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Rival Yemeni forces said to quit streets of Taiz city
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 10:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You sure that's Connie? Looks pretty hot for sweet, sweet Connie!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 12/10/2011 10:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Anne Gwynne aka Sonja in "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (Serial 1940)" aka Tess Trueheart in "Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)" aka Ruth Cannon in "Teenage Monster (1958)" aka Rita Hussman in "House of Frankenstein (1944)" aka Gerry Vail in "Ladies Courageous (story of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron) (1944)" aka Anne Shaw in "Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942)" aka Nina Lambert in "We've Never Been Licked (1943)" (Died in 2003 at age 84)



I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can't look at hovels and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/10/2011 14:38 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Mosque suicide attack kills six in Afghanistan
[Dawn] A jacket wallah on Friday attacked a mosque in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least six people including a district police chief, a government official said.
Thus the official Pakistani response to being denounced by Afghans...
The attack happened as worshippers were leaving the mosque after the main Friday prayers in the Qazi Abad area of Kunar province,
... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country.....
which borders Pakistain, said provincial governor Fazullulah Wahidi.

"The attacker detonated his explosives in the mosque, killing the district police chief, an intelligence officer, two police and two civilians," the governor told AFP.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Kunar has been a flashpoint in the Taliban's 10-year insurgency against the Western-backed government and 140,000 US-led foreign troops.

The attack came three days after coordinated attacks on Shia Moslems in the capital Kabul and the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif killed at least 59 people in an unprecedented assault on the holy day of Ashura.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
S. Sudan army fights off Khartoum army
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] South Sudan has expelled the invading Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) from the border town of Jau in the oil-rich Unity state after heavy fighting,
... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting...
the army front man said.

Colonel Philip Aguer told journalists that Jau fell to the South Sudan army on Thursday night after his army "overwhelmingly" thrashed the SAF in a series of fierce battles.

"SPLA is controlling Jau and the SAF forces have been pushed to a distance of seven kilometres outside Jau," Col Aguer told the Nation on Friday.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan

#1  Code 404. Requested source is not available message.
Posted by: Dale || 12/10/2011 6:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Wikipedia article on Abyei
Posted by: phil_b || 12/10/2011 7:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Seems they've moved it. Clicked through from front page to here link
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 9:46 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Libya Army Head Reportedly Target Of Assassination Attempt
Gunmen tried to kill the head of the Libyan army Saturday in a bold daylight attack in the country's capital, setting off hours of intense gunbattles along the main highway to the airport. Assailants in Tripoli also attacked one of Libya's largest military bases.

The gunmen were believed to be from renegade groups of former rebel fighters. The violence deepens concerns about unity among the ex-rebels -- many of whom remain heavily armed -- while the police and military struggle to restructure their forces after the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi.

Military officials said revolutionary fighters from the western mountain town of Zintan were likely behind the violence. They spoke on condition of anonymity because an investigation was still under way.

The violence began in the morning with the attack on the army chief of staff's convoy as it moved from his home in Tripoli to the military headquarters, said a military spokesman, Sgt. Abdel-Razik el-Shibahy.

A group of armed men at a mock checkpoint tried to stop them, but Gen. Khalifa Hifter's convoy swerved from the checkpoint and drove over a nearby bridge where they were shot at by two gunmen positioned on the other side, el-Shibahy said.
So the plotters set up a fake checkpoint, planning that the convoy would divert, and then covered the most likely diversion route. Not bad.
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2011 14:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh YES pissed off somebody, did he.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/10/2011 15:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Well at least this one survived. The previous one wasn't so lucky.
Posted by: Charles || 12/10/2011 22:19 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Rival Yemeni forces said to quit streets of Taiz city
SANAA: Yemeni forces loyal to outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh and opposition gunmen are withdrawing from the streets of Taiz city, an official said on Friday, as part of an effort to stop fighting that has threatened a political solution to the countryÂ’s crisis.

Dozens have been killed in Taiz, YemenÂ’s commercial capital, since Saleh signed a deal last month to give up power and end months of anti-government protests that have pushed the impoverished country to the brink of civil war.

The official said a committee set up to restore normality to Taiz was clearing away makeshift road blocks set up by Saleh opponents and loyalists during street battles, and overseeing their withdrawal from occupied buildings.

Separately, SalehÂ’s General PeopleÂ’s Congress (GPC) party said it would stop holding pro-government rallies after Friday prayers to show its commitment to a political solution to YemenÂ’s woes.

“The decision by the party’s leadership is a new sign of the GPC’s eager desire to act in the higher interest of the nation and to begin ending the political crisis,” said a statement from the party, urging opposition parties to do the same.

Under the power transfer plan negotiated by YemenÂ’s wealthy Gulf neighbors, the GPC and the opposition Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) agreed to divide up cabinet posts between them and form a national unity government to steer the country ahead of presidential elections next February. The cabinet, which is due to be sworn in on Saturday, faces a host of challenges including a southern separatist movement, a rebellion in the north and a regional wing of Al-Qaeda that has exploited the upheaval to strengthen its foothold in Yemen.

Meanwhile, opposition leader Mohammed Basindwa, who is now prime minister, said his first foreign visit would be to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to ask for urgent support for YemenÂ’s fuel and electricity needs.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  to ask for urgent support for YemenÂ’s fuel and electricity needs.

Ahha, the barbarians cannot understandd the electric Djinn.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/10/2011 6:49 Comments || Top||


Tribesmen Kill 2 Qaida Suspects in South Yemen
[An Nahar] Yemeni rustics have killed two suspected al-Qaeda cut-throats in the restive southern province of Abyan, a tribal source said on Friday.

"Our gunnies killed al-Qaeda gunnies Abdullah Umeir and Shokri Shaher as they tried to infiltrate Mudia," a town in the province held by rustics, late on Thursday, the source told Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity.

According to a military official, nine suspected al-Qaeda cut-throats were killed in an attack on a Yemeni army unit late on Wednesday near Abyan's capital Zinjibar.

Since May, Yemeni troops backed by rustics have been battling cut-throats believed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda to regain control of at least three cities in Abyan, including Zinjibar, under beturbanned goon control.

Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Europe
Italy Tax Chief Wounded in Letter Bomb Blast
[An Nahar] The head of Italia's tax collection agency Equitalia was maimed Friday when a letter bomb sent to his office in Rome detonated, prompting prosecutors to launch an inquiry for terrorism.

Equitalia's director general Marco Cuccagna has been taken to hospital and fire brigade and police were investigating at the scene of the blast.

"A letter bomb went kaboom!. The director is injured to the hand" after he opened the letter, a front man for Equitalia said.

A police front man said Cuccagna was also injured in the eye when he opened the letter, which arrived in the post.

Prime Minister Mario Monti issued a statement expressing "solidarity," adding: "Equitalia has always carried out and is continuing to carry out its duty in full respect of the law."

"It is essential for the functioning of the state, without which it would be impossible to provide services to citizens," he said.

Prosecutors have launched an inquiry for terrorism, ANSA news agency reported.

An Italian far-left group on Thursday grabbed credit for a letter bomb sent to the chief executive of Deutsche Bank, Josef Ackermann.

State police said the group had referred to "three kabooms against banks, bankers, ticks and bloodsuckers."

Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Great White North
Canadian accused of conspiricy in US terror indictment
A man in custody in Canada was indicted on Friday on U.S. charges that he helped coordinate Tunisian jihadis believed responsible for separate suicide attacks in Iraq in 2009 that killed five American soldiers outside a U.S. base and seven people at an Iraqi police complex.

Faruq Khalil Muhammad `Isa, a 38-year-old Canadian citizen and Iraqi national, was nabbed in January on a U.S. warrant after an investigation by authorities in New York, Canada and Tunisia. Muhammad `Isa is being held in Edmonton, where he's fighting extradition to federal court in Brooklyn on charges of conspiring to kill Americans and providing material support to terrorists.

Muhammad `Isa never left Canada as part of the alleged conspiracy, and his attorney said Friday that the U.S. has no jurisdiction. His attorney, Bob Aloneissi, said, "All the evidence was gathered here. There's just no tie. ... This should be done for a legal reason and not a political reason."

An extradition request revealed on Friday offered fresh details on wiretap evidence and an interview of Muhammad `Isa that U.S. authorities claim link him to the terror network. Authorities say the group used a suicide bomber to detonate an explosives-laden truck outside the gate of the U.S. base in Mosul, Iraq, in April, 2009, killing the five soldiers, and it also staged a suicide bombing on the Iraqi police station in March, 2009.

The extradition requests says the evidence shows that "the goal of the attacks was to compel the United States government to remove its armed forces from Iraq."

A U.S. Department of Justice investigator interviewed Muhammad `Isa in January with an FBI agent and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police corporal present, the request says. The interview "was conducted in compliance with United States law," with Muhammad `Isa signing a waiver before volunteering to answer questions, it says.

During the interview, Muhammad `Isa admitted he corresponded by email from Canada with two of the terrorists while they were in Syria, and knew that they were planning to kill Americans. The documents allege he corresponded with "facilitators" who were trying to get the jihadis into Iraq, and wired one of them $700.

On wiretaps, Muhammad `Isa was overheard last year discussing with someone in Iraq how he used code words when he discussed the Iraq operation, the papers say.

"For example, when I want to name the brothers, I say the farmers -- because they plant metal and harvest metal and flesh," the papers quote him. He also explained that he used the word "married" to mean "in the afterlife."

U.S. officials alleged that the day after the attack that killed the five soldiers, Muhammad `Isa asked in an electronic communication, "Did you hear about the huge incident yesterday? Is it known?" He also identified the bomber as "one of the Tunisian brothers," to which a facilitator responded, "Praise God."

In the interview, Muhammad `Isa told investigators that by "huge incident" he meant an explosion, the papers show.

The papers say: "When asked if he believed that it was a religious duty for Muslims to travel to Iraq and fight Americans, (Muhammad `Isa) stated that he believed it was the duty for every Muslim who lived in Iraq to fight American `invaders.'"

If convicted in a civilian court, Muhammad `Isa faces life imprisonment.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If convicted, he'll spend the rest of his days eating Halal Canadian bacon, drinking non-alcoholic Moosehead, and praying on a mat made of recycled tuques. For recreation they will throw him out on the ice, so the other inmates can use him as a puck.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/10/2011 9:04 Comments || Top||

#2  He'll also have to listen to Country & Western music 24 hours a day. Cruel and unusual punishment!
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 12/10/2011 14:26 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan upgrades air defences on Afghan border
[Dawn] Pakistain has upgraded its air defence system on the Afghan border to make it capable of shooting down aircraft, after NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
strikes killed 24 Pak soldiers, a security official told AFP on Friday.

"Now we have a fully equipped air defence system on the Afghan border. It has the capability to trace and detect any aircraft," the official in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar told AFP by telephone.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the step had been taken to avert air incursions from Afghanistan and to respond to any future air strikes.

"The system has also been upgraded to immediately respond after detecting any aircraft or helicopter and to shoot it down," he added.

Pakistain shut its border to NATO supply convoys on November 26, the same day as the deadliest single cross-border attack of the 10-year war in Afghanistan.

The government also ordered the United States to leave the Shamsi air base in the southwest, widely reported as a hub in the covert CIA drone war against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Pakistain's border area with Afghanistan.

Pakistain gave tacit support to the programme, but no US drone strike has been reported on Pak soil since November 17.

The November 26 attacks brought the fragile Pak-US alliance to a fresh low, already reeling from an American stealth raid that killed Al-Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden
... who went titzup one dark and stormy night...
in Abbottabad
... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden....
on May 2.

It was after that raid, conducted by US Navy SEALs who flew in from Afghanistan, that Pakistain first upgraded its defence systems on the border.

US President Barack Why can't I just eat my waffle? Obama has expressed condolences over the November 26 border deaths, insisting it was not a "deliberate attack" by NATO as claimed by the Mighty Pak Army.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  That many fewer units for the Indian border...
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/10/2011 9:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Pity they couldn't apply the same enthusiasm to preventing cross-border infiltration.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/10/2011 12:45 Comments || Top||

#3  The US military has been too focused on extended patrol missions with drones, so perhaps this will force it to go for faster, more maneuverable, but shorter range, even expendable, drones.

This also means that target analysis would be more oriented to satellite and high altitude, out of country. And that means that the cheapest system already available would be stand off small diameter bombs.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/10/2011 16:41 Comments || Top||


Volunteers blow up house of militant in Darra
[Dawn] The volunteers of a peace committee in Darra Adamkhel destroyed the empty house of a bad turban commander after giving warning to his family to leave the area.

Sources said on Thursday that the members of the peace committee gathered in Sher Alam Kallay area and blew up the house of bad turban commander Azmatullah alias Azmatay with explosives.

"The bad turban commander has been blamed for harassing rustics, extorting money and carrying out other terror activities in the area," they added.

After getting warnings from the elders the bad turban commander left the area while his family was also ordered to leave the place forever, a punishment awarded to criminals under tribal customs. Nobody was present in the house when it was blown up.

In Landi Kotal tehsil of Khyber Agency, the house of a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
fuel supplier was damaged while a Zakhakhel primitive was injured in two separate blasts on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  The Unwelcome Wagon
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/10/2011 11:43 Comments || Top||


Nine terror suspects held in Islamabad
[Dawn] Nine alleged beturbanned goons affiliated with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain (TPP) were tossed in the calaboose during separate raids in different parts of the capital's rural area on Thursday, sources close to the development told this news hound.

The arrests were made from the precinct of the Shahzad Town police but the police showed ignorance about the development.

However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow...
a police brass hat on condition of anonymity confirmed that five alleged beturbanned goons were picked up from the area of Pindorian in the jurisdiction of Shahzad Town police.

The officer added: "Today, the police tossed in the calaboose five beturbanned goons during a raid but due to some reasons their details are not being disclosed."

The office of the inspector general of police Islamabad said the arrests were made during a joint operation conducted by the Shahzad Town police and the Crime Investigation Department (CID). The tossed in the calaboose persons are in the custody of the CID and being investigated to trace and arrest their accomplices in the capital, if any," the office added.

Some days back, the suspects were spotted by the CID in the area which led to their arrest during a raid conducted there.

The alleged beturbanned goons were identified as Rasool Khan, Idrees Khan, Dilaram Khan, Hazrat Ali and Nadir Khan, natives of Kabul and Swat.

They were allegedly involved in several attacks on security forces and their convoys in Swat
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
and Mingora during the military operation there. The five-member group was in hiding at a rented house located in Pindorian for the last a couple of months.

Earlier, in another raid conducted by law enforcement agencies in the area of Khana, four alleged beturbanned goons were tossed in the calaboose from a rented house, sources closed to the arrests said.

They were affiliated with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain`s Swat chapter and identified as Rahim Behram Khan, Ali Khan, Muzamil Khan and Ustad Sumair, all residents of Swat.

The sources said the suspects were also hiding in a rented house in the area for the last a couple of months. They were allegedly involved in militancy and scores of attacks, including an ambush on security forces in Swat.

The sources said after their identification, the suspects had gone into hiding and later came to the capital city and hired a house in Khana on rent. Intelligence and vigilance mounted in the area led to the arrest of the terror suspects.

The tossed in the calaboose men were shifted to Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location for further investigations, the sources added.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Southeast Asia
Gun battle kills defense volunteer in southern Thailand
A village defense volunteer was killed Friday during an exchange of gunfire with presumed terrorists insurgents in Yala province. The killing took place after security personnel cordoned off a rubber plantation to track three men suspected of planning to incite unrest.

Yayah Dama, a 28-year-old village defense volunteer, was pronounced dead en route to the hospital after being shot in a 10-minute gunfight with the attackers early Friday morning. The government personnel raided a nearby rubber plantation to seek the suspects.

A village leader told police that residents alerted him after seeing three men armed with AK-47 assault rifles walking around the area. He coordinated with the deputy commander of Yala Special Task Force Unit 12, and local police to lead a combined force of 30 security officials to cordon off the rubber plantation and surrounding area.

As the authorities searched the area early in the morning, the suspects ran from a house into the nearby rubber plantation. The suspected terrorists insurgents and government personnel exchanged gunfire for about 10 minutes. Yayaha was seriously injured and died en route to hospital. Meanwhile, the presumed terrorists insurgents disappeared.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria poised for assault on Homs
[Emirates 24/7] Syria's opposition warned on Friday that thousands of regime forces and loyalist militias have encircled the protest hub of Homs, poised to launch what may be a final bloody assault to crush dissent.

The Syrian National Council said in a statement sent to AFP in Nicosia that Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
's regime was using the pretext of what it called a "terrorist" attack on an oil pipeline to overrun the central protest hub.

"The regime (is) paving the way to commit a massacre in order to extinguish the revolution in Homs," said the SNC, the principle umbrella organization drawing together opponents of Assad's regime.

Homs, an important junction city of 1.6 million residents mainly divided along confessional lines, is a tinderbox of sectarian tensions that the SNC said the regime was trying to exploit.

"The regime has tried hard to ignite the sectarian conflict using many dirty methods, which have included bombing and burning mosques, torturing and killing young men, and kidnapping women and kiddies," said the opposition group.

"The regime also took a significant step... in burning oil pipelines in the neighborhood of Baba Amr to blame what the regime calls 'armed gangs; in an attempt to crush the peaceful uprising on the pretext of a war on terrorism."

Witnesses on the ground in the city have reported a buildup of troops and pro-regime "Shabiha" beturbanned goons backed by armoured vehicles who have set up more than 60 checkpoints, said the SNC.

"These are all signs of a security crackdown operation that may reach the level of a total invasion of the city," it said in the statement.

"We warn of the consequences of committing such a crime that could result in a massive number of casualties."

"We hold accountable the regime, and behind it the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
and the international community of what could happen to innocent civilians in the next few hours or days, and the implications for the region as a whole in the near future," said the SNC.

"The Syrian National Council also calls on all relevant international organizations and human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
organizations to take immediate action to pressure the international forums to provide immediate protection to civilians in Homs in particular, and throughout Syria in general."

The Assad regime's crackdown on dissent since mid-March has hit Homs particularly hard and activists say a great number of defecting soldiers have set up camp there to protect the protest movement.

An kaboom that tore apart a pipeline taking crude to an oil refinery in Homs from eastern Syria, in an attack the regime blamed on "armed terrorist gangs."

But the Local Coordination Committees, which organises anti-regime protests, accused Assad's government of deliberately destroying the pipeline which serves a region seen as staunchly opposed to his rule.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Again?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/10/2011 2:33 Comments || Top||


Syria 'Still Mulling' Arab League Response to Its Conditions
[An Nahar] The Syrian foreign ministry said Friday that Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
was still mulling a response it had received from the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
to its request for lifting the Arab sanctions as a precondition for allowing foreign observers to enter the country to assess the situation on the ground.

"The foreign ministry has received the response of the secretary general (Nabil al-Arabi) and it is still under scrutiny," ministry front man Jihad Maqdesi said in a statement.

The Arab League sought Iraq's help on Thursday in persuading Syria to allow observers on its soil as part of efforts to end the unrest.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told a joint news conference in Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
with Arab League chief Arabi that Iraq would try to convince Syria to accept an Arab peace deal and the deployment of monitors.

"We will exert efforts and discuss with the Syrian government how to remove all the obstacles facing this initiative," said Zebari.

Arabi added: "The ball is in the Syrian court."

Iraq has close trade ties with Syria and has refused to enforce the sweeping sanctions against Damascus approved by the vaporous Arab League on November 27 over the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on protests.

The Arab League wants Syria to allow a group of observers in the country to monitor the situation on the ground.

Burhan Ghalioun, who heads the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC), said Assad's conditional acceptance of observers does not amount to meaningful progress, in an interview published Thursday in Brazil's Estado de Sao Paulo daily.

"The president (Assad) is viewed as a murderer by the majority of the Syrian people and any negotiation for a democratic transition requires Assad relinquishing power," Ghalioun said.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the monitors would be allowed to enter the country under certain conditions, according to the text of a letter to Arabi published by Syrian newspapers.

If Syria allows observers into the country all the Arab bloc's sanctions would become "null and void", the letter said.

An Arab League ministerial team is due to meet on Saturday in Qatar to discuss the next move, according to an Arab diplomat.

Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Syrian Forces Kill At Least 24 as Protesters Take to Streets
[An Nahar] Syrians erupted into the streets of Homs where at least 10 people were killed on Friday, activists said, as the opposition warned of the danger of a "massacre" by regime forces ringing the protest hub.

Four children were among 24 people killed when security forces and pro-regime militias opened fire in several cities across the country after the main weekly Moslem prayers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Pro-democracy activists had called on citizens to take to the streets in support of a "dignity strike ... which will lead to the sudden death of this tyrant regime."

Ahead of the demonstrations, the opposition Syrian National Council warned of a bloody final assault on Homs using the pretext of what the regime had called a "terrorist" attack on an oil pipeline.

"The regime (is) paving the way to commit a massacre in order to extinguish the revolution in Homs," said the SNC, a principle umbrella group drawing together Assad's opponents.

Homs, an important central junction city of 1.6 million residents mainly divided along confessional lines, is a tinderbox of sectarian tensions that the SNC said the regime was trying to exploit.

"The regime has tried hard to ignite the sectarian conflict using many dirty methods, which have included bombing and burning mosques, torturing and killing young men, and kidnapping women and kiddies," said the SNC.

"The regime also took a significant step ... in burning oil pipelines in the neighborhood of Baba Amr to blame what the regime calls 'armed gangs'; in an attempt to crush the peaceful uprising on the pretext of a war on terrorism."

Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Blast Targets French UNIFIL Patrol in Tyre, 7 Injured
[An Nahar] Five French soldiers and two civilians were maimed on Friday by a powerful roadside kaboom that targeted a UNIFIL patrol in the southern coastal city of Tyre, a spokesperson and media reports said.

UNIFIL front man Andrea Tenenti said the 5 peacekeepers were maimed when an kaboom targeted their patrol in an area south of Tyre around 9:30 am. He did not specify to which contingent they belonged to.

But Tenenti said UNIFIL Sherlocks are currently working with their counterparts in the Lebanese army to determine the facts behind the incident.

The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals.

Voice of Leb radio (93.3) reported that two civilians were also maimed in the kaboom.

The explosives were placed in a garbage bin in the area of al-Nabaa on the road that leads to Burj al-Shamali in Tyre, it said.

But a security official told Agence La Belle France Presse that the bomb was hidden under dirt on the side of the road and detonated as the soldiers were driving by in a four-wheeler.

The blast left a one-meter deep crater and caused damages to nearby houses.

Security forces cordoned off the area as hundreds of onlookers gathered nearby.

A French U.N. patrol was attacked on July 26 and Italian peacekeepers were targeted on May 27.

UNIFIL Force Commander Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas denounced the attack but vowed it would not deter his troops from fulfilling their mandate.

"This vile and despicable act not only aims to cause harm to the peacekeepers but also to undermine the stability and peace that have been prevailing in the south," he said in a statement.

"We will not be diverted from our tasks and we remain focused in our efforts to fulfill our mandate together with the Lebanese Armed Forces," he added.

Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why do bad things happen to good people?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/10/2011 1:51 Comments || Top||


Syria Wants Int'l Help for 'Honorable' Exit from Crisis
[An Nahar] Syria on Friday appealed to the international community as well as Arab countries to help it find an "honorable exit" to the crisis it is facing, notably by stopping the flow of weapons into the country.

"We are appealing to the outside world and our brothers in the Arab world to help Syria (prevent the) channeling (of) weapons" into the country, foreign ministry front man Jihad Maqdisi told a news conference in Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
, speaking in English.

"We want the others, all the others, to support the Syrian evolution, not the armed confrontation in Syria," he said.

"If we all work together we can find an honorable exit to the crisis."

Maqdisi convened the news conference to denounce U.S. news network ABC, which this week broadcast an interview with Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Lord of the Baath...

"The network distorted what the president said," Maqdisi said.

"It deliberately deformed the president's words ... by airing videos (of violence) to incite" action against Syria, the front man said.

"That was a deliberate mistake."

Maqdisi said ABC had edited the interview Assad gave to veteran journalist Barbara Walters and broadcast only what it wanted the world to hear, leaving out long extracts of what the president said.

"The important thing (was) to show Syria is evil," Maqdisi said.

"The battle is political and we know that," he added.

Maqdisi stressed that Assad is "appalled and saddened" by the deadly violence that has shaken Syria for nearly nine months.

"The president has promised accountability," he added.

Maqdisi also stressed that Assad's regime gave "no clear instructions to use live ammunition" against pro-democracy protesters who have held almost daily protests since mid-March.

Assad denied in the interview with ABC that he ordered the killing of protesters in Syria and said "only a crazy person" would target his own people.

"We don't kill our people," Assad said.

"No government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person."

Maqdisi said the network played up this quote as part of a concerted effort in the West to give a negative image of Assad.

The foreign ministry front man played part of the interview that was aired by ABC as well as another segment of the original tape to show that some of what Assad said had been edited out.

Assad in the interview also disputed U.N. claims that more than 4,000 people have been killed in Syria in a security force crackdown on dissent since mid-March.

Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Why, Why should we give a shit?
Hamdle your own weapons Infusion yourself.

You're an enemy, forget.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/10/2011 6:56 Comments || Top||

#2  "We call for the international community to stop supporting the Syrian peoples' efforts to overthrow the dictatorship, so we can keep our cushy, authoritarian, phony-baloney jobs."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/10/2011 9:06 Comments || Top||

#3  "No government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person."

Err .... Oh, nevermind. I'd prefer to keep my head.
Posted by: gorb || 12/10/2011 11:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Honorable exit? Seppuku would be appropriate. Failing that, stick a gun in your mouth and pull the trigger, pencilneck. That's the only honorable exit.
Posted by: gromky || 12/10/2011 15:58 Comments || Top||

#5  I think "honorable" means he stays in power and all his rivals have to "exit".
Posted by: gorb || 12/10/2011 20:23 Comments || Top||


Switzerland Adds 18 Syrian Officials to Travel Ban List
Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
added 18 senior Syrian military and interior ministry officials to a travel ban list Friday, as activists said security forces killed at least 14 anti-regime protesters.

The Swiss list now has 74 names on it, a statement said, while adding Syria's Commercial Bank to a separate list, now 19 long, of sanctioned firms.

In September, Switzerland tightened its sanctions against Syria, halting new investments in the oil sector and stopping the delivery of new coins and notes to its central bank.

It has also placed an embargo on exports to Syria of military equipment the government may use in suppressing its citizens.

Syrian assets frozen in Switzerland are worth about 45 million francs (36 million euros, $49 million).

Activists said at least 24 people, four of them children, were killed as Syrian security forces opened fire in several cities on Friday -- most of them in the restive region of Homs.

A crackdown on protests in Syria by the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
has killed more than 4,000 people since mid-March, according to U.N. figures.

Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Turkey Tells Assad to Punish 'Murderers' of Opposition Protestors
[An Nahar] Turkey urged Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
on Friday to punish the "murderers" of anti-regime protesters and accept observers proposed by the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...

"If he (Assad) is now sincere, he will immediately punish the murderers and accept Arab League observers. He still has such an opportunity," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told news hounds.

His comments were in response to a question about a rare interview with Assad in which the Syrian leader said he was not responsible for the months-long bloodshed, drawing a distinction between himself and the military.

Davutoglu said Assad's remarks were a kind of "confession."

"He now accepts that security forces might have made a mistake," said Davutoglu. "I wish he had said this in April."

Assad told veteran ABC News interviewer Barbara Walters this week that security forces belonged to "the government" and not him personally.

"We don't kill our people," Assad said. "No government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person."

Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Even if the victims are Kurds?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/10/2011 2:33 Comments || Top||



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Sat 2011-12-10
  Rival Yemeni forces said to quit streets of Taiz city
Fri 2011-12-09
  Twenty trucks torched in attack at Nato terminal in Quetta
Thu 2011-12-08
  Yemen's unity government announced
Wed 2011-12-07
  New coalition government formed in Yemen
Tue 2011-12-06
  Afghanistan: Kabul shrine attacks 'kills 34'
Mon 2011-12-05
  France Reduces Tehran Embassy Staff after Attack on British Mission
Sun 2011-12-04
  Iran police arrest 12 over embassy rally
Sat 2011-12-03
  US Hands Over Camp Victory to Iraq
Fri 2011-12-02
  Syria Sanctions Target Assad Brother, 16 Other Senior Figures
Thu 2011-12-01
  UK expels Iran diplomats after embassy attack
Wed 2011-11-30
  Egypt's elections go smoothly amid protests
Tue 2011-11-29
  Iranian brownshirts seize 6 British embassy staff
Mon 2011-11-28
  Enraged Pakistanis burn Obama effigy, slam US
Sun 2011-11-27
  US told to vacate Shamsi base
Sat 2011-11-26
  Pakistan stops NATO supplies after raid kills up to 28

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