“The RSF arrested many Sudanese during their migration to Libya, including 600 people who were on their way to work with the armed groups there”...#Libya#LibyaReviewhttps://t.co/We8MTUMZB6
[Jpost] The mission has received little attention in the United States, but is considered a cornerstone of the Pentagon's global efforts to combat al Qaeda.
President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... has ordered the withdrawal of most American troops from Somalia, the Pentagon said on Friday, part of a global pullback by the Republican president before he leaves office next month that will also see him drawdown forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The United States has about 700 troops in Somalia focused on helping local forces defeat the al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab ...... the personification of Somali state failure... insurgency. The mission has received little attention in the United States, but has been considered a cornerstone of the Pentagon's global efforts to combat al Qaeda.
In a statement, the Pentagon sought to play down the implications of a withdrawal that experts have said could undermine security in Somalia.
"While a change in force posture, this action is not a change in U.S. policy," the Pentagon said.
"The U.S. will retain the capability to conduct targeted counterterrorism operations in Somalia, and collect early warnings and indicators regarding threats to the homeland."
The United States already pulled out of Somalia's cities of Bossaso and Galkayo earlier this year. As of last month, U.S. troops were still in the southern port city of Kismayo ...a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia, at the extreme southern end of the country (always assuming Somalia can be called a country). It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region.... , Baledogle airbase in the Lower Shabelle region, and in the capital Mogadishu.
The Pentagon statement, which was unsigned, said an unspecified number of forces in Somalia would be moved to neighboring countries, allowing them to carry out cross-border operations, it said. Others would be reassigned outside East Africa.
Somalia has been riven by civil war since the early 1990s, but over the past decade 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... -backed peacekeeping force and U.S. troops have clawed back control of Mogadishu and large swathes of the country from al-Shabaab.
A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , said those U.S. troops remaining in Somalia would be based in the capital.
It is the third major withdrawal since Trump installed acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, a former Green Beret and counterterrorism official, at the Pentagon after losing the presidential election to Democrat Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden ...Candidate for president in 2020. I had the great honor of being arrested with our UN Ambassador on the streets of Soweto, trying to get to see him on Robbens Island... The U.S. defense official said the withdrawal was ordered to be completed by Jan. 15 -- the same deadlines for drawdowns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
#1
Having lost friends in Mogadishu back in 10-03/04-93. We should have wiped the place clean of all Gen. Aidid's Socialist supporters.
But it was a Clinton STAGED "peace keeping/Feeding" mission using the Media's narrative of feeding Africans during a famine. Omitting the fact they were being being starved by Pro-Socialists Africans stealing the food we were donating.
The Somalia venture was little more than a Media deflection scheme to cover for his Admins and Hillary Illegal screw-ups. An the total mission failure and the cost on US DOD lives sure did that.
I hope there is truth to the rumor that Aidid's Skull was collected from his grave and sits on a shelf back in Ft. Bragg.
“We agreed with the Italian side to cooperate in the fields of training, military education, exchange of expertise, support, development, maintenance and consultations...”#Libya#LibyaReviewhttps://t.co/RvinElKG8P
This comes as part of the action plan outlined by the Minister of Interior of the Libyan Interim Government, Ibrahim Bushnaf...#Libya#LibyaReviewhttps://t.co/YgZsXAuQ4I
#2
In the US, it would be meth heads selling it for scrap. In the middle east, it will probably be bad actors stealing it to make formed penetrators...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/05/2020 7:40 Comments ||
Top||
[Jpost] The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on its website early on Saturday that it is aware of an attack on a vessel off the coast of Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
A video of an Armenian civilian in Azeri captivity being bullied, beaten by at least 7 Azeri soldiers is circulating. The date this video was taken and the fate of the man are unclear. pic.twitter.com/XPjQUfZIM3
[IsraelTimes] Verdict for Assadollah Assadi expected on January 22; 48-year-old faces 20 years in prison if convicted of plotting to target 2018 rally outside Gay Paree.
A Belgian court will deliver its verdict on January 22 in the trial of an Iranian diplomat accused of plotting to bomb an exiled opposition group’s rally, his lawyer told AFP.
Assadollah Assadi, a 48-year-old diplomat formerly based in Vienna, faces 20 years in prison if convicted of plotting to target the rally in Villepinte, outside Gay Paree, on June 30, 2018.
The rally included the People’s Mojahedin of Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... (MEK),
...in Farsi “Mujahedeen-e-Khalq”...
which Tehran considers a "terrorist group" and has banned since 1981.
Assadi denies any involvement in the plot, which was foiled by security services, and has refused to appear at Antwerp Criminal Court, where he is on trial with three alleged accomplices.
On Thursday, the second and last day of the hearing, the three maintained their innocence.
Lawyers for Nasimeh Naami and Amir Saadouni — a Belgian-Iranian couple arrested in possession of a bomb in their car on their way to La Belle France — claimed the explosive was not powerful enough to kill.
The lawyer for the third alleged accomplice, Mehrdad Arefani, described by the prosecution as a relative of Assadi, has refuted his involvement and also pleaded for his acquittal.
Prosecutors are seeking an 18-year jail term for the couple and 15 for Arefani.
The target of the alleged bomb plot was a meeting of the National Council of Resistance® of Iran (NCRI), an exiled opposition movement, held outside Gay Paree and attended by several allies of US President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... , including former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Naami and Saadouni were arrested in Brussels the same day while, separately, German police on July 1 arrested Assadi, who allegedly handed the couple the explosives at a June meeting in Luxembourg.
Through his lawyer Dimitri de Beco, Assadi again protested that he should not have been deprived of his diplomatic immunity.
The verdict will be delivered at 1:00 p.m. (1200 GMT) on January 22.
The case has caused tensions between Iran and several European countries and shone an uncomfortable light on Tehran’s international activities.
In October 2018, La Belle France accused Iran’s ministry of intelligence of being behind the alleged attack.
[IsraelTimes] Walid Abdulrahman Abu Zayed arrives in La Belle France for terror trial over gun and grenade attack that killed six, injured 22.
Interesting that Norway has decided to give him up now, after so many years...
A suspect in a deadly 1982 attack at a Jewish neighborhood in Gay Paree arrived in La Belle France late Friday after being extradited from Norway, airport officials said.
Walid Abdulrahman Abu Zayed,
... alias Souhail Othman...
62, landed at around 8:00 p.m. at Gay Paree’ Charles de Gaulle airport from Oslo, where he had been living since 1991.
He is due to appear before an anti-terrorism judge on Saturday, a source close to the case said.
Abu Zayed was arrested in September in the town of Skien southwest of Oslo and Norway approved his extradition on November 27.
The bombing of a Jewish restaurant in the Marais area of the French capital
...for the record, that’d be Chez Jo Goldenberg restaurant...
which killed six and injured 22 on August 9, 1982 has been attributed to the Abu Nidal Organisation, which splintered from the holy warrior Paleostinian Fatah group.
Abu Zayed has denied being involved in the attack in which between three and five men opened fire and threw grenades into the restaurant.
"My husband never killed anyone. He has never been in La Belle France," his wife told AFP in 2015 in response to an international arrest warrant issued by La Belle France.
Abu Zayed claims he was in Monte Carlo at the time of the attack.
Opposing his extradition, he told Norwegian authorities: "I don’t like La Belle France. I don’t want to go to prison in La Belle France."
Abu Zayed is wanted for murder and attempted murder.
French authorities have issued arrest warrants over the attack, against two suspects in Jordan
...one of the Jordan ones is Zuhair Mohamad Hassan Khalid al-Abassi, alias "Amjad Atta"...
and another believed to be in the West Bank.
Mahmoud Khader Abed Adra, alias "Hicham Harb", lives in Ramallah.
In 2019, Jordan refused to extradite one of the suspects because the case was too old, dashing the hopes of victims’ families that the perpetrators would finally be brought to justice.
The case has also been the subject of speculation of shady deals between La Belle France and the Abu Nidal Organisation.
Lawyers for the bereaved say documents give credence to the idea that French intelligence guaranteed the group it would not face prosecution so long as it did not carry out any more attacks in La Belle France.
Former head of the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DST) Yves Bonnet admitted during a hearing there was an "unwritten contract" between the two sides, according to Le Gay Pareeien newspaper.
#1
"France agreed not to target Palestinian terrorists who killed French Jews in Paris in 1982 if they refrained from carrying out further attacks on French soil, a former top spy revealed "
Must be nice. I wonder how many murderers the French release from prison because the murderers promise not to kill any more on French soil. Probably zero. But, that's different....
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2020 00:31 ||
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#1
Protesting in places that near, endear and endure you with open arms is kinda Wossy/Lame.
So here is an Open Invitation to Anti-FArt and M-BLM.
You are invited to come own South, to protest in any Pro-America / Pro-2nd Amendment Open Carry town? As Peaceful Protesting is a citizens right and is acceptable when respectfully done.
But understand Rioting, Looting, Assaulting Seniors and others, private property damages, , Arson and etc... is where we will
Iraqi security forces crack down on protesters in #TahrirSquare Muqtada al-Sadr's paramilitary forces are said to have organized such an action in the ranks of these forces.#BaghdadPostpic.twitter.com/rAMOrWdLxQ
[Jpost] Rabbi Meir Chai was killed in a drive-by shooting attack in 2009, the fourth attack of its kind that year.
The mills of Justice ground particularly slowly in this case. Congratulations are due to the stalwart hunters of Yamam.
Security forces arrested a terrorist on Friday suspected of aiding the attack responsible for the death of Rabbi Meir Chai in December 2009.
Muayad al-Alfi, 46, was arrested in Nablus by the Israeli counter-terrorist unit Yamam, a division of the Border Police.
Rabbi Meir Chai was killed in a drive-by shooting attack near the northern Samaria settlement of Shavei Shomron.
Al-Alfi was a commander of the Fatah's armed wing, Aqsa Martrys Brigades, and has been wanted by Israeli forces for ten years.
At the time if his death, Rabbi Chai was the fourth victim to be killed in the West Bank by Lions of Islam that year.
Chai, a father of seven, was driving his minivan when a Paleostinian car overtook him and someone from inside the vehicle opened fire. Chai was hit in the end, and he drove off the road. By the time rescue services arrived to the scene, they were forced to pronounce him dead.
At the time, the Imad Mughniyer Group, named after the Hezbollah commander assassinated in Damascus two years prior, took responsibility for the group. The group also claimed to be associated with the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
[IsraelTimes] Army denies using live fire during demonstration against establishment of new settlement outpost north of Ramallah.
A 13-year-old Paleostinian was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers during a demonstration Friday in the West Bank, the Paleostinian Authority health ministry said. The IDF denied using live fire.
The boy, identified as Ali Nasr Abu Aliya, was hit during a protest against the establishment of a new settlement outpost north of Ramallah.
Local residents have been holding weekly protests against the outpost for three weeks close to the neighboring village of Kafr Malik, resident Mohammad Abu Aliya, a relative of the boy, told The Times of Israel.
The Paleostinian Red Islamic Thingy reported that Ali Abu Aliya was evacuated to hospital after being hit in his stomach and seriously maimed. He arrived at the hospital at death's door, and later died of his wounds.
The Israel Defense Forces said that protesters had thrown stones at soldiers, burned tires and blocked roads. They denied using live fire, but said soldiers used riot dispersal means, including rubber-tipped bullets.
"Dozens of rioters threw stones at IDF and Border Police forces, and even tried to roll large boulders and burning tires from the ridges that overlook the Alon route, risking the lives of passengers on the road," the IDF spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the IDF declined to say whether or not an investigation would be conducted into the incident. The spokesperson also declined to say whether the IDF was directly responsible for the shooting, saying only "they were aware of the claims."
Asked why a small child would be at such an event, Abu Aliya said: "When there are festivities with the army, most of the village comes, even if it’s just to watch."
Paleostinian officials said four other people were also maimed with rubber bullets.
The head of the Iranian nuclear weapons program was killed Friday near Tehran. The assumption is that he was killed by the Israelis, whose motive was to cripple the Iranian nuclear weapons program by killing the one man who was most critical to its success. It might well have been the Israelis, but there are a significant number of other countries that do not want to see Iran with nuclear weapons. The United States is one such country, but several Arab countries feel the same. The Russians might not be thrilled with a nuclear-armed Iran to their south; Tehran and Moscow are friendly now, but adversaries change and nuclear weapons are essentially forever. That said, it is reasonable to assume it was the Israelis, since, given Iran's views, they had the most at stake.
Assassination is not easy. It carries the risk of failure and of retaliation. It is a rational move only in two cases: as a deterrent to frighten an organization or state into changing policy, or when the killing of one person would be decisive in blocking an unwanted development. I will focus on the second category, which appears to describe the attack in Iran. The head of a nuclear weapons program might be a genius, or he might simply be a placeholder, shuffling papers, and his death might achieve nothing. To be a worthwhile target, he must in some sense be irreplaceable. There should not be a cohort of young geniuses the target has nurtured over the years, ready to take his place. The assassination must have a significant impact on a threat to be worth the effort, the risks and the consequences of failure and retaliation.
The strategically significant individual is rare enough, but correctly identifying him is rarer still. To find him, intelligence operatives must collect elusive information, and analysts must determine whether the information is valid, not just a glorious legend concocted by the individual or others. Identifying the indispensable person is not easy, since he may not exist.
Assuming a suitable target is found, his movements must then be tracked. With cellphones, such tracking may be easier, but there are other devices that might, with difficulty and danger, be used for tracking. A pattern must be uncovered so that the assassination team can attack. Most important, it is future movements that must be identified, not past ones. In addition, the target must not be massively and effectively guarded at all times. Ideally, he is minimally protected and follows a highly predictable routine of movement through areas where assassins might wait without being detected. The assailants need enough notice to be able to plan where the target will be most vulnerable.
Another challenge inherent in assassination is the threat of revenge. Iran cannot invade Israel, and bombing Israel opens the door to intense retaliation. The proportional step, if indeed it was Israel that carried out the killing, is counter-assassination – or, more likely in this case, a terrorist attack. A terrorist attack is indifferent to who is killed so long as someone is killed, and it is therefore easier to carry out.
The danger now, however, is that the assassinations and counter-assassinations could spiral out of control. Once that happens, anything – even all-out war – is possible. It is not even important whether the first attack was carried out by Israel or some other country – perhaps a country hoping to prompt a military showdown by putting Iran in a position where it feels it must take military action. At this point what is important is who Iran believes to be responsible.
The "what ifs" are endless. The point is that while assassination is meant to be a self-contained event, its permutations are endless and potentially unexpected. Therefore, the only circumstance under which assassination can be rationally used is when its use is decisive against an extremely significant program. The Iranian nuclear weapons program would seem to fit this condition, but it's not yet clear that the scientist who was killed was truly significant or that his death won't create massive collateral damage.
The moral question is, in my mind, simpler than the practical difficulties. It is true that killing the citizen of a country with whom there is no declaration of war is problematic. But declarations of war have gone by the wayside since 1945. There have been many wars and few have had formal declarations. So this feature of international law has become meaningless, which I regard as a pity but a reality. If there are going to be wars, I cannot imagine why it is more legitimate to kill thousands of people than it is to kill one, just because you formally stated your intention in advance. Indeed, if killing one might prevent thousands from dying, then it is not only moral but a moral imperative. So if Israel legitimately feared the annihilation of its nation if Iran built nuclear weapons, then the choices are submission to Israel's own destruction, a preemptive strike on Iran, or the death of the indispensable person. There is a strong moral case that can be made against war, but over the millennia such arguments have been made without effect. A moral claim can stand as a marker, but persistently ignored, it cannot guide the action of nations. Nations fear each other, frequently with very good reason. The fears are usually mutual.
I have difficulty understanding the moral argument against assassination, or the practical purpose of pacifism. But I can understand why assassination is rare: It is very difficult to do and has potential consequences that are dizzying. But when a surgical strike against one person can increase the security of the nation that assassinates, it would seem to be at least as legitimate as an invasion. But the circumstances under which you can identify the indispensable figure and kill him are both rare and enormously difficult. The problem is not moral but practical.
Posted by: Clem ||
12/05/2020 09:54 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Candidate for president in 2020. 
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
