[Rudaw] The body of 33-year-old Bashdar Hassan, a Kurdistan Region native who was shot and killed last month in northern La Belle France’s Dunkirk refugee camp, was returned home Thursday.
"He had been in that jungle for two years, constantly saying ’Mother, I’m coming back,’" his mother, Rahmat Mustafa, said through tears. "I was waiting and preparing the house for the month he was supposed to return."
The Dunkirk camp, located on La Belle France’s northern coast, is a well-known gathering point for people attempting to cross to the UK by boat. Many engage in informal trade or smuggling to sustain themselves.
Hassan, who was married and had a five-year-old son, had been in La Belle France for two years and six months.
"He had decided to come back in another two months, but they didn’t let him and burned our hearts," said his sister, Amira Hassan.
Hassan was killed on July 27 in what his family says was a planned attack linked to an old dispute with three other people also from the Kurdistan Region. The disagreement had previously been resolved, according to relatives.
"They had a dispute with my brother Hassan, but later they reconciled and people witnessed it. However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... later they killed him by plan and cowardice from behind. When I examined his body, there were seven bullets in it. Three people shot him, all three of whom are from Ranya and their names are known to us," said Hassan’s brother Abdullah Hassan.
French media reported the shooting at the time, saying that the victim was hit multiple times. The Dunkirk public prosecutor’s office has opened a homicide investigation.
The family said legal complaints have been filed against the accused in both Kurdistan and La Belle France.
In December, a shooting spree in the Dunkirk area killed five people, including two Kurds from Iran’s western Kurdish areas (Rojhelat) who sought to cross the English Channel.
Thousands of people from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region take perilous routes to Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... every year in hopes of escaping endless crises, including unemployment, political instability, a fragile economy, and rampant corruption.
The UK is a popular destination for many, but crossing the English Channel is dangerous and can be deadly.
[GEO.TV] One person was killed and another maimed Friday in a shooting near a mosque in southern Sweden, an attack police said they believed was linked to feuding organised crime gangs.
Local media quoted witnesses as saying at least one person was shot as he left the mosque in the town of Orebro, about 200 kilometres west of Stockholm.
Police said in a statement that a man "around the age of 25 died as a result of the wounds he suffered". The condition of the second person was not disclosed.
Police provided no details about the dear departed's identity or the circumstances of the shooting, and urged the public to stay away from the scene as their search for the shooter continued several hours after the incident.
"We are currently actively pursuing the perpetrator or perpetrators," police front man Anders Dahlman told AFP.
"We are interviewing witnesses and carrying out our technical investigation," he said.
The shooting occurred as people were leaving the mosque after Friday prayers, sparking panic as people ran from the scene, local media reported.
One witness told Swedish public broadcaster SVT that he was standing just a few metres (yards) away from one of the men who was shot.
"He was on his way out of the mosque. Then another man came up and fired four, five shots," said the witness, whose name was not disclosed.
[GEO.TV] At least 11 Paleostinians have been killed across the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip since dawn on Thursday, Al Jazeera reported citing medical sources.
The most recent casualties were confirmed by al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza's Jabalia, which reported receiving the bodies of two Paleostinians rubbed out by Israeli forces at an aid distribution point near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza.
According to medical teams, the victims had been seeking humanitarian assistance when they were targeted. The remaining fatalities occurred in separate incidents across the territory as Israeli operations intensified.
According to the outlet, Israeli quadcopters dropped leaflets instructing people to leave the entire northeastern and part of the northwestern areas of Zeitoun. The order affects thousands of residents who are now seeking shelter elsewhere.
The evacuation directive comes after a week of intense bombardment, which included sustained air strikes, heavy artillery fire, and the demolition of up to 350 homes in the targeted areas.
The Israeli military on Friday said it destroyed dozens of "terror targets" in its new offensive on Zeitoun on the outskirts of Gazoo City, which was launched earlier in the week ahead of its planned major operation to conquer the entire city that is currently home to an estimated one million Paleostinians.
The new operation in the Zeitoun neighborhood comes after Israel’s security cabinet approved the capture of the Paleostinian territory’s largest city following 22 months of war that have created dire humanitarian conditions in the enclave.
"Over the past few days, IDF troops have been operating in the Zeitoun area, on the outskirts of Gaza City," said the statement released by the Israeli military, confirming reports of ground troop movements and heavy strikes in the area.
According to the military, the Zeitoun offensive is being carried out by the 99th Division with the Nahal Infantry Brigade and 7th Armored Brigade.
The troops have so far demolished dozens of "terror targets," including booby-trapped buildings and sites where weapons were stored, and killed some 20 terror operatives, the IDF added.
"The troops are operating to locate explosives, eliminate turbans and dismantle terrorist infrastructure above and below ground. As part of their activity, the troops struck and dismantled a booby-trapped structure that stored weapons," it said.
In one incident, the military said the 7th Brigade troops spotted several operatives who fired an RPG at a tank, without causing injuries. The operatives were then eliminated in a strike, according to the IDF.
The Nahal Brigade troops have meanwhile been working on clearing the area of Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... infrastructure and establishing control. The army said the Nahal soldiers killed several operatives who were spotted planting bombs, and others who approached the forces.
Additionally, the division’s 990th Artillery Regiment has provided the ground troops with covering fire. Ahead of the offensive and during it, the IDF says the artillery unit shelled terror infrastructure and killed several operatives, including a Hamas platoon commander in the Zeitoun Battalion.
The Israeli Air Force has also been provided support, striking Hamas sites and operatives in the area.
Ahead of the operation, the IDF issued multiple evacuation warnings for Paleostinian civilians who were residing in the area.
On Wednesday, Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency said Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on Gaza City had intensified, with the residential neighborhoods of Zeitoun and Sabra hit "with very heavy airstrikes targeting civilian homes, possibly including high-rise buildings."
IDF SEALS MAJOR TUNNEL NETWORK
Additionally, the IDF said Friday that seven kilometers (4.3 miles) worth of Hamas tunnels in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun were sealed with concrete.
The IDF said the engineering effort took place over the past four weeks, amid an offensive against Hamas in the town.
Over 20,000 cubic meters of concrete were pumped into the Hamas tunnel network in Beit Hanoun, using a "dedicated system" that included a 4.5-kilometer-long (2.8-mile-long) pipeline running from the border fence near the community of Netiv Haasara to the "heart" of the underground passages, the IDF said.
"The operation was made possible thanks to precise engineering planning, combining advanced technological capabilities and innovative methods used for the first time, which led to the complete sealing of the tunnel," the military said.
Simultaneously, the IDF said another 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) of tunnels in Beit Hanoun were blown up by combat engineers using standard demolition methods.
"The two combined efforts led to a significant blow to the Beit Hanoun Battalion and led to its operational defeat," the army added.
Sealing tunnels with concrete can be a cheaper and less risky alternative to blowing them up, although it takes longer to carry out.
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[GEO.TV] The UN human rights office said that at least 1,760 Palestinians had been killed while seeking aid in Gaza since late May, a jump of several hundred since its last published figure at the beginning of August.
"Since 27 May, and as of 13 August, we have recorded that at least 1,760 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid; 994 in the vicinity of GHF (Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) sites and 766 along the routes of supply convoys. Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military," the agency's office for the Palestinian territories said in a statement.
That compares with a figure of 1,373 killed the office reported on August 1.
The update came as Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 31 people were killed by Israeli fire on Friday, including 12 who were waiting for humanitarian aid.
Hamasniks have been busily punishing those who dare seek to receive what was meant to be given for free. The Times of Israel adds:
While the majority of reported deaths have taken place en route to GHF sites, the past several weeks have seen double the casualties near the convoys of the UN and other international organizations.
This appears to be tied to the ongoing chaos surrounding UN convoys, which are quickly overrun by desperate Gazans before they make it to warehouses or distribution sites. Nearly 90% of UN aid is not reaching intended destinations throughout Gaza, according to UN figures.
AIRDROPS AND AID TRUCKS CONTINUE TO ENTER GAZA
As Israel has ramped up aid efforts in the face of reports of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza, aircraft from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, and — for the first time — Singapore airdropped 127 pallets of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip on Friday, according to the IDF.
Each pallet contains around one ton of food.
Israel re-adopted a policy of allowing aid airdrops on July 26, amid mounting international criticism over the hunger crisis in Gaza. But airdrops are only able to deliver a small fraction of what can come into Gaza by land. They also pose safety risks for the civilians who can be hit by the packages from above.
Alongside the airdrops, over 310 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip Thursday through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities (COGAT) said.
According to COGAT, more than 390 trucks worth of aid were also collected by the United Nations and other international organizations from the Gaza side of the crossings yesterday to be distributed.
Another 119 pallets of aid — about 4-6 trucks worth — were airdropped by Jordan, the UAE, Germany, Belgium, Italy and France in Gaza Thursday, according to the IDF.
The UN has said 600 trucks of aid need to be distributed each day in order to properly feed the Strip’s roughly two million people.
Additionally, COGAT said that “tankers of UN fuel entered for the operation of essential humanitarian systems” Thursday. It also says it facilitated the entry and exit of aid workers rotating in and out of Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Rudaw] At least four people, including two children, were killed and five others injured in a kaboom on the outskirts of Syria’s northwestern Idlib city on Thursday, according to state media. While initial reports described the site of the earth-shattering kaboom as a "residential building," local authorities told Rudaw the earth-shattering kaboom occurred at a warehouse storing "war remnants."
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) cited the health ministry, reporting that "four people, including two children, were killed and five others, including one child, were maimed in a kaboom that occurred this morning in a residential building on the outskirts of Idlib city."
SANA added that "authorities are still investigating the cause of the blast." Syrian Civil Defense teams immediately launched rescue operations and extinguished fires sparked by the earth-shattering kaboom. "They are on alert to secure the site and prevent the fire from spreading to neighboring buildings," the agency noted.
Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, Butch shot Ike through the elbow. Take that, Ike! he yelled...... local authorities in Idlib told Rudaw that the earth-shattering kaboom occurred in an arms depot.
Abed Kontar, director of media relations in Idlib province, affiliated with the Syrian information ministry, said the blast took place at an "ammunition and war remnants warehouse," adding that "it was not the result of an aerial attack."
"There was no aviation in the area and no sound of missiles was heard," Kontar said, suggesting that "the earth-shattering kaboom was likely caused by high temperatures and poor storage conditions."
He also stated that "the identities of the dear departed had not yet been confirmed," and it remains unclear "whether they were civilians or military personnel."
For its part, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, reported on Thursday that "several violent mostly peaceful explosions" rocked a "warehouse and headquarters for non-Syrian imported muscle" in the farmlands west of Idlib.
According to SOHR, the incident "resulted in four deaths and five injuries among those fighters."
The monitor added that the earth-shattering kabooms "coincided with drone activity in the area" but did not specify who the drone belonged to.
This latest incident follows a similar explosion in late July, when "a series of blasts inside a warehouse belonging to the ’Turkistan Islamic Party’" in northern Idlib "resulting in 12 deaths" and "107 civilian injuries, with unconfirmed reports of casualties among Turkistan nationals whose fate was being kept quiet."
Following a swift offensive in early December, a coalition of opposition groups, led by the now-dissolved Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... - then-headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa - toppled the regime of longtime Syrian dictator Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... . In late January, Sharaa was appointed Syria’s interim president.
Since then, explosions at "war remnants depots" and incidents involving unwent kaboom! ordnance have emerged as a major cause of casualties, particularly in Idlib province.
[Rudaw] A fighter from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was killed in an attack carried out by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) snuffies in northeast Syria (Rojava), a war monitor reported on Thursday, highlighting a surge in ISIS activity against the Kurdish-led forces.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that an SDF fighter "was killed in a direct gunfire attack" by "an ISIS cell near the village of Taima in the Tal Hamis area" of Hasaka province. The attackers reportedly expeditiously departed at a goodly pace.
Last week, the SDF reported that two of their fighters were killed on Wednesday evening in "a machine-gun attack" by "two ISIS cell members in the town of al-Bahra, located in the Hajin district" southeast of Deir ez-Zor.
The SDF condemned the incident as a "cowardly and desperate attempt" by ISIS sleeper cells to "reassert their presence amid ongoing military pressure."
They emphasized that such attacks will not weaken their resolve and affirmed their commitment to continuing efforts to eliminate ISIS remnants and ensure security across northern and eastern Syria. "We will not hesitate to pursue the remnants of the ISIS terrorist organization until it is completely eliminated," the Kurdish-led forces asserted.
Backed by the United States, the SDF functions as the de facto military force in Rojava and remains a key partner of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
Since its territorial defeat in Syria in 2019, ISIS has been trying to regain its strength, particularly after a coalition of opposition groups led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... (HTS) on December 8 toppled the regime of Syrian dictator Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... SOHR on Thursday pointed to a significant uptick in ISIS operations in areas controlled by the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES).
According to the war monitor, "ISIS has carried out 152 operations" in DAANES-administered regions since the beginning of 2025. These include "armed assaults, assassinations, and bombings."
The operations have resulted in 64 deaths, comprising 45 SDF fighters, one SDF-affiliated member, ten civilians, and eight ISIS holy warriors, according to SOHR.
[IsraelTimes] Airstrikes come as Hezbollah threatens civil war if Lebanon tries to disarm it; Lebanese PM says threats unacceptable, Beirut will do whatever is necessary for peace and stability
Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck a Hezbollah facility and a tunnel belonging to the terror group near the Beaufort Castle in southern Leb ...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... on Friday, the IDF said, with Defense Minister Israel Katz warning Beirut that it was responsible for reining in the terror group.
The military said that it had identified Hezbollah military activity at the site and that the existence of the facility was a violation of the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
Following the strikes, Katz said Israel would continue to strike at all Hezbollah violations.
"We will not budge from our policy of maximum enforcement and will not allow threats to arise against the residents of the north and all citizens of Israel," he said.
In a message to Lebanon’s new President Joseph Aoun, Katz said Israel views Beirut as "directly responsible for enforcing Lebanon’s illusory sovereignty and upholding the ceasefire agreement."
The Lebanese government has been working to disarm Hezbollah, but has sometimes been criticized for not doing so effectively. Critics of Israeli policy, however, argue that carrying out such strikes too regularly without allowing the Lebanese government to dismantle Hezbollah on its own may risk undermining the first-ever government that has expressed a genuine willingness to address the issue.
Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck a Hezbollah facility and a tunnel belonging to the terror group near the Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon a short while ago, the IDF says.
The strikes came hours after Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem ... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies... vowed to fight government plans to disarm his group, with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accusing him of making "unacceptable" threats to unleash civil war.
Qassem gave a televised address after meeting with Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani, whose country has long backed and armed the Lebanese terror group.
Hezbollah emerged badly weakened from last year’s war with Israel, and the Lebanese government — under US pressure — has ordered the army to draw up a plan to disarm the group by the end of the year.
Iran, whose so-called axis of resistance includes Hezbollah, has also suffered a series of setbacks, most recently in its own war with Israel, which also saw the United States strike its nuclear facilities.
"The government is implementing an American-Israeli order to end the resistance, even if it leads to civil war and internal strife," Qassem said.
"The resistance will not surrender its weapons while aggression continues, occupation persists, and we will fight it... If necessary to confront this American-Israeli project, no matter the cost."
He urged the government "not to hand over the country to an insatiable Israeli aggressor or an American tyrant with limitless greed," adding the state would "bear responsibility for any internal explosion and any destruction of Lebanon."
Salam later denounced the remarks, saying on X that they "constitute an implicit threat of civil war."
He added that "any threat or intimidation related to such a war is totally unacceptable."
Salam also hit back at Hezbollah’s characterization of the disarmament push as an American-Israeli effort.
"Our decisions are purely Lebanese, made by our cabinet, and no one tells us what to do," he said.
"The Lebanese have the right to stability and security... without which the country will not be able to recover, and no reconstruction or investment will take place."
Before the war with Israel, Hezbollah was believed to be better armed than the Lebanese military.
It long maintained it had to keep its arsenal to defend Lebanon from attack, but critics accused it of using its weapons for political leverage.
Qassem said Friday that Hezbollah and its political ally Amal would not be organizing any street protests against disarmament at this time, but threatened to do so in the future.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council chief Larijani was in Beirut this week and held talks with Qassem as well as with Aoun.
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... has expressed its opposition to the government’s disarmament plan, and has vowed to continue to provide support, with Lebanese officials recently hardening their tone toward Hezbollah and its patron.
Both the president and the prime minister took issue with Iran’s recent statements during Larijani’s trip, with Salam saying Lebanon rejects "any interference in its internal affairs."
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.
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
