[Al Jazeera] Sudan has seized the assets of ousted president Omar al-Bashir ...Former President-for-Life of Sudan 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 head cheese. He fell 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. Hee was overthrown by popular consent in 2019. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it... 's now-dissolved party, a senior member of the country's ruling sovereign council said.
Assets of the National Congress Party (NCP) were seized under a law that was passed in November and that ordered the party's dissolution.
The law's implementation is widely seen as a test of how far Sudan's transitional authorities are willing or able to go to dismantle the system built up by Bashir, who was ousted in April after nearly three decades in power.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2020 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
[AlAhram] As Ottoman Turkish troops begin to arrive in Libya, Cairo is moving on different levels to ready itself for the repercussions
Cairo is pursuing an array of diplomatic actions as it tightens security and girds itself militarily in response to developments in Libya to which The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund... is transferring jihadist mercenaries from Syria. Among them, according to the Syrian Human Rights Observatory, are members of the Murad Sultan Division. The influx of Ottoman Turkish-backed militias has also been confirmed by local Libyan sources. The Ottoman Turkish regime has also dispatched intelligence agents in preparation for the troops it plans to send after obtaining parliamentary approval for the move last week.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/09/2020 02:04 ||
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Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
Hafter made #misrata go to bed at midnight 🕛#Misrata militias call for a Curfew from midnight to 6:30am. And the people of Sirte are shearing this vid. We are free walking in the streets without fear felling safe and secure. And it’s (Hafter bedtime ) for some people. pic.twitter.com/kIiddEzbO5
The airstrike on AlMuz project was housing more than grad missile launchers but also contained a large ammunitions deposit. #Tripoli#Libyapic.twitter.com/pYjBcHmrUt
Faiz Al-Sarraj was taken by a group of armed men,then he disappeared from our radar ,then to reappear a hour later In Alnour Health center;then Disappeared again His personal convoy was last seen with out him 30 min ago in alSika road, with no bodyguard. This is the info we have https://t.co/UGdR17vDez
Faiz Al-Sarraj was just dropped at his HQ at AlSika road by a Militia convoy, apparently he was slapped for being in London and was questioned if he met the general commander of the #LNA in Roma. And that he must pay the fighters extra money because the fighting is harder. https://t.co/hBFr62IDqp
[SPUTNIKNEWS] The Ottoman Turkish Defence Ministry has given no further details as to the exact area of the earth-shattering kaboom or who is responsible for the attack.
On Wednesday, four Ottoman Turkish servicemen were killed in a car explosion in the north of Syria, the AFP news outlet reported, citing The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor... 's Ministry of Defence.
According to AFP, the soldiers were killed on road patrol in the region where Operation Peace Spring had taken place last October.
On 9 October 2019, Turkey conducted a military incursion, dubbed Operation Peace Spring, into Syrian border areas controlled by the Kurdish turbans. Damascus views the Ottoman Turkish offensive as a violation of Syria's illusory sovereignty.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2020 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
Turkey only had four solders? I had the impression that they had more.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2020 5:20 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Er, eight.
With visible nylon strings attached. [ominous octopod imagery here, right?] Hadn't thought about that song since... HS, maybe? And to remember the words, more or less, when I usually didn't even acknowledge lyrics' existence, let alone ponder 'em? Way to go, FZ.
[Mark Levin] The US government has increased scrutiny of travelers and cargo bound for the United States by making a revision to an alert system used to notify officers of those who may need additional screening amid rising tensions with Iran, according to sources familiar with the change.
On Sunday, a flurry of social media posts surfaced with accounts of Iranian-Americans stuck at the US-Canada border in Blaine, Washington. The incident, which is now under review by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, quickly gained national attention as immigration advocates accused CBP of detaining Iranian-Americans based on their Iranian descent. It’s unclear when the agency made changes to an internal alerts system and whether that contributed to why individuals were pulled aside for additional questioning.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a security bulletin regarding Iran on Saturday, saying the department "is operating with an enhanced posture and various operational components are taking protective measures where prudent and necessary."
CBP has repeatedly said that it did not instruct officials to detain Iranian-Americans or refuse people entry into the US because of their country of origin. Revisions to the alerts system, however, are not distributed through a directive or memo, according to an agency official.
CBP declined to comment, citing law enforcement sensitivity. The agency regularly changes its alert criteria based on new intelligence or threats. The latest change is limited in scope and is not intended to target everyone of Iranian descent, according to one of the sources.
The change is part of the administration’s increased security posture following last week’s US drone strike in Iraq that killed a top Iranian commander. It places an added emphasis on screening people and cargo coming to the United States.
Targeting rules ‐ an intelligence-based mechanism that helps CBP identify travelers who, based on their behavior, may pose a threat to the US ‐ are one of many factors that help customs officers determine whether to pull an individual aside for additional questioning or deny entry into the US, according to an agency official.
15) A local took this image (L) near the PS752 crash site, clearly showing the control segment of a TOR M1 missile. (via @Azematt) pic.twitter.com/afkfnYaP1r— Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) January 8, 2020
Ed. That finned object is the flight controls package. The Tor M1 is guided by the radar on the launcher vehicle via a telemetry link and detonates on command. The HE-FRAG warhead is below the flight controls package in the missile body. It’s apparently an expanding rod design similar to the US AIM-9 Sidewinder warhead. Update
Breaking: Pentagon, Iraqi officials tell Newsweek, CBS: Iran shot down the Ukraine flight
Posted by: Woodrow ||
01/09/2020 00:22 ||
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[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#3
Re #2: Yep, 29 batteries according to wikipedia.
TEHRAN, February 7 2007(RIA Novosti) - Iran has successfully tested the TOR-M1 air defense missile system recently supplied by Russia, the Iranian news agency ISNA said, citing the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps responsible for national missile forces. The tests were part of military exercises that began in southern Iran Wednesday after Russia completed the delivery of 29 TOR-M1 anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran in late January under a $700 million contract signed at the end of 2005.
#4
So, we know not to send civilian airliners into Iran during action. They've got that down
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2020 5:03 Comments ||
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#5
This creates a creepy symmetry to the Vincennes incident.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/09/2020 5:47 Comments ||
Top||
#6
No great leap of analytical genius, but here are likely locations of additional TOR M1 (or similar) missile batteries. Iranian oil refineries and ports are not listed in the graphic, but must be assumed as AAA locations as well.
#7
"adjust your airliner flight patterns accordingly...or just don't fly to Iran"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2020 6:33 Comments ||
Top||
#8
If that "local Iranian" is real and his find authentic he'll disappear just like that control segment already has (Iran claims nothing like this has been found).
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/09/2020 10:10 Comments ||
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[SaraACarter] U.S. officials have intercepted chatter and received confirmation that terrorist leaders in Iraq have been fleeing the region and have gone into hiding fearing United States intelligence capabilities after the successful Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... that killed Iranian Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani , according to multiple sources that spoke to SaraACarter.com.
The White House official added that shortly after the airstrike that killed Soleimani information began to surface that other terrorist leaders in the region were ’fleeing,’ and others had gone into hiding.
And on Wednesday, as Trump addressed the nation, woven into his words was the warning to holy warriors in the region that Soleimani was only one of many terror leaders U.S. officials are monitoring in effort to prevent attacks on U.S. assets, the homeland and Americans overseas.
"Last week, we took decisive action to stop a ruthless terrorist from threatening American lives. At my direction, the United States Military eliminated the world’s top terrorist, Qassem Soleimani," said Trump. "Soleimani’s hands were drenched in both American and Iranian blood. He should have been terminated long ago. By removing Soleimani, we have sent a powerful message to terrorists: if you value your own life, you will not threaten the lives of our people."
The message was heard loud and clear in Iraq. U.S. officials intercepted communications and intelligence suggesting that holy warriors in the region were signaling immediate concerns over Iran’s inability to protect Soleimani from the U.S.
James Carafano, vice president of foreign and defense policy studies at the Heritage Foundation, told this news hound that Iran’s inability to protect its most prized asset was a message to proxy terrorist organizations and terror leaders that they were vulnerable.
"Makes sense," said Carafano. "If this is all 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 a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... will do to avenge Soleimani no one can expect Tehran to expend a lot of capital to protect them from the Americans."
Daniel Hoffman, a retired CIA station chief and former chief of the CIA’s Middle East Department, said the president’s "decapitation strike targeting general Qassem Soleimani was a seminal moment, a change in strategy for the United States and how we deal with Iran’s aggression."
Hoffman, whose work in the region is extensive, said Trump made it clear "that we will deal with everyone’s proxy militia foot soldiers but we will also deal with Iranian leaders who are responsible for making the decisions that put our people and installations in harms way."
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2020 11:07 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Most of the Iraqi Shiite militia leaders and their senior staff were transferred on Friday and Saturday to Iran, on Sunday, Tehran’s preparations for striking US targets extended to Syria and Lebanon. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corp IRGC) have set in motion for their coming retaliatory operations against US targets:
1.With their commanders out of the country, the pro-Iran Iraqi Shiite militias are shuttering their command posts and bases in the main cities and the fighters are going to ground with their weapons among civilian populations.
[Al Jazeera] Iran's missile attack on Iraqi military bases hosting US troops has raised questions over Iraq's illusory sovereignty and reflected Tehran's deep-rooted influence over Baghdad.
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 a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... fired more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi military bases early on Wednesday morning. The US Pentagon confirmed that the missiles hit the Ain al-Assad airbase in Anbar Province and a facility near Erbil's airport in northern Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2020 00:00 ||
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[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
#1
Iraqis say Iran's targeting of US bases on Iraqi soil is an 'assault' and call on parties to move battlefield elsewhere.
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is a war zone.
Looks like 5 hits on al-Asad airbase.
[Space.com] [Space.com] Satellites operated by San Francisco-based company Planet have captured photos of Iraq's al-Asad airbase, one of the sites hit in last night's (Jan. 7) bombardment. The sharp images clearly show which buildings were reduced to ruin and rubble.
Photos at the link.
Planet is most famous for its huge constellation of Doves, Earth-observing cubesats the size of a loaf of bread. But the al-Asad imagery comes courtesy of SkySats, Planet representatives said. The company operates 15 of these spacecraft, each of which is about the size of a minifridge and can resolve features as small as 28 inches (72 centimeters) on Earth's surface. (The Doves, for comparison, have a resolution of about 10 feet, or 3 meters.)
Posted by: Glinter Jaique8353 ||
01/09/2020 00:00 ||
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[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/09/2020 12:41 Comments ||
Top||
#5
U.S. officials confident Iran shot down passenger jet U.S. officials are confident Iran shot down a Ukrainian jetliner in the hours after the Iranian missile attack on U.S. targets earlier this week, CBS News has learned. The Ukrainian International Airlines plane crashed Wednesday soon after takeoff from Tehran's airport, killing all 176 people on board.
U.S. intelligence picked up signals of a radar being turned on, sources told CBS News. U.S. satellites also detected two surface-to-air missile launches, which happened shortly before the plane exploded, CBS News was told.
Federal officials were briefed on the intelligence Thursday, CBS News transportation Kris Van Cleave reports. A source who was in the briefing said it appears missile components were found near the crash site.
#11
I'm confident this is confirmation: U.S. intelligence picked up signals of a radar being turned on, sources told CBS News. U.S. satellites also detected two surface-to-air missile launches, which happened shortly before the plane exploded, CBS News was told.
#14
In the absence of facts, the worst must be assumed. What will aviation insurers do?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/09/2020 13:50 Comments ||
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#15
If they have corroborative evidence to upgrade confidence to confirmation then they would have said that.
Stretching things this way risks building a culture like the leftists have. And then reality bites.
I also think that an iIranian SAM was the most probable cause and contrary too many also think that there are non-zero odds that was on propose since the Ayatollahs were expecting an automatic US reaction and a civilian aircraft downed would be pinned to Trump and US if they rained fire on Iranians.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/09/2020 14:58 Comments ||
Top||
#18
I was certain they had shot it down when I saw the unconfirmed Tweet from the Jordanian site.
1. Jordan has competent SIGINT coverage of the area and air defense tracking has a distinctive signature. It's not even hard to find for an experience collector.
2. The plane went down in flames. Seldom happens from natural causes, unless there's a bomb aboard.
3. Timing: It was during the Great Heroic Islamic Tug on the Great Satan's Beard, not the next day or the day before. Proximity doesn't necessarily equal cause and effect, but there are degrees of circumstantial.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2020 15:36 Comments ||
Top||
#19
Chances content of the black boxes won't be readable: 100%
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/09/2020 15:43 Comments ||
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#20
check out flight aware app. You should see the traffic around Iran and the Persian Gulf. And there are a bunch of planes arriving still in Tehran. Insh'Allah, bro.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2020 15:47 Comments ||
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#21
NO! YES! OH!
Too funny!
Given the discussion, I’ll leave the original headline. Poor Iran can’t win for losing in this little bit of stupidity they started.
#22
RE: #15 I also think that an Iranian SAM was the most probable cause and contrary too many also think that there are non-zero odds that was on propose since the Ayatollahs were expecting an automatic US reaction and a civilian aircraft downed would be pinned to Trump and US if they rained fire on Iranians.
Judging from the huge amount of air traffic, I would expect that operational planning for movements in such congested airspace is a major consideration. I would bet that Iranian military planning for missile attacks on Iraq don't take much consideration of this air traffic. Big sky theory operates here.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2020 15:53 Comments ||
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#28
Timing, for one. It went down after the SSM launches. It's also hard to imagine hitting a moving aircraft with an SSM. Even if it by bajillions to one chance, they carry different kinds of warheads.Forensics sez SAM. So will the blackboxes.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2020 16:39 Comments ||
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#29
Iran will probably open the black boxes with some fine sophisticated tools like a sledgehammer.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/09/2020 16:41 Comments ||
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#30
Lufthansa flight LH600 from Frankfurt to Tehran returned to Frankfurt after one hour in the air. Airline decided the flight was be coming too risky.
Really.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/09/2020 16:49 Comments ||
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Of course it could still be a very unlucky consequence. Or... providence. Yes, providence.
'Behold, all those who were incensed against you Shall be ashamed and disgraced; They shall be as nothing, And those who strive with you shall perish.' - GAWD !
"Meanwhile, despite earlier reports that the US would not be involved in the probe, the National Transportation Safety Board has been invited by Iran, through the International Civil Aviation Organization, to assist, two sources familiar with the matter told the New York Times."
Yah let's send them a bunch of hostages. And by the way, If you shoot at something and hit it, it's not an accident.
#39
Occam's Razor:
Airliner on climb-out suddenly appears as a big blip on air defense radar.
Air defense guys are already twitchy from waiting for American counter-attack.
They pop off two SAMS. WHOOSH BLAM.
Plane goes down. Finger-pointing begins.
#40
If you take a close look at the video of the crash, you can see something breaking away from the aircraft at about 7 seconds into the video. There's also a flash earlier that could be a SAM warhead detonating. Rumor says it was an SA-15, which has a 30kg warhead.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/09/2020 22:32 Comments ||
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[AnNahar] The Iranian Revolutionary News Agency reportedly said on Wednesday that Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... is moving military equipment towards the Lebanese border with Israeli occupied Paleostine.
The report comes after an Iranian strike at Iraq’s Ain Assad air base housing U.S. troops "revenging" the US killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani .
#5
The Iranian Revolutionary News Agency reportedly said on Wednesday that Hizbullah is moving military equipment towards the Lebanese border with Israeli occupied Paleostine.
Israeli occupied Palestine? This Lebanese news source Nahranet, must think that Israel is illegally occupying their lands. That's how I read that.
The Lebanese are like the Dems. The Dems can't accept that Trump is POTUS. The Muslims can't accept that Israel is a sovereign country.
#9
The US has failed to use its most potent weapon during the past 25 years. Time to remedy that. We need an ARCLIGHT strike on Hezbollocks targets -- say about 30 aircraft worth. I'm sure even Hezbollah will get the message. Gonna suck for anybody else in the area, but . . . collateral damage.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/09/2020 22:35 Comments ||
Top||
Pics at link
[ConservativeTreehouse] Translated: @Azematt – "Local people where to shoot the first photo, take it inside the place of the father of Nazdiky, the place of the fall of the Ukrainian fall. @AshkanMonfared_ Farstadeh as it clearly divided the Central Bank of Moskur"
Hot stuff, it says the debris of what looks like the Tor M1 SAM were found near the crash site of Ukraine Flight PS752. I'm not sure though, it's quite unlikely that the warhead would remain intact (as suggested by the photo) after impact (with a passenger plane). https://t.co/nGOwjO8xNF
‐ Ilham Adamy (@ilhamadamy) January 8, 2020
Posted by: Glinter Jaique8353 ||
01/09/2020 00:18 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Anti-aircraft missiles seldom hit planes. They explode when they are close enough to damage the plane with shrapnel. The photo shows the control section of the missile, not the warhead.
#3
So now we know their missiles don't always miss.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/09/2020 11:29 Comments ||
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#4
Question for those whose experience with SAMs doesn't consist solely of playing too mcuh Flanker sim twenty years ago: Are such objects typically found in that condition? I'd have expected it to be a bit more beat up.
Also, betcha that's not where it landed. Looks like just the spot to which a brave (or astute), civic minded person might move it: "By Allah, I care nothing for death. Step aside, I shall save the neighborhood!"
[Rudaw] The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration in Northern and Eastern Syrian (NES) released 34 Arab members of 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) on Wednesday.
This comes after the previous release of 300 others with ties to the krazed killer group, following a call from Arab tribal leaders in late 2019 to free those members of the group who have not been involved in the killing of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters. The SDF is the predominantly Kurdish military component of the NES Administration.
A group of Arab tribal leaders and signatories from the eastern Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor called on the multi-ethnic SDF on December 20 to release all their women and kiddies held in camps due to "the difficult circumstances" faced in the camps, and described the women as representing "the honor and dignity of Arab tribes."
One week later, an NES delegation visited Deir ez-Zor province and met with the Arab leaders.
"The meeting was to listen to the people, their demands, and to open the space for their critique and observations concerning the performance of the civil council to evaluate the completed works on its part through the past years and standing on the popular suggestions for projects next year," an NES statement read.
There are currently more than 10,000 ISIS members in SDF prisons, including members who came frout outside Syria.
Hussein Salmo, commander of the SDF Hasaka Military Council, told news hounds on Wednesday that they released 34 members of ISIS, "who did not have the blood of our deaders on their hands."
"We as Syrian Democratic Forces have decided to release those people who did not have the blood of our deaders on their hands and did not fight them, and hand them over to our tribal leaders and dignitaries."
"We released about 300 people [from ISIS] three days ago and 34 today," he added.
Salmo also said that the tribal leaders, "promised us not to let these people join forces who fight against humanity such as al-Qaeda and ISIS," using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
So far around 850 ISIS members have been released by the SDF. 500 of them were released last year, said the commander.
"There were no Assyrians or Kurds. All of them were Arabs," added the commander.
The son of Jawhara Abdul-Latif has been in SDF prison for three months. She wished for him to be released on Wednesday, but he was not. He wanted to carry out an attack using an explosive cycle of violence, but failed and was arrested. The 17-years-old son has been charged with being a member of ISIS.
"I die a hundred times a day. I thought he would be released as well," she told Rudaw.
Taha Salih is one of the released. He told Rudaw after his release, "I was a member of ISIS. Qamishli court ordered my release. I am from Deir ez-Zor."
Islamic State snuffies controlled swathes of Syrian land in 2014, but with the support of the Global Coalition against ISIS the SDF was able to take control of Baghouz, the holy warriors’ last bastion in Deir ez-Zor province, in March 2019.
The Kurdish-led forces captured thousands of ISIS fighters in the fight, sending the families of the snuffies to al-Hol camp in Hasaka province.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/09/2020 00:00 ||
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[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
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.
...Former President-for-Life of Sudan 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 head cheese. He fell 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 
...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor...
...
...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 
...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 
