Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Then gasped that grim lady of Dorset:
"I'm sure it will fit, but don't force it!"
Astern of her, pulling:
"We'll soon see, G-d willing"
(referring, of course, to her corset).
#3
"Do widow's weeds make me look chubby?"
"No, Madam, just gruesome and grubby...
And too long in mourning!"
"Okay, but fair warning:
You're in for what rubbed out my hubby."
The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) have retaken the control of key areas of Ghormach district during an operation led by the Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum.
According to the local security officials, the Afghan forces have retaken the district administrative compound, the district police commandment, and the market of Ghormach from the Taliban.
A spokesman for Ghormach security commandment, Abdul Karim Yurish, said the Taliban insurgents were pushed out of the mentioned areas on Thursday afternoon.
He said the Afghan forces have also retaken the control of at least 16 security posts which were seized by the Taliban insurgents nearly two weeks ago.
Yurish further added that the operations were supported by close-air support and the Taliban insurgents suffered heavy loss but he did not disclose the exact number.
The Taliban militants group has not commented regarding the report so far.
Gen. Dostum left for northern Faryab province on 11th October, shortly after reports emerged regarding the fall of Ghormach district.
The Taliban militants have intensified attacks on key northern provinces during the recent months as the group attempts to expand its insurgency activities in northern parts of the country.
The Taliban militants launched a coordinated attack on the strategic Kunduz city around three weeks ago and managed to infiltrate into some parts of the city, including the central Kunduz city square.
The Afghan forces managed to push the Taliban militants from the city although sporadic clashes still continue in parts of the city with the security officials saying the operations are slowly being as the group have taken positions inside the residential areas.
[An Nahar] Armed men have attacked an overcrowded dinghy carrying migrants colonists off Libya, leaving at least four dead and up to 25 missing, the German NGO Sea-Watch said Friday.
The group said the Italian coastguard had sent a Seawatch rescue ship and a diverted oil tanker to help a dinghy in distress in international waters, 14 nautical miles off Libya, early Friday.
As the operation was unfolding, assailants arrived aboard a vessel with Libyan coastguard insignia and tried to steal the dinghy's motor, a front man for Sea-Watch said.
The men, who spoke only Arabic, beat some of the migrants colonists with clubs, causing panic which caused most of them to fall into the sea, the front man said.
Sea-Watch said it had rescued 120 out of the estimated 150 people onboard.
Its team recovered four bodies but saw other corpses in the water that could not be retrieved. They estimate that between 15 and 25 are missing, the group said.
The Italian coastguard confirmed that the rescue vessel SeaWatch2 rescued 120 people before dawn Friday, but gave no further details.
According to the U.N., at least 3,654 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean this year.
Attempts at the dangerous crossing are continuing despite worsening weather as winter approaches, with more than 2,400 migrants colonists rescued off Libya in total since Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Interesting time & place to steal a boat motor, isn't it?
[IsraelTimes] Two Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... fighters were killed in the northern Sinai overnight Thursday, according to reports.
The men were killed in a firefight with Egyptian security forces operating in the Rafah area, near Egypt’s border with Gazoo, Israel Radio reported.
According to the London-based Arabic daily al-Hayat, the growing frequency of jihadist attacks in Sinai is caused by the return of Egyptian fighters who had gone to Syria and Libya to fight in the ranks of the Islamic State’s forces there.
[AlAhram] Two coppers were killed and one conscript was injured on Friday after an improvised bomb (IED) detonated on a North Sinai highway, Egypt’s interior ministry announced on Friday.
In an official statement, the ministry said that unknown assailants planted the IED on the roadside of a highway in the vicinity of al-Arish’s cop shoppe. The IED detonated as a water tanker was en route to distribute water to security checkpoints on the highway.
[Long Wars] The US military says eight al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula operatives were killed in a pair of airstrikes in Yemen over the past two weeks. The military said the strikes were conducted to deny al Qaeda "a haven" in Yemen.
The U.S. military successfully struck two targets in central Yemen, killing eight terrorists associated with the group known as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
One strike Oct. 6 killed two terrorists in a remote area of the Shabwah Governorate.
A second strike Oct. 18 killed six terrorists also in a remote area of the Shabwah Governorate.
"Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula remains a significant threat to the region and to the United States," said Army Maj. Josh T. Jacques, U.S. Central Command spokesman. "Al Qaeda's presence has a destabilizing effect on Yemen, and we are working to deny them a haven from which to plan future attacks."
The US has stepped up its air campaign against AQAP in Yemen. The US previously targeted AQAP's network in Yemen at least twice in October, and at least 30 times in 2016, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. In 2016, the US has already exceeded the number of strikes of each of the three previous years (26 strikes in 2013, 23 each in 2014 and 2015). Since 2009, the US has launched 159 drone, missile, and conventional strikes against AQAP. [See LWJ report, Charting the data for US airstrikes in Yemen, 2002 -; 2016.]
AQAP still controls rural areas of central and southern Yemen despite both attacks from the US and a United Arab Emirates-led ground offensive, which ejected the group from major cities and towns that it held between March 2016 and the summer of 2016. AQAP is known to operate training camps in Yemen, and claims to do so to this day. In mid-July, AQAP touted its Hamza al Zinjibari Camp, which trains its "special forces." Zinjibari was an AQAP military field commander who was killed in a US drone strike in Feb. 2016.
The US military targets AQAP with the approval of Yemen's government in exile. The government was forced to flee the capital of Sana after Houthi rebels overran it and several provinces in both north and central Yemen.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
10/22/2016 07:15 ||
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[An Nahar] Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition have hit rebel positions outside the Yemeni capital Sanaa, witnesses said Friday, after the alliance accused turbans of breaching a shaky ceasefire.
The air strikes late Thursday targeted positions of the Iran-backed Huthi turbans at Jebel al-Nabishuaib, on the southwestern outskirts of rebel-held Sanaa, according to witnesses.
They said the area hosts bases for air defences controlled by renegade troops loyal to former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... , who is allied with the Iranian catspaws.
The truce, for an initial period of three days, took effect just before midnight on Wednesday to allow aid deliveries in Yemen, where the war has killed thousands and left millions homeless and hungry.
The coalition and Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi had vowed to respect the UN-sponsored truce, but accused rebels of violations, while Huthi media accused the alliance of continuing with air strikes.
Air raids also targeted rebels in the northern provinces of Jawf and Saada, witnesses and rebel media said.
Coalition front man Major General Ahmed Assiri said on Friday that alliance warplanes were only conducting surveillance flights and "reactive" strikes, in response to rebel truce violations.
Patriot missiles shot down two rebel missiles fired in Marib, east of Sanaa on Thursday, he said.
The Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in March 2015 to support Hadi's government after the Huthis overran much of the impoverished country on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
Five previous truce attempts failed but cautious optimism preceded the current pause after intensified international pressure following an escalation in fighting.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] RAB has locked away ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... two men who it says are close accomplices of Abdur Rahman, the New JMB man who died at a RAB drive in Ashulia earlier this month
At a press briefing in Dhaka on Friday, RAB chief Benazir Ahmed said the men were caught in the early hours of Friday from Motijheel and Mohakhali and a sum of Tk 27.7 lakh, a pistol and some knives were recovered from them.
Their names are Hasibul Hasan, 48, and Nasir Ahmed Noyon, 28, he said.
Hasib is an engineer with the Rajshahi Public Works Department, Benazir said. His hometown is Gopalganj and Nasir’s is Boalia in Rajshahi.
Both men were Hundi traders, and the money was intended for financing of New JMB, according to RAB.
Initially, RAB did not know how big a fish Abdur Rahman was. The recent investigations and arrests of his associates led to the discovery of his importance within the New JMB structure.
Abdur Rahman died after he was taken into custody by RAB. He was found in a critically injured state after he jumped from the fourth floor to escape being caught by RAB.
The drive that led to his capture also recovered Tk 30 lakh and a small cache of weapons. His wife Shahnaz Akter Ruma was also caught and detained for questioning.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Abdur Rahman died after he was taken into custody by RAB. He was found in a critically injured state after he jumped from the fourth floor to escape being caught by RAB.
[An Nahar] The head of a Bangladeshi Islamist group accused of staging a deadly siege at a cafe and the killing of several foreigners died while trying to evade arrest earlier this month, security officials said Friday.
Abdur Rahman died in hospital on October 8 after jumping from the fifth floor of a building on the outskirts of Dhaka during a raid by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite security unit.
The identity of Rahman, who was leader of the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), was later confirmed through his possessions and by his family, who were shown pictures of his body, the RAB said in a statement.
Several documents, letters and emails that were later retrieved by the RAB "all proved that Abdur Rahman was the emir (head) of the new JMB", the statement added.
Bangladeshi authorities are insistent that the JMB was behind a siege at an upmarket cafe in Dhaka on July 1 in which 20 mostly foreign hostages were killed, even though 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 grabbed credit.
The RAB said that some of the documents recovered during their raid had been signed by Rahman using the alias Sheikh Abu Ibrahim al Hanif.
While the statement made no mention of IS, the April issue of Dabiq, a magazine affiliated to the organization, reported that Shaykh Abu Ibrahim Al Hanif was the jihadists' "emir" in Bangladesh.
A RAB front man refused to comment on whether the two were the same men.
RAB, which is tasked with tackling militancy and serious crimes, has listed 19 attacks carried out by the JMB, including the fatal shootings of an Italian aid worker and a Japanese national late last year and a series of murders of religious minorities.
The siege at the cafe in July was by far the deadliest attack and caused widespread alarm about the growth of Islamist extremism in a country where more than 90 percent of the population is Moslem.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Officers tase 19-year-old suspect, hold him over item found on train Thursday
Armed police jugged Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! a 19-year-old man in London on Friday under counter-terrorism laws in connection with a suspicious package on the underground train network that sparked a security alert.
"The man was arrested by officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, assisted by armed colleagues, in the street in Holloway Road" in north London, the police said in a statement.
London’s Metropolitan Police said they had used a taser during the arrest but that no shots were fired.
The police said they "made the item safe" after it was found on a train on Thursday and that the package was now being "forensically examined."
"The public will see more officers, including armed police, in and around transport hubs to provide reassurance around public safety," it said, adding that the Underground was working as normal.
Counter-terror detectives opened an investigation on Thursday after the suspicious item was found on a train at North Greenwich station, which serves The O2 entertainment complex, formerly the Millennium Dome.
The police said in a statement on Thursday that "a controlled detonation" of the package had taken place.
Since August 2014, the terror threat level in Britannia has been classed as "severe" -- the second highest level, meaning an attack is considered "highly likely."
Police declined to comment on the possible motive, but a security source told The Times that there is a possibility the planned attack could have been a 'copycat' methodology and the motivation was not Islamist.
#1
"The public will see more officers, including armed police, in and around transport hubs to provide reassurance around public safety," it said, adding that the Underground was working as normal.
[An Nahar] A home for asylum seekers was set on fire in a Stockholm suburb early Friday, the second such incident in the Swedish capital in less than a week, police said.
Police suspect arson in both cases, which caused no injuries. No arrests have been made.
The nine asylum seekers living of the center in the well-heeled northern suburb of Sigtuna and two staff members were evacuated before firefighters arrived shortly before 2 am, media said.
The previous fire hit a home in Stockholm's working-class Fagersjo neighborhood early Sunday. All 40 residents were evacuated safely.
Sweden accepted the second highest number of refugees per capita in the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... in 2015 as the continent struggles with its worst migration crisis since World War II.
The nation saw a wave of around 20 arson attacks against refugee centers last year, but the culprits have rarely been caught.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Apparently an awareness campaign against smoking in bed is in order.
Some 33 outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants have been neutralized in an ongoing operation in the southeastern province of Hakkari, the Turkish Armed Forces stated on Oct. 21.
The Turkish General Staff said a drone strike on the morning of Oct. 21 neutralized six militants on the Dilekli Nizar Mountain in Yüksekova, while another 26 militants were neutralized on Oct. 20 during an air-backed operation in Çukurca, a mountainous district on the Iraqi border.
Meanwhile, one other PKK militant was killed during a clash with security forces in the Lice district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on Oct. 20.
The security forces also destroyed on Oct. 20 a vehicle loaded with three tons of explosives in the Savur district of the southeastern province of Mardin, the statement said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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Karachi police’s Counter-Terrorism Department on Friday claimed to have arrested four militants allegedly trained in Afghanistan from the Korangi and Orangi areas of the metropolis.
The suspected militants were allegedly involved in the killings of security personnel and members of the Shia community including other terror acts.
“The CTD team and personnel of an intelligence agency conducted targeted raids in Orangi and Korangi, during the raids four terrorists were detained,” said CTD-II SSP Junaid Ahmad Shaikh.
The police official claimed that the arrested individuals were ‘experts’ in the manufacture of improvised explosive devices (IED) and suicide jackets.
“They carried out targeted killings of Shias and security personnel,” added the officer.
Shaikh also claimed the four had been trained in Afghanistan, recruited militants and fought against the Pakistan Army.
Police claimed to have recovered a suicide jacket, four hand grenades, pistols and phones from their custody.
Karachi, a teeming metropolis of around 18 million people, is rife with political, ethnic, sectarian and criminal violence. Proscribed organisations have also used Karachi as a base to generate funds for furthering their anti-state agenda.
[NATION.PK] India’s Border Security Force on Friday claimed to have killed seven Pak Rangers and a suspected bad boy in firing along the Line of Control (LoC).
According to a Hindustan Times report, the incident took place in Kathua district. The report added that a BSF trooper was injured in what it claimed was a ceasefire violation by Pakistain.
Earlier on Friday, Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) said that Pak and Indian border troops exchanged fire across the border in two separate incidents.
Cross-border firing occurred across the Working Boundary in Punjab's Shakargarh area, and across the Line of Control in the Karela sector, said Pakistain’s military media wing.
A Pak civilian was killed and 12 others injured when India fired across the LoC on Wednesday. Pakistain lodged a protest with India over the incident on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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KIRKUK, IRAQ: An air strike killed 15 women on Friday at a shrine near the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, local officials and medics said.
“Fifteen women were killed and another 50 wounded in a raid that targeted a Shiite place of worship at Dakuk,” local council chief Amir Huda Karam told AFP.
The toll from the afternoon raid was confirmed by Dr. Abbas Mustafa Dakuki at the local hospital, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Kirkuk.
Earlier, Daesh attacked Kirkuk in an apparent effort to divert thousands of troops and militiamen closing in on their stronghold in Mosul, Iraq’s second city.
[Iraq Sun] Kurdish fighters along with the Iraqi army and special forces launched a large-scale operation in east and north djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , Iraq earlier this week to free the city from 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.... s’ (IS) two-year reign.
On Thursday, the forces have further advanced and the Iraqi army too is moving from south to join the offensive.
Following the joint operation, residents are not the only ones to escape the city. Reports suggest that top ISIS leaders too have fled the last stronghold of the group in Iraq.
But the remaining ISIS forces of Evil (up to 5,000) are putting up strong resistance to 94,000 coalition forces, reports suggest.
There were also reports of suicide kabooms and attacks that killed several coalition fighters on the way to Mosul with some reports further suggesting that civilians were used by the forces of Evil as human shields. However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... U.S. officials say the battle can take months but it would be a key step to oust the terror group.
U.S. Army General Gary Volesky, commander of Operation Inherent Resolve's ground forces, said, "Make no doubt the Iraqi security forces have the momentum. Coalition forces must continue to apply unrelenting pressure on the enemy and then the enemy's going to break. There are fewer snuffies today than there were yesterday; there will be less tomorrow than there are today."
Volesky also expects the terror group to intensify their attacks that can include chemical attacks. "I expect that they're going to go into an insurgency mode and they'll try to do these high-profile, spectacular attacks to draw attention away from the losses that they're suffering," he said.
"What I can report to you is that it is on track with the plan. In some areas, we are right where we expected to be and in other areas we are a little bit ahead of where we expected to be," said U.S. Army General Joseph L Votel, U.S. Central Command chief.
But the situation is more miserable for the residents. Up to 1.5 million civilians are still expected to be in Mosul.
According to the British charity, ’Save the Children’ at least 5,000 people from the conflict zone have fled to a refugee camp near the Syrian border and at least 1,000 more are waiting at the border. The UN expects at least 200,000 people to flee Mosul and take shelters in the refugee camps. In order to make prior arrangements, camps are being built in the south, east and north of Mosul.
In the U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has accused democratic nominee Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as Deplorable, Irredeemable and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Edmund Randolph ... yet again claiming that the Mosul-offensive strike by Iraqi joint forces are to promote Clinton’s election campaign.
"The only reason we did it is because she's running for the office of president. They want to look tough, they want to look good," Trump said on the Iraqi advance in Mosul that is backed by U.S. advisors and air crafts.
Clinton in reply said, "I'm just amazed that he seems to think that the Iraqi government and our allies and everybody else launched the attack on Mosul to help me in this election, but that's how Donald thinks. You know, he always is looking for some conspiracy."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
claiming that the Mosul-offensive strike by Iraqi joint forces are to promote Clinton’s election campaign
[An Nahar] Jihadists staged a brazen raid on the Iraqi city of Kirkuk Friday, in what appeared to be an attempt to divert attention from the huge offensive against their djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... bastion.
Residents awoke to the sound of shooting and praise for the "Islamic State
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Four Paleostinians have been detained by their security forces after attending a religious festival in a nearby Jewish settlement, a Paleostinian security official said Friday.
Around 30 Paleostinians from two neighboring villages visited a celebration in the occupied West Bank settlement of Efrat on Wednesday, Oded Revivi of the YESHA settlers council told AFP.
In total more than 100 people attended, including senior Israeli military and coppers, he said, as part of celebrations for the annual Jewish festival of Sukkot.
On Thursday, four men were called in for questioning by Paleostinian security forces, a security front man told AFP. They were still detained on Friday lunchtime.
"We heard from our neighbors they had received (summonses) for interrogation," Revivi told AFP.
He said the men were senior figures in the local Paleostinian villages of Wadi al-Nis and al-Khadar.
In an interview with Israeli army radio, Mohammed Taha, deputy governor of the nearby town of Bethlehem, said it was against Paleostinian law to normalize relations with Israeli settlements.
While Paleostinians were free to talk to Israelis, "it is unacceptable, going inside (a settlement) is unacceptable", he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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[AFP] Suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels have kidnapped the captain and a Filipino crew member of a South Korean cargo ship in the southern Philippines.
Ten people, who reportedly identified themselves as Abu Sayyaf militants, boarded the cargo ship on Thursday and abducted its Korean captain and a local crewman. Military spokesman Filemon Tan said, "They identified themselves as Abu Sayyaf group members... We're looking into this."
The ship, a heavy load carrier called
*ahem*
Dong Bang Giant 2, was en route to South Korea from Australia when it was attacked. The vessel was allowed to continue on its course after the abductions.
Tan said the abduction marked the first time that kidnappers in the area had targeted a large ship.
Posted by: ryuge ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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[Sun Star] A suspected Abu Sayyaf Group militant was killed in a clash with policemen in Lantawan, Basilan province. Police chief Alfadda Osalli identified the slain rebel as Said Ummal, also known as Said Usman, a resident of the village of Bulan-Bulan.
Osalli said Ummal has standing arrest warrants for two counts of murder. Ummal was also involved in the ambush of a police vehicle on October 2 in the village of Bulan-Bulan, Lantawan.
Posted by: ryuge ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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[Long Wars] Senior commanders in the Sunni Palestinian Quds Brigade, known as the Liwa al Quds or the Syrian Arab Army Fedayeen, have been photographed receiving medals from Russian military officers for battlefield action. The latest interaction further indicates the deep level of Russian involvement and impact they are having on the Syrian civil war. ZANLA and ZIPRA Soviet proxy redux. Putin now doing what he knows works well.
The pro-government militia is drawn from the Palestinian diaspora in Aleppo province, and has openly operated as an auxiliary to pro-regime forces there since 2013. The unit numbers in the several hundreds.
Late last month, the Quds Brigade and the Syrian Arab Army succeeded in taking the strategic Handarat Palestinian refugee camp and Kindi Hospital north of Aleppo proper, following the launch of an offensive in late September and several rounds of intense back-and-forth with the Islamist-led Fatah Halab coalition. Pro-regime forces and the Quds Brigade have been fighting to control the camp since 2014. Con't, with interesting reader comments.
[RUDAW.NET] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... carried out Arclight airstrikes on Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) positions in northern Syria in order to prevent Kurdish forces from reaching al-Bab, according to security sources.
Turkish officials issued an ultimatum to the People’s Protection Units (YPG) after they began to advance towards al-Bab, giving them until 8:00 Wednesday evening to withdraw to the previous position, Hurriyet Daily News reported Turkish security forces saying on Friday on the condition of anonymity.
The Turkish military claimed to have killed up to 200 fighters in Arclight airstrikes over Wednesday night.
The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) reported on Twitter that Turkish planes had carried out at least 14 Arclight airstrikes, bombing positions of the Jaish al-Thuwar, a member of the SDF, near the border of Efrin, the western-most canton of the Rojava, the self-autonomous region of northern Syria.
The YPG and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported much lower casualty figures of between 10 and 15.
Russia has 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... ed about Turkey’s actions, the country’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.
"As for reports of Turkish Air Force Arclight airstrikes in northern Syrian regions, we have heard about these statements. We are very alarmed about what is happening. As I understand it, we are talking about attacks on areas inhabited by the Kurds," Lavrov said at a briefing, according to Sputnik News.
Lavrov pointed out that Turkey is a member of the US-led multinational coalition fighting 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.... (ISIS) holy warriors and urged Washington to "remain within the stated objective as commanders of the coalition."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
I suspect the Turks have staked out several territories in Syria and Iraq and are engaged in securing them.
2) given that there is no answer to #1, what do they plan to do with the Kurds in the parts of Syria and Iraq that they annex?
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/22/2016 13:44 Comments ||
Top||
#3
In modern Turkey the attitude has been that they are allowed to live so long as they are merely loyal Mountain Turks, rather than insisting in a separate identity as Kurds, Dr. Steve.
[Iraq Sun] Turkish warplanes killed up to 200 Kurdish militia members in northern Syria, the Turkish military said on Thursday.
The jets hit 18 targets in Maarrat Umm Hawsh, a region north of the city of Aleppo, official news agency Anadolu said.
Between 160 and 200 gunnies from the YPG (People's Protection Units) group were killed in 26 strikes on Wednesday night, the report stated, citing the army.
Syrian Kurdish leaders denied the figure, saying no more than 10 fighters had been killed.
YPG and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) have been designated as terror groups linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has been fighting against for several years.
Turkey says the group is an extension of its own outlawed Kurdish gunnies who have carried out a series of deadly attacks in Turkey over the past year.
The PKK, proscribed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , has waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
Anadolu said nine buildings used as YPG headquarters, meeting points, shelters and weapons depots were destroyed as well one armoured vehicle and four other vehicles. The exact location of the attacks was not disclosed in the statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The UN human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. council opened a special session on Syria's devastated city Aleppo on Friday, with rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein demanding action against "crimes of historic proportions."
The session, called by Britannia, is seeking a resolution condemning gross abuses especially in Aleppo's rebel-held east where an estimated 250,000 civilians are besieged by a brutal government offensive backed by Russia.
"The siege and bombardment of eastern Aleppo, are not simply tragedies; they also constitute crimes of historic proportions," Zeid said.
Calling Syria's more than five-year civil war "a proxy conflict", he urged parties to the fighting to set aside "global gamesmanship".
The head of the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... 's commission of inquiry for Syria, Paulo Pinheiro, reiterated a call for the International Criminal Court to probe violations in the war-ravaged country.
While rights council resolutions are non-binding, regime ally Russia is expected to push back against any draft strongly condemning Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... 's government.
The session, also supported by La Belle France, Germany and the United States as well as Assad rival The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , is aiming to adopt a resolution later Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[An Nahar] Russia said Friday it was concerned over the refusal of fighters from a former al-Qaeda affiliate, the Fateh al-Sham ...formerly al-Nusra, the current false nose and mustache of al-Qaeda in the Levant... Front, to leave Aleppo as Russian and Syrian forces have halted fighting.
The combatants, formerly known as 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 .. ... , and the some 250,000 civilians in rebel-held areas, have largely avoided the eight escape corridors announced this week by Russia and Syria's regime.
"We are highly concerned at the fact that, despite the goodwill gestures of Moscow and Damascus with the aim of normalising the situation in Aleppo, we see that al-Nusra fighters are refusing to leave the city," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Kremlin front man Dmitry Peskov told journalists Friday that whether Russia extends the pause in fighting further "depends on how the process of fighters leaving the city -- which so far is sluggish, unfortunately."
Asked whether the decision on extending the pause would be taken daily, he said it would be made on the basis of the current situation, since "the situation is changing quite quickly, it could change for the worse."
At a briefing in Moscow, Lavrov accused fighters from the Fateh al-Sham Front and influential Islamist Ahrar al-Sham ...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014... group of "sabotaging the efforts of the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... -- with our support, with support of the Syrian government -- to get humanitarian aid supplies into east Aleppo."
He said the fighters "with threats, blackmail and brute force, are obstructing the departure of peaceful civilians from east Aleppo", as well as that of combatants who are prepared to leave.
Russia is "ready to extend this humanitarian pause" as long as there are not "provocations" by al-Nusra and allied groups, Lavrov said, adding that "this position was confirmed in our contacts with the United States."
Lavrov also said Russia is "very concerned" at Turkish strikes on US-backed militias in northern Syria, including Syrian Kurdish fighters.
He said Russia expected the United States, leading a coalition that includes The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , to "stay within the framework of the declared aim" of fighting 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.... jihadists and the Fateh al-Sham Front.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Nusra
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.
Hillary Clinton
[Sun Star] A suspected Abu Sayyaf Group militant was killed in a clash with policemen in Lantawan, Basilan province. Police chief Alfadda Osalli identified the slain rebel as Said Ummal, also known as Said Usman, a resident of the village of Bulan-Bulan.
[Long Wars] Senior commanders in the Sunni Palestinian Quds Brigade, known as the Liwa al Quds or the Syrian Arab Army Fedayeen, have been photographed receiving medals from Russian military officers for battlefield action. The latest interaction further indicates the deep level of Russian involvement and impact they are having on the Syrian civil war.
[RUDAW.NET] 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] Russia said Friday it was concerned over the refusal of fighters from a former al-Qaeda affiliate, the 
