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Today: 67 articles and 110 comments as of 15:20.
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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Pak police recovers 15,000 kilos of explosive material
Today's Headlines
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Least we forget she, Jean Arthur was the supporting actress in:



What do you say, great movie ?
Posted by: Au Auric || 06/09/2013 1:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Birthday Gam Shot

Sofía (Stamatiades) Lama [Filmography](age 26)



Undocumented Design


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/09/2013 1:50 Comments || Top||

#3  My favorite movie ever...and we could sure use Mr. Smith now.
Rand Paul is the closest thing we have to Mr. Smith these days...and the Obama Regime makes the "Taylor Machine" look like the Salvation Army.
WBF
Posted by: Justrand || 06/09/2013 9:39 Comments || Top||

#4  I believe the Undocumented Design is one of my favorite Columbianas, Sofia Vergara.
Posted by: Brujotejano || 06/09/2013 12:41 Comments || Top||

#5  Testing...
Posted by: Brerrabbit || 06/09/2013 16:37 Comments || Top||

#6  By jove I think I may have got it...
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 06/09/2013 16:39 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Somali Warlords Battle over Key Southern Port
[An Nahar] At least eight people have died in fighting between rival Somali warlords battling for control of the southern port city of Kismayo, witnesses said Saturday.

Gunmen from the Ras Kamboni militia of former Islamist warlord Ahmed Madobe -- recently self-appointed "president" of the southern Jubaland region -- battled against forces loyal to Iftin Hassan Basto, another leader claiming to be president.

Fighting broke out Friday evening, paused overnight, but resumed on Saturday morning.

"Fighting started when soldiers from Ras Kamboni attacked and tried to arrest me," Basto told news hounds. "But my men fought back and defended me."

Several rival factions claim ownership of Kismayo, a former stronghold of the al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab, where Kenyan troops in an African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
force are now based.

Kenyan troops, who invaded in 2011, back Madobe's control of the strategic and economic hub, but neither the title of "president" nor the region of Jubaland is recognized by the weak central government in Mogadishu.

Witnesses said eight were killed during the festivities, with several maimed people were seen being taken to hospital.

"I saw eight dead, three of them civilians, but the toll could be higher as many were maimed," said Mohamed Farey, a witness.

"Battles have continued... we can hear heavy fire."

Another resident, Jama Bile, said that three of his neighbors had been killed, and two others maimed.

"It's chaotic here... people are frightened," Bile told Agence La Belle France Presse.

Jubaland lies in the far south of Somalia and borders both Kenya and Æthiopia, and control is split between multiple forces including clan militia, the Shabaab, Kenyan and Æthiopian soldiers.

Jubaland joins other semi-autonomous regions of the fractured Horn of Africa nation, including Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
in the northeast -- which wants autonomy within a federation of states -- and Somaliland in the northwest, which fiercely defends its self-declared independence.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
7 Dead, 30 Hurt as Protesters Attack Libya ex-Rebels HQ
[An Nahar] At least seven people died and 30 were maimed on Saturday when demonstrators attacked the headquarters in Benghazi of former rebels who had fought to oust Libyan strongman Muammar Qadaffy
...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years until he was ejected from the gene pool by his indignant citizens...
, a hospital official said.

"At least seven people are dead," said a doctor at al-Jala hospital in the eastern city, which was the cradle of the anti-Qadaffy uprising in 2011.

"We also have received some 30 maimed," he added, saying the toll could could rise.

Fighting erupted after dozens of demonstrators, some of them armed, tried to dislodge the powerful "Shield of Libya" brigade from its barracks in Benghazi, said an Agence La Belle France Presse correspondent at the scene.

They encircled the the headquarters and called on regular security forces to step in.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  I wonder that an average---just let me live in peace---Libyan is thinking right now?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/09/2013 14:11 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
8 die in Chihuahua state

For a map, click here. For a map of Chihuahua state, click here

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of six unidentified individuals were found Friday in a series of graves in Rosales municipality in Chihuahua, according to Mexican news reports.

A Notimex wire dispatch posted on the online edition of El Diario de Coahuila said that the victims were found in four pits inside ejido Rosales, according to a spokesman for the Chihuahua state Fiscalia General del Estado (FGE) or attorney general, Carlos Hernandez.

The bodies were found on Thursday and excavation continued into the next day. The totals were five men and one woman found.

Two other men were killed and several others were wounded in four separate incidents in Chihuahua state.
  • Five unidentified individuals were shot and wounded Friday night in a shooting at a bar in Chihuahua city, according to a news dispatch posted on the online edition of La Polaka. The attack took place at the Bar Las Animas near the intersection of calles Morelos and Allende in Centro Historic. A number of armed suspects entered the bar and started shooting. Seven each 9mm spent cartridge casings were found at the scene.

  • An unidentified man in his 20s was found stabbed to death in Ciudad Juarez Friday, according to a news account which appeared in the online edition of El Diario de Juarez. The victim was found near then intersection of calles Pedro Rosales de Leon and Buenavista in Villahermosa colony.

  • A 34 year old man was shot to death in Ciudad Juarez Friday night. The victim, unofficially identified as Omar Alfredo Fereseres, was aboard a pickup truck at around 2020 hrs near the corner of calles Isla Aruba and Division del Norte in Guadalajara Izquierda colony when armed suspects aboard a Jeep Cherokee SUV fired on him, killing him.

  • An unidentified man was shot and wounded in a carjacking in Ciudad Juarez Saturday afternoon. The incident took place in Satelite colony near the corner of calles Venus and Saturno in front of a school. The car that was stolen was for sale, according to reports.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
Posted by: badanov || 06/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Wanted terrorist captured in Moscow
Police in Russia detained the alleged head of a disbanded Islamist group that had planned a series of attacks in Moscow.

Yulay Davlatbayev was arrested in MoscowÂ’s Mytishchinsky district by special forces from the Federal Security Service, which released photographs of his arrest early on Thursday. Police said they found explosives in the man's apartment in the Orekhovo-Zuyevo area of Moscow, and that Davlatbayev had until now eluded capture by taking a job as a taxi driver in Moscow.

Officials said Davlatbayev ran a cell for the Islamic Party of Turkestan, a group Russian police say they decimated in a shootout last month. They said the group had been planning attacks in Moscow, including on May 9 when Russia celebrates the Nazi defeat.

The Anti-Terrorism Committee said DavlatbayevÂ’s group had been to the Afghan-Pakistan border to train in explosives and had fought NATO forces in Afghanistan.

FSB Chief Alexander Bortnikov has warned that the Islamic Group of Turkestan is just as dangerous as al Qaeda, but some security analysts say its aims and reach are not well understood. Security analysts say the group may have ties with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan which the US has designated as a terrorist organization.
Posted by: ryuge || 06/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan


India-Pakistan
Two militants killed in Kurram clashes
[Dawn] Two Death Eaters were killed and five injured, while four security personnel suffered injuries during festivities in Para Chamkani area of the central Kurram Agency
...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora...
on Friday.

Local officials said the clash occurred when security forces came under attack during a search operation meant to flush out Death Eaters from the area.

They said security forces retaliated and killed two Death Eaters and injured five.

The officials said four security officials were also injured in the clash.

An operation against Death Eaters has been underway in the central Kurram Agency since May 8 when an election rally was bombed.

According to an official, at least 200 Death Eaters have been killed in the operation, while 10,000 families have been displaced from the area due to it.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Hangu tense as mob destroys houses
[Dawn] Tensions prevailed in the restive Hangu town on Friday after a mob destroyed two houses of the members of a group suspected to be involved in the recent killing of Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
MPA Farid Khan.

Shortly after the killing of the MPA, too, the protesters destroyed many houses.

Local officials said armed supporters of the slain politician attacked house of Sher Bahadar on Bypass Road and that of Meen Asghar in Kandao Kali area.

They said the two were affiliated with the Mullah Nabi Hanfi group.

The officials said the attack destroyed the houses but caused no damage to human life as families had already left the premises.

The officials said Mullah Nabi Hanfi had close association with Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam
...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability...
-Fazl, while the assassinated MPA, who had joined PTI after winning elections as an independent candidate, was linked to a banned outfit in the area.

They said police had already locked away
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
Qari Hamid in connection with the killing of Farid Khan.

Also in the day, the district administration lifted curfew in Hangu after five days.

It, however, decided to retain deployment of security forces and police for the people's safety in the city.

The military and paramilitary troops patrolled the streets all through the day.

District police officer Sajjad Khan told news hounds that security forces had conducted a search operation in different localities and villages but made no arrest.

He said the forced destroyed a house of a suspect in Bagato area on the outskirts of Hangu town.

Later, Speaker of the provincial assembly Asad Qaisar and senior provincial minister Sirajul Haq visited the house of the slain MPA and offered fateha for the departed soul.

They condemned the killing and declared it an act of terrorism.

Meanwhile,
...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had escaped from his bonds and overwhelmed his guard using the bludgeon the faithful Filomena had smuggled to him in the loaf of bread...
JUI-F on Friday demanded immediate halt to targeted action against their party's activists and sympathisers and conduct judicial inquiry into the killing of MPA Farid Khan.

JUI-F provincial chief Amanullah Haqqani and MPA from Hangu Mufti Syed Janan told a joint presser in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
that their supporters would agitate if the victimisation of the JUI-F workers in Hangu continued.

They said the JUI-F activists had the right to take extreme steps to protect themselves against victimisation and in that case, the provincial government would be responsible for the consequences.

Mr Haqqani said his party's supporters had been targeted and their properties destroyed since the killing of the PTI MPA.

He said his party condemned the killing.

"Despite arrest of the alleged killer, our party offices and the workers' properties are being destroyed in Hangu," he said.

The JUI-F provincial chief said Attiqur Rehman, who contested elections on the JUI-F ticket against the slain MPA, had been nominated in the FIR.

He alleged that some people affiliated with an krazed killer group were pressuring Attiqur Rehman not to contest by-election from Hangu.

Mr Haqqani said the district administration should ensure the safety of the local people and demanded judicial inquiry into the MPA's killing.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami


Disaster averted as Chamkani police recovers 15,000 kilos of explosive material
[BETA.DAWN] Chamkani police recovered a total of 15,000 kilograms of kaboom from a warehouse and two Suzuki pickups vans during an operation on Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
's Ring Road.

Police claim to have placed in durance vile
Please don't kill me!
two suspects and at least one other managed to escape.

Speaking to media representatives, deputy superintendent (DSP) of Chamkani police, Shaukat Khan said that two Suzuki pickup vans which were used to transport potassium chloride for bomb-making had been recovered.

Moreover, he said with information from the two arrested men, police also managed to seize 600 sacks of kaboom from a warehouse. The owner of the warehouse managed to escape and a search operation was underway to apprehend him.

Khan added that the material was meant for sabotage activities and could mainly be used in IEDs and homemade hand grenades.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Major militant clash feared near Pak-Afghan border
[BETA.DAWN] Several Death Eater groups are likely to face off in a clash as armed fighters have started taking positions inside Afghan territory near Pakistain's Mohmand agency bordering Afghanistan, reliable sources told Dawn.com on Saturday.

Groups of fighters comprising Lashkar-e-Taiba
...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
, Ansarul Islam, Afghan Talibs and local militia have started taking positions inside Afghan territory, safe havens for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) from where they are known to have previously launched attacks inside Pakistain, the sources said.

The sources said an assault was imminent against the outlawed TTP Death Eaters, who have waged a war against the Pak state and launched several attacks against its Army.

Ehsanullah Ehsan, a front man for the banned Death Eater group, confirmed an attack was planned against Pak Taliban positions inside Afghanistan's Kunar province
... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country.....
bordering Pakistain, but warned it may result in major bloodshed.

"We have old enmity with Ansarul Islam and some other Death Eater groups who want to avenge their own fights and losses now. They are planning a major attack on us in the bordering areas along Mohmand Agency
... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar...
," he said, speaking via telephone from some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location.

A Taliban insider said that the clash might be a continuation of the killing of Death Eater commander Shah Sahib, who led another Islamist group engaged in fighting US-led NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
troops in Afghanistan and was based in Mohmand Agency since 2006.

TTP bully boyz led by Umar Khalid Khurrasani attacked the training centre of the Shah group on July 19, 2008, killing many, including Shah Sahib. Most of the Shah Sahib loyalist were either kidnapped or killed and the group was eliminated from the Mohmand agency.

Most members of the group are presently part of tribal lashkars (local militias), and the attack being planned was part of their strategy to fight the TTP, said the Taliban insider.

Several Pak security personnel have been killed in attacks by hundreds of Talibs from alleged safe havens across the border in Afghanistan's Kunar, Nuristan and Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
provinces bordering Pak territory from Dir to Chitral.

Former Pak Ambassador to Afghanistan, Rustam Shah Mohmand said there were fears of a huge security vacuum following the planned withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan.

The Afghan government has effectively no authority over the vast territory along the Pak-Afghan border, turning it into safe havens for Death Eaters, he said.

Shah called the recent tension "a fight for the territory and resources in the bordering area rather than a big clash."

"There is no writ of the Afghan government along the bordering belt with Pakistain. Both Afghan and Pak bully boyz have their own interests in the region and infighting is only natural," he said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the entire 614th quadrant searched. The Green Lensman must be found!...
a front man for the Lashkar-e-Taiba denied any involvement in the events on the Pakistain-Afghanistan border.

We are not part of any operation against any Taliban group either in Pakistain or Afghanistan, he said, claiming that their operations were only targeted against Indian forces and limited to Indian-administered Kashmire.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Iraq
Car Bomb in Baghdad Shiite Area Kills Four
[An Nahar] A boom-mobile kaboom in a majority Shiite area of the Iraqi capital killed four people on Saturday, medical and security officials said.

The kaboom, near a clinic in al-Amin district in southeast Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
, also maimed 20 people including four children, the medical source said.

Sunni Mohammedan faceless myrmidons in Iraq, including members of al-Qaeda, consider the country's Shiite majority to be apostates and regularly single them out for attack.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Car Bomb Explodes in Central Syrian City of Homs
[An Nahar] Syrian media and opposition activists said Saturday that a boom-mobile went kaboom! in the central city of Homs, causing casualties.

The Syrian state-owned Al-Ikhbariya TV said the blast in the city's southern al-Nozah neighborhood was a suicide bomb. It reported casualties but did not give a number.

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of informants inside Syria, said the car was booby-trapped.

It said seven people died, according to preliminary reports.

It was not immediately possible to reconcile the different accounts.

Activists said the al-Nozah district is populated largely by Alawites, members of the offshoot Shiite sect to which Syria's Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
belongs.

Government troops are on an offensive against rebels near Homs, seizing a strategic town south of the city this week.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Another Syrian Air Raid Targets Arsal
[An Nahar] Syrian helicopters fired rockets near Arsal, a Lebanese border area whose residents back the rebellion against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...
, a security official said, in the latest incident raising new concerns of Syria-related escalation in Leb.

The late Friday raid was the second such Syrian strike against the Sunni-majority border areas in less than a week.

"Syrian helicopters fired rockets at the Wadi Hmeid area near (the town of ) Arsal. There were no casualties," the Lebanese official said.

The attack was the latest in a series related to the escalating war in Syria, in which Hizbullah has become fully engaged.

On Wednesday, a Syrian helicopter strafed Arsal, the majority of whose residents are Sunni and support the anti-Assad revolt in Syria.

The latest raid comes soon after the Syrian town of Qusayr was captured by the regime army and Hizbullah fighters from the rebels after nearly three-weeks of fierce fighting.

Ever since the Syrian revolt erupted in March 2011, Arsal has become a key conduit for refugees and maimed people fleeing strife-torn Syria.

Security officials say the town has also served as a passageway for fighters and arms flowing into Syria.

On Friday, the Lebanese army warned a plot was being hatched to embroil Leb in the Syrian war.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Fighting Erupts Again in Central Tripoli's Old Souks
[An Nahar] Clashes renewed on Saturday evening in the old souks in central 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...
between rival gangs despite a heavy deployment by the army and security forces in the city, state-run National News Agency said.

"Heavy gunfire was being heard in Khan al-Saboun, the gold market, Bab al-Hadid, al-Diftar Square and Souk al-Nahhasin," NNA said.

The renewal of the festivities comes after a shootout on Friday between armed Salafists
...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them...
and gunnies loyal to Damascus and Hizbullah left one person dead and five others maimed.

The army had managed to restore a tense calm in the area after shooting back at the sources of gunfire and deploying heavily in the conflict zone.

The fighting in central Tripoli first erupted on Thursday, when one person was killed and seven others were hurt the festivities.

The shootout pitted members of al-Nashar family, loyal to Syria and Hizbullah, against armed Salafists from the Hajar family, who back the Syrian revolt.

It was the first battle since 2008 in central Tripoli, although frequent Syria-related violence has raged in other districts.

It comes after some three weeks of sectarian fighting in the flashpoint Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhoods, during which around 40 people were killed.

The state-run National News Agency had reported cautious calm on Friday morning in the souk area after the military took control of bases from al-Nashar family.

The festivities came after a security plan by the army managed to relatively contain the violence in the flashpoint districts of mainly Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, whose majority of residents are Alawites.

Troops have set up checkpoints in all neighborhoods in Tripoli and deployed heavily in Syria street that separates the flashpoint districts.

The fighting in Tripoli is linked to the war in Syria where a mostly Sunni-led uprising is seeking to topple the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
, who is an Alawite.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Dozens of Anti-Regime Fighters, Including 10 Lebanese, Arrive at Bekaa Hospitals from Qusayr
[An Nahar] Dozens of Syrian and Lebanese fighters maimed in fighting against Syrian regime troops and Hizbullah forces in Qusayr have been evacuated to Leb, security officials said Saturday.

They were evacuated as the regime seized the last remaining krazed killer bastion in the Qusayr area of central Syria, near the Lebanese border.

The sources said the rebels included around 10 Lebanese Sunnis who had crossed to Syria to join the insurgency.

"Some 30 maimed fighters are being treated in hospitals in the Baalbek area" of eastern Leb, a security official told Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity.

He also said "dozens of maimed rebels" had arrived in the Bekaa border town of Arsal, awaiting treatment.

Another security official in northern Leb told AFP that "10 Lebanese Sunnis from (the port city of 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...
) have been brought back for treatment. We are expecting more to arrive."

"300 maimed gunnies who had fled Qusayr are now in Arsal and they will be transported to hospitals in the Bekaa and the North in batches."
Earlier on Saturday, the Beirut-based, pro-Damascus television al-Mayadeen quoted a source as saying that "300 maimed gunnies who had fled Qusayr are now in Arsal and they will be transported to hospitals in the Bekaa and the North in batches."

Later, Leb's state-run National News Agency said Lebanese Red Thingy ambulances, escorted by the Lebanese army, transported more than 30 Syrians who were maimed in festivities in Arsal's barren mountains and Qusayr to hospitals in the Lebanese region of Bekaa.

"Eight of them were transported to the Rashaya state-run hospital, 22 to Farhat Hospital in the Western Bekaa town of Jeb Jannine, and several others to hospitals in the Bekaa," NNA said.

It also reported that a Lebanese man who hails from Tripoli was among the maimed and that his relatives arrived at Rashaya's hospital to move him to another hospital in the North.

Later on Saturday, NNA said nine more maimed fighters were transported for treatment in hospitals in the central and western Bekaa, raising the number of forces of Evil receiving treatment to 37.

It noted that 10 maimed fighters were transported to hospitals in the Bekaa on Friday.

In the evening, an international Red Thingy convoy carrying maimed fighters from Arsal to Bekaa hospitals was pelted with stones on the al-Labweh-Baalbek road, NNA reported.

The convoy, however, continued its trip towards hospitals in the Bekaa, the agency said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Syria regime takes last rebel bastion near Qusayr
[BETA.DAWN] Forces loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
have now seized all of the Qusayr area in central Syria, state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported on Saturday, as the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
launched a record aid appeal for refugees.

Saturday's seizure of Eastern Bweida village, the last rebel bastion in the area, brought the entire Qusayr region near the border with Leb back under regime control.

It came four days after Qusayr, a strategically key town for both the regime and the rebels which had been in krazed killer hands for a year, fell to the army and forces from Leb's Shiite Hezbollah movement.

"Our heroic troops have restored safety and security in Eastern Bweida" in the central Syrian province of Homs, the state broadcaster said.

Hundreds of people who fled Qusayr as it fell on Wednesday had taken refuge there.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was concerned about the fate of hundreds of fighters and civilians, many of them maimed.

"Where are the hundreds of civilians and maimed people who fled Qusayr and took refuge in Eastern Bweida? We have no news," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

He said it was currently impossible to reach Observatory contacts in the area.

Syrian state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
broadcast footage of a barren village devoid of signs of life. Its correspondent warned of the presence of bombs in the area.

Hezbollah also announced the news of Eastern Bweida's fall on its own television channel, Al-Manar.

Its correspondent said: "Qusayr's countryside is finished... The army has taken back the whole Qusayr region.

"The regime staged a war of nerves by bombarding (Eastern Bweida) all night long," the news hound added.

"We have entered a new phase" in the conflict, he added.

The Syrian army and Hezbollah launched a vast offensive on Qusayr nearly three weeks ago, in the clearest sign yet of the Lebanese Shiite group's commitment to the Assad regime.

Scores of fighters on both sides were killed.

Qusayr is strategic for the regime because of its proximity to the Lebanese border and because it lies on a route linking Damascus to the coast.

For the rebels, it was an important conduit from Leb for men and materiel.

Despite Hezbollah's increasing role in the conflict, neither Syrian state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
nor Al-Manar referred to the group's presence on the ground.

Elsewhere on Saturday, a boom-mobileing near an army post in the nearby city of Homs killed at least seven people, according to initial reports cited by the Observatory.

"It has so far been impossible to verify their identities," the group said, adding that regime forces have begun bombarding areas north of Homs city.

Dubbed by anti-regime activists as the "capital of the revolution", Homs city and province have suffered massive damage through the course of Syria's 26-month conflict.

After Qusayr fell, regime forces had been expected to turn their sights on Homs and the northern city and province of Aleppo.

The latest violence comes hours after the United Nations launched a record aid appeal for Syria, warning of a regional "kaboom" if the fighting does not stop.

The UN was also scrambling to find replacement troops for its peacekeeping mission on the Golan Heights after festivities between Syrian forces and rebels on Thursday prompted Austria to announce it was pulling out.

The world body said a total of $3.8 billion was needed to help Syrian refugees who have spilled across the country's borders to escape the fighting.

The figure needed for operations inside Syria was put at another $1.4 billion.

"If the fighting doesn't stop, we risk an kaboom in the Middle East for which the international community is not prepared," UN refugee agency head Antonio Guterres told news hounds.

More than 94,000 people have been killed and some 1.6 million Syrians fled the country since the civil war began in March 2011 after Assad's troops cracked down on protests against his regime, the Observatory says.

The number of refugees is expected to reach at least 3.45 million by the end of this year, according to the UN appeal.

Inside the country, 6.8 million people are forecast to need aid this year, most them after being forced to flee their homes.

In neighbouring Leb, Syrian helicopters fired rockets at a Lebanese border area whose residents back the anti-Assad rebellion, raising new concerns of the conflict spilling over.

The late Friday raid was the second such Syrian strike against the Sunni-majority border areas in less than a week.
Posted by: Fred || 06/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



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Sat 2013-06-08
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Fri 2013-06-07
  Seven killed in suspected U.S. drone strike in Pakistan
Thu 2013-06-06
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Wed 2013-06-05
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Tue 2013-06-04
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Mon 2013-06-03
  Damascus car bombing kills 9 security forces members
Sun 2013-06-02
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Sat 2013-06-01
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Fri 2013-05-31
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Thu 2013-05-30
  Pakistan: Wali ur-Rehman killed by US drone strike
Wed 2013-05-29
  French Police Arrest Suspect in Stabbing Attack on Soldier
Tue 2013-05-28
  NGO: At least 79 Hizbullah Fighters Killed in Qusayr
Mon 2013-05-27
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