The author was embedded with the Detachment.
[TIME] An ominous orange glow lit up the sky for miles around. It was after midnight on Aug. 11, and the city of Ghazni, less than 100 miles from Kabul, was on fire. Approaching the outskirts of town in a convoy of heavily armored 22-ton vehicles, the team of Green Berets from Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) Team 1333 took it as the first sign that it wasn’t going to be an easy night.
The group was one of three U.S. Army Special Forces‐led units converging on Ghazni to save it from the Taliban, which had laid siege to the city over the previous 24 hours in a surprise attack. And the closer the Green Berets got, the worse it looked. Approaching the city, ODA 1333 had to muscle their massive vehicles around bomb craters and abandoned big-rig trucks that the Islamist insurgents had set up as roadblocks.
The dismal obstacle course wasn’t just proof that the insurgents had the upper hand over the 1,500 Afghan police and soldiers based in the city, even though those forces were flush with sophisticated American-supplied weaponry. The team soon discovered the wreckage-strewn approach to the city had become a shooting gallery for hidden Taliban.
Rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun fire came screaming in from a tree line to the east‐small bursts at first, then all at once. Streaks of heavy fire glowed green in the commandos’ night-vision goggles as two- and three-man Taliban teams shot rockets at the Special Forces before vanishing into nearby scrubland. The U.S. forces returned fire with rapid bursts from the .50-caliber machine guns perched atop the vehicles. At one point, one of the men shouted, "Where the f-ck are [the airstrikes]?" Almost on cue, a lumbering AC-130 gun ship circling above began showering 105-mm cannon fire on Taliban positions below. Apache attack helicopters, A-10 attack planes, F-16 fighter jets and MQ-9 Reaper drones also delivered airstrikes. The road into the city "was just a sh-t show," one U.S. soldier tells TIME.
[ARABNEWS] The Arab coalition said on Thursday it had foiled an attack by Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... Death Eaters using speed boats full of explosives to target commercial vessels.
Col. Turki al-Maliki, front man for the alliance, said its forces managed to thwart the boat, which was launched from the shore near the port of Hodeidah.
"The coalition’s forces have taken the necessary measures to protect merchant ships of the alliance," al-Maliki said
He said the militia and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards continue to threaten international shipping routes and global trade and that protecting the Bab al-Mandeb strait is an international responsibility.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2018 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Yemen's Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... rebels say air raids by the Saudi-UAE military alliance have killed dozens of civilians, most of them children, in a reported incident two weeks after a coalition air attack on a school bus killed 40 boys.
According to the Houthi movement's Al Massira TV, 22 children and four women died on Thursday as fighter jets targeted a camp for internally displaced people in Ad Durayhimi, which lies about 20km from the Red Sea city of Hodeidah.
Backed by the United States, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have carried out attacks in 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. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... since March 2015 as part of a military campaign to reinstate the internationally recognised government of President Abu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
In 2014, Hadi and his forces were overrun by the Houthi rebels who currently control much of northern Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2018 00:00 ||
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[AlMasdar] The German Public Prosecutor General’s Office said it had brought charges against two Iraqi nationals suspected of being members of the ISIS terror group, who participated in the execution of a high-ranked Iraqi official.
"On August 9, 2018, the Public Prosecutor General’s Office submitted charges against Iraqi nationals Raad A., 42, and Abbas R., presumably 19, to Berlin’s highest court," the prosecutors said in a statement.
According to German Sherlocks, both indicted individuals joined ISIS in 2014 after the bully boyz captured the Iraqi city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... in June of that year.
Raad A. held top positions in the group’s Mosul cell and was in charge of financial matters. Abbas R. was engaged in patrolling the city, bringing weapons to the ISIS strongholds and taking bodies of killed Shia women out of Mosul.
Both individuals participated in the execution of a high-ranked Iraqi official in October 2014.
Raad A. arrived in Germany in 2015, after which he attempted to recruit two men and convince one of his supporters to commit an act of terrorism. Raad A. and Abbas R. were captured in May 2017 in a separate case. They were jugged Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! last September.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/24/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] A man armed with a knife killed his mother and sister, and seriously injured another person in a town near Gay Paree on Thursday, officials said.
The man, who police said had been on a terror watch list since 2016, was later shot and killed after confronting police in Trappes.
The motive for the violence remains unclear, but the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group claimed the attack via its propaganda channel.
Experts urge caution about the group's announcements, however, because it has lost credibility after recently claiming seemingly unrelated violence as it faces defeat on the battlefield in the Middle East.
The French interior minister said the man had "serious psychiatric problems".
Gerard Collomb said the attack is not being treated as a terrorist case for the moment, despite the claim of responsibility by the Islamic State group.
The minister said the third person who was maimed was not a member of the family, adding that the police shot and killed the man after he came out of his mother’s house wielding a knife and ignored their warnings.
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08/24/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] A Frontier Corps ...a provincial paramilitary force. Total manpower is about 80,000. They are tasked to help local law enforcement in the maintenance of law and order, and to carry out border patrol and a..the Antwerp-based Salafist organization that had campaigned to introduce Sharia law to Belgium before single-handedly making Belgium the highest per capita supplier of jihadis to Syria in Europe. There was a big trial in Antwerp in 2015, but most of those convicted were in absentia...nti-smuggling operations.... (FC) personnel was killed and three others injured on Thursday after a landmine went kaboom! in the Datta Khel area of North Wazoo, according to government sources.
The blast occurred when the four officers were on a routine patrol in the Dand Killay area near the Afghanistan border.
The injured officers were rushed to the Datta Khel Camp hospital for emergency treatment where their condition was declared stable by hospital staff.
The officer martyred in the blast was identified as Havildar Ahmed Khan; the injured were identified as Mudassir, Aleem and Akram.
The area has been cordoned off and investigations into the incident are underway, say sources within the government.
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[Bangkok Post] A police officer from Sai Buri district police station and his wife were injured by gunfire in an ambush in Pattani province late on Saturday night.
Police spokesman Sitthichai Poonsawat said the incident occurred while Boonyan Sanbako, deputy investigation chief of the district police station, was returning home in Sai Buri town with his wife and their two-month-old daughter on board. While nearing Ban Balo in tambon Pase Yawo, the vehicle was fired at by a number of armed men hiding on both sides of the road.
Boonyan was hit in the leg. His wife was also hit and slightly wounded in her leg, but their daughter was not hurt.
[AlMasdar] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) seized a large amount of weapons near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights this week, state-owned Al-Ikhbariya reported on Wednesday.
According to the Al-Ikhbariya report, the Syrian Arab Army seized a large quantity of weapons inside the former rebel stronghold of Jabata Al-Khashab in the Al-Quneitra Governorate.
The Syrian Army reportedly seized this large weapons cache this week while combing through several buildings that were used by the jihadist rebels for storage in Jabata Al-Khashab.
The Syrian Army managed to seize a large quantity of Israeli-made RPGs, heavy machine guns, IEDs, and ammunition boxes.
Below is the short video from Al-Ikhbariya that was released on Wednesday:
[AlMasdar] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) said on Thursday that their troops had discovered a rebel field hospital in the al-Quneitra Governorate.
According to a communique from the Syrian Arab Army, the rebel field hospital was found in the al-Quneitra Governorate town of Rafid and it contained US-made equipment.
The Syrian Army discovered this field hospital while combing through several buildings that were once controlled by the rebel forces in the town of Rafid.
Below are some of the photos that were taken from this field hospital:
[AlMasdar] A huge military convoy from one of the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) elite divisions was filmed heading towards the northern countryside of the Latakia on Thursday.
According to a military communique from Latakia, the Syrian Arab Army’s 4th Division sent another large convoy to this imperative front near the Turkish border this week.
The 4th Division sent their 39th and 41st brigades to the Latakia Governorate, with another large batch to come in the next few days, a source from the Syrian Arab Army told Al-Masdar News on Thursday evening.
Below is the video of the 4th Division heading towards the Jabal Al-Akrad and Jabal Turkmen regions of northern Latakia:
In the coming weeks, the Syrian Arab Army is expected to begin their long-awaited offensive to retake all of the territories controlled by the jihadist rebels in northern latakia.
[AlMasdar] In a bizarre move on Thursday, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham launched a big attack on their Free Syrian Army (FSA) allies in the northern countryside of the Latakia Governorate.
According to opposition activists via social media, Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham stormed the bases of the Free Syrian Army’s (FSA) Ansar Al-Sham Regiment in the ‘Ayn Bidah area on Thursday morning.
Intense clashes would ensue between the former allies, as Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham attempted to gain the upper hand against the Free Syrian Army faction near the Turkish border-crossing in Latakia.
The opposition activists allege that Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham launched this attack in a bid to seize Ansar Al-Sham’s weapons; however, others claimed that the latter was preparing to join the ranks of Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, which HTS currently has a dispute with.
This latest infighting between the rebel forces comes as the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) prepares to launch a large-scale offensive in the northern countryside of the Latakia Governorate.
[AlMasdar] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) continued their trolling campaign against the jihadist rebels, today, releasing two videos from within the latter’s strongholds in the Idlib Governorate.
The latest video the Syrian Arab Army released shows one of their spies operating inside the key town of Khan Sheikhoun, which is located along the strategic Hama-Idlib Highway (M-5 Highway) in the southern countryside of the Idlib Governorate.
As shown in the video below, the Syrian Army spy is moving freely in Khan Sheikhoun, despite Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham’s ongoing security campaign to capture these operatives working for the government:
Khan Sheikhoun is one of the most important towns in southern Idlib and it has become a major stronghold for the jihadist rebels fighting against the government forces in northwest Syria.
The town of Khan Sheikhoun was also the site of the chemical weapons attack that was blamed on the Syrian government in April of 2017.
[AlMasdar] The Syrian Arab Army’s Tiger Forces branch released a new spy video, Thursday, from the jihadist-held territories in northwest Syria.
Similar to their previous videos from northwest Syria, the Tiger Forces’ spy filmed from within the heart of the jihadist-held territories.
In this particular video, the Tiger Forces’ spy was filming from the heart of Idlib city, which is a stronghold for the jihadist rebels of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham.
The Tiger Forces’ spy could be seen filming from the Clock Roundabout area, which is located in the provincial capital’s city-center.
Below is the video that was released by the official media wing of the Tiger Forces earlier today:
[AlMasdar] A Turkish jihadist commander was the latest victim of a targeted assassination in the Idlib Governorate, opposition activists reported via social media on Wednesday evening.
According to these activists, an unnamed Turkish commander of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham was assassinated when a sticky bomb exploded on his 4×4 vehicle in the northwestern countryside of the Idlib Governorate.
The activists reported that the assassination was carried out near the Bsania town bakery on Wednesday.
The sticky bomb that was reportedly used during the assassination was a modern manufactured bomb and not DIY one, which indicates that some country intelligent spies are behind the assassination and not the Islamic State (ISIS), opposition activists added.
As of now, no group has claimed responsibility for this assassination.
[AlMasdar] Civilians are leaving militant-controlled areas in the Syrian province of Idlib. The Suriya al-Ain news portal reports that on Wednesday, about 1,000 people used the humanitarian corridor in Abu al-Duhur, built near the border with the province of Aleppo. The majority of refugees are women and children.
One of the refugees stated that people leave Idlib to escape from the militants of Jabhat al-Nusra (terror group outlawed in Russia).
“Many fear that if the military action begins, the terrorists will use the civilians as a human shield,” he said.
As Syria’s Minister of State for National Reconciliation Ali Heidar stated earlier, “Idlib has become a haven for the most radical forces in the camp of anti-government units, which cannot become part of the Syrian government’s political project.” According to him, “no mutual understanding and agreements is possible with this category of militants.”
On August 16, Syrian military opened a humanitarian corridor for civilians in the area of Abu al-Duhur.
Idlib is the only Syrian region that remains in the hands of illegal armed groups. In 2017, a northern de-escalation zone was set up there, with Turkey responsible for maintaining stability in it. Together with Russia and Iran, Turkey is guarantor of the Syrian ceasefire.
[AlMasdar] A Syrian rebel court in the Aleppo Governorate city of al-Bab have sentenced a civilian to serve time in prison for criticizing Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... According to local activists, a rebel court in al-Bab sentenced Dr. Mahmoud al-Sayeh, 48, to six months in prison for criticizing the Erdogan and his policies in Syria.
Dr. al-Sayeh was also fined 5,000 Ottoman Turkish Liras for his comments on the Ottoman Turkish Presient.
The Syrian civilian was reportedly tossed in the clink Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! by the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... ’s (FSA) al-Hamza Division several months ago while he was visiting his family in al-Bab.
A member of the Free Syrian Army saw a Facebook post by Dr. al-Sayeh that criticized Erdogan and his role in the Syrian crisis; this prompted them to arrest him when he visited al-Bab.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/24/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
This is terrible news - as a Certified Cultural Anthropologist I now have to cancel all of my travel plans to Al Bab, costing thousands of dollars.
#2
That time in al-Bab! Oh, the waters,
And Ali the innkeeper's daughters,
Whom, once, I laid eyes on --
Black dots... the horizon --
From one of his Ottoman squatters!
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.
...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. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
Wazoo
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
