards and a tribesman, Shah Jehan on Pak-Afghan border by the Afghan National Army.

Latif was crossing the border allegedly to buy weapons at the time of the arrest.
What, the ISI wasn't delivering?
The militants were then snatched by troops from NATO and the Afghan National Army. The former TTP commander was under the Afghan and NATO troops custody for some time and reportedly was handed over to Pakistani authorities after the recent visit of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to Pakistan.

The Pakistani authorities had been demanding the return of the arrested TTP commanders. The other two militants handed over to Pakistan have been identified as Jafar and Aziz.
"Sorry you guys were held like that in Afghanistan. Why don't you settle in here at the Peshawar Hilton and take the month off to recuperate?"
Posted by: Steve White || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  "a little R&R and you'll be right as rain and ready to go back"
Posted by: Frank G || 12/07/2014 7:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Annual performance management checkin with leadership.
Posted by: Airandee || 12/07/2014 9:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Probably a seminar on proper covert access and egress as well.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/07/2014 9:38 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Officials: 2 Bombings Kill 7 People In Iraq
[Ynet] Two bombings targeting Shiites on Saturday have killed seven people around the capital, Baghdad, authorities in Iraq said.

Police officials said the first attack took place Saturday morning when a bomb went kaboom! near a market in the Shiite section of the town of Mahmoudiya, killing five people and wounding 12. Mahmoudiya is 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of the capital.

Later Saturday, police say a bomb attached to a mini-bus went kaboom! in the capital's northeastern suburb of Husseiniyah, killing two passengers and wounding nine.

Nobody immediately grabbed credit for the attacks, but Islamic murderous Moslems frequently attacks Shiites whom they consider as heretics.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Report: Iran Confirms Air Strikes In Iraq Against Islamic State
[Ynet] A senior Iranian official has confirmed his country carried out air strikes in neighboring Iraq against Islamic State fighters at the request of Iraqi authorities, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported.

It quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Rahimpour as saying the strikes were not coordinated with the United States, which is also waging an air campaign against the radical Sunni Muslim militants who control large parts of north and west Iraq.

The purpose of the strikes was "the defense of the interests of our friends in Iraq", the newspaper quoted Rahimpour as saying in an interview in London.

"We did not have any coordination with the Americans. We have coordinated only with the Iraqi government," he said. "In general, every military operation to help the Iraqi government is according to their requests."
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  And a big "I told you so" from Rantburg to the dopes in the White House.

Of course, how do we know it was not coordinated from the WH, after all ValJar is Iranian.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 12/07/2014 12:11 Comments || Top||

#2  how do we know it was not coordinated from the WH

Realistically, the WH was probably in the "oh, by the way" portion of the cycle. I suspect the Iraqis agreed to do the coordination between the Iranians and CENTCOM.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/07/2014 12:54 Comments || Top||


Islamic State Kill 16 From Iraqi Tribe
[Ynet] Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
fighters kidnapped and killed 16 members of an Iraqi tribe which has fought the Sunni bad boy group in the western province of Anbar, a tribal leader and a hospital source said on Saturday.

Tribal chief Sheikh Naeem al-Ga'oud told Rooters Islamic State captured the men from the Albu Nimr tribe three days ago. Responding to a tip, tribal members searched a location about 10 km (6 miles) north of the town of Hit, and found their bodies in a water well.
Poisoning the well, literally. Just the kind of thing they do.
The bodies were transferred to a hospital in Hit, where a doctor said they had bullet wounds to the head and chest.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


ISIL leader arrested for leaking plans -- by ISIL
The Islamic State of Iraq and Levant terrorists arrested their leader one day after dismissing him from his post.

Local source stated to IraqiNews.com, "The ISIL terrorists arrested "Wali al-Mosul", Momar Tohla, on charges of leaking security plans of the terrorists and helping the International Coalition to target the ISIL elements."
Wali ain't gonna feel so good real soon now...
"They appoint Abu Qalot to replace him," the source concluded.
If we had a CIA worth anything we'd snatch Wali and get him to sing...
Posted by: Steve White || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Intense airstrikes against ISIL in Anbar
The International Coalition conducted intense airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant terrorists in Anbar. Security source stated to IraqiNews.com, "The strikes were mainly in al-Rasheed neighborhood of Rawa district."

"Leading ISIL figures were killed in the strikes," the source concluded.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Bomb explosion targets pilgrims in Baghdad
Seven pilgrims who were heading towards karbala province from Baghdad were either killed or injured due to a bomb explosion in eastern Baghdad on Saturday.

Security official told IraqiNews.com, "A bomb exploded in Filisteen Road of eastern Baghdad targeting pilgrims heading towards Karbala province," noting that" The explosion resulted in killing two pilgrims and injuring five others."

"Security forces cordoned off the explosion area while the dead bodies were transferred to the morgue and the injuries were sent for hospital for treatment," the source concluded.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "It's all part of the Ali Travel Package™"
Posted by: Frank G || 12/07/2014 12:24 Comments || Top||

#2  On pilgrimage to see St. Ali
And pray and maybe join a rally,
I met a man with such a harem
To think of counting them would scare him;
Now, all his wives wore seven veils
(I'm almost sure that none were males);
And each wife herded seven goats
With perfumed oil on curried coats;
Astride each goat, a proud macaque,
And on each monkey's belt, a sack,
From which, as Termagant enjoins,
From time to time they pulled out coins
To toss the poor by way of alms...
Till Sunni dogs replied with bombs!
Can any count the final tally?
How many went to see St. Ali?
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 12/07/2014 17:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Ona my way to St. Ives I met a man with seven wives,
Although you may think Ima looney,
I know this sounds absurd and looney.
I swear that man was Mickey Rooney.


From Memory Ex MAD circa '68
Posted by: Shipman || 12/07/2014 17:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Whoops oh dear I FU a classic.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/07/2014 17:30 Comments || Top||


8 Terrorists killed in Anbar
Eight terrorists affiliated to what is so called the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant were killed in Anbar province. A security source told Iraqi News, "The Iraqi army soldiers clashed with the terrorists killing eight of them and detonating their car bomb in Hoz area of Anbar province."
Much better kill ratio, 8 to 0, for the security forces...
Posted by: Steve White || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Swiss Birdwatcher Escapes Islamist Captors In Philippines
[IsraelTimes] A Swiss man kidnapped by Islamic holy warriors in the Philippines nearly three years ago escaped on Saturday after a fierce struggle with one of his captors over a machete and a frantic run to freedom under gunfire, the military said.

Lorenzo Vinciguerra took advantage of a pre-dawn assault by soldiers on his Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
abductors in the jungles of a remote southern island to make his bold escape, the local military spokeswoman told AFP.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf

#1  Swiss birdwatcher Lorenzo Vinciguerra


riiiggghhtt
Posted by: Frank G || 12/07/2014 12:25 Comments || Top||

#2  the Italian-speaking Swiss (Svizzeri italiani), traditionally speakers of Lombard language (Ticinese variety) today partly assimilated to the standard Italian language, amalgamated from Raetians and Lombards. They are closely related to the Italians (especially Lombards and Piedmontese).
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/07/2014 12:53 Comments || Top||

#3  The shitbirds who snared this Swiss birder
Have learned he was not a converter.
If they had reflected,
They might have suspected:
His name sang of organised murder.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 12/07/2014 17:21 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria Accuses Israel of Air Strikes Near Damascus
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/07/2014 13:16 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  maybe it was Iran :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 12/07/2014 13:27 Comments || Top||

#2  The Israelis probably found something unacceptable headed for Hizb'allah... or one of the rebel groups has improved their sneaking techniques.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/07/2014 15:03 Comments || Top||

#3  You're a failed state, shut up.
Posted by: chris || 12/07/2014 16:16 Comments || Top||

#4  From Ynet:

Former Free Syrian Army commander: Israel struck arms shipment to Hezbollah

Salim Idris, former head of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, spoke to a subsidiary station of the Al Arabiya news channel on Sunday, saying that the target of the alleged airstrike in Syria may have been shipments of weapons that were to be delivered to Hezbollah.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/07/2014 16:19 Comments || Top||

#5  This is the remaining S-300 system ASSad was buying. Hezbollah was staging the rockets on the Israeli border.

There is also a green light on Iran.
Posted by: newc || 12/07/2014 22:42 Comments || Top||


Hizbullah Repels Incursion by Terrorists into Tufail
[AnNahar] Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
reportedly repelled an incursion by terrorist groups into the Lebanese eastern border village of Tufail, As Safir newspaper reported on Saturday.

According to the daily, armed terrorist groups tried to infiltrate into the town overnight but Hizbullah fighters in the village forced them to retreat.

The newspaper said that the situation in the town was under control.

In April, Tufail was isolated after the only road that leads to the town came under the control of Syrian government troops.

The town is located at the end of the eastern mountain belt's plains, in an area that is 24 kilometers inside Syrian territories. Tufail is surrounded by Syrian lands to its north, east and south, and by the Lebanese villages of Ham, Maarboun and Brital to its west.

More than 4,000 Christian and Moslem Lebanese nationals reside in Tufail, among them there are around 25 soldiers in the army. The village also hosts some 5,000 Syrian refugees.

The state-run National News Agency reported on Friday that fierce festivities erupted between the Lebanese army and gunnies on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal.

Jihadists from al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra
...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant...
Front and the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group are entrenched on the outskirts of Arsal on the porous Syrian-Lebanese border.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Hizbullah Repels Incursion by Terrorists into Tufail

Words fail
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/07/2014 7:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Hizbullah Repels Terrorists

What?!
Posted by: jvalentour || 12/07/2014 8:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Savor the irony.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/07/2014 9:39 Comments || Top||


Army Targets Militant Posts on Outskirts of Arsal
[AnNahar] The Lebanese army targeted on Saturday posts for snuffies on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal with heavy artillery, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA, said that the shelling was accompanied by a reconnaissance plane that fired surface-to-air missile.

Causalities were inflicted, the news agency said, without specifying further details.

On Friday, fierce festivities erupted between the Lebanese army and gunnies on the outskirts of Arsal.

Jihadists from al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra
...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant...
Front and the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group are entrenched on the outskirts of the town on the porous Syrian-Lebanese border.

The army engaged in a fierce shootout in August with jihadists who streamed across the border.

Fighting ended with a truce mediated by holy mans, but the jihadists took with them the Lebanese army and police hostages.

At least four have since been executed and Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
i-led efforts to free the rest have so far failed.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Syria Says Repels Islamic State Attack On Air Base
[Ynet] Islamic State trying to take over oilfields in Deir al-Zor in offensive that saw 51 Assad troops, 68 IS fighters killed so far in three days.

A Syrian military source said on Saturday that government forces had repelled an attack by Islamic State bully boyz on an air base in the eastern province of Deir al-Zor, one of the last remaining government stronghold in eastern Syria.

Islamic State has been under pressure from US air strikes in Syria since September, but that has not stopped it from launching attacks on Assad's forces and other targets to expel government forces and rival rebels
The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamic State fighters broke into the Deir al-Zor air base at dawn on Saturday but were forced to retreat. It said 119 fighters on both sides were killed.

A Syrian security source, when asked about the breach, said: "The murderous Moslems have been unable to control the air base."

The al-Qaeda offshoot Islamic State has been gradually consolidating control of the oil-producing Deir al-Zor province this year. Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
's forces have held on to the local military air base and parts of the lovely provincial capital.

The Observatory said 51 of Assad's forces and 68 members of Islamic State had been killed in the three-day offensive.

"Elements of the Islamic State also pulled out of a mountain overlooking Deir al-Zor due to intense shelling," the Observatory said.

State media said on Saturday that the army had killed "a number of terrorists" in al Jufra, an area close to the airport.

Islamic State has been under pressure from US air strikes in Syria since September, but that has not stopped it from launching attacks on Assad's forces and other targets to expel government forces and rival rebels.
I'm impressed. No doubt someone here will explain to me why.
The Twitter account of the US embassy in Syria said late on Friday that a US air strike in Deir al-Zor had hit Islamic State targets: three vehicles, an excavator and a training camp.

It was unclear whether the attacks took place near the base.
Another Ynet article points out:
The Islamic State group is trying to capture the air base and a nearby barracks known as Brigade 137 to eliminate the main pocket of resistance in the area and provide a major morale and propaganda boost after a string of setbacks in recent weeks.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  A couple of pictures of Americans fighting with the Kurdish forces stopping in at a Christian Church and participating in a worship service in the Kurdistan part of Syria goes viral among Kurdish social media.


Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 || 12/07/2014 14:47 Comments || Top||

#2  YPG is now beginning to publish the faces ISIS dead in videos before burying them to discourage anyone around the world from thinking about joining ISIS. They then post those videos on YouTube.

Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 || 12/07/2014 15:01 Comments || Top||

#3  That may be Ebbo, but the foto you have posted at #2 is of Marines sleeping in foxholes in a FOB somewhere. Note the e-tool and M4 on the lower right of the foto.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/07/2014 15:09 Comments || Top||

#4  Thank you Besoeker. These photos were supposedly provided by reporting from Rojava area of Syria, so I will look into that source to determine legitimacy in regards to future sourcing. There is a lot of information from that area that I disregard due to inaccruacy, but there is some that is accurate.

YPJ taking up a position in a front line position yards away from ISIS.

Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 || 12/07/2014 15:32 Comments || Top||

#5  The photo Besoeker authenticated as a US FOB was mixed in with photos released this morning such that claim to show ISIS dead from Northern Syria during action in the past few days. This appears to be authentic.

Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 || 12/07/2014 15:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Kurdish YPG and YPJ covered in dust after several days fighting from positions on the front lines.

Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 || 12/07/2014 15:44 Comments || Top||

#7  Yes, those lads in #5 are definitely taking the long, long nap.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/07/2014 16:57 Comments || Top||

#8  and 72 sturgeons each
Posted by: Frank G || 12/07/2014 17:19 Comments || Top||


Syria's Al-Qaeda Offshoot Nusra Says It Killed Lebanese Soldier
[Ynet] Syria's al-Qaeda offshoot Nusra said on Friday it killed a captive Lebanese soldier in retaliation for the arrest by Lebanese authorities of women identified as wives of Islamist murderous Moslems.

The soldier was one of more than two dozen members of the security forces taken captive by faceless myrmidons affiliated to the Nusra Front and Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
when they staged an attack on the Lebanese border town of Arsal in August.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/07/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Terror Networks
French government on high alert after unexplained drone flights over nuclear power stations
An epidemic of mysterious -- and potentially disturbing -- drone flights over French nuclear power stations remains unexplained despite the recent arrests of three young model aircraft enthusiasts in central France.

The illegal flights by the tiny, pilotless helicopters, mostly at night, were initially dismissed as a nuisance. But a recent spate of five co-ordinated "visits" in one evening to nuclear reactors hundreds of miles apart has now placed the French government on high alert.

A campaign of harassment by anti-nuclear campaigners is considered the most likely explanation. Surveillance flights by a terrorist group testing the security of France's 19 nuclear sites have not been ruled out. Then, last Wednesday, three people, two men aged 24 and 31 and a woman of 21, were arrested close to a power station at Belleville-sur-Loire in Cher. Police said the three were about to launch a relatively simple drone -- a type sold on the internet for around €100 (£78).
Did it have wireless streaming video?
They face possible charges but are not suspected of being responsible for the score of intrusions by much more elaborate drones in the restricted airspace over 13 nuclear power stations since early October. "They appear to be model aircraft enthusiasts," a source in the investigation told the newspaper Le Parisien. "The machine they were using was sophisticated enough but not military or professional. It was a toy. Whether they were doing it for fun or they had some political motive is not yet clear."
My father is a model airplane enthusiast; he's been flying them for 50+ years. Not once has he flown one around or over a nuclear power station. What are the first names of these three 'enthusiasts'?
Posted by: 3dc || 12/07/2014 11:13 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  France gets most of it's electricity from nuke plants, something like 80% if memory serves.

Is there any net difference between anti-nuke activists and terrorist groups? Their philosophical underpinnings may differ but the end goal of stopping Western civilization is the same.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/07/2014 12:01 Comments || Top||

#2  What is taking place in Paris.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/07/2014 13:55 Comments || Top||

#3  "French government on high alert" has been, unfortunately, for a number of years been a metaphor for 'hiding under their desks'.
It will be instructive to see what it means in real life.
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/07/2014 14:26 Comments || Top||

#4  My drone always defaults towards the nearest pool.
Srsly.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/07/2014 17:33 Comments || Top||

#5  The French are struggling to figure out how to surrender to a Drone,
Posted by: Airandee || 12/07/2014 20:18 Comments || Top||

#6  What are the first names of these three 'enthusiasts'?

Larbi (Larry) Mobeen (Moe) Chokri (Curly)

Posted by: Hupoluck Phising1425 || 12/07/2014 23:26 Comments || Top||



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Thu 2014-12-04
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Wed 2014-12-03
  Reports: Army Detains Wife of al-Baghdadi, Family of Nusra Official
Tue 2014-12-02
  Al-Shabab massacres infidels at Kenyan quarry
Mon 2014-12-01
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Sun 2014-11-30
  ISIS Executes 10 Doctors, Evacuates Hospitals To Treat Its Wounded In Mosul
Sat 2014-11-29
  Islamic State Sets Off Suicide Bombs On Turkey Border, Attacks Kobani
Fri 2014-11-28
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Thu 2014-11-27
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Wed 2014-11-26
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Tue 2014-11-25
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