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Today: 74 articles and 283 comments as of 13:36.
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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Iran invites American investigators to take part in the probe into PS752 plane incident that killed 176 people on board
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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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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7 14:33 Lex [8]
Lemme get this straight...
1. Trump takes on Medes and Persians.

2. Dems say taking on Medes, Persians will lead to catastrophic consequences.

3. Medes, Persians grimace fearsomely, froth at mouth, launch missiles, a quarter of which fail, remainder of which hit dirt and concrete, causing zero casualties.

4. Medes, Persians with itchy trigger fingers shoot down airliner full of innocents.

5. Medes, Persians left with egg on face.

6. Dems flat wrong on taking on Medes and Persians.

7. Dems pass symbolic non-binding resolution demanding to be in charge of further festivities with Iran.
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 13:21 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You got to understand. They are not of the American tribe. They have no loyalty to the American Tribe (see - border wall). They are loyal only to power and what or who can give them power.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/10/2020 14:20 Comments || Top||

#2  That's the Shitshow, Jake
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 14:21 Comments || Top||

#3  You're dealing with retarded random number generators. There is noise within noise. Kinda like a Zen koan. Will drive you nuts putting logic to it.
Don't go there..........
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/10/2020 14:28 Comments || Top||

#4  If there is indeed some logic at work here, it can only be the logic of either
a) sedition (formed of pro-Iran/anti-Israel sentiments)
b) corruption (kickbacks into numbered accounts from the JC-POS)
c) both a) and b)
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 14:32 Comments || Top||

#5  “The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”

― George Orwell, 1984
Posted by: magpie || 01/10/2020 14:32 Comments || Top||

#6  As Mencken described it: "The nagging suspicion that somewhere, someone is happy..."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/10/2020 14:53 Comments || Top||

#7  For the final exam, a philosophy professor puts a empty chair up on a classroom desk.
"As eloquently as possible," he says, "prove to me the chair exists. Defend your arguments"

The class begins writing vigorously.
One student writes two words, turns in his paper and leaves the room.
Stunned, the professor opens the test booklet and reads...
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/10/2020 14:59 Comments || Top||

#8  "What chair?"
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/10/2020 15:00 Comments || Top||

#9  When Dem Prez Obama was in the WH, the biggest recipient of $$$ (pallets of cash) WERE the Iranians. Which paid for the fireworks. Dems CYA'ing??
Posted by: Goober Tingle7365 || 01/10/2020 15:32 Comments || Top||

#10  #7 I think some Greek solved this problem 2500 year ago - he whacked his opponent with the chair.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/10/2020 15:41 Comments || Top||

#11  Dr. Johnson kicking the rock. "I refute it (the notion reality is all imagined) this..."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/10/2020 15:47 Comments || Top||

#12  Thus. $&%!?# spelczech...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/10/2020 15:48 Comments || Top||

#13  I think some Greek solved this problem

Wasn't that Alexander with the Gordian knot?
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/10/2020 16:48 Comments || Top||

#14  Alexander wasn't a Greek.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/10/2020 16:50 Comments || Top||

#15  ...tell the Greeks who insist that Macedonia is Greek. See the fight over the name Macedonia. Heh.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/10/2020 17:00 Comments || Top||

#16  😂
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/10/2020 17:06 Comments || Top||

#17  Greek, Macedonian, Caledonian, Whatever-he-was: Alexander knew how to deal with Medes & Persians.
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 18:31 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Drone Strike with Civilian Casualties Reported in Herat: Sources
[ToloNews] Local sources told TOLOnews on Wednesday night that "Mullah Nangyalai, a top commander of the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
’s splinter faction, led by Mullah Rassoul, has been killed with several others."

The incident took place on Wednesday about 4:00 pm local time in the center of Shindand after "four foreign drones targeted several houses," according to an eyewitness.

The Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
took place in an area that is under the control of the government, said Nasir Ahmad Salehi, TOLOnews news hound.

"At least 40 civilians, including women and kiddies" were also among the dead," said local sources, adding that "about 30 or 35 Taliban were also killed in the airstrikes."

Local government officials have not yet commented on the airstrike yet.

"One killed and ten others were maimed in an airstrike and have been taken to Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
’s regional hospital," according to health officials.

"USFOR-A front man": US Forces-Afghanistan, at the request of Afghan Security Forces, conducted a coordinated defensive air strike in support of Afghan forces in Shindand, Herat on Jan. 8, 2020.

The Afghan Ministry of Defense in a statement said Afghan cops launched special operations in Shindand and "reached their goal," referring to military action on Wednesday. "We will investigate the reports over civilian casualties."
Al Ahram adds:
Nangyalay split from the main branch of the Taliban after the 2013 death of founder Mullah Omar and joined a smaller breakaway faction led by a commander known as Mullah Rasool.

A senior provincial police source said the airstrike had been carried out by a US drone.
or four
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


NDS Conducts Operations in Kabul, 76 Nabbed
[ToloNews] At least 76 suspects suspected of terrorist activities, armed robberies, kidnapping and drug smuggling were arrested as a result of a series of targeted operations in 22 areas of Kabul, the National Directorate of Security
...the Afghan national intel agency...
(NDS) said in a statement on Thursday.

Five Taliban
...Arabic for students...
members accused of planting IEDs were among the suspects arrested in Deh Sabz district, the statement said.

"The terrorist network led by Samiullah son of Rozuddin and his four other colleagues carried out a series of IED attacks against civilian and military vehicles on the order of the Taliban’s commander Qari Yousuf who joined the group in Koh-e-Safi area of Parwan province," the statement concluded.
Update from Khaama Press at 9:50 p.m. Et:
The head of the terror network Samiullah son of Roozuddin with his four men, newly recruited by the Taliban commander Qari Yusuf who is based around Kohi Safi in northern parts of Kabul city, are among the detainees.

These militants were engaged in several roadside bombings on Afghan military vehicles in several areas of Dehsabz district of Kabul, NDS said.

The Afghan Ministry of Interior has also recently arranged mobile patrols to prevent armed robberies in the capital Kabul, following series of complaints by the Kabul residents who had been robbed in Kabul streets.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


High Casualties Reported in Shindand Strike
[ToloNews] Over 60 non-combatants were killed and maimed alongside 30 members of the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
as a result of a dronezap targeting Mullah Nangyalai, a top commander of the Taliban’s splinter faction, said local government officials and members of the Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
provincial council on Thursday.

While officials from the Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) insist that the dronezap was conducted in coordination with the Defense Ministry, local officials in the province called the attack a mistake.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Kinnison began his slow infiltration of the sewer system...
dozens of members of Taliban’s splinter faction on Thursday attended the funeral ceremony of Mullah Nangyalai in Guzargah neighborhood west of Herat city.

The US dronezap was carried out on Wednesday in Shindand district of Herat.

US forces in Afghanistan have said that the attack was conducted on the request of the Afghan cops.

"A misunderstanding has happened and you will be provided the details by the end of the day," said Abdul Qayoum Rahimi, the governor of Herat.

"Sometimes during the operations, mistakes can happen--an investigation has been launched to find out whether such a thing had occurred," said Gen. Aminullah Amarkhel, the police chief of Herat.

"According to the people, over 60 non-combatants were killed and maimed in the operation," said Toryalai Tahiri, deputy head of Herat provincial council.

"Based on the reports we have, the number of casualties is much higher, civilians have been killed and maimed alongside Mullah Nangyalai’s fighters, but the figure of civilian casualties is also high" said Wakil Ahmad Karkhi, a member of the Herat provincial Council.

Eyewitnesses meanwhile said that 30 Taliban fighters and 50 civilians have been killed in the attack.

The Afghan government has said it will investigate reports of civilian casualties.

"37 to 38 members of Commander Nangyalai’s group were martyred, two of my nephews were maimed," said eye witness Saleh Mohammad.

"The plane was dropping bombs everywhere on the people and it was killing them," said Mohammad Javad, an eye witness.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa North
18 UN Troops, 2 Civilians Injured in Mali Mortar Attack
[AnNahar] Eighteen UN troops and two civilians were maimed Thursday in a mortar attack on a military base in northern Mali, a UN official said, in fresh violence in the war-torn West African country.

Olivier Salgado, the spokesperson for the UN mission in Mali, said the toll was "preliminary."

Mali has been struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency that erupted in the north in 2012, and which has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives since.

An internal UN report seen by AFP said 15 mortar rounds landed "inside and around" the military base in Tessalit, in northern Mali close to the border with Algeria.

Camp personnel took shelter in a bunker, the report said, adding that two Malian civilians were maimed in the section of camp harbouring French soldiers.

Some 4,500 French troops are deployed in the Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
, while the UN has a 13,000-strong peacekeeping force in Mali.

The Tessalit camp hosts a battalion of troops from Chad, as well French troops.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:


Misurata imposes night curfew in the city
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Haftar's militias threaten to down civil aviation over Mitiga
[Libya Observer] Spokesperson for Haftar, Ahmed al-Mismari, said that the no-fly-zone that he previously announced in the western region is to expand and include Mitiga Airport 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...
, starting from Wednesday evening.

He threatened civil aviation companies that their planes would be targeted in the event they do not abide by his decision.

Haftar's militias announced earlier a flight ban over Greater Tripoli area, but claimed to have excluded Mitiga Airport from the ban.
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


#LNA forces advancing and merging Salah AlDin and AlHadba axes , with major loss for the #GNA militias
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Cargo plane il-76 full of weapons and ammunition still burning in misrata airbase
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Misrata militias dragging back their equipment. After heavy losses
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


#LNA scout units in side Zliten
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


#LNA 128th Battalion ambushed militia terrorists, they captured 8 armed vehicles equipped with Zsu-23
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  *looks around for program*

LNA is Team Haftar, correct?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/10/2020 16:28 Comments || Top||

#2  "Scoot 'n shoot"
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/10/2020 16:56 Comments || Top||

#3  LNA is Team Haftar, correct?

Correct. Click on the #LNA in the post to go to the Twitter feed — Haftar’s team have been busy.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/10/2020 18:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Busy? Looks like they are about to leave $5 and a pack of smokes on GNA's nightstand.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/10/2020 19:27 Comments || Top||


#LNA forces have bombarded Zwara air port
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


#GNA forces bombarding Abuslim neighborhood with mortars in a attempt to slow #LNA advance
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Africa Subsaharan
Islamic State group in Nigeria kills 20 soldiers, displaces 1,000 people
[Jpost] About 20 soldiers were killed and nearly 1,000 people made homeless in a turban attack on a town in northeastern Nigeria, two residents and a military source said on Wednesday.

The hard boyz entered Monguno in Borno state posing as a convoy of soldiers on Tuesday evening, the sources said. They then attacked troops inside the town, destroying at least 750 homes in the process.

Resident Gumati Sadu said people fled into the bush for safety during the fighting and that three non-combatants were killed by stray bullets.

A military front man declined to comment.

Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
West Africa Province (ISWAP) grabbed credit for the attack on its Amaq news agency.

It said that one of its hard boyz detonated a boom-mobile in the town, killing at least 8 soldiers and destroying 3 armored vehicles.

The group also said it had seized a vehicle, weapons and ammunition before leaving the town.

ISWAP split from Islamist group Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
in 2016 and has since staged its own frequent attacks in the region.

Boko Haram's decade-long insurgency campaign has killed thousands and displaced millions in northeastern Nigeria.

Thousands in Monguno had already been displaced from their homes elsewhere in Borno state by turbans. Aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres warned last year that many thousands in Monguno lacked proper shelter, water, sanitation and food.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/10/2020 08:57 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Heavily armed assailants storm a military base in Niger killing 25
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Britain
Uber driver accused of preparing acts of terror 'dreamed of martyrdom'
[SkyNews] Mohiussunnath Chowdhury had a list of targets which included London tourist attractions and public events such as Gay Pride.

An Uber driver cleared of launching a sword attack on police outside Buckingham Palace went on to plan another attack on tourists in central London, a jury has heard.

Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, 28, from Luton was "motivated by dreams of martyrdom for the cause of Islam, and inspired by preachers of hate", Woolwich Crown Court was told.

Duncan Atkinson QC, prosecuting, said Chowdhury was "keen to take part in an attack on a high profile and very public target in the UK".

Mr Atkinson said: "The targets mentioned included Madame Tussauds, the Gay Pride parade and an attack on tourists on a London open-top tour bus.

"The object was to unleash death and suffering on non-Moslem members of the public who happened to be present, using a firearm, sword and even a van as part of an attack."

The court heard that, in August 2017, the defendant had driven a car through police bollards outside Buckingham Palace and came to a halt in front of a police van.

Chowdhury was then involved in a violent altercation with two coppers as they struggled for control of a samurai sword the accused had inside his car.

The prosecutor said that the defendant had repeatedly shouted "holy shit! Allahu akbar" during the struggle.

A jury at his Old Bailey trial in 2019 believed Chowdhury's claims that he had not intended to commit an act of terror and that he had instead wanted to commit "suicide by cop". They found him not guilty and he was released.

The Crown claims that Chowdhury told undercover officers that he had indeed been trying to carry out a terrorist attack in 2017 and that he had "deceived" the earlier jury that acquitted him of those charges.

Chowdhury, who is accused of preparing acts of terror, is on trial alongside his sister Sneha Chowdhury, 25, who is accused of failing to disclose information relating to her brother's alleged attack plans.

His sister had "better reason that anyone to understand what her brother was thinking and wanting to achieve", Mr Atkinson said.

"Whilst she may have hoped that it was all over when he was released from prison - and that his acquittal meant he had not meant those things, his actions and his conversations with her after he was released in late December 2018 showed quite the opposite."

The pair were arrested after police stopped their vehicle in Luton on 3 July last year, as part of an investigation by Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command.

It is alleged that between 12 January and 3 July 2019, Mohiussunnath booked a firearms training course, requested and selected a firearm and researched potential attack targets and asked another person to do the same.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Grant him his dream.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/10/2020 6:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Why is it that Uber seems to attract such wholesome people? This is like the dozenth moke I've read about with Uberish connections.
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/10/2020 7:27 Comments || Top||

#3  If it's "Tommy the loonie from Luton,
Disciple of Hitler and Scruton"
When Muslims are peaceful --
At least to the police...
Well, it's worse when Abdullah starts shootin'!
Posted by: Angogum Gravising6322 || 01/10/2020 8:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Or "loony", even.
Posted by: Angogum Gravising6322 || 01/10/2020 8:33 Comments || Top||

#5  And what of the jurors in the original trial who believed his story ? Oops, my bad...
Posted by: Ackoopmed || 01/10/2020 8:50 Comments || Top||

#6  I won't believe Johnson's govt is any better unless these people are locked away for longer, most of them packed off to the shitholes they come from. This one's clearly from Bangladesh.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 01/10/2020 10:37 Comments || Top||

#7  Locked away longer requires Parliament to pass new laws, Dron66046. More people locked away just needs a single order to the police and prosecutors to enforce existing laws against previously de facto exempt populations... and also generates the statistics showing the need for new laws.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/10/2020 13:34 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
‘Fast And Furious’ Gunman Who Killed US Border Patrol Agent Is Sentenced To Life In Prison
[DailyCaller] One of the Mexican button men who killed a U.S. Border Patrol agent, consequently sparking the B.O. regime’s "Fast and Furious" scandal, was sentenced to life in prison.

U.S. District Judge David C. Bury on Wednesday sentenced Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes to life in federal prison for first-degree murder. The sentencing follows Osorio-Arellanes’s involvement in a 2010 border shootout between Mexican button men and U.S. officials, resulting in the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

Terry ‐ a Marine before joining Customs and Border Protection ‐ was a member of an elite, four-man Border Patrol unit that was patrolling the Arizona desert in December 2010. Osorio-Arellanes was part of an armed gang that was looking to rob drug smugglers passing through the U.S-Mexico border.

Terry’s unit encountered the gang in an area north of Nogales. However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
when the men refused to stop, they fired bean bags. Osorio-Arellanes and his men, in response, fired AK-47-type assault rifles. Terry, 40 years old at the time, was struck in the back and ultimately departed this vale of tears.

Osorio-Arellanes expeditiously departed at a goodly pace and evaded justice for many years. However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
Mexican authorities arrested him in 2017 in Chihuahua. He was extradited to the U.S. in 2018 and then convicted in February 2019. The Mexican national is the sixth of seven defendants to be convicted for the 2010 shooting so far.

The deadly shootout sparked a massive scandal involving the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) "Fast and Furious" operation, which involved the federal government allowing criminals to purchase firearms in Arizona in a bid to track the guns to criminal organizations in Mexico. It was discovered that the U.S. government lost track of most of the guns that were sold.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Narcos

#1  Cleaning up Zero's mess-- again. Part 2xx.
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 1:39 Comments || Top||

#2  So they finally got Holder.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 01/10/2020 18:15 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Blast in Quetta kills 15 Devout Scholars of Sasquatchery
[ChannelNewsAsia] QUETTA: A suicide bomber targeted a mosque in southwestern Pakistan during evening prayers on Friday (Jan 10), killing at least 15 people and wounding 19 others, officials said.

The blast took place in a satellite town of Quetta, the province's main city. Debris and shattered glass littered the scene.
See ? Even the daesh know where to find Taliban. Doha...sheesh !
Fida Mohammad, who was attending evening prayers, said about 60 people were present at the time of the attack on the mosque, which is located in a densely populated area.

The explosion ripped through the front row of worshippers seconds after the prayer began, he told AFP.
I knew being a backbencher to islam had its pros.
"It was a powerful blast, people were screaming and running here and there - many people were injured because of the stampede," Mohammad said.

Mohammad Waseem, a doctor at Quetta's Sandeman hospital, confirmed that 15 victims had died.

The police chief of Balochistan province, Mohsin Hassan Butt,
Chief Butt. Nice ring to it.
also confirmed the death toll, telling AFP: "Nineteen people are still taking medical treatment, the condition of three to four is critical."

A police officer was among the dead, he added.

Provincial home minister Zia Ullah Langu told reporters that investigations by bomb disposal officers indicated that a suicide bomber carried out the attack.

A spokesman for the provincial government, Liaqat Shahwani, confirmed a suicide bomber was to blame.
'And may all seven pieces of him be cursed from this day on !'
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE intelligence group.

A Pakistani military spokesman said on Twitter that paramilitary personnel has reached the mosque and cordoned off the area.

"A joint search operation with police is in progress, injured being evacuated to hospitals," said the spokesman, Asif Ghafoor.

The attack comes two days after a motorcycle bomb targeting a paramilitary force vehicle killed two people and wounded 14 others at a busy market in Quetta.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 01/10/2020 13:48 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraq
82nd Airborne Paratroopers Just Deployed Without Their Phones. Your Unit Could Be Next
[Mil.com] As America's adversaries become more sophisticated, U.S. combat troops heading to the war zone may have to get used to leaving behind their phones, laptops and even personal gaming devices, military experts say.

The Pentagon doesn't have a blanket policy barring service members from taking electronic devices on deployment, but combat commanders are beginning to prohibit them when going into the unknown.

Last week, Maj. Gen. James Mingus, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, ordered his paratroopers with the 1st Brigade Combat Team to leave personal phones, computers and all electronic devices at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, when they were alerted for a short-notice deployment to the Middle East amid escalating tensions with Iran.

"My commander wanted to own the decision to avoid putting soldiers at risk," said Lt. Col. Mike Burns, spokesman for the 82nd Airborne. "It's an [operational security] issue."
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2020 07:15 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I like the idea of a combat situation not being interrupted by a robo-call.
Posted by: Varmint Splat1454 || 01/10/2020 7:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Unfortunately it will be just like school and prison. Contraband is valuable and there's no shortage of people inclined to traffic in it.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/10/2020 9:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Ukrainians found out real quick having a phone or other PED got artillery dropped on you.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/10/2020 12:33 Comments || Top||

#4  alerted for a short-notice deployment

NO mission distraction!
I like it.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/10/2020 16:51 Comments || Top||

#5  Mail call! Good enuf then, good enuf NOW !
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2020 17:32 Comments || Top||

#6  Eldest son was with the 173rd in Nahangahar.
Said they all checked each other when they went out on patrol.
Posted by: ed in texas || 01/10/2020 19:06 Comments || Top||


Al-Mayadeen confirming several injured or killed in the airstrikes
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Unidentified planes hit Iraqi militiamen in Syria, killing 8
BEIRUT (AP) ‐ Unidentified planes struck targets in Syria near the border with Iraq on Friday, killing eight Iran-backed Iraqi militiamen, Syrian activists and two Iraqi officials said, an attack that comes amid soaring tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
"It was dark, cloudy, I couldn't see them, but I think I heard Hebrew..."
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the planes targeted positions belonging to pro-Iran militias in the Boukamal area, near the border with Iraq. The Britain-based organization, which documents the war in Syria through a network of activists on the ground, said the planes struck, among other targets, weapons depots and vehicles belonging to the militias.

An Iraqi security official and another official, from the Iran-backed Iraqi militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, said warplanes targeted two vehicles carrying missiles on the Syrian side of the border. The strike was most likely carried out by Israeli warplanes, they said but offered no evidence.

The Israeli military has no immediate comment. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment on the Syria bombing, which comes at a time of high tension between Iran and the U.S.

The Iraqi officials identified the eight casualties as Iraqi militia fighters while the Observatory only said the eight were not Syrians, without giving their nationality. The death toll could rise further, officials said, as there were also wounded militiamen, some reportedly in serious conditions.

Another Iraqi official said those targeted belong to the Imam Ali Brigades, an Iran-backed faction within the PMF. The three Iraqi officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make statements to the media.

Israel has repeatedly struck Iran-linked targets in Syria in recent years and has warned against any permanent Iranian presence on the frontier.

Deir Ezzor 24, an activist collective that reports on news in the border area, said that the planes strikes trucks carrying weapons and depots for ballistic missiles in the area. Omar Abu Laila, a Europe-based activist from Deir el-Zour who runs the group, said the attack triggered "a huge explosion" heard in the Syrian-Iraqi border.

The Sound and picture, another activist collective in Syria’s eastern Deir el-Zour area, said "unidentified planes" struck militia targets in Boukamal. There was no immediate comment from Syria authorities.
Update from the Times of Israel at 9:50 a.m. ET:
Abdel Rahman, of the Britain-based organization which documents the war in Syria through a network of activists on the ground, said three villages in the Albu Kamal area known for housing forces loyal to Tehran have been targeted by drone strikes since Wednesday, causing no casualties.

An Iraqi security official and a PMF official said warplanes targeted two vehicles carrying missiles on the Syrian side of the border. The strike was most likely carried out by Israeli warplanes, they said, but offered no evidence.

The area struck is key to a land corridor for Tehran that links Iran across Iraq and Syria through Lebanon. The Observatory report claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had informed Syrian President Bashar Assad this week of a US intention to “close” the land corridor for good.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2020 06:56 || Comments || Link || [15 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies

#1  Another strike by the U(nidentified) Defense Force.
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/10/2020 7:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe the Invisible Defense Force?
Posted by: gorb || 01/10/2020 8:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Ineffable Defense Force
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/10/2020 10:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Indomitable Defense Force
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 11:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Incorrigible Defense Force?
Indefatigable Defense Force?
Inexorable Defense Force ?
Illuviating Defense Force?

Hokay, me go now.....
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/10/2020 12:54 Comments || Top||

#6  oh yeah - Incognito Defense Force
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/10/2020 13:09 Comments || Top||

#7 
We are not alone. [ whistles X-files theme]



Posted by: Dron66046 || 01/10/2020 14:49 Comments || Top||

#8  How much stealthier can you get than using Westland Lysanders?
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 01/10/2020 20:35 Comments || Top||


Informants in Iraq, Syria helped US kill Iran's Soleimani
[Aljazeera] Investigators focusing on suspected informants at Damascus and Baghdad airports who collaborated with the US military.
Informants in Iraq, Syria, and Iran? helped US kill Iran's Soleimani
Iranian General Qassem Soleimani arrived at the Damascus airport in a vehicle with dark-tinted glass. Four soldiers from Iran's Revolutionary Guards rode with him. They parked near a staircase leading to a Cham Wings Airbus A320, destined for Baghdad.

Neither Soleimani nor the soldiers were registered on the passenger manifesto, according to a Cham Wings airline employee who described the scene of their departure from the Syrian capital to Reuters.

Soleimani avoided using his private plane because of rising concerns about his own security, said an Iraqi security source with knowledge of Soleimani's security arrangements.

The passenger flight would be Soleimani's last. Rockets fired from a US drone killed him as he left the Baghdad airport in a convoy of two armoured vehicles.

Also killed was the man who met him at the airport: Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), the Iraqi government's umbrella group for the country's militias.

The Iraqi investigation into the attack that killed the two men on January 3 started minutes after the US attack, two Iraqi security officials told Reuters.

National Security agents sealed off the airport and prevented dozens of security staff from leaving, including police, passport officers and intelligence agents.

Investigators have focused on how suspected informants inside the Damascus and Baghdad airports collaborated with the US military to help track and pinpoint Soleimani's position, according to Reuters interviews with two security officials with direct knowledge of Iraq's investigation, two Baghdad airport employees, two police officials and two employees of Syria's Cham Wings Airlines, a private commercial airline which had its headquarters in Damascus.
Update from the Times of Israel at 9:10 a.m. ET:
The probe into the informants in Iraq is being led by Iraqi National Security Adviser Falih al-Fayadh, who heads Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, while in Syria the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate is looking into the local employees of Cham Wings.

"Initial findings of the Baghdad investigation team suggest that the first tip on Soleimani came from Damascus airport," an Iraqi official told Rooters. "The job of the Baghdad airport cell was to confirm the arrival of the target and details of his convoy."
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2020 06:14 || Comments || Link || [14 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A little purge?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/10/2020 6:31 Comments || Top||

#2  I can't recall any of the airport security people being Jewish. More Aljazeera fake news. Please look elsewhere.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2020 6:33 Comments || Top||

#3  ..hey, got to give some family members job opportunities. Sort of the bearded Spock universe way. It's not like they can call them Gülenists, that's only in Turkey.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/10/2020 7:01 Comments || Top||

#4  P*ssing in the well. Now who you gonna trust, Bubala?
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/10/2020 7:29 Comments || Top||

#5  A fair attempt at sowing disinformation. Gotta drop a few Revolutionary Guards and Guardian Council mole hints.
Posted by: Gomez Ominter3435 || 01/10/2020 7:51 Comments || Top||

#6  Also Muqtada Sadr is playing both sides of the fence. Ya gonna put up with that, Iran?
Posted by: Gomez Ominter3435 || 01/10/2020 7:53 Comments || Top||

#7  Iraqi National Security Adviser Falih al-Fayadh, who heads Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces

WTF?

The government's top security official heads up the leading terrorist outfit in the country??

Orwellian.
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 10:57 Comments || Top||

#8  It’s Chinatown Jake.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 01/10/2020 11:21 Comments || Top||

#9  = National Insecurity Advisor
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 11:24 Comments || Top||

#10  And Soliemani's CIA handler fits in where?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/10/2020 13:30 Comments || Top||

#11  The org chart probably looks like a root bound plant
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/10/2020 14:37 Comments || Top||

#12  Sadr does have a lot to gain from this.

Mohammed too, better tie that up as well.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/10/2020 16:30 Comments || Top||

#13  Did they do it for country or money?
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/10/2020 16:53 Comments || Top||


Russian army announces ceasefire in Syria's Idlib
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Iran invites American investigators to take part in the probe into PS752 plane incident that killed 176 people on board
[Al Jazeera]
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [22 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Lemme guess: the black box has been recovered but alas, the data is unreadable.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/10/2020 1:26 Comments || Top||

#2  from the "Iran says Ukrainian plane was on fire, tried to turn back" article:
The report also confirmed that both of the so-called black boxes that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost.

It's like I have psychotic powers or something.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/10/2020 1:32 Comments || Top||

#3  What's the Persian, er, Arab saying: "Blackface, black box = black day."
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 1:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Jolson Trudeau needs to prepare for a black day. Get out the shoe polish. Pack up yer troubles in yer ol' kit bag / Smile, smile, smile...
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 1:34 Comments || Top||

#5  some IRGC squad member had a twitchy finger expecting US retaliation
15 Iranian ballistic missiles; score zero
one Russian rocket; score 176 airline passengers
Russia bears part of blame for supplying missiles to a terrorist nation.
Just as Russia is also responsible for the shoot down of Malaysian Airline Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine.
Posted by: boomerc || 01/10/2020 2:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Our old Russian friends at it again:

Air Rhodesia Flight 825 was a scheduled passenger flight that was shot down by the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) on 3 September 1978

The weapon that made such attacks feasible for ZIPRA was the Strela-2 shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile launcher, supplied by the Soviet Union from the mid-1970s as part of the Warsaw Pact's materiel support
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2020 5:45 Comments || Top||

#7  #2 - Oh, you do
Posted by: Frank G || 01/10/2020 5:48 Comments || Top||

#8  Come and investigate. Iran needs more hostages.
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/10/2020 7:25 Comments || Top||

#9  We could have saved millions of people if we had been doing drone zaps in Rhodesia back then
As it were someone should have taken out Mgabe when we had the chance
The damage to that region done by him is incalculable
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 01/10/2020 8:42 Comments || Top||

#10  /\ As Smith and many others predicted, Rhodesian dividends from Robert Mugabe still pouring in.

Colonials are evil. I thought everyone knew that.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2020 8:48 Comments || Top||

#11  some parts of their memory was lost.

Like they had been cleaned with a cloth hit with a hammer.
Posted by: Gomez Ominter3435 || 01/10/2020 8:50 Comments || Top||

#12  “Iran invites American investigators to take part in the probe be hostages

FTFY - no charge.
Posted by: Barbara || 01/10/2020 10:37 Comments || Top||

#13  mercutio beat me to it
Posted by: Chris || 01/10/2020 10:50 Comments || Top||

#14  some parts of their memory was lost.

Which of course is impossible to know before data is downloaded.

To "invite" US investigators is quite clever. You pretend you have nothing to hide but if US investigators get to the truth they will be expelled and branded as liars. Investigations of course take a LOT of time, so the dust will settle.
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/10/2020 11:25 Comments || Top||

#15  ^ typical rope-a-dope tactics ... same BS we've seen for over 30 years from these people, and from Saddam as well in his day.

Why does anyone still fall for this BS?
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 11:31 Comments || Top||

#16  Soleimani gets iced on Jan. 3. Perfunctory "Death to America" chants ensue. A few missiles are launched in the direction U.S. airbases in Iraq--no one is hurt or killed (the U.S. may have been forewarned by the Iraqis). A showy funeral is held with more "Death to America chants (there are 56 people and many more injured at the funeral stampede). The rhetorical war settles down. A few days later a plane embarks from Tehran to Kiev on January 8 and crashes in what looks like a missile strike. Iran, in a move towards chumminess, invites the U.S. to assist in investigation the Tehran crash.

Do things get any weirder than this?
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/10/2020 11:35 Comments || Top||

#17  ^ It's obviously a ruse. We shouldn't fall for it. Either full transparency, with the investigation conducted by a neutral civilian international aviation body operating with zero restrictions, or we draw our own conclusions based on our and other nations' SIGINT.

But God forbid we go back to Hans Blix-land and acdecade of rope-a-dope bullshit with these liars.
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 11:40 Comments || Top||

#18  The Iranian govt sure contained the crime Er accident scene thoroughly. Everyone walking around. And poking through the rubble.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/10/2020 11:57 Comments || Top||

#19  "We'd like Scott Ritter, please"

UNSCOM Snark O'The Day
Posted by: Frank G || 01/10/2020 12:14 Comments || Top||

#20  Iran invites American investigators to take part in the probe

after bulldozing the site...
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/10/2020 12:35 Comments || Top||

#21  Go get'em Trudeau. Surely you have a mean face in your vanity.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/10/2020 12:40 Comments || Top||

#22  ^ the Black Panther face?
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 14:03 Comments || Top||

#23  Sorry my Canadian friends...

The Black Prancer
The Masque of Black Beth
The Negromancer
Blackweird
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/10/2020 15:17 Comments || Top||

#24  Braveblack
Black to the Future
BlokeBlack Mount(ie)
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 15:20 Comments || Top||

#25  Why does anyone still fall for this BS?

Because of the balancing act between greedy politicians, stupid/ignorant voters and virtue signaling?
Posted by: gorb || 01/10/2020 15:39 Comments || Top||

#26  We know know that Buk and Tor have a 100% success quote when shooting down passenger planes. Update advertisement.
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/10/2020 16:01 Comments || Top||

#27  Why does anyone still fall for this BS?

..and Epstein hung himself. We have the tapes. They're as good as a blackbox. (so do I need to put a /sarc on that?)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/10/2020 17:06 Comments || Top||

#28  The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,

And I have many pretty things to shew when you are there."
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/10/2020 19:09 Comments || Top||


Strong explosions heard on the Syrian/Iraqi border with reports of airstrikes
[TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies

#1  While USA chops trees, Israel sharpens pencils.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 01/10/2020 3:33 Comments || Top||


Lufthansa flight that was heading to Tehran from Frankfurt just turned back after reports that the Ukrainian jet was shot down by Iranian missiles
[TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Ruh-roh!
Feets, don't fail me now!
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 1:08 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2020-01-10
  Iran invites American investigators to take part in the probe into PS752 plane incident that killed 176 people on board
Thu 2020-01-09
  U.S. Officials Confirm Iran Shot Down Ukrainian Airliner
Wed 2020-01-08
  Iran informs the United Nations and #UNSC that they ''do not seek war and warn of any military adventures"
Tue 2020-01-07
  Iraq Under Missile Attack From Iran
Mon 2020-01-06
  3 Americans Dead, 6 Aircraft Destroyed Or Damaged, Including A Rare Spy Plane, In #Kenya Attack
Sun 2020-01-05
  Iran Puts $80M Bounty on Trump's Head for Soleimani Hit
Sat 2020-01-04
  6 More Iran-Backed Leaders Zapped, incl. Shibl al-Zaidi, commander of Kataib Imam Ali
Fri 2020-01-03
  Lebanon Hizbullah: "It's war!"
Thu 2020-01-02
  Qassim Soleimani, head of Iran's elite Quds force, zapped in Iraq
Wed 2020-01-01
  Hashid Al Shaabi #PMF leader Abo Alaa Al Walae threatens to attack Embassies of #Saudi, #UAE, #Bahrain and others in #Baghdad.
Tue 2019-12-31
  Crowd storms US Embassy compound in Baghdad
Mon 2019-12-30
  Qais al-Khazali was a close associate of Qassem Suleimani - killed by USAF.
Sun 2019-12-29
  Iraq launches new military operation against ISIS 4 provinces
Sat 2019-12-28
  US civilian contractor killed and several US and Iraqi personnel wounded in Kirkuk rocket attack
Fri 2019-12-27
  Libya's Tripoli-based govt makes formal request for Turkish military support, Turkey gets ready to rock


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