[IsraelTimes] Hundreds of families in Rafah to be evicted as Cairo ramps up crackdown on arms smuggling to Islamists in the Sinai
Egypt has in recent days begun the second stage of creating a buffer zone between the Sinai Peninsula and the Gazoo Strip.
The current zone is being expanded from 500 meters to a kilometer, which means the destruction of some 1,200 homes in Egyptian Rafah. However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... The Times of Israel has learned, there will be additional stages, which will ultimately expand the buffer zone to between 1,500 and 2,000 meters.
Gazans do like to dig, and Hamas needs that smuggling income.
The plan will result in the eviction of hundreds of families from the area, initially to El-Arish and in the future to New Rafah, a suburb of sorts that is to be built next to the current Rafah, and New Ismailiya, which will be built near the existing city on the banks of the Suez Canal.
These buffer zones are meant to help the Egyptian military in its fight against the fundamentalist Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis ...Supporters of Jerusalem, the current pen name of al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula... group, which has recently joined 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.... , at least symbolically. The army?s operation in the Sinai has been continuous in recent months, with 16-17 Egyptian battalions operating in the peninsula. The forces include commando, armored, and infantry units.
By the army?s estimates, the operation is bearing fruit, and has forced dozens of jihadis to flee the Sinai for Libya. There has also been a sharp decline in terrorism in the Sinai.
By the army?s estimates, the operation is bearing fruit, and has forced dozens of jihadis to flee the Sinai for Libya. There has also been a sharp decline in terrorism in the Sinai, and what activity remains is concentrated in the northeastern corner of the peninsula, in Rafah and Sheikh Zaid.
Egyptian intelligence has specific information on assistance that Sinai snuffies have been receiving from the Gazoo Strip. Many activists trained in Gazoo, and received arms there that they have been using against Egyptian forces.
That is the source of the urgency around creating the buffer zone: the goal is to cut the jihadis off from their Gazoo supply route. On Monday Egyptian media reported on a jihadist cell that enjoyed considerable help from Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, and tried to infiltrate Sinai through tunnels. Most of the tunnels aren?t open, but occasionally smugglers on both sides of the border manage to build a new one. The Egyptian army recently uncovered a 1,700-meter passage.
Gazans really do like to dig.
Cairo has received cooperation from residents of Egyptian Rafah,
"You gonna cooperate, or do my men gotta shoot you?"
"Of course we'll happily cooperate, Effendi, out of patriotic love for our ancient nation. Please don't hurt us!"
even though locals are only being given a couple of hundred dollars for every home destroyed in the process of creating the buffer zone.
Egyptian intelligence also recently identified another smuggling route other than the tunnels ? the sea. Though there is a fence stretching out to sea along the Sinai-Egypt border, smugglers in Zodiac boats have been bypassing it to reach the beaches on both sides.
Most of these boats are carrying components used to build rocket launchers, and kabooms. The rockets themselves are also being assembled by the Sinai jihadis.
Construction of the initial 500-meter (550-yard) buffer zone along 10 kilometers (six miles) of the border comes after an October 24 suicide kaboom that killed 30 Egyptian soldiers. After that incident, Egypt declared a three-month emergency in parts of the northern Sinai.
The Rafah crossing is Gazoo?s only gateway to the outside world not controlled by Israel.
[AnNahar] Verging on full-blown civil war, Libya may pose an even greater threat to Europe than jihadists in Iraq and Syria, yet the international community has few tools to help resolve the crisis.
Three years after NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... intervened to help overthrow Muammar Qadaffy
Continued on Page 49
#3
I think that Libya would be a great place for all the "Moderate" Muslims in the Western world in which to relocate. It's big enough and empty enough and they could use all their "Moderate" Muslim skills to turn it into paradise on earth complete with a Southern Riviera on the Med.
#5
Inter-Act until ZF, with great apologies to Styx:
I've got a target I've been hunting, I can't be screened
My heart is umma, my pride annoying, my brain IED
So if you see me, reciting strangely, don't be surprised
I'm just a man who, needs to kill you, then somewhere to hide
To keep me alive-the bomb is now live
I cannot tell lies-I want you to die
I'm not a kuffir, without the suras, that he can not read
I've come to give you, pure mohammed, unless you all flee
I'm want my muftis, I want my calphs, and do as your told
I'm just a man whose jihadi instincts are all that I know
Its all that I know - now do as your told
Its all that I know - now do as your told
I am moderate imam,
(secret secret, I've got a secret)
who hides behind koran
(secret secret, I've got a secret)
I fool kuffirs deviously
assalamu maliki, you stinking kuffirs
salaam salaam. salaam salaam
assalamu maliki, you stinking kuffirs
salaam salaam. salaam salamm.
[AnNahar] Turkish Airlines, the last remaining foreign carrier offering flights to Libya, said Tuesday it was suspending all flights to the conflict-wracked country amid the worsening security situation.
The Turkish flag-carrier said that it had suspended flights to Misrata, its only remaining destination in the country after it had earlier pulled its flights to 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... as well as Benghazi and the inland desert city of Sebha.
"We have suspended our Misrata flights until further notice, due to operational issues," a company front man said in an email to Agence La Belle France Presse.
"Turkish Airlines is not operating any scheduled flights to Libya at the moment," the front man added.
The country has descended into chaos since dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years until he was ejected from the gene pool by his indignant citizens... was tossed and killed in a 2011 NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... -backed uprising. It has rival governments and parliaments and is awash with arms and militias.
Libya's internationally recognized government said Monday that its aircraft bombed an oil tanker off the Islamist-held port of Derna, killing two crewmen, one of them Greek, and drawing condemnation from Athens.
[AnNahar] 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... 's seizure of a key town and military base in Nigeria's far northeast has tightened its grip on the region, undermining efforts to tackle the insurgency, experts said on Tuesday.
The capture of Baga and the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) now means the Islamists control all three of Borno state's borders with Niger, Chad and Cameroon
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Reconciling with key Arab countries against Brotherhood, Doha boots political chief; Israel welcomes news, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, denies it
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... has deported Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal after hosting him for the past three years, Israel?s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
The move, first reported by a Turkish newspaper on Sunday, was swiftly denied by an official from the Islamist group.
According to a report in left-wing Turkish newspaper Aydınlık, Qatar has faced significant pressure from Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and the United Arab Emirates to deport Mashaal, amid a diplomatic reconciliation process currently underway between the small Gulf state and the Arab world.
According to CNN, citing a Hamas-run news agency, Mashaal and other Moslem Brüderbund members were most likely to head to Turkey.
On December 20, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi met with Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdul Rahman, a special envoy of Qatari leader Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. The meeting apparently ended the longstanding enmity between the two states over Qatar?s support for Hamas and the Moslem Brüderbund.
In a written message Tuesday, Israel?s Foreign Ministry congratulated Qatar for its decision to deport Mashaal.
?The Foreign Ministry, led by minister Avigdor Liberman, has advanced various moves to cause Qatar to carry out this step and stop aiding Hamas, directly and indirectly. To this end, minister Liberman and the ministry?s professional staff have acted in overt and covert tracks with Qatar and other states. We expect the Turkish government to now follow suit,? the Foreign Ministry?s message read.
But a Hamas official, Izzat al-Rishq, denied reports that Mashaal was in fact deported.
?There is no truth to reports by certain media concerning the departure of Khaled Mashaal from Qatar,? Rishq wrote on his Facebook page Tuesday afternoon.
According to Arab media reports, the deal between Egypt and Qatar included the closing of anti-Sissi Qatari news channel Al-Jazeera ... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS... Mubasher Misr on December 22; the extradition of Egyptian Moslem Brüderbund members from Qatar to Egypt; and a halt to Qatar?s funding of the Moslem Brüderbund.
If true, Mashaal?s departure from Qatar would mark the end of Hamas?s political presence in the Arab world. Expelled from Jordan in August 1999 and choosing to break ties with the Assad regime in Syria in January 2012, Mashaal has struggled ? and failed ? to foster political patrons in the tumultuous Arab Middle East.
Appearing before a gathering of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... ?s Justice and Development Party in Konya December 27, Mashaal congratulated the people of Turkey ?for having [Prime Minister Ahmet] Davutoğlu and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan? as heads of state, adding that ?a strong Turkey means a strong Paleostine ? Inshallah, God is with us and with you on the road to victory.?
Turkey already hosts krazed killer Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri, whom Israel accuses of directing terror attacks against its citizens.
[RFE/RL] Chief Chechen Ramzan Kadyrov has said that he does not see the Islamic State (IS) militant group as a threat to the Russian Federation. He said that there was no point in "scaring ourselves with various ISILs".
Kadyrov said that there was no threat that IS militants would join militants in Chechnya. He said, "We have a good intelligence network in the ranks of these terrorist hordes. This allows is to track the movement of those who are of interest to us. Moreover, it allows us to quickly send those who point the barrel at Russia on an eternal one-way trip."
Kadyrov said that the danger to Russia was that "the United States and Western countries had turned the Middle East into a giant springboard for terrorist training."
"They thought this up in order to destroy individual countries, to denigrate Islam to the whole world, to establish for many decades control over the resource-rich Middle East, to divert attention from other conflicts in this part of the world," he continued.
Echoing comments by Putin and Bashar al-Assad's other major ally, Iran, both of which have accused the United States of effectively creating the IS, Kadyrov said that the West had not learned anything from "the experience of bin Laden" and had "given birth to a new project, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi."
In November, the Chechen leader insisted that most ethnic Chechen fighters in Syria were not from Chechnya but were from the Chechen diaspora in Europe and the Middle East instead. Kadyrov has also repeatedly insisted that the Chechen Republic has extensive intelligence about Chechen fighters in Syria, and has even claimed (wrongly) that the IS's military commander in Syria, the ethnic Chechen Umar Shishani, was killed in November, the implication being that Umar had been assassinated by Kadyrov's men.
Posted by: ryuge ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
See also RELATED TOPIX > KREMLIN TALKS ABOUT ISIS THREAT TO CENTRAL ASIA, RUSSIA.
[REUTERS] North Korean military's "cyber army" has boosted its numbers to 6,000 troops, the South Korean Defence Ministry said on Tuesday, double Seoul's estimate for the force in 2013, and is working to cause "physical and psychological paralysis" in the South.
The new figure, disclosed in a ministry white paper, comes after the United States, South Korea's key ally, imposed new sanctions on North Korea for a cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment. Pyongyang has denied involvement in the attack.
For years, North Korea has been pouring resources into a sophisticated cyber-warfare cell called Bureau 121, run by the military's spy agency and staffed by some of the most talented computer experts in the country.
Its long-term target may be telecoms and energy grids in rival nations, defectors from the isolated state said.
"North Korea is currently running its 6,000 (-member) workforce for cyber warfare and performing cyber attacks for physical and psychological paralysis inside South Korea such as causing troubles for military operations and national infrastructures," the South Korean Defence Ministry said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
The increase in covert imports of Red Bull and Doritos was the tip-off.
[DAWN] The Sindh government has directed all private schools to finalise their security arrangements before the end of the winter vacation as the government is not in a position to ensure police deployment. Briefing newsmen after a meeting with police and education department officials on Tuesday, Home Secretary Dr Niaz Ali Abbasi said that the government would ensure effective patrolling around the schools under threat.
He said that the government would issue arms licences to schools within a week if they required weapons.
There would be no compromise on the security of schoolchildren, he said, adding that the private schools were earning a lot of money in the form of fees and their management could hire private security guards.
He warned the schools management to prepare a specific security plan for their vans as terrorists could plant magnet bombs in school vans and other vehicles.
It was the responsibility of the managements of the schools to make foolproof security arrangements, including fencing around school buildings, installation of CCTV cameras, allowing parking of vehicles at some distance from the school and ensuring children?s drill within the premises of the school, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
There would be no compromise on the security of schoolchildren, he said, adding that the private schools were earning a lot of money in the form of fees and their management could hire private security guards
[DAWN] The Supreme Court on Tuesday restrained a local magistrate from proceeding on the bail application of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi -- the alleged criminal mastermind of Mumbai attacks -- until Wednesday, when the apex court will take up the government?s appeal against the suspension of Lakhvi?s detention.
Also on Tuesday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued notices to Lakhvi on the appeal filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), seeking cancellation of bail granted to him by the ATC in the Mumbai attacks case.
A magistrate in Islamabad had to give a decision on the bail application by Tuesday, but a two-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, stopped the judicial officer from passing any order until Wednesday.
The court also issued notices to Lakhvi to answer the contention in the government?s appeal, to be served upon him through the Adiala Jail superintendent, where the accused is currently detained. The court issued the notice with the observation that since there was also an IHC order in favour of Lakhvi, the court was also cognizant of the requirements of the fundamental rights of its citizens. ?We will be lost if we deviate from the constitution,? Justice Khawaja observed.
In a joint appeal, the secretary interior on behalf of the federal government, district magistrate Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Islamabad senior superintendent of police, had sought the annulment of the Dec 29, 2014 IHC order, suspending Lakhvi?s detention orders.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt argued before the court that high court order was not sustainable in the light of earlier Supreme Court judgments and pointed out that Lakhvi was a member of the proscribed outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... (LeT) who was placed in durance vile Book 'im, Mahmoud! in a terrorism case.
But the court observed that the allegations against Lakhvi regarding his involvement in the Mumbai attacks was not relevant to the present appeal, since the court was only concerned with the West Pakistain Maintenance of Public Order 1960, under which Lakhvi was currently detained.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The government has admitted that despite the presence of laws monitoring the working of religious seminaries, it often becomes difficult to trace the money transacted to madressahs from abroad.
?Some madressahs are receiving financial support from Moslem countries. However, ars longa, vita brevis... it is often difficult to trace the transaction of such money,? Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ...Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz Uncle Fester Sharif. He is noted for his vocal anti-American railing in the National Assembly. However (comma) Khan told the U.S. ambassador that he was in fact pro-American but he and the PML-N would have to be critical of US actions in order to remain publicly credible. Khan cited his wife and children's US citizenship as proof, which means he's lying to one side or the other and probably both. He wears a wig, but you probably guessed that. since hair doesn't grow naturally in that shape or texture... said in a written reply to a question asked by PPP?s Sughra Imam in the Senate on Tuesday.
Also read: Action likely against seminaries involved in militancy
The questioner did not get the opportunity to ask any supplementary question as the chairman suspended the question hour to take up the 21st Constitution Amendment Bill.
The Senate?s library staff removed the annexures containing details of seminaries from the table immediately after the suspension of the question hour.
In his written reply, the interior minister said that laws under which madressahs had been registered were devolved to the provinces under the 18th Amendment, putting the responsibility on provincial governments for implementation of the laws.
He said there was ?sufficient control and vigilance? within these laws to monitor the working of seminaries, including checking their financial sources and conducting audit.
The minister said that the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2013 was dedicated to tracking down illegal transactions.
The PPP senator had asked the minister if the seminaries were receiving from some Moslem countries financial and other supports like training of holy mans and teachers and development of curriculum.
?The ministry is cognisant of some madressahs and particular classification may be associated with these in terms of security and foreign funding,? Chaudhry Nisar said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Helmet hair.
Posted by: Steven ||
01/07/2015 3:44 Comments ||
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#2
Most stuff in this world is difficult. WTF do you think they call it WORK?
[AnNahar] The United States has donated 250 mine-resistant, armor-protected vehicles (MRAPs) to the Iraqi army for use in its campaign against 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.... jihadist group, U.S. ambassador Stuart Jones said Tuesday. Sorry, East Peoria Police Department, you'll have to wait a month or two...
"The number one threat to the Iraqi security forces are roadside kabooms and vehicle-borne bombs," said Jones, whose country is leading a multinational coalition in air strikes on IS in both Iraq and Syria.
"These vehicles will save Iraqi lives and enable Iraqi security forces to win the fight" against IS, he said in a statement.
The statement did not give the cost of the MRAPs, or say when they were to be delivered, but did say Washington gave Iraq $300 million in weapons, materiel and training last year.
This included 12,000 sets of body armor, Kevlar helmets and medical kits, as well as counter-IED (homemade bomb) equipment, and included vehicle maintenance, and tank and helicopter maintenance training.
The United States will also deliver 10,000 M16A2 assault rifles to the army early this year.
The military aid comes under the strategic framework agreement between the two countries.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Are they taking back the one they gave my local police force? It takes up half their parking lot.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
01/07/2015 7:32 Comments ||
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#2
I'm glad we keep building all these arms to just give them away time and again. No matter what you these fuckers, they're to fuckin stupid, corrupt or whatever to use them.
Posted by: chris ||
01/07/2015 10:10 Comments ||
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#3
I'm glad we keep building all these arms to just give them away time and again. No matter what you these fuckers, they're to fuckin stupid, corrupt or whatever to use them.
#4
Chris, your reasoning applies to the donors as well as the donees. Graft and corruption are major reasons for the building of these arms in the first place.
[AnNahar] An Iraqi Shiite militia leader and politician has credited Tehran and a powerful Iranian general with saving the Baghdad government during last summer's offensive by 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 krazed killers.
Hadi al-Ameri, a former minister who commands the Badr militia, said support from Iran and General Qassem Suleimani had been crucial after Iraqi government forces collapsed in the face of the IS assault.
"If it were not for the cooperation of the Islamic republic of Iran and General Suleimani, we would not today have a government headed by Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad," Ameri told a memorial service south of Tehran Monday for an Iranian officer killed in Iraq last month.
"It would not have existed," he said of the Iraqi government, according to the Isna and Fars news agencies.
The memorial was for Iranian Revolutionary Guards Major General Hamid Taghavi, killed by IS fighters in the Iraqi city of Samarra last month.
Suleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force -- the foreign wing of the Revolutionary Guards -- was also present at the memorial.
The general, who reportedly landed in Baghdad hours after IS overran the Iraqi city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... in June and led the anti-jihadist counter-attack, has become the public face of Iran's deep military involvement in Iraq.
Abadi took over as Iraq's prime minister after Nuri al-Maliki, a fellow Shiite with close ties to Tehran, reluctantly stood down following the IS surge into northern Iraq.
Iran moved swiftly by arming Iraqi Kurdish fighters and supporting Baghdad with military advisers. It has also provided training for Shiite militias in a counter-offensive against the Sunni bully boy group.
But Tehran has consistently denied having troops on the ground and was never invited to join the U.S.-led military coalition that is carrying out air strikes against IS in Syria and Iraq.
Predominantly Shiite Iran has a strong interest in defending Iraq, where IS's declared aim is to topple a regime dominated by Shiites, who are regarded by the jihadists as heretics.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Be fine with me if they took over completely f tryin to save their asses. Let them arm them "train" them, and whatever else they need or want. Time to cut ties with these worthless mutherfuckers.
Posted by: chris ||
01/07/2015 10:14 Comments ||
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[AnNahar] Iraq is rebuilding its army to address weaknesses including poor leadership and training that led to Baghdad's forces being swept aside by Lion of Islams, the defense minister said Tuesday.
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.... (IS) jihadist group spearheaded a major offensive that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June, during which multiple Iraqi divisions collapsed.
In remarks broadcast on the 94th anniversary of the founding of Iraq's army, Defense Minister Khaled al-Obaidi offered a stark assessment of the problems that contributed to the disaster.
"Weak leaders and incompetent members assuming the chain of command, a lack of discipline, weak training, poor performance and the disintegration of public trust in the security forces... were the true reasons for the setback," Obaidi said.
Iraq is working to address these problems, "beginning from the top of the army and its leadership and replacing them with nationalist, professional and competent members and leaders not tainted by corruption or lacking courage," he said.
Now backed by U.S.-led air strikes, international advisers, Kurdish troops, Shiite holy warriors and Sunni tribes, Iraqi forces have begun to claw back some areas.
But the jihadists still control significant territory, including three cities that will be a major challenge to retake.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Things you resisted for years under Maliki, like stopping cronyism, dumping the "Shia First Shit On Sunni" attitudes, the corruption where people dropped half their check on their commander so they didn't have to show up, the whole "I have an uncle/broither/cousin..." way of doing logistics, the ensha'allah maintenence, a professional NCO corps instead of pile of butlers and go-fers...
[IraqiNews.com] U.S. troops have started to train Iraqi security forces at a base in volatile Anbar province despite regular harassment fire from Islamic State militants.
Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said about 320 U.S. service members were stationed at Anbar?s al-Asad base. They provide advice and planning assistance to Iraqi security forces as mortar fire from Islamic State militants rains down regularly near the base.
But Warren said the enemy fire attacks were merely a nuisance.?They have thus far been wholly ineffective. No U.S. personnel, no U.S. equipment has been impacted in any way,? he said.
Warren said U.S. training of Iraq?s 7th Division started at al-Asad base on December 20.?The mission is focused on mission support planning, information and intelligence fusion, close air support coordination operations and overall development of security strategies,? he said.
Elsewhere in Iraq, about 170 U.S. military personnel are training four Iraqi security force battalions at Camp Taji, about 30 kilometers outside Baghdad.Two other training sites are developing in Irbil and Besmaya, although the Pentagon says neither of these are expected to be up and running for several more weeks.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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[IraqiNews.com] On Tuesday, the governor of Haditha district, Abdul-Hakim al-Jughaifi, announced that the central government will reopen the civil air bridge between Baghdad and al-Anbar within only two days.
Al-Jughaifi told IraqiNews, ?The administration of the district conducted extensive contacts with bigwigs within the central government in order to reopen the civil air bridge between Baghdad and Ain al-Asad airbase in al-Baghdadi area.?
He added, ?The central government has agreed to reopen the civil air bridge within two days,? pointing out that, ?The bridge will facilitate sending foodstuffs and humanitarian aids to the people of Haditha.?
Noteworthy, an official in the services committee of Haditha Council warned yesterday from catastrophic consequences for the district due to complete lack of foodstuffs and oil in the markets.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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[IraqiNews.com] The security forces are getting ready to liberate Heet District of western Anbar on Tuesday.
Security source stated to IraqiNews.com ?The Iraqi Army and police forces backed by the volunteers and tribes prepare to liberate the district from 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.... of Iraq and Levant bandidoshard boyz from two sides.?
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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[IraqiNews.com] Iraqi paramilitary volunteer forces, known as al-Hashed al-Sha?abi revealed yesterday, that the number of the ISIS imported muscle is only limited to 10% of the group?s total force.
The paramilitary volunteer forces deputy, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes, confirmed that the military operations in the outskirts of al-Daluwiyia district have shown some indications regarding the number of ISIS foreign elements.
He said that the operations in Daluwiya resulted in killing ?some imported muscle?, including ?Chinese and Saudi? nationals.
But he asserted that the number of Arab and Foreign elements within the group ?would not exceed 10%? of its total force, noting that, ?the rest are only from the local people whom have been recruited by the group in the areas it controls.?
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Which means IS has decided to concentrate on consolidating its gains in Syria.
[IraqiNews.com] The ISIL hard boyz are preparing for detonating 10 historical mosques in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... The head of the Sunni Endowment in Nineveh, Abu Bakri Kan?an stated to IraqiNews.com ?The ISIL hard boyz announced its intention to detonate 10 historical mosques in Mosul and execute the people inside them because, as they stated, the mosques violate their traditions and rituals.?
Shiite mosques and worshippers, then?
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and its fleet will be deployed to the Gulf to support operations against 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, a military news site reported on Tuesday.
The deployment of the marine battle group is due to be announced by President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... when he gives his annual new year's speech to the armed forces onboard the Charles de Gaulle on January 14, according to the "Mer et Marine" news site.
According to Mer et Marine, the Charles de Gaulle carrier will travel to the Gulf with its fleet of air and naval craft, including Rafale and Super Etendard fighter jets and an attack submarine, to take part in the U.S.-led bombing campaign against IS forces in Iraq.
La Belle France currently has nine Rafale fighters engaged in the campaign -- based in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan -- as part of Operation Chammal launched in September, along with a C135 supply plane, E-3F surveillance and control plane and an Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft.
The president's office, navy and army did not respond to requests from Agence La Belle France-Presse for confirmation.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
[AnNahar] opposes a move by Israel to freeze the transfer of tax revenues to the Paleostinian Authority in retaliation for its bid to join the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... "This step is one that raises tensions as others do," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki ...a valley girl who woke up one morning and found she was spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of State... said.
If nobody notices what Jennikins said, did America make a sound?
Israel imposed the freeze in response to a bid by the Paleostinian Authority to join the International Criminal Court in the Hague, and threatened further retaliatory action.
U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend and a U.S. team has been in touch with Paleostinian leaders.
"What we are trying to avoid here is a back and forth tit-for-tat," Psaki said.
After the Paleostinians won the upgraded UN rank of observer state in November 2012, Israel froze the tax monies and also announced plans for 3,000 homes in a highly sensitive area of the West Bank, as well as in annexed east Jerusalem, triggering a furious response from the international community.
The latest freeze involves half a billion shekels in tax revenue, or about $127 million.
[AnNahar] At least 160 children died in attacks on schools in war-ravaged Syria last year and the education of 1.6 million has been cut short by the fighting, the U.N. said Tuesday.
Schools should be "zones of peace", the U.N. children's agency said, adding that pupils should be allowed to study without risking death or injury.
"There were at least 68 attacks on schools in Syria (in 2014), which killed at least 160 children and injured 343," Christophe Boulierac, front man for UNICEF told news hounds in Geneva.
"It is very probable that this is an underestimate," he added.
While many schools were caught in the crossfire of fighting that has been raging since March 2011, Boulierac said there were indications that some were deliberately targeted.
"Attacks on schools, teachers and students are further horrific reminders of the terrible price Syria's children are paying in a crisis approaching its fifth year," UNICEF's representative in Syria Hanaa Singer said in statement.
Between 1.3 and 1.6 million children in Syria are no longer able to attend school due to the civil war that has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced around half of the country's population, Boulierac said.
He expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... over the recent closure of numerous schools in areas partially or fully under the control of jihadists of 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 in Raqqa and Deir-es-Zour governorates and parts of rural Aleppo.
"This is seriously affecting the schooling of an estimated 670,000 students," Boulierac said.
More than eight million Syrian children have been affected by the civil war, with 1.7 million now living as refugees, according to the latest U.N. figures.
[AnNahar] Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was backed in a hastily convened vote Tuesday over his handling of long-running nuclear talks, after he was heavily criticized in a stormy parliamentary session.
Zarif, who is leading Iran's negotiations with world powers aimed at ending international concern over Tehran's nuclear program, was answering questions from politicians when he came under fire.
Some 125 politicians backed Zarif but 86 voted against him, eight recorded no preference and 10 abstained.
The vote was not a formal confidence motion with defined repercussions, but it would have undoubtedly undermined his credibility had he lost.
Zarif's main critic was politician Javad Karimi Ghoddoussi, who accused the minister of making too many concessions in recent talks in Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... Ghoddoussi also accused Zarif of spending too much time speaking to the United States and not enough with other members of the P5 bloc -- which also includes Britannia, China, La Belle France, Russia and Germany -- in the talks.
Zarif hit back and said the negotiations had changed Iran's image abroad, reversing the view that the Islamic republic was "threatening and dangerous for world security."
"Today the world is watching Iran as a powerful and logical actor that cannot be set aside or ignored," Zarif said. "Large countries and large corporations are lining up at our door."
President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday reiterated his aim that Iran will open up to foreign investment if a final nuclear deal can be signed this summer.
Iran has demanded that any final agreement lift international sanctions that have crippled its economy in recent years. The country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will have the final say on any deal.
The nuclear talks resume in Geneva on January 15, under a timeline that aims to seal a broad political agreement in March with the fine details of a comprehensive accord hammered out by June 30.
Under a preliminary deal in force since January 2014 Iran limited its enrichment of uranium, a process that creates fuel for atomic energy but which at high levels of purity can produce fissile material for a nuclear weapon.
Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon, insisting its atomic program is for peaceful energy purposes.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/07/2015 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
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.
... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means 
[RFE/RL] Chief Chechen Ramzan Kadyrov has said that he does not see the Islamic State (IS) militant group as a threat to the Russian Federation. He said that there was no point in "scaring ourselves with various ISILs".
North Korea
[DAWN] The Sindh government has directed all private schools to finalise their security arrangements before the end of the winter vacation as the government is not in a position to ensure police deployment. Briefing newsmen after a meeting with police and education department officials on Tuesday, Home Secretary Dr Niaz Ali Abbasi said that the government would ensure effective patrolling around the schools under threat. 
Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz 
International Criminal Court
U.S. Secretary of State 
