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Today: 84 articles and 185 comments as of 11:47.
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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Suicide blast kills 33 at north Mali military camp
Today's Headlines
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Tasers in the air
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/19/2017 01:01 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
East Libya rejects humanitarian aid from Italy
East Libyan government claims "The Presidency Council have allowed the grandsons of Benito Mussolini to return to Libya on board warships to defile Libya's soil."
[Libya Observer] Khalifa Haftar
... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
's self-styled military command is rejecting a planned humanitarian aid to east Libyan areas from the Italian government.

Head of the media office of the command, Khalifa al-Obaidi, told Afrigatennews, a 24-hour Dignity Operation mouthpiece website funded by the UAE, that the military command refuses any Italian aid unless Italia pulls its troops out of Libya.

Al-Obaidi was reacting to the recent declaration of Italian minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, Angelino Alfano, to send humanitarian aid to the areas under the control of Dignity Operation in eastern Libya.

"The only possible response to Russia's actions in Libya is taking an even stronger leadership role in there," Angelino Alfano, was quoted as saying on the sidelines of Middle East peace conference in Gay Paree on Sunday.

Alfano didn't give a specific date for the aid delivery.

Last week, the eastern government of Abdullah al-Thanni accused Italia of sending soldiers and ammunition to Libya's waters off the western shores.

It also regarded the reopening of Italian embassy in 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 a new Italian occupation, claiming in a diplomatic note to all Libyan embassies abroad that "some members of the Presidency Council have allowed the grandsons of Benito Mussolini
...former dictator of Italia. He perfected the idea of the corporate state and was all the vogue in intellectual circles until he lined up with Adolf in the Second World War. He wanted Italians to be figli de la lupa, and like the sons of wolves they turned on him when they finally got the chance. He ended his days dangling by his heels in a public square next to his mistress...
to return to Libya on board warships to defile Libya's soil."

The interim government of Abdullah al-Thanni is controlled by Khalifa Haftar's self-styled military command. al-Thanni visited the command in Rajma town on Monday to brief Khalifa Haftar on the latest decisions and steps taken by his cabinet and to get instructions on how to deal with a number of political issues.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Afriqiyah Airways crew take a beating in Tripoli
[Libya Observer] A crew of the Afriqiyah Airways was beaten by a number of gunnies, who are suspected to be part of the National Mobile Force, on Tuesday as they were passing through a checkpoint for the gang in Hay al-ANdalus, Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
An Afriqiya Airways pilot, Captain Abdelkarim al-Namsi, confirmed that he had been assaulted violently on his way back home coming from Mitiga airport after he was aboard a flight from Tunisian to Tripoli.

"I was stopped by the National Mobile Force at Hay al-Andalus and I was beaten, sworn at, humiliated, and robbed without any reason but that I was coming from Mitiga airport." The pilot wrote on his Facebook page.

Some of the gangs of the National Mobile Force blocked certain main roads in Hay al-Andalus this week over the arrest of one of their big shots, Adel Sifao (AKA al-Shita), by the Special Deterrent Force when it stormed into Gergaresh area last Saturday.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Sirte prepares for IDPs’ return
[Libya Observer] The Public Services Company for Cleaning Works in Sirte continues to clean the areas of the western main road of the city before the expected arrival of the displaced people to their houses.

Al-Bunyan al-Marsoos has given the go-ahead for the IDPs to return to their houses in Sirte.

The Chairman of the company, Bashir al-Ahrash, said the cleaning campaign will move through 700 Buildings Neighborhood, 101 Neighborhood, al-Zaafaran area, al-Gharibat farms road, al-Daeri road, and the western city main road.

"We cleaned those areas from garbage and we also removed the sand barriers that have been piled up on Sirte streets for over a year." He added.

Al-Ahrash indicated that the company’s workers, in conjunction with the Sirte security operations room, have also cleaned a number of schools, mosques and parks in the areas, besides planting new ornamental trees to receive the returning Sirte residents.

Most of the displaced families from Sirte suburbs have come back to their houses, but the IDPs from the city-center of Sirte have not due to the considerable destruction that was done to the areas’ neighborhoods, not to mention the war remnants that are still being removed by the specialized units, according to sources from Sirte operations room.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Europe
Sweden Crumbling: Demands for military intervention as thugs turn Malmo into 'no-go zone'
Launching a seething attack on the red-green parties in Malmo, Magnus Olsson said it was time to call in the military to end the surge in violent crimes that have been sweeping the city.

Painting a bleak picture of Sweden’s third largest city, the opposition politician blasted Malmo has lost enough of its citizens to shootouts, grenade attacks and murders. Speaking to Expressen, Mr Olsson also said there was a great lack of police officers in Sweden, which means officers could benefit from the armed forces’ resources.

He said: “There is a great lack of police officers in Sweden and Malmö. For this reason, it is perhaps time to let the military and police to stand together to reestablish order in the country.

Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  "Islam".

I await the day that politicians can utter the word freely.
Posted by: Crusader || 01/19/2017 0:37 Comments || Top||

#2  And then the day that comedians can finally come down on the right side of that *ideology*.

The willingness to make fun of *backwards-ass* behavior, and bring others along with the realization of just how out of step that behavior is, is a big part of relegating it to the ash-bin of history.
Posted by: Crusader || 01/19/2017 0:40 Comments || Top||

#3  it was time to call in the military to end the surge in violent crimes that have been sweeping the city

OK, great. Suppose you have a soldier every ten feet. Are you going to keep the soldiers there until they are overrun by Muslims, or are you going to send the Muslims packing back to Germany where they will be loved?
Posted by: gorb || 01/19/2017 4:00 Comments || Top||

#4  ...or are you going to send the Muslims packing back to Germany where they will be loved?

Put the muslims in the ground where they belong and the politicians that allowed their importation.
Posted by: Omomort Cheager7040 || 01/19/2017 4:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Far rarer in Sweden than elves
Are Swedes who look out for themselves,
So pity poor Olsson
Who'll poll like Al Jolson
No matter how stoutly he delves.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 01/19/2017 7:19 Comments || Top||

#6  More background.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/19/2017 8:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Gee, just like downtown 'Anytown USA'.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/19/2017 9:23 Comments || Top||

#8  Don't seem to be having that problem in Switzerland.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/19/2017 13:43 Comments || Top||


Iraqi Islamist militants among Paris bombers: French intelligence
An Iraqi Islamist holy warrior was one of the jacket wallahs who went kaboom! outside the Stade de La Belle France during the November 2015 attacks on Gay Paree, a French intelligence source said Wednesday.

Until now, only one of the three bombers who detonated their explosives outside the stadium during a La Belle France-Germany friendly had been identified: Bilal Hadfi, a 20-year-old Frenchie living in Belgium.

La Belle France's DGSE intelligence agency now believes that one of Hadfi's accomplices, who was carrying a fake Syrian passport, was Ammar Ramadan Mansour Mohamad al-Sabaawi from the Iraqi city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
He and the third attacker, whose identity is still unknown, are believed to have slipped into Europe with a group of refugees who landed on the Greek island of Leros on October 3, 2015.

One person was killed in the Stade de La Belle France attack which marked the start of a series of coordinated strikes around Gay Paree on the evening of November 13, 2015, that was claimed by 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) group.

In all 130 people were killed that night as a group of gunnies went on the rampage, spraying bars and restaurants with bullets and killing 90 people attending a rock concert at the Bataclan theatre.

In a memo from February 2016 that was declassified in December, DGSE agents said IS paid the Iraqi's family the equivalent of $5,000 (around 4,670 euros) in Iraqi dinars in compensation for his death.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  "Islam".
Posted by: Crusader || 01/19/2017 1:03 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Prosecutors seek arrest of 243 military personnel over links to coup attempt
[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkish prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 243 members of the military in 54 provinces across the country, in an investigation related to the July 15 coup attempt, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Jan. 18.

Suspects were being sought on suspicion of using Bylock, an encrypted smartphone messaging app that the government says was used by the network of Fethullah Gulen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world...
, the U.S.-based preacher accused of orchestrating the attempted coup.

Following the decision, Istanbul Police Department’s Counter Terrorism units launched operations across 54 provinces and detained some of the suspects, said the sources.

In an earlier decision, the public prosecutor’s office also issued arrest warrants for 575 military personnel on the same allegations. Just over 350 of these suspects were detained by police.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


28 suspects, including singer Atilla Taş, face up to 10 years in Gulen probe
[Hurriyet Daily News] Istanbul prosecutors on Jan. 18 demanded up to 10 years in prison for 28 suspects, including popular Turkish singer Atilla Tas, over alleged links to what they call the "Fethullah Terror Organization (FETÖ)."

The suspects, 25 of whom are under arrest, face prison terms of up to 10 years on charges of being members of an armed organization.

Tas, who first rose to prominence in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
as a singer, was writing columns for the daily Meydan newspaper, which was shut down as part of the probe into the Gulen network after the July 2016 coup attempt. He became more popular on social media with his active role in the summer 2013 anti-government Gezi Park protests.

The indictment stated that dozens of Tas’s tweets posted on Twitter from 2011 to 2016 were examined as part of the probe.

Another suspect in the same probe, Said Sefa, faces an aggravated life sentence and up to 15 years in jail on charges of "being in the leadership position of a terror organization" and of "attempting to abolish the Turkish government."
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Erdogan’s popularity on the rise
[Hurriyet Daily News] In addition to the increase in trust in the presidency, the approval rating for President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
saw an increase compared to last year’s survey. In 2015, 43.6 percent of respondents found him successful, up to 48 percent this year.

Meanwhile,
...back at the mall, Clarissa suddenly spied Mr. Bartlett at the checkout counter. He was buying Grecian Formula!...
52.7 percent of respondents said they think The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
should be governed as a parliamentary democracy and 32.5 percent favored the presidential system. Ten percent said they believed Turkey should be governed as a presidential system in which the president remains the head of a political party. Over the years the number of people who favor the presidential system has seen a rise, up from 12.6 percent in 2014 to 22.1 percent in 2015 and 32.5 percent in the latest report.

Some 34.7 percent said they would vote "yes" to constitutional changes to turn Turkey into a presidential system in a likely referendum, while 39.7 percent said they would vote "no," with 19.6 percent remaining undecided.

Officials from Kadir Has University noted that the poll was conducted before recent parliamentary debates on the constitutional change and long before any prospective referendum campaign.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  How to get your approval rating up:

"Do you think Yippy is doing a great job?"
"Well, I don't know about 'great'.."
"Arrest him! He's clearly a Gulenist and part of the coup"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/19/2017 8:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Polling by Clinton Consulting/ABC News/Washington Post
Posted by: Bobby || 01/19/2017 13:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Most popular circling the drain man, evah!
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/19/2017 16:48 Comments || Top||


Public trust in military plunges after Turkey’s failed coup: Poll
[Hurriyet Daily News] The military has lost its decades-long status as The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
’s most trusted institution following the failed coup of July 15, according to a recent poll.

While the military topped the list as the most trusted institution in the country with 62.4 percent in the same poll conducted by Kadir Has University last year, the figure fell to 47.4 percent this year. This placed it in second position, below the presidency which rose from 46.9 percent to 49.4 percent.

In all the Research of Social and Political Trends in Turkey survey conducted since 2000, the military has up to this year always topped the list of trusted institutions.

The presidency was this year among the few institutions in Turkey that have seen an increase in trust.

The poll, conducted in the first half of December 2016 in 26 provinces and made public yesterday, revealed that many institutions have suffered a loss of public confidence. In addition to the military, universities are also big losers, with 24.7 percent saying they trust universities, down from last year’s 49.8 percent. NGOs saw a similar decrease, with 26.2 percent saying they trust NGOs, down from last year’s 42.3 percent.
Only 1.5 percent of those polled said they were a member of an NGO.

Trust in political parties also sharply decreased, from 33.9 percent to 21.8 percent, while parliament saw an increase of 3 percent from 43 percent to 49 percent. The media came at the bottom of the list of trusted institutions, with only 15.1 percent saying they trusted the media, down from 27.8 percent last year.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Istanbul Reina attacker ‘switched target’ after Raqqa order
[Hurriyet Daily News] An 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 the Levant (ISIS) Death Eater who killed 39 people while wounding 65 others in a nightclub in Istanbul’s Ortaköy district on Jan. 1 took the orders to stage the attack from an ISIS emir in Syria’s Raqqa, according to Turkish authorities.

Abdulkadir Masharipov, the 34-year-old ISIS Death Eater who was apprehended by Turkish police late on Jan. 16 after two weeks on the run, said he initially went to Istanbul’s Taksim Square to stage an attack, but "there were too many precautions," so he chose the Reina nightclub to attack.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


India-Pakistan
Stop blaming Islamabad, review fragmented approach to peace talks, Aziz tells Kabul
[DAWN] Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj PrunefaceAziz
...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy...
asked the Afghan leadership to stop blaming Islamabad for the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and advised them to instead review their "fragmented" approach to peace talks with the Taliban on the resilient insurgency, reported VoA on Wednesday.

In an interview to the US-based media outlet, Sartaj Aziz said that a "lack of political consensus and prevailing ambiguity in Afghanistan about whether to treat Taliban gunnies as Lions of Islam or stakeholders" in national politics had blocked the internationally-backed efforts to start peace talks between the warring sides.

"Their approach to talks with the Taliban is very, very fragmented," he said. "We want the [Afghan] government of national unity to succeed, to establish its writ, we want them to send a clear signal to the Taliban and other groups that the whole world wants them [insurgents] to talk [to Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
] and solve the problem because nobody wants fighting in Afghanistan to continue."

A clarity in the Afghan approach coupled with Pakistain’s resolve to prevent the use of its soil against Afghanistan and international pressure may send "right signals" to the Taliban and they may come to the table for peace talks, the report quoted Aziz as saying.

"I think they will come under greater pressure and so, if serious negotiations begin in 2017, that will be our best hope for peace in Afghanistan," Aziz told VoA.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies


‘Terror hoax’ prompts police to shut down markets, schools at Pirmahal
[DAWN] TOBA TEK SINGH: A youth’s bid to implicate a man in a false terrorism case for having an affair with his sister, resulted in a security alert in the district, particularly at Pirmahal, where all markets, public and private schools were closed and security of an Imambargah
...since Pakistain is very religiously correct, Shia Moslems can't call their houses of worship 'mosques,' which are reserved for Sunnis. It's not clear if imambargahs are used for explosives storage like mosques are...
tightened, creating panic in the area on Tuesday.

The routine life in the town was disrupted when heavy contingents of police arrived in the markets around 10am and got the shops closed.

In a parallel development, all public and private schools of Pirmahal were also asked by police to close down their campuses, where students were taking classes, for "security reasons".

This created panic among the people, especially the parents and schoolchildren.

The central Imambargah at Pirmahal was also cordoned off by police, while, security was tightened around the religious seminaries and other Imambargahs in the district.

Soon a search operation was launched by police in various areas of the town, where the ongoing polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
vaccination drive was also suspended, along with other parts of the district.

Emergency was announced in Pirmahal Tehsil Headquarters Hospital. However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning...
the drop-scene of the episode came by afternoon with arrest of two men and a woman at Chak 685/26 GB.

According to police sources, Farman Ali of Chak 685/26 GB had an affair with ’S’ of the same village. Farman had got issued a mobile phone SIM in his name and gifted it to ’S’ so that they could chat with each other.

However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning...
Ihsan, brother of ’S’ got wind of the affair and caught his sister chatting on phone with Farman.

Ihsan, decided to punish Farman for having an affair with his sister. He made a call to a friend of Farman using the SIM he had recovered from his sister.

Impersonating Farman, Ihsan said he was going to blow up a school and an Imambargah in a terrorist attack.

The police sources said somehow an intelligence agency detected the call and issued a security alert for the district, particularly Pirmahal.

Finally, the police traced the three people (the girl, her brother Ihsan and Farman) involved in the incident and took them into custody.

By the evening normality returned to Pirmahal where the markets had opened again.

A front man for the district police said that after the issue got resolved, shopkeepers were allowed to open their shops again.

He claimed that only Ihsan was in police custody for creating panic and a case would be registered against him.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


High court stays execution of military court convict
[DAWN] LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday stayed execution of a man convicted by a military court on charges of abetting an attack on the office of Inter-Services Intelligence
...the Pak military intelligence agency that controls the military -- heads of ISI typically get promoted into the Chief of Army Staff position. It serves as a general command center for favored turban groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, tries to influence the politix of neighboring countries, and carries out a (usually) low-level war against India in Kashmir...
(ISI) in Multan.

A division bench headed by Justice Muhammad Tariq Abbasi passed the order on a petition moved by Abdul Qayyum of Faisalabad
...formerly known as Lyallpur, the third largest metropolis in Pakistain, the second largest in Punjab after Lahore. It is named after some Arab because the Paks didn't have anybody notable of their own to name it after...
sentenced to death by a Lahore military court under Pakistain Army (Amendment) Act 2015 on Jan 4 last year.

Representing the petitioner, Advocate Anas Ghazi argued that requisites of justice were not met by the military court convicting his client. He said the petitioner was not given opportunity of a fair trial and was condemned unheard.

The lawyer pointed out that an anti-terrorism court of Multan had already tried and convicted culprits of the 2009 attack on the ISI office and the petitioner was not among them. He asked the bench to stay the execution of the petitioner till a final decision of the petition since his mercy petition had been rejected by the army chief.

Through a written reply filed before the bench, Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

home department stated that a jail appeal of Abdul Qayyum had been dismissed by Judge Advocate General’s Department on March 22, 2016. It said the provisions of Army Act were the law made by parliament and that if any such provision tends to affect fundamental rights that provision did not become void as newly added proviso to Article 175 of the Constitution had already been declared being not ultra vires by the Supreme Court.

The home department stated that a division bench of the LHC (Bahawalpur seat) had dismissed an identical petition on the same matter. Therefore, it said, the instant petition should be dismissed.

After hearing the arguments, the bench suspended operation of the death penalty and stayed Qayyum’s execution till next hearing on Jan 25. The bench also sought a reply from the attorney general on the matter. Qayyum is detained at a high security jail in Sahiwal.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian Army within reach of strategic water well in Wadi Barada
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has been steadily advancing inside the Wadi Barada area of rural Damascus today, capturing several sites from the jihadist rebels of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham
...formerly al-Nusra, the current false nose and mustache of al-Qaeda in the Levant...
(formerly al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
Front) inside 'Ayn al-Fijah.

Syrian Army soldiers from the 42nd Brigade of the 4th Mechanized Division, alongside Elite Republican Guard units, managed to seize a number of jihadist trenches in 'Ayn al-Fijah, paving the way for their swift advance through this integral village.

According to a military source in Damascus, the Syrian Arab Army is now within distance of the strategic water well that feeds into the Syrian capital.

Once this water well is secured, government technicians can begin the restoration of the water supply to Damascus, ending the 4 week long crisis that is plaguing more than 5 million people.

In addition to this advance, the Syrian Arab Army killed one of the top officers from the Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
during their military operations on Wednesday.

Colonel Hammoud Douka, a Syrian Arab Army defector, was killed while fighting alongside Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in 'Ayn al-Fijah, Syrian opposition activists reported.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 11:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Congresswoman Gabbard makes unannounced trip to Syria
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has made an unannounced trip to Syria and Lebanon, traveling to the region two months after she sat down with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss foreign policy.

The Hawaii congresswoman has frequently challenged President Barack Obama on national security issues. In the meeting with Trump, she warned him about escalating the civil war in Syria by establishing a no-fly zone to protect civilians from bombing. She has said she believes that creating such a safe zone off limits to military aircraft could bring the U.S. into direct conflict with Russia and result in nuclear war.

Spokeswoman Emily Latimer said Wednesday that Gabbard, who is a major in the Army National Guard, "has long been committed to peace and ending counterproductive, interventionist wars."

Latimer wouldn’t say if Gabbard met with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"As a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, and as an individual committed to doing all she can to promote and work for peace, she felt it was important to meet with a number of individuals and groups including religious leaders, humanitarian workers, refugees and government and community leaders," Latimer said in a statement.

She said she wouldn’t provide any additional details on the trip until Gabbard returns.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/19/2017 00:35 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  About these no fly zones, what's to keep the bad guys from hanging out there?

Is this like "home" in a game of hide-and-seek?
Do the human shields work and better or worse?

Just seems dumb to me.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/19/2017 7:33 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder if had a letter of introduction from Congressional Democrats, like Code Pink had.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/19/2017 8:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Successful insurgencies tend to have two things in common - arms/equipment from a foreign source and a safe area to organize.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/19/2017 10:38 Comments || Top||

#4  No fly zones are to Syria what gun free zones were to Orlando.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 01/19/2017 11:31 Comments || Top||

#5  Follow the money.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 01/19/2017 12:02 Comments || Top||

#6  I wonder if had a letter of introduction from Congressional Democrats, like Code Pink had.

A letter, most likely. But more likely from another source:

two months after she sat down with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss foreign policy.

Posted by: Pappy || 01/19/2017 13:00 Comments || Top||

#7  Except with Trump, a military background seems to be plus, not a Zero.

I think there is a play on words in there, somewhere.
Posted by: Bobby || 01/19/2017 13:22 Comments || Top||

#8  Red resumés: Background in marching
Through styrofoam columns and arching;
In whitewash and hiding;
In ghostwritten writing;
In collars that needed no starching.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 01/19/2017 14:16 Comments || Top||


Syria: Qatar and Saudi Arabia not welcome to peace talks
[ALMASDARNEWS] Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad said on Wednesday that 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 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...
can only participate in the Syrian war peace talks once they stop backing the snuffies fighting against government forces.

"Once Qatar and Saudi Arabia halt their support for terrorism we will discuss the matter of their participation in the talks," Meqdad was quoted as saying by the Leb-based TV station al-Mayadeen.

Syria peace talks between Russia, Iran and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
will be hosted in Kazakhstan's capital of Astana next week.

The emission of Qatar and Saudi Arabia followed on from the non-involvement of the United States in these lot of negotiations.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Moscow welcomes Jaysh al-Islam group’s readiness to join talks with Damascus
[ALMASDARNEWS] Moscow welcomes the Jaish al-Islam
...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful...
group’s readiness to join talks with Syria’s government, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday commenting on media reports saying that Mohammed Alloush, one of the group’s leaders, may head the Syrian armed opposition delegation at the Astana talks.

"As far as the participants list and the armed opposition delegation head go, I would like to emphasize once again that apart from the Syrian government, those armed opposition groups, that signed the December 29 agreements, have been invited to take part in the Astana talks," the Russian foreign minister stressed. "We have a list of them, and as I assume, they will form their delegation based on this list."

According to Lavrov, it is not obligatory that all groups send their members "but the delegation will represent all those who signed the December 29 agreements."

"Jaish al-Islam participates in the agreements reached on December 29. Whatever attitude some countries may adopt towards this group, it has not been blacklisted by the UN Security Council as a terror group," Lavrov pointed out. "Along with other armed opposition groups, Jaish al-Islam has also expressed readiness to sign the agreements on establishing a ceasefire and holding talks with the Syrian government, so we welcome this approach."

"Those not affiliated with 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....
and Jabhat al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
(terror groups outlawed in Russia) are eligible to join the December 29 agreements, and we urge them to do it," the Russian top diplomat concluded.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jaish al-Islam (MB)


Syria would welcome United States to peace talks in Astana, contradicting Iran
[ALMASDARNEWS] Any country, including the United States, that "honestly seeks to facilitate the peaceful settlement of the Syrian conflict, is eligible to take part in the Astana meeting," Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad said on Wednesday in an interview with the Lebanese broadcaster al-Mayadeen.

Only earlier, Meqdad had said that 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...
and 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...
were not welcome to participate, and Iran stating that it did not want the United States in attendance.

He made clear that Damascus had no objections to the presence of US representatives at the Astana talks scheduled to be held January 23-25, however, Meqdad stressed that Washington "will have to prove its sincerity about settling the Syrian crisis," TASS reported.

According to the Syrian deputy minister, the US "should exert pressure on The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
to make it close its border with Syria," as well as influence Saudi Arabia and Qatar to prevent "them from financing myrmidon groups and supplying weapons to them."

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Terror Networks
The myth of ISIS has been ‘blown up’
[RUDAW.NET] The myth of ISIS has been "blown up" and the Kurds have played an "indispensable" role in combatting them, said a senior White House staffer reflecting on the objective of President Barack Obama
I am the change that you seek...
to degrade and destroy the holy warrior group.

Twenty-eight months ago, Obama addressed the US nation on his strategy to counter ISIS, also known as ISIS. "Our objective is clear: We will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIS through a comprehensive and sustained counter-terrorism strategy."

He outlined four prongs to this strategy: systematic Arclight airstrikes, increased support to forces on the ground, increased counter-terrorism efforts to cut ISIS’ funding and counter its message, and provide humanitarian assistance to the displaced.

At a press briefing on Tuesday with Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications at the White House, Rudaw’s Namo Abdulla asked him to assess achievements made against ISIS in the last days of Obama’s presidency.

Describing ISIS’ appeal as a group "on the move," establishing a Caliphate, Rhodes said, "I think that myth has been blown up. There is no longer this triumphalism."

It is clear, he continued, "that ultimately they are going to lose the territory they hold and they’re gonna be what they are, which is a terrorist organization and not a state."

Rhodes detailed that ISIS has been degraded in many ways. They have lost nearly half of the territory they once controlled in Iraq and Syria, "and that includes major population centres."

The number of imported muscle seeking to join the group has declined significantly. "And that’s the clearest indicator that you have that the allure is not what it was a few years ago."

ISIS has also taken a big hit financially, inhibiting their efforts to establish governance.

In the fight against ISIS, Kurds have been an invaluable partner. Kurdish forces were the first to push back against ISIS in Iraq and it was through their coordination with Iraqi forces, Sunni tribes, and local militias that has allowed the whole anti-ISIS campaign in the country to see the success it has, Rhodes said.

"In the darkest days when we first intervened and we were seeking to organise a mix of security forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq really began the first push back against ISIS to hold that line when we intervened to save the Yazidis in Sinjar to obviously protect Erbil and to start to push back."

He commended the coordination between Kurdish and Iraqi forces, noting that this effective coordination was partly possible because Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi replaced former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "who had soured relations completely with the Sunni community and significantly with the Kurdish community inside Iraq."

Routing ISIS in Kobane was also only possible because of the Kurdish forces, Rhodes added, who are working well with Arab forces in northern Syria and taking care to balance all the ethnic groups in the region.

The effectiveness of the forces in northern Syria against ISIS is partly because Kurds have "worked across lines of sects and communities in ways that have allowed their campaign to move forward," he said.

Going forward, Rhodes believes the main fight against ISIS will be taken out of the Middle East as forces of Evil leave Iraq and Syria and seek to carry out attacks in Europe and around the world.

"That becomes a more traditional intelligence and law enforcement challenge and that necessitates continued efforts to work more with Moslem majority countries around the world to push back against the ideology of ISIS," said Rhodes.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  He outlined four prongs to this strategy: (1)systematic Arclight airstrikes, (2)increased support to forces on the ground, (3)increased counter-terrorism efforts to cut ISIS’ funding and counter its message, (4)and provide humanitarian assistance to the displaced.

If this were basketball:
1) shoot for 3 points
2) double-team the zone
3) strategic fouls
4) play the bench

But its not.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/19/2017 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  "Kobani does not define the strategy for the coalition in respect to Daesh,"

John Kerry, 2014

IIRC, ISJV was running the table and Kobani was very much in doubt. There was no public US support for the Kurds until: the Yazidis fled to Kurdistan instead of Iraq or were enslaved and raped, brutal ISJV propaganda was released, that gal gave a grand speech in the Iraqi parliament, and the Kurds won Kobani.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/19/2017 12:08 Comments || Top||

#3  The frantic shoring-up of The Legacy continues.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/19/2017 13:25 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
37[untagged]
18Islamic State
5Govt of Syria
4Sublime Porte
3Govt of Pakistan
2Arab Spring
2Jaish al-Islam (MB)
1Hezbollah
1Hizbul Mujaheddin
1Houthis
1Lashkar e-Jhangvi
1Moslem Colonists
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Taliban
1al-Nusra
1al-Qaeda
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Baloch Liberation Army
1Govt of Pakistain Proxies
1Haqqani Network

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Thu 2017-01-19
  Suicide blast kills 33 at north Mali military camp
Wed 2017-01-18
  US Air Force kills high ranking Al-Qaeda leader in Syria
Tue 2017-01-17
  Obama Releases 10 More GITMO Detainees Just Before Leaving Office
Mon 2017-01-16
  Noor Salman, wife of Orlando bomber, now jugged by FBI
Sun 2017-01-15
  Three arrested during Belgian police raid on Molenbeek street where Paris attacks mastermind Salah Abdeslam lived
Sat 2017-01-14
  Islamic State supporters face jail after infiltrated in undercover police sting
Fri 2017-01-13
  Belgium charges pair over fake papers for jihadist in Paris, Brussels attacks
Thu 2017-01-12
  36 Afghan parliament staff killed in Kabul attack
Wed 2017-01-11
  Airport Shooter Converted to Islam, Identified as Aashiq Hammad Years Before Joining Army
Tue 2017-01-10
  Mosul Left Coast Fully Liberated
Mon 2017-01-09
  U.S. Navy ship fires warning shots at Iranian vessels
Sun 2017-01-08
  German Vice Chancellor calls for ban of Salafist mosques
Sat 2017-01-07
  ISIS propaganda king killed
Fri 2017-01-06
  Gunman Opens Fire at Fort Lauderdale Airport; UPDATE 3 5 dead
Thu 2017-01-05
  3 girl suicide bombers gunned down in northeastern Nigeria

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