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Happy 4th of July! Rare US independence declaration found in UK archive
Today's Headlines
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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6 21:31 DooDahMan [6]
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Page 6: Politix
14 17:38 Anomalous Sources [12]
14 23:21 Creling Pelosi3622 [4]
8 12:51 Besoeker [8]
5 19:41 JohnQC [5]
3 08:00 Frank G [11]
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Afghanistan
Ghani demands access to Amritsar to allow Pakistani trucks to Afghanistan
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
says the Pak trucks are not allowed to enter the Afghan soil as Afghanistan demands land and railway access to India’s Amritsar.

He made the remarks during a meeting with the members 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..
provincial council during his visit to Jalalabad city.

The Office of the President, ARG Palace, said Afghanistan must reach to a conclusion on an economic plan with Pakistain.

This comes as Ministry of Trade and Commerce and the Private Sector in Afghanistan say the trade volume between Afghanistan and Pakistain has dropped to at least one billion dollars.

In the meantime, reports indicate that Pakistain’s export to Afghanistan has reached to a two-year high during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year despite relations remain strained on political level between the two neighboring countries, it has been reported.

The latest report from the State Bank of Pakistain shows the country’s exports to Afghanistan reached $1.282 billion during July-April 2917-18. This was higher than the figure of $956 million in the same period last year, according to Dawn News.

"In 2014-15, exports to Afghanistan were $1.699bn which fell to $1.230bn in FY16 before further declining to $1.165bn in FY17, reflecting the downward trajectory," according to the report.

Posted by: Fred || 07/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Africa Horn
UK Donates Equipment To African Union Mission In Somalia
[RADIOSHABELLE] The United Kingdom has donated heavy equipment worth 5.6 million pounds to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to help in clearing main supply routes as the force steps up the condition-based transition process.

The equipment which includes tractor trucks, bulldozers, backhoe and front-end loaders, forklifts and module dump tipper among others will be used in Sectors one, two and five together with the Mission-Enabling Unit based in Mogadishu.

Speaking at the handing over ceremony United Kingdom Ambassador to Somalia, David Concar, said his government was proud to be associated with AMISOM in its efforts to stabilize Somalia and help secure lasting peace and security.

Posted by: Fred || 07/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
UNICEF slams ‘carnage’ of over 2,200 Yemeni children
[PRESSTV] The UNICEF chief has slammed the "carnage" of over 2,200 children during the ongoing war in Yemen, warning that millions of other children are currently suffering the agonies of the humanitarian crises in the country.

"The relentless conflict in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
has pushed a country already on the brink deep into the abyss," UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore said in a statement to journalists in Geneva on Tuesday following her visit to the war-ravaged country.

Fore recounted her observation of "what three years of intense war after decades of underdevelopment and chronic global indifference can do to children."

The UNICEF said on Tuesday that over 2,200 children have been killed and 3,400 others injured during the three-year conflict in Yemen
Posted by: Fred || 07/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  The UNICEF chief has slammed the "carnage" of over 2,200 children during the ongoing war in Yemen

As though the adults are experiencing a vacation? It's called 'war' for a reason. Nasty, brutish, population reducing pastime pursued for the last 4000+ years of human history.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/04/2018 9:41 Comments || Top||

#2  If the Houthis quit using them as human shields...
Posted by: Frank G || 07/04/2018 9:59 Comments || Top||


Riyadh says ready to balance market with surplus oil
[PRESSTV] Saudi Arabia says it is ready to use its surplus two million barrels of oil production capacity to even out the global market.

"The kingdom is prepared to utilize its spare production capacity when necessary to deal with any future changes in the levels of supply and demand," said a statement released by the Saudi cabinet after meeting chaired by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The statement noted that Riyadh will coordinate it future measures with other oil producers.

The announcement comes several days after S President Donald Trump claimed that the monarchy has agreed to raising the oil output to take on Iran and Venezuela.

Trump claimed in a tweet that Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud had agreed to his call to boost production by "maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels."
Posted by: Fred || 07/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia


Europe
Failed Iraqi asylum seeker, 21, who was dragged back to Germany after admitting he murdered a 14-year-old girl, 'also raped 11-year-old at refugee home'
[DailyMail] A failed Iraqi asylum seeker who was dragged back to Germany after admitting to the murder of a 14-year-old girl also twice raped an 11-year-old child, investigators say.

Ali Bashar,
...the Iraqi Kurd known wolf with a string of “petty” offenses including armed robbery who fled with his family back to Kurdistan after murdering a nice Jewish German girl, which the authorities ignored for far longer than they should have done. He was then arrested and handed over — illegally, according to the government in Baghdad — to the German authorities when the Kurds realized what had attempted to nestle into their welcoming bosom. Mr. Bashar, also in our archives as Ali Basar, is a living example of the legal maxim Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus: he falsified his name and his age upon arrival with his family 2015, then he escaped Germany after that murder using a false passport after paying cash for a one-way ticket to Iraq via Istanbul, which is usually considered a marker of intended jihad...
21, allegedly raped the German girl in March at the refugee home where he lived in Wiesbaden, western Germany, local prosecutors said.

Bashar and an Afghan boy who also lived in the refugee home are suspected of raping the 11-year-old child again in May.
This article starring:
Ali Bashar
Posted by: Boss Elmique2397 || 07/04/2018 10:08 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  From article:
Media reports alleged that one of his brothers, who remain in Iraq, also raped the 11-year-old girl.
Posted by: Boss Elmique2397 || 07/04/2018 11:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Diversity!

(do I need to put a /sarc on that?)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/04/2018 12:03 Comments || Top||

#3  one of his brothers, who remain in Iraq, also raped the 11-year-old girl.

I missed that. How many of the family have returned to Erbil, and how many of them also misbehaved while guests of the German government? Sadly, as it hasn’t been reluctantly revealed that this child is Jewish, like the murdered Susannah, there is no permissible reason for anyone to fuss.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2018 12:36 Comments || Top||

#4  when the Kurds realized what had attempted to nestle into their welcoming bosom

Wanna bet Germans won't do anything even approaching justice to him.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/04/2018 13:17 Comments || Top||

#5  No wonder he wanted asylum.
Posted by: gorb || 07/04/2018 17:24 Comments || Top||

#6  BTW Bashar's family is free to legally reenter Germany by applying for asylum once more. This implies they would also again receive asylum/welfare benefits.

This is the official legal opinion of the city of Wiesbaden. (link to article in German)

Bear in mind that these vile people explicitly proved that they were fake refugees by actually fleeing to the country they were supposed to be fleeing from.

Apart from the violent crimes, the entire family had fraudulently obtained benefits for years.

This is genuine and irredeemable evil.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 07/04/2018 18:38 Comments || Top||


France attack claim, MKO scenario to harm Iran-Europe ties: Qassemi
[PRESSTV] Iran says the notorious anti-Iran terrorist group, the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), is behind the "baseless and unfounded" plot against an Iranian diplomat locked away
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
over allegations of involvement in a kaboom in La Belle France.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Tuesday that the allegations about the involvement of an Iranian diplomat in the suspected kaboom on an MKO meeting in Gay Paree were designed at the current sensitive and important juncture to damage Iran-Europe
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
relations.

He added that the MKO designed and implemented another scenario against the Islamic Theocratic Republic after the terrorist group failed to win political support for its anti-human and anti-Iran goals during its annual session in Gay Paree and simultaneous with the "successful" ongoing visit by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to two European countries.

The Iranian spokesperson emphasized that the terror group sought to jeopardize President Rouhani's two-nation European tour and to undermine the Islamic Theocratic Republic's position in the public opinion.

"The Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran, as it has repeatedly announced, condemns and rejects any act of violence and terrorist move in any part of the world and in all its forms," Qassemi pointed out.

There is evidence that the suspects arrested in Belgium are among the members of the MKO terror group, he said, expressing Iran's readiness to work to clarify the real aspects of the pre-planned scenario by providing necessary documents.

Belgian authorities said on Monday that the Iranian diplomat had been arrested along with a 38-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman, suspected of plotting a kaboom on the MKO meeting in Gay Paree attended by US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and several former European and Arab ministers.

They added that Belgian police intercepted the two suspects in Belgium on Saturday with 500 grams of the homemade explosive TATP and a detonation device found in their car.

The diplomat, 46-year-old Assadollah A, was arrested in Germany, suspected of having been in contact with the two arrested in Belgium.

Three other people were also arrested in La Belle France in connection with the case, two of whom were released.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif denied any Iranian involvement in any plot to blow up the MKO meeting and said on Monday the arrests constitute a "sinister false flag ploy."

Posted by: Fred || 07/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Idiots
Posted by: newc || 07/04/2018 2:08 Comments || Top||


Merkel Last-Ditch Migrant Deal Reopens EU Deep Divisions
[AnNahar] German Chancellor Angela Merkel
...chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom. Now they make faces at her for inundating the country with Moslems ..
came under fire Tuesday from EU partners after she agreed to push back migrants colonists in a last-ditch deal to save her fragile government, a move that also threatened to unleash a domino effect of European nations shutting refugees out.

In high-stakes crisis talks overnight, Merkel put down a rebellion by Interior Minister Horst Seehofer with an agreement to tighten border controls and set up closed "transit centers" to hold migrants colonists on the Austrian frontier.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


Iraq
Iraq urges world countries to repatriate Islamic State children
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq has urged world countries to repatriate اhundreds of children of their nationals who had joined 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....
myrmidons.

"We ask all diplomatic missions in Iraq, resident and non-resident, to take back their nationals who have served their sentences and children who are not convicted," said foreign ministry front man Ahmed Mahjoub was quoted by AFP saying in press statements.

The agency quoted a source at the Iraqi Joint Operations Command saying that authorities currently hold 833 children of foreign Islamic State members.

"Iraq has informed all of the countries that have citizens in its prisons. We have already spoken with the embassies of Germany, Azerbaijan, Russia and other countries to take (their citizens) back," Mahjoub said, according to the agency.

Iraq has issued death and life sentences against several foreigners for affiliation with the Islamic State since the government declared late 2017 it had seized back territories occupied by the bully boy group since 2014. The government had said it would deport those not involved in criminal activity.

Iraqi law applies penalties to children as old as 9, according to rights groups, with penalties reaching up to 15 years.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
HRW urges international community to hold Israel responsible for killings in Gaza
[PRESSTV] Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the international community to hold accountable the Israeli regime for the cold-blooded killing of unarmed Palestinian demonstrators in the besieged Gaza Strip, as more than 130 inhabitants of the impoverished sliver have been killed recently by the live fire of Israeli soldiers.

The New York-based rights organization said in a report on Tuesday that as many as 124 Palestinians had lost their lives in a series of peaceful demonstrations in the vicinity of the border separating the blockaded Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories occupied by the Israeli entity since late March.

The report added that more than 4,000 others had also been wounded by live ammunition.

The Palestinian medical sources, however, say that at least 135 Gazans have so far been killed by the Israeli live fire, including 14 children, either at the protesting scenes or later in hospital due to injuries. They also raise the number of the wounded to over 15,000 Palestinians, who either sustained injuries due to live fire or inhalation of tear gas, of them 300 are currently in a critical condition.
Posted by: Fred || 07/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Of course they do.
Posted by: Raj || 07/04/2018 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  They're about as unbiased as the UN.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 07/04/2018 1:26 Comments || Top||

#3  And Israel is so mean that some of them they've killed twice.
Posted by: gorb || 07/04/2018 3:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Gee, if the SPLC labels regular conservatives as 'hate groups', why can't we label HRW as terrorist enablers? /rhet question
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/04/2018 12:05 Comments || Top||


PA: Israeli law withholding funds over terrorist stipends ‘a declaration of war’
“How dare they defend themselves from our aggression, even non-violently!”
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian officials slam legislation as 'theft' and 'crossing a red line'; Abbas front man says planned response will 'change the nature' of relations with Israel.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  And some might say that subsidizing terrorists might be considered an act of war as well.
Posted by: gorb || 07/04/2018 3:28 Comments || Top||

#2  We've always been at war with East Asia.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/04/2018 12:05 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm going to miss peace.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/04/2018 13:35 Comments || Top||


Hamas uses fake Facebook friends to dupe 100 soldiers into downloading spyware
[IsraelTimes] Military intelligence officials say no damage to security after soldiers fall for terror group cyberplot, but launch new campaign to highlight cellphone vulnerabilities

The Israel Defense Force launched a campaign Tuesday to warn its soldiers about Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", hackers who have been trying to install spyware on their phones via a World Cup app and two online dating sites. About 100 soldiers were duped into doing downloading the spyware, the IDF said, though it insisted no damage had been done to Israeli security.

The military said it had uncovered a plot by the Gazoo-based terror group to spy on soldiers by befriending them on social media and then luring them into downloading fake applications it has created that give Hamas access to their smartphones ‐ turning on the phone cameras and recording devices, and accessing the phones’ content.

Briefing journalists at national defense headquarters in Tel Aviv, IDF intelligence officers said over 100 soldiers had been affected by the scam organized by members of the Paleostinian terror movement that runs the Gazoo Strip, but added that it the spyware failed to damage the country’s security.

"No damage was done, as we stopped it in time," one of the officers said, with the military’s response codenamed "Operation Broken Heart."

But he said the attempt showed the terror group had adopted new tactics since a similar attempt was revealed in January 2017.

The officer, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
under military regulations, said the Hamas cyber-efforts to snoop on soldiers were a significant upgrade on previous attempts, since they could seize control of a phone’s contents, potentially acquiring classified information or compromising images that could be used to blackmail soldiers.

The military said the first two apps were called Glancelove and Winkchat, supposed dating apps. The third, Golden Cup, was filled with information about the World Cup taking place in Russia.

The photos used on social media to initially reach out to the soldiers belonged to real women whose photos and personal details were stolen from their Facebook profiles. Some were scantily clad and kissing each other. Conversations over Facebook and WhatsApp were conducted in everyday Hebrew from Israeli mobile numbers, and the military said those operating the accounts were not necessarily based in Gazoo.

Attackers used stolen identities to create convincing fake Facebook profiles of young Israelis, written in fluent Hebrew studded with current slang. They then initiated flirtatious exchanges with their targets, before encouraging them to download the apps.

There was also additional bait of FIFA World Cup action with an app offering "HD live streaming of games, summaries and live updates."

"What Hamas is bringing to the table is a very good knowledge of our young people and their state of mind," another officer said.

Asked how he could be sure Hamas was behind the online offensive, he declined to say but insisted there was no doubt.

The assailants uploaded their custom-built Golden Cup, Wink Chat, and Glance Love applications to the Google Store, to make them seem legitimate, according to the officers.

Using Facebook sharing and WhatsApp messages, they urged young men and women completing compulsory military service to download the infected apps.

Once one of the apps was on the recipient’s phone, officers said, the phone could be taken over to covertly take and send photographs, eavesdrop on conversations, copy stored files and pictures, and transmit location details.

In most cases, the officers said, soldiers did not download the apps and in many cases informed their superiors of their suspicions.

Google has since deleted the apps from its store, they added.

They said that awareness of the potential risk had soared since the army publicized the previous attempts.

"Thanks to the soldiers’ vigilance, Hamas’ intelligence infrastructure was exposed before it caused actual security damage," army briefing notes said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US will never be able to stop Iran oil exports: Rouhani
[PRESSTV] Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has lashed out at American officials for threatening to stop Iran's oil exports, saying they would never be able to carry out such a threat.

"The US [officials'] statement in this regard is unilateralism...and a breach of all international rules and regulations in energy and trade sectors," Rouhani said at a joint presser with his Swiss counterpart, Alain Berset, in Bern on Tuesday.

He added that it is "incorrect and unwise" to think that "one day all oil producing countries would export their surplus oil and Iran would be the only country that cannot export its oil."
Posted by: Fred || 07/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  I AM going to End You for all the world to see. Also, this is not Iran. THIS IS PERSIA.
Posted by: newc || 07/04/2018 0:58 Comments || Top||

#2  No reason to stop the export - just stop the flow of payments for it.
Posted by: Glenmore || 07/04/2018 15:27 Comments || Top||


HRW Urges Help for Syrians Excavating Raqa Mass Graves
[AnNahar] Human Rights Watch on Tuesday urged the international community to support Syrians excavating mass graves in Raqa after US-backed fighters ousted jihadists from the city.

Fighters backed by US-led coalition air strikes expelled 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 from the city in October, leaving the Raqa City Council to run it.

The New York-based group said council workers with little specialised equipment or experience in forensic analysis were struggling to tackle the mammoth mission of exhuming the dead.

"Raqa city has at least nine mass graves, each one estimated to have dozens, if not hundreds, of bodies, making exhumations a monumental task," said HRW's Priyanka Motaparthy.

"Without the right technical assistance, these exhumations may not provide families with the answers they have been waiting for and could damage or destroy evidence crucial to future justice efforts."

IS jihadists carried out public executions and detained thousands of people during their rule of the city from June 2014 to October 2017.

But local authorities estimate thousands of people were also killed in the battle to retake the city, either buried quickly or left under the rubble.

HRW urged the international community, including the United States, and international organizations to support local authorities in their task.

"International organizations with forensic expertise should provide technical support, including by sending in forensic experts," it said.

Authorities should set up a civilian authority to liaise with the families of the missing, and create a digital database including photographs of those exhumed, HRW said.

"Identifying missing people and preserving evidence for possible prosecutions will have implications for justice in Syria as a whole," the rights group said.

Last month, the Syrian team finished uncovering 553 bodies from the first of these mass graves in a football pitch near the city's central hospital, it said.

The team -- made up mostly of volunteers -- then reburied them after logging information such as hair colour, clothes and shoes, as well as any identifying marks on their bodies.

They said they believed they found the remains of air strike victims, IS fighters recognised by their clothes and perhaps patients of the nearby hospital, HRW said.

But, it said, "the team needs far more training and technical assistance in order to exhume the bodies and collect data without losing information crucial to identifying them".

In April, an AFP correspondent visited the site of the mass grass in the football pitch and saw a young man step over blue body bags searching for his brother.

Workers wearing white surgical masks and plastic gloves had retrieved around 60 bodies in a week since the grave was discovered, jotting down identifying details on a notebook.

Ten of those remains had been recognised by relatives.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  The New York-based group said council workers with little specialised equipment or experience in forensic analysis were struggling to tackle the mammoth mission of exhuming the dead.

Pot, meet kettle.
Posted by: gorb || 07/04/2018 3:26 Comments || Top||


Syrian Government Calls on Refugees to Return Home
[AnNahar] The Syrian government on Tuesday called on refugees to return, saying it has successfully cleared large areas of "terrorists."

The rare appeal reflects the government's growing confidence after more than seven years of war. While officials usually appeal to Syrians abroad to return during television appearances and interviews, this is the first formal appeal broadcast on official media.

Syrian government forces, with crucial support from Russia and Iran, recently retook large areas near the capital, Damascus, and are waging a new offensive in the south that U.N. officials say has displaced more than 270,000 people. The government currently controls over 61 percent of Syria, compared to early 2017, when it held just 17 percent, according to the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which closely monitors the conflict.

The government refers to all rebels as "terrorists."

Over 5.6 million Syrians have fled the country. The Foreign Ministry says many internally displaced have already returned home, urging refugees to do same.

Many Syrians are unable to return because their homes were destroyed in the fighting, or because they fear military conscription or retribution from government forces.

Also on Tuesday, a senior U.N. official visited a Paleostinian refugee camp in Damascus that government forces recaptured in May. The Yarmouk camp, a built-up residential area once home to tens of thousands of Paleostinians and Syrians, was held 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 and other bandidos bad boys for years, and saw heavy fighting.

"The scale of the destruction in Yarmouk compares to very little else that I have seen in many years of humanitarian work in conflict zones," said Pierre Krahenbuhl, the commissioner-general of the U.N. agency for Paleostinian refugees.

The camp, once home to 160,000 Paleostinian refugees, now lies in ruins. Krahenbuhl, on a three-day visit, also met with displaced Paleostinian refugees in areas around Damascus. They expressed "anxieties" about the prospects of their return and reconstruction, he said.

Krahenbuhl said U.S. funding cuts had created "the largest ever funding shortfall in UNRWA's history." The agency has a deficit of $446 million, he said, and has since mobilized to raise $200 million through other donors. He said the priority is to keep schools around Syria open for Paleostinian refugees.

UNRWA provides basic services to Paleostinian refugees from what is now Israel and their descendants, who now number around 5 million and are scattered across the Paleostinian territories, Leb, Syria and Jordan.null

Report: French Source Says Syria Doesn’t Want Refugees Back

[AnNahar] The Syrian regime "does not want the return of Syrian refugees" after turning down requests of several hundreds seeking to go back to their hometowns, the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily reported on Monday.

"Leb has become certain now that the Syrian regime doesn’t really want the refugees' return. The Syrian regime has not given them permits that allow their return," a French source told the daily on condition of anonymity.

The source said the issue was highlighted during talks between French Deputy Diplomatic Advisor Aurelien Lechevallier and the President’s chief adviser Mireille Aoun.

"Some 3000 displaced are able to go back to Syria and the United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
High Commissioner for Refugees said they can return to Qalamon. But, the Syrian regime is not giving permits. It allowed only 200 to return while giving some women permits to return, excluding the men," he added.

"Gay Paree realizes how big the burden of Syrian refugees is no Leb, but it also believes that the Syrian regime does not want that," stressed the source.

On Sunday, around 70 Syrian refugees have returned to their war-torn homeland from Leb as part of a repatriation program the Lebanese government says is voluntary.

The National News Agency reported the return on Sunday, after an earlier group of some 400 Syrians went back last week. The refugees registered with Lebanese authorities, who provided buses to take them across the border.

Damascus has approved the return of 450 refugees from Leb from a list of 3,000 requesting to do so.

Leb hosts just under one million registered refugees from the conflict in neighboring Syria, although authorities say the real number is much higher.

As some battlefronts in Syria's devastating seven-year war have quietened, Lebanese officials are ramping up demands that refugees go home.

The repatriations come amid a dispute between the government of Leb and the U.N.'s refugee agency, which Beirut accuses of trying to discourage refugees from going home. UNHCR rejects the charges.

Syria Installs Barbwire in Border Area to Prevent Illegal Crossing

[AnNahar] The Syrian army has installed barbwire along the Lebanese-Syrian border next to the Matrabeh border crossing and the Lebanese town of al-Qasr, Leb's National News Agency said. NNA said the measure is aimed at preventing individuals from crossing the border on foot.

"The movement of the residents of the neighboring towns has become restricted to the legal border crossings that are limited to the Joussiyeh crossing near the town of al-Qaa, which puts burden on Lebanese citizens residing in Syrian border towns," NNA said.

It noted that the Lebanese citizens who shuttle between Leb and Syria's border towns include "dozens of employees" who work in Leb.

According to the agency, the region's dignitaries have renewed their call for setting up a legal border crossing in the area.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


More than 4759 civilians killed in Syria in first half of 2018
Damascus (Syria News) The Syrian Network for Human Rights documented, on Monday, the killing of more than 4759 civilians in the first half of 2018.

In a report releases today, the network revealed that more than 4759 non-combatants were killed in the first half of 2018, including 1104 children and 798 women.

The report accused the Syrian-Russian alliance of killing 3454 civilians in these period, followed by the Islamic groups that killed 205 civilians, Syrian opposition that killed 30 civilians.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
How Sheldon Adelson just might be turning the tide against BDS on US campuses
[IsraelTimes] David Brog, head of the Maccabee Task Force, says a savvy action plan, lots of money and a focus on empowering (almost) all pro-Israel students are gradually 'taking back the quad'
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
36[untagged]
7Islamic State
4Hamas
3Taliban
3Govt of Iran
2Moslem Colonists
2Houthis
2Govt of Syria
2Govt of Saudi Arabia
1al-Shabaab (AQ)
1Palestinian Authority
1Sublime Porte
1Govt of Iraq
1Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)
1Govt of Pakistan
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1Human Trafficking

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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2018-07-04
  Happy 4th of July! Rare US independence declaration found in UK archive
Tue 2018-07-03
  An Iranian diplomat was arrested in a plot to blow up a massive 'freedom' event attended by Rudy Giuliani
Mon 2018-07-02
  Cleveland FBI says it thwarted downtown Fourth of July terrorist attack
Sun 2018-07-01
  Islamist militants attack African military base in Mali, at least six dead
Sat 2018-06-30
  South Korea to tighten asylum laws as hundreds of Yemenis arrive
Fri 2018-06-29
  Haftar's forces say they have captured Libyan city of Derna
Thu 2018-06-28
  MD Sheriff: 'Multiple Fatalities' in Annapolis Newsroom Shooting
Wed 2018-06-27
  Anthony Kennedy retiring from Supreme Court
Tue 2018-06-26
  SCOTUS upholds Trump travel ban
Mon 2018-06-25
  Killing Islamic State senior member in coalition airstrike separates Baghdadi from west of Iraq: Expert
Sun 2018-06-24
  TTP appoints Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud as chief after Fazlullah's killing
Sat 2018-06-23
  Indonesian cleric sentenced to death over 2016 ISIS/JAD terror attack
Fri 2018-06-22
  Egypt's army kills 32 takfiris, arrests dozens in Sinai operation
Thu 2018-06-21
  Militant leader gunned down in southern Thailand
Wed 2018-06-20
  Taliban kill 30 Afghan soldiers and take base in first major attack since ceasefire


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