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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Nanagarhar: Senior ISIS leader hailing from India killed in Afghanistan airstrike
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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Afghanistan
Nearly 200 Afghan Civilians Killed In Ramadan: Report
[ToloNews] A report by a Ottoman Turkish news agency shows that almost 200 Afghan non-combatants were killed during the holy month of Ramadan as the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
and other murderous Moslem groups are refraining to agree on a ceasefire despite repeated calls by the Afghan government, the international community and the members of the public.

Figures compiled by Anadolu Agency suggests that an additional 300 civilians were maimed in a series of IED blasts, suicide kabooms, assassinations in Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
, Ghazni, 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..
, Jawzjan, Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
, Ghor, Badghis, Zabul, Kunduz, 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...
, Faryab, Sar-e-Pul
...a city and eponymous province in northern Afghanistan, population about 500,000. Demographically it is majority Tadjik and Uzbek. There are small Pashtun, Arab, and Hazara
...a grouping of Dari-speaking people of Sino-Tibetan descent inhabiting Afghanistan and Pakistain. They are predominantly Shia Moslems and not particularly warlike, which makes them favored targets...
communities, of which the Hazaras mostly don't bother anyone...

, Kapisa, Baghlan, Maidan Wardak, and Kabul provinces in Ramadan which started on May 6.

The last two days of Ramadan, June 2 and 3 witnessed five IED blasts which left seven people dead and more than 20 others maimed. In a recent incident on Monday, June 3, an IED kaboom targeted employees of the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission, leaving five dead.

The Anadolu News Agency’s research shows that Kabul city alone was rocked by three terrorist attacks in the last week of May, killing six soldiers and five civilians, while injuring over 20 civilians.

However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
Ghazni remained the most volatile province of all 34 provinces in the country this month, the report says.

According to the report, during Ramadan, 33 Afghan children and 14 women were killed, while 34 more children and 9 women got injured in different violent incidents.

The Taliban refused to agree on a ceasefire during the month of Ramadan instead, they increased their attacks.

On June 2, the group captured Bala Murghab district in northwestern Badghis province and set on fire the district governor’s office as well as the police headquarters as a member of the Badghis Provincial Council described.

On June 1, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement that more than 100 Taliban fighters, most of them from the so-called red unit of the group, were killed in Afghan Army operations in Ghazni province in the center of Afghanistan. A day after the operation, a Humvee bombing targeted a security facility in the province which reportedly had some casualties.

This comes as presidential candidate and former head of the National Directorate of Security
...the Afghan national intel agency...
, Rahmatullah Nabil, said at a presser on Sunday, June 1, that the Taliban does not believe in peace and democracy and that the group is seeking power in Afghanistan.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/05/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Sudanese opposition rejects military’s transition plan after day of violence
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Sudan’s opposition on Tuesday rejected a plan by its military rulers to hold elections within nine months, a day after the worst bout of violence since Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
was ousted as president in April.

At least 35 people were killed on Monday when security forces stormed a protest camp outside the Defense Ministry in central Khartoum, said doctors linked to the opposition.

The Transitional Military Council (TMC) that has ruled since Bashir’s overthrow then canceled all agreements reached with the main opposition alliance.

Madani Abbas Madani, a leader of the Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF) opposition alliance, said an open-ended civil disobedience campaign would continue to try to force the council from power.

"What happened (on Monday) ‐ the killing and injuring of protesters, the humiliation ‐ was a systematic and planned attempt to impose repression on the Sudanese people," Madani told Rooters.

The main protest organizers, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), called for an international committee to investigate the deaths in what it branded a "massacre".

The mood in the capital Khartoum was very tense on Tuesday, with many roads barricaded by protesters, many shops shut and streets mostly empty. Security forces were trying to clear the barricades, a Rooters witness said.

Rapid Support Forces (RSF) vehicles were patrolling the streets in Omdurman, on the other side of the River Nile from Khartoum, and firing into the air.

The military council has also been under both domestic and international pressure to hand over power to civilians. It had previously agreed to a three-year transition period with the DFCF.

"We believe that the matter is now in the hands of the Sudanese people," said Khalid Omar Yusef, a DFCF leader. "This regime will fall, no matter what."
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


AMISOM soldiers intensify humanitarian activities in Somalia
[RADIOSHABELLE] The 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...
Mission in Somalia has sent messages of goodwill to Moslems as they celebrate Id-Ul-Fitr Wednesday.

Francisco Madeira, head of AMISOM on Tuesday extended his warm and best wishes to the government and the people of Somalia on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr.

Madeira congratulated Moslems in Somalia upon completion of the holy month of Ramadan.

"The holy month of Ramadan is a time to reflect on the teachings of Islam and reinforce the virtues of sharing and self-sacrifice.

Head of AU mission expressed hope that as troops mark the day in solidarity with their Moslem brothers and sisters

"As we come to an end of Ramadan, let us use this opportunity to renew our commitment to a peaceful and prosperous Somalia and to remind ourselves of the responsibility that we have to one another and to the Almighty," said Ambassador Madeira.

He congratulates the Somali security forces for beefing up security in the capital, Mogadishu, and other parts of the country and ensuring a peaceful Ramadan.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Arab Coalition evacuates injured crew member of an Iranian ship
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Arab Coalition supporting the legitimate Yemeni government said Tuesday that it evacuated a crew member of an Iranian ship for medical reasons northwest of Yemen's Hodeidah port, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

Citing the official spokesperson of the Arab Coalition, SPA said that Jeddah’s Search and Rescue Center received a report from the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation that included a call for help from the Iranian ship Savis, requesting the evacuation of a crew member.

The report said that the crew member has been critically injured and that his health was deteriorating on the ship, as per SPA’s statement.

Spokesperson Turki al-Maliki also told SPA that the coalition responded to the call and evacuated the injured member through medical evacuation helicopters, after which he was transported to a military hospital in Jazan, 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...
The coalition provided the casualty with primary medical assistance on board, to later evacuate him due to his critical health condition, added Maliki.

Saudi Arabia received an official request from the Iranian ambassador to the UN, through Saudi Arabia’s ambassador for the UN, for the evacuation, which was already in place as soon as the call for help was received, SPA quoted al-Maliki as saying.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1 
It's reassuring that humanity still prevails at times despite the politicos of the world.
Posted by: Roger Smith || 06/05/2019 12:32 Comments || Top||


France’s arms sales to Saudis jumped by 50% in 2018
[PRESSTV] Newly-released figures show that France increased its weapons sales to Saudi Arabia by 50 percent last year despite growing international concern about the atrocities committed in a Saudi-led war on Yemen.

On Tuesday, an annual report by the French government showed that the country sold 1 billion euros’ worth of arms to Saudi Arabia in 2018, with the main item being patrol boats.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its allies — mainly the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — invaded Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing a former Yemeni client regime back to power. The ongoing war has killed tens of thousands and disrupted the lives of millions by causing widespread famine as well as epidemics.

France, the third-biggest arms exporter in the world, is also among the top weapons exporters to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia


Trump harming US national security by giving Saudis ‘anything they want’ like nuclear tech
[PRESSTV] US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
’s closeness with 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...
is harming American national security, says a top senator, slamming the commander in chief’s seven-time approval of nuclear tech transfer to the kingdom, twice in the wake of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.

American Senator Tim Kaine made the comments in a statement released Tuesday, Politico reported.

"President Trump’s eagerness to give the Saudis anything they want, over bipartisan congressional objection, harms American national security interests and is one of many steps the administration is taking that is fueling a dangerous escalation of tension in the region," said the Virginia Democrat.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  "said the Virginia democrat"
Posted by: 49 Pan || 06/05/2019 13:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Hillary Clinton's coat holder, AKA "The Joker"
Posted by: Frank G || 06/05/2019 13:23 Comments || Top||


Britain
Sajid Javid's little brother Bas wins job to manage frontline policing as Commander at Scotland Yard
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Javid is the winner! Not Home Secretary Sajid Javid, a leading candidate to succeed Theresa May as Prime Minister, but his brother Bas, who has won a key role at the Metropolitan Police.

Currently a Chief Superintendent at the West Midlands force, Bas has secured promotion to the role of Commander at Scotland Yard, in charge of frontline policing.

'After 12 years with West Midlands Police, I'll be sad to say goodbye next week,' 48-year-old Bas confirms.

Sajid is much more closely involved at Scotland Yard than elsewhere. The Met is the only force where the Home Secretary has a role in choosing the chief and his deputy. Sajid is also involved in counter-terror policing, which is carried out nationally through the Met.

However, there is no suggestion that Bas won his promotion through anything other than hard work. Sajid, 49, has pointed to the influence of his brother as he campaigns to win the keys to 10 Downing Street.

The brothers were born in Rochdale, Lancashire, as two of five sons of Pakistani Muslim immigrant parents.

Their father, who arrived in Britain with £1 in his pocket, worked as a bus driver before moving to Bristol to run a shop. The family lived in a two-bedroom flat above it.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/05/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Really? Just a coincidence that his brother is Home Secretary, the selecting supervisor and a candidate for P M? If you believe any of this you must believe the Clinton Foundation is a genuine global charity and unicorns do shit skittles...
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 06/05/2019 11:59 Comments || Top||

#2  And we wondered why the little girl grooming gangs weren't hung. hanged.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/05/2019 20:17 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexico Cracks Down on Migrants, After Pressure From Trump to Act
[NYT] TAPACHULA, Mexico ‐ They arrived at dusk, dressed for combat, pouring from government vehicles. A phalanx of military and police personnel swarmed a small hotel in the center of Tapachula, this scrappy city near Mexico’s border with Guatemala. Their target: undocumented migrants.

Agents rushed door to door, hauling people away, while migrants shouted or ran out the back, scampering over the rooftops of neighboring homes, witnesses said.

It was one of several raids here last week to sweep up migrants, part of a broad Mexican crackdown against the surge of Central Americans and others streaming toward the United States. In recent weeks, the Mexican authorities have been breaking up migrant caravans and setting up round-the-clock roadblocks along common routes north.

Detentions and deportations in Mexico are multiplying quickly, sowing fear among the many thousands of Central Americans and others crowding the migrant shelters and budget hotels here in southern Mexico, most of them hoping to reach the American border.

"So scary," said one Cuban migrant at the hotel. "The fear never goes away."

The Mexican government has been under intense pressure from President Trump to block the tens of thousands of undocumented migrants trudging north each month. With the American authorities unable to stop illegal immigration into the United States, Mr. Trump has taken aim at countries in the region ‐ including Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, the origins of most of the migration ‐ threatening punishment unless they to do more.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/05/2019 01:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So they could have done this the whole time.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 06/05/2019 1:33 Comments || Top||

#2  ..where's the graft in that?

BTW, in accordance with the Mexican Constitution, 'foreigners' may be expelled at anytime by the Executive and there is no judicial interference.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/05/2019 8:13 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Polio vaccination teams told to focus on interpersonal relations
[DAWN] The polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
programme has directed vaccination teams to focus more on interpersonal relations in order to negate the misconception that eradicating polio is a ’foreign agenda’.

In addition, a questionnaire polio vaccination officials must fill out at every house they visit has been simplified so it can be filled in one minute.

"In the past, teams would take 10 minutes to fill the questionnaire. Although the questionnaire will not be filled in just one minute, the teams have been directed to spend 10 minutes at each house and build relationships with the families, ask about their issues and discuss household matters.

"This strategy will be used in the upcoming polio campaign, which will be held in the last week of June, and hopefully we will get better results," Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Babar Bin Atta told Dawn.

He added that many people believe that eradicating polio is part of a foreign agenda, leading them to resist the vaccinations.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  spend 10 minutes at each house and build relationships with the families, ask about their issues and discuss household matters

"So, Abdul. How's things with the family ?"
"Heh..good. Inshallah. Just gave the wife her third beating of the week. My 12 year old's becoming a man, heh heh. Raped the neighbor's sheep on Eid."
"Hmmm... well Abdul, now sign here."
Posted by: Dron66046 || 06/05/2019 16:51 Comments || Top||

#2  people believe that eradicating polio is part of a foreign agenda

Yupp. Who else would be daft enough to care ?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 06/05/2019 16:52 Comments || Top||

#3  While I don't deny the importance of inter-personal relations, I'd be focusing on body armor and perimeter defense.

And don't forget to autoclave the needles after use!
Posted by: SteveS || 06/05/2019 17:52 Comments || Top||

#4  ...the teams have been directed to spend 10 minutes at each house and build relationships with the families
Sounds like typical Top Management double-speak where they want you to "Do More tasks in Less time on a Smaller budget". In this case defend yourselves with smiles...
Posted by: magpie || 06/05/2019 18:29 Comments || Top||

#5  "We're Jehovah's Witnesses, and..."
*SLAM*
Posted by: Frank G || 06/05/2019 19:05 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
There is no choice but to spend more on defense, Trump tells NATO allies
[AlAhram] US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
said NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
allies had no choice but to increase their military spending, repeating his demand that all those in the alliance meet the target of spending 2% of GDP a year on defense.

"The prime minister and I agree that our NATO allies must increase their defense spending - we’ve both been working very hard to that end," Trump told news hounds on Tuesday after a meeting with Britannia’s Theresa May in London.

He added: "We expect a growing number of nations to meet the minimum 2% of GDP requirement. To address today’s challenges, all members of the alliance must fulfill their obligations. They have no choice."
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/05/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They don't take NATO seriously, why should we? They're the ones breaking the alliance, not us. All we hear is what awful baby killing monsters we are. Fuck those ungrateful freeloaders.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 06/05/2019 1:32 Comments || Top||

#2  All we hear is what awful baby killing monsters we are.

Said without the slightest hint of irony.
Posted by: Raj || 06/05/2019 8:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Hey, we had to kill those innocent babies! All we had to do was call them human shields, then it was totally 100% okay! Shut up, Russian shill, you're parroting Putin's talking points!

How ungrateful Europeans are to have allies willing to do the dirty work of murder. It's all in the service of a greater ideal. We must reorder the Middle East, no matter how many people have to die. It's for the greater good!
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 06/05/2019 15:58 Comments || Top||

#4  This Neocon Whisperer figures
His black, white, and bloody Red triggers --
Constructivist thinking
Delivered while winking --
Will shame... baby-murderers? [snickers]
Posted by: Ebbolunter the Limber6463 || 06/05/2019 17:02 Comments || Top||

#5  At the risk of sounding Herb-ish, what *exactly* is the point of NATO nowadays?

Posted by: SteveS || 06/05/2019 17:58 Comments || Top||

#6  In 2018 Anno Domini,
What's NATO? Just ham hocks and hominy
As Putin we're spooking...
And tactical nuking
Of Poland and not our chum Germany.

Mostly agree with Herb myself... in principle. In practice... never could stand cheap manipulation and bluster, which I've always thought worse in systematic societal application than a little within-the-noise collateral awfulness.
Posted by: Ebbolunter the Limber6463 || 06/05/2019 18:34 Comments || Top||

#7  Not that anyone should care, but for "agree with Herb" above, please read, "empathize with Herb" or "see Herb's points." Always been willing to shift a bit (or a bunch) for sake of a good discussion, much to the eventual disgust and discouragement of hordes of proselytes and propagandists over teh years. Learned early on to give 'em the "unconvertibility disclaimer" up front, not that that's ever stopped the poor bastids.
Posted by: Ebbolunter the Limber6463 || 06/05/2019 18:57 Comments || Top||

#8  Herb? Do you own a mirror?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/05/2019 19:01 Comments || Top||

#9  There is no choice but to spend more on defense, Trump tells NATO allies..cause we're leaving.

So long and thanks for all the fish.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/05/2019 19:20 Comments || Top||


Russia halts UN Security Council statement on Syria’s Idlib
[Rudaw] Russia blocked the UN Security Council on Monday from issuing a statement sounding alarm about the increasing fighting in and around Syria’s Idlib province and the possibility of a humanitarian disaster, a council diplomat said.

The thwarted statement marked the latest in a series of logjams over Syria in the UN’s most influential body.

Fighting has raged in Idlib and nearby areas in northwest Syria since government troops started pushing into the enclave on April 30, trying to retake the country’s last rebel-held redoubt after eight years of civil war. The UN says an estimated 3 million people are caught in the crossfire.

After multiple briefings last week on Idlib, Belgium, Kuwait and Germany proposed that the council express concern about attacks on civilians and assaults by turban groups as well as a the potential for humanitarian catastrophe if a full-scale military operation unfolds, according to a draft seen by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named. It called for humanitarian access, safe return for refugees and for following international humanitarian law on protecting civilians.

"It was really simple," Kuwaiti Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi said when asked about the proposal at an unrelated news conference.

But key Syrian ally Russia objected Monday to the proposed statement, said a diplomat, who agreed to tell about the private discussions only if not quoted by name.

Russia’s UN mission didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry about the proposed statement.

The Security Council has struggled to speak with one voice on Syria in recent years. In one notable example, a 2017 Russian veto put an end to an initiative that determined accountability for chemical attacks in Syria. That effort was run jointly by the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

At points, the US has accused Russia, a close Syrian ally, of using its veto-wielding seat to stop the council from taking important steps to stanch the violence and suffering in Syria.

Russia, in turn, has said its critics are trying to score rhetorical points while it has made concrete efforts, such as joining with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor....
to broker an Idlib cease-fire in September.

Russia and Syria, which is not a council member, say Damascus is doing what is needed to fight terrorists.

In a recent sign of the council’s divide on the issue, 11 council members, including Germany, Kuwait, Belgium and the US, issued a statement last month that also expressed concern about the intensifying hostilities around Idlib and the potential for humanitarian catastrophe. Four council members ‐ Russia, China, South Africa and Indonesia ‐ didn’t join in supporting that statement.

Mansour, whose country holds the council’s rotating presidency this month, said Monday that members would continue discussions.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/05/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Covering their tracks, ISIS assassins target local mukhtars
[Rudaw] One evening last September, after a grueling hot day, Khaled Ahmad returned to his home in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, hoping for a quiet evening. He had taken up residence in a house partly destroyed by an Arclight airstrike the year before when Iraqi security forces backed by the US-led coalition crushed 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 (ISIS) which had ruled the city with an iron fist for three years.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/05/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli intel firm: Alleged IDF strike on Syrian base targeted Iranian drones
[IsraelTimes] Satellite image analysis company ImageSat says attack attributed to Israel seems to have been pinpoint Arclight airstrike, targeting a small number of recently arrived components from Iran..

An Israeli satellite imagery analysis firm on Tuesday determined that the target of an airstrike on a Syrian air base earlier this week, which was attributed to Israel, appeared to be an Iranian drone facility.

According to the company, ImageSat International, the attack late Sunday night appeared to be a pinpoint strike, targeting "one element or just a few elements" connected to Tehran’s unmanned aerial vehicle program in Syria, indicating that the components were of "particular importance."

This assessment was based on satellite images of the targeted facility, the T-4 air base near Palmyra, from Tuesday. Comparing these photographs to ones from May 22, the private intelligence firm determined that the strike hit a small crop of buildings on the base.

The firm said that a number of cargo planes had recently landed at the base from Iran prior to the strike, indicating that they had delivered the equipment that was targeted.

"According to our assessment, it is reasonable that [the target] was a component [or components] connected to [Iran’s] UAV program," ImageSat said in a statement.

Syrian state media said that Israel was behind the attack late Sunday night on the T-4 air base, which the Israel Defense Forces has bombed in the past and which Jerusalem has long claimed to be a facility used by Iran and its proxies.

The Israeli military refused to comment on Sunday’s strike. Israel generally acknowledges conducting operations in Syria, but refuses to take responsibility for particular attacks, with the exception of retaliatory strikes in response to attacks from Syria, as occurred on Saturday night.

Syrian military officials told the state media outlet SANA that the attack on the T-4 air base targeted and destroyed a weapons storage facility and several other buildings at the base.

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported five people were killed, including one Syrian soldier. It said the attack also destroyed a rocket warehouse.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/05/2019 02:03 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Two Women With ISIS Ties, 6 Children Repatriated To U.S From Syria
[Jpost] Two women with 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....
ties and six children were repatriated to the United States from northeast Syria, Kurdish-led authorities said on Wednesday.

The Kurdish-led administration, which controls swathes of north and east Syria, said it helped return the citizens "at the request of the U.S. government."
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/05/2019 07:35 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  ...resettle in Guam. (Sorry, Joe)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/05/2019 8:15 Comments || Top||

#2  I miss Joe.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/05/2019 8:45 Comments || Top||

#3  A little bit more info.
Kurdish leaders say they cannot hold the foreigners forever and warn that the prisoners pose a threat in northeast Syria.
At the request of the U.S. government? Really? What’s the point?
What the heck are we going to do with them? Are we going to read about them in some mass shooting in the U.S. sometime in the future? Are they even citizens at this point? They made their bed, now lie in it.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/05/2019 10:20 Comments || Top||


Iran to free Lebanese man jailed for US spying
[IsraelTimes] Nizar Zakka, a US resident, to be released after 2015 arrest for alleged ’deep ties’ to American military and intelligence.

Iran is to free a Lebanese national held since 2015 and sentenced to 10 years in jail on charges of spying for Washington, the foreign ministry in Beirut said Tuesday.

Nizar Zakka,
...a US permanent resident who advocated for internet freedom and has done work for the US government, Mr. Zakka disappeared while visiting Tehran for a state-sponsored conference, according to a statement from the Washington-based group IJMA3-USA, which advocates for Internet freedom across the Middle East...
a resident of the United States in his 50s, was tossed in the calaboose
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
in September 2015 during a visit to Iran, where he was convicted the following July.

The foreign ministry, quoted by Leb’s official news agency NNA, said Zakka was pardoned at the request of Beirut as a gesture for this week’s Eid holidays marking the end of the Moslem holy month of Ramadan.

At the time of his arrest, state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
in Iran charged Zakka had "deep ties to military and intelligence services of the United States," Iran’s arch-foe.

It broadcast photographs of a man in military uniform it said was of Zakka at an American base.

The report on his imminent release following almost four years of detention comes at a time of heightened US-Iranian tensions.

Washington last month deployed an aircraft carrier task force, B-52 bombers and an amphibious assault ship to the Gulf, along with additional troops over an alleged Iranian plan to attack US assets.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/05/2019 07:01 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


ISIS havoc burdens officials at over-crowded camp in Syria
[Rudaw] Despite the territorial defeat of 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....
in eastern Syrian in March, officials must continue to deal with the group’s reign of terror in al-Hol detention camp, where more than 73,000 people are living. In particular, the fate of imported muscle’ wives and children remains an international concern.

The majority arrived in early 2019 as Kurdish forces closed in on the last Islamic State (ISIS) holdout of Baghouz putting camp infrastructure under significant strain. According to UN figures, the camp population consists of Iraqis (43%), Syrians (42%) and third-country nationals (15%).

Those not from Iraq and Syria present problems for camp and local officials as repatriation varies greatly by their country of origin. It is further complicated by the fact that 91 percent of the camp’s residents are women and kiddies, 65 percent are under age 12, and 20,000 are children under the age of 5.

On June 2, Norway announced the repatriation of five children from Syria. Their Oslo-bound flight left Erbil on Monday.

However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
some 3,000 children are unaccompanied or separated from their families and around 11,000 children haven’t attended school since the ISIS conflict began in 2014.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/05/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iran’s Khamenei says Tehran will not abandon its missile program
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that Tehran would not be "deceived" by US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
’s offer of negotiations and would not give up its missile program.

Iran and the United States have been drawn into starker confrontation in the past month, a year after Washington pulled out of a deal between Iran and global powers to curb Tehran’s nuclear program in return for lifting international sanctions.

Trump has condemned the nuclear deal, signed by his predecessor Barack Obama
My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it...
, as flawed for not being permanent and for not covering Iran’s ballistic missile program and its role in conflicts around the Middle East. He has called on Iran to come to negotiating table to reach a new deal.

Trump said last week that Iran "has a chance to be a great country, with the same leadership. We’re not looking for regime change. I just want to make that clear. We’re looking for no nuclear weapons."

Reacting to those comments, Khamenei said in a speech broadcast on state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
: "The US president recently said Iran can achieve development with its current leaders. That means they do not seek regime change... but this political trick will not deceive Iranian officials and the Iranian nation."

"America will not be able to deprive Iran of its missile capabilities," Khamenei said, speaking at a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran



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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2019-06-05
  Nanagarhar: Senior ISIS leader hailing from India killed in Afghanistan airstrike
Tue 2019-06-04
  Sri Lanka Muslim ministers resign en masse over Easter bombings
Mon 2019-06-03
  Houthi rebels launch a drone attack on a military parade for Saudi-led coalition forces in the port city of Aden
Sun 2019-06-02
  Al-Quds rally rejects ‘deal of the century’
Sat 2019-06-01
  Islamic Jihad chief says Gaza groups can fire 1,000 rockets a day at Israel
Fri 2019-05-31
  COAS endorses death sentence for retired brigadier, a civilian for 'espionage, leaking information'
Thu 2019-05-30
  IDF Destroying Hezbollah's Last, Largest Cross-Border Attack Tunnel
Wed 2019-05-29
  22 Released from 'Islamic State Kidnapping' in DR Congo
Tue 2019-05-28
  IS claims responsibility for a Bangladesh explosion
Mon 2019-05-27
  Gunmen raid Burkina Faso church, kill four
Sun 2019-05-26
  Sri Lanka Troops Launch Major Hunt for Islamists Linked to Suicide Attacks
Sat 2019-05-25
  3 killed, 19 wounded in blast inside Quetta mosque ahead of Friday prayers
Fri 2019-05-24
  Emir of Al-Qaeda allied Ansar Ghazwatul Hind, Zakir Musa, has been officially killed
Thu 2019-05-23
  Algeria Army Chief Says Has ‘No Political’ Ambition
Wed 2019-05-22
   'American Taliban' released

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