[KhaamaPress] According to the security sources at least 8 Talibs have been killed in Afghan military operations on Thursday.
The Afghan special security forces conducted a rain in Charkh district of Pashtun-infested Logar province, killing two Taliban ...Arabic for students... fighters, detaining two and destroying a small weapons cache, MOD confirmed in a statement.
The statement published by the Afghan Ministry of Defense also said about an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... in the Nahr-e-Saraj district in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province which has killed at least six Taliban fighters.
The Taliban office has not yet commented about their casualties in Pashtun-infested Logar and Helmand provinces.
KABUL/PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - The Taliban will implement a 10-day ceasefire with U.S. troops, a reduction in violence with Afghan forces and discussions with Afghan government officials if it reaches a deal with U.S. negotiators in talks in Doha, two sources have said.
If an agreement is sealed, it could revive hopes for a long-term solution to the conflict in Afghanistan.
Taliban and U.S. negotiators met on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the signing of a peace deal, according to a spokesman for the Taliban office in Qatar. The talks were "useful" and would continue for a few days, the spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, said on Twitter early on Friday.
U.S. President Donald Trump had called off the stop-start talks to end the 18-year war in September after an U.S. soldier was killed in an attack by the militant group.
They resumed but were interrupted again in December after the Taliban launched a suicide attack on a U.S. base outside Kabul killing two civilians.
Two sources close to the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that the Taliban's top leadership had now agreed to implement a 10-day ceasefire with U.S troops once a deal was signed in Doha, and to "reduce" attacks against the Afghan government.
A senior Taliban commander said: "The U.S. wanted us to announce a ceasefire during the peace talks which we had rejected. Our shura (council) has agreed to a ceasefire the day the peace accord is signed."
Once an agreement is in place, the Taliban and Afghan government could meet face to face in Germany, said the commander. Previously, the Taliban had refused to engage in talks with the Afghan government.
The U.S. team in Doha had demanded a ceasefire "which we had declined due to some issues," the Taliban commander said. "Now most of our reservations have been addressed." Another source close to the talks confirmed the commander's version of events.
#2
I wasn't keeping close score, but the last time the Talibs tried to improve their bargaining position during a ceasefire, there seemed to be a noticeable uptick in drone-zaps.
[Military.com] Less than a week after an attack by the militant group al-Shabaab on a Kenyan airfield killed a U.S. soldier and two American contractors, the Defense Department has conducted a deadly airstrike on militants in neighboring Somalia.
According to initial assessments, two terrorists were killed in the attack, according to officials with U.S. Africa Command. The airstrike was executed in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia and conducted in the vicinity of Qunyo Barrow, officials said.
Early assessments indicated no civilians were injured or killed in the strike, according to a release.
"Al-Shabaab presents a threat to America, the African people, and our international partners," Army Maj. Gen. William Gayler, AFRICOM's director of operations, said in a release. "They are a known terrorist affiliate of al-Qaeda, who continue to radicalize and actively recruit. Persistent pressure on the network helps prevent its broader spread."
On Dec. 5, al-Shabaab militants attacked Manda Bay Airfield in Kenya, roughly 100 miles from the Somalian border.
Gayler said this week that "incredible heroism and courage" by U.S. and Kenyan forces kept the attack from being even more deadly. In addition to the three Americans killed, two U.S. troops were wounded in the assault.
[AlAhram] Five Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... soldiers were killed Friday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside explosive in a northern province, security sources said, in the latest attack on the country's armed forces.
No group claimed immediate responsibility for the bomb, but jihadist violence in Burkina Faso has been blamed on gunnies linked to both al-Qaeda and 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.... groups.
"A homemade explosive was used in an attack Friday morning against a military unit," on patrol in a wildlife reserve in Soum province, leaving five dead, a security source told AFP.
"Reinforcements were sent to the zone to clear the area while the maimed were evacuated."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2020 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11136 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#1
These would be the Moslem Brotherhood-style Turkmen paramilitaries and former ISIS fighters that Turkey picked up in Syria, gave a quick lesson in countermarching and sent off to the new battlefield in Libya? To be fair, they’re already skilled at raping innocent civilians, so they should be fine. Not militarily effective, but that isn’t why Turkey hired them.
The head of the Oil Facilities Guard General Naji Al-Maghraby It is announced to stop pumping oil from ports and oil fields.#Libya#LNApic.twitter.com/8BBaulbD9V
#GNA National Oil Corporation: We will seek to prosecute the perpetrators and instigators of this act by all available means We call on forces that protect oil installations to prevent any attempt to close. If they fail, we are forced to look for other options to secure them. 😂 pic.twitter.com/LK4eRiJHiM
Libyan tribe elders demand the shutdown of Malitia gas-line (libya - #Itlay ) from the source and Briga-Misrata gas-line immediately. ( no more oils and Gas for #Erdogan’s mercenaries #terrorists )).#Libyapic.twitter.com/tVf5QNGgjw
All you hear on #GNA media and official statements today . ( the oil .... they shutdown the oil ... let’s talk about Berlin? .. no but the oil ) #Libya#LNApic.twitter.com/4wUwlyGzfb
[Dawn] KANO: Four Nigerian soldiers have been killed in an attack by IS-affiliated jihadists in the country’s restive northeast, two security sources told AFP Thursday.
Fighters from the krazed killerIslamic 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.... West Africa Province (ISWAP) in trucks fitted with machine guns late Wednesday launched a "surprise attack" on troops in Auno village, 25 kilometres from Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, they said.
"Four soldiers were killed in the attack and seven were maimed," said the first security source.
Another security official confirmed the attack.
"The holy warriors came through the bush at the rear instead of the usual highway, taking troops by surprise," said the source who gave the same casualty toll.
The jihadists were said to have overwhelmed the troops, and went into the village, looting and burning shops before withdrawing.
It was not immediately clear whether the faceless myrmidons suffered any casualties.
[DAWN] An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Rawalpindi slapped 86 workers and supporters of the Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistain (TLP) with a prison sentence of 55 years each in a case pertaining to rioting and resisting against the police.
Those convicted include TLP chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi's brother Ameer Hussain Rizvi and nephew Mohammad Ali. Additionally, the court ordered the convicts to collectively submit Rs12,925,000 and directed authorities to seize their moveable and immoveable assets.
The court was hearing a case registered in the Pindighep cop shoppe against TLP workers who held violent protests and clashed with the police over the arrest of party chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi in 2018.
After the verdict was announced late on Thursday night, the convicts were escorted to Attock jail in three vehicles by Elite Force officials.
Rizvi was arrested along with other leaders of TLP as well as the Tehrik-e-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah party in 2018 in a crackdown by security forces in Lahore. Soon after the news of his arrest spread, hundreds of activists of the two parties erupted into the streets and blocked many roads for traffic.
A constable was maimed at Multan ...Home of the Multan Sultans... Road where the violent activists clashed with police.
Following the unrest and severe festivities, contingents of paramilitary force Rangers reached Lahore, taking control of the city’s major arteries.
Prior to the agitation, a police officer said, hundreds of trained police commandos and personnel of the anti-riot force were dispatched to the Multan Road after the information that violent activists of the TLP had held a police brass hat ‐ Iqbal Town SP Syed Ali ‐ hostage along with his guards.
The arrests came months after the party held a sit-in in Islamabad against a Supreme Court verdict acquitting Aasia Bibi in a blasphemy ...the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. Some religions consider it to be a crime. In Pakistain you can commit blasphemy by looking cross-eyed at a Koran... case. However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... the government had insisted that the arrests had nothing to do with the sit-in.
"The action was prompted by TLP's refusal to withdraw its call for protest on November 25 [2018]. It’s to safeguard public life, property and order," then information minister Fawad Chaudhry had shared on Twitter.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2020 00:00 ||
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[11135 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
#1
Shias or Sunnis? Or am I being too simplistic? That distinction seems to be the key to interpreting events in Iraq - and a good part of the ME, for that matter.
When I look at that picture, I think to myself "There's a man who hasn't wiped his own butt in 350 pounds." Makes me turn down that third slice of pie every time.
[NYPOST] He put the fat in fatwa.
A morbidly obese ISIS fanatic dubbed "Jabba the Jihadi" has been captured by Iraqi forces ‐ who loaded him onto a flatbed truck because he couldn’t fit in a police car. Laparoscopic duodenal, it worked for Congressman Nadler. Give him a call.
The 560-pound mufti Abu Abdul Bari, also known as Shifa al-Nima, was nabbed Thursday by an elite SWAT team of the Nineveh regiment in the city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , according to Stars and Stripes.
The jumbo jihadist was known for "provocative speeches against the security forces" and is considered one of the top leaders of "ISIS gangs," Iraqi security officials said in a statement.
Bari issued religious decrees ‐ or fatwas ‐ ordering the execution of scholars and holy mans who refused to pledge allegiance to ISIS when the terror group occupied the city, the statement said.
During the heyday of the group’s self-styled caliphate in 2014, he also ordered the destruction of a mosque built at the site believed to be the burial place of the biblical prophet Jonah,
... referred to elsewhere as the Prophet Yunus mosque ...
who once had a famous encounter with a whale.
Maajid Nawaz, founder of the London-based anti-extremism think Quilliam, also shared images of the heavyweight’s arrest.
"He was so overweight, maybe from remaining sedentary in his hiding place, that he had to be taken by police in the back of a pick up truck," he wrote on Facebook.
"Most religious justifications provided to ISIS for enslaving, raping, torturing, ethnic cleansing & massacring Iraqis, Syrians & others are from this paltry beast who can’t even stand on his own two legs," he wrote.
"Do not underestimate the psychological blow the image of this obese monster being arrested is to ISIS. Gluttony is frowned upon by jihadists. But also, ISIS branded themselves as fighters possessing rare courage & discipline... meanwhile this walrus was their top religious holy man."
And in an ode to the epic space saga, he added: "Today was a good day for the Force & a bad day for evil."
Macer Gifford, a British citizen who fought with a US-backed Kurdish militia in Syria, applauded the arrest and compared Bari to the slug-like gang lord of the Star Wars universe who lived on the desert planet Tatooine.
"I’m delighted to say that the 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.... ’s very own Jabba the Hutt has been captured in Mosul," he said in a tweet.
"As long as the Devil bastes him properly Shifa al Nima should crisp nicely in hell... He literally looks like the world’s biggest chicken," Gifford said.
[Jewishpress] A Jewish man, 22, was moderately injured in a stabbing incident on Tzir Hamitpalelim, the road connecting Kiryat Arba to the Patriarchs' Cave in Hebron. MDA teams arrived at the site and provided him with medical treatment, then evacuated him to Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem.
The terrorist was arrested by security forces. MDA Paramedic Hanoch Zelinger reported: "When we arrived at the scene, we saw the injured man, 22, walking conscious having been stabbed in the shoulder. We immediately put him in an intensive care unit, gave him primary medical treatment which included bandaging to stop the bleeding and evacuated him to Shaare Zedek Hospital in moderate and stable condition."
The event's details indicate that a civilian present at the scene and IDF fighters arrested the terrorist near the city of Hebron after he had stabbed a settler. A force from the Nahal Brigade overtook the terrorist without opening fire. Yehuda Brigade commander Itamar Ben-Haim happened to be among the first to arrive at the scene of the attack.
Earlier on Shabbat, in a separate event, a woman in her 50s was arrested at Shechem Gate in Jerusalem after waving a knife at Border Police officers. A civilian who was on the scene quickly took control of her and a few seconds later, Border Police officers joined him and arrested the woman.
There were no casualties in that incident. The suspect is a resident of the Old City. Her motive is unclear, and she was taken for questioning.
Jihad, suicide by IDF, just wanted a break from family, the local version of Mahmoud the Weasel, social credit for attacking Jooos without really risking herself? So many possibilities, so little information...
[IsraelTimes] Police disperse crowd at holy site following Friday morning prayers; Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", had called for mobilization at al-Aqsa Mosque against ’Zionist occupation’.
Hundreds of Moslems chanted about killing Jews outside the al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Friday morning, prompting police to disperse the crowd.
The chants began as worshipers were leaving the mosque following prayers, Israel’s Channel 13 reported.
No one was injured in festivities with police, who broke up the impromptu march where the chants occurred.
In footage from the march, many men can be heard shouting in Arabic, "Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning."
The cry relates to an event in the seventh century when Moslems massacred and expelled Jews from the town of Khaybar, located in modern-day 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... They also shouted: "With spirit and blood, we will salvage al-Aqsa" and "Jews, the army of al-Aqsa is returning."
Authorities said officers broke up a procession that included what they called "nationalistic" chants at the holy site, after some 8,000 people concluded morning prayers.
"Police will not allow disorderly conduct at the Temple Mount and will act to prevent any unrest or nationalist calls," a statement from police said.
The Hamas terror group had on Wednesday called for Paleostinians to "mobilize" during Friday’s prayers against the "defilement" of the al-Aqsa Mosque and Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs by "the Zionist occupation." The group said Israeli authorities must be warned that "our sanctities are a red line that cannot be tolerated."
On Friday it welcomed the unrest at the compound, with a front man saying the morning prayers "support our people in their campaign against the Zionist occupation and thwart its racist plans."
Earlier this month police detained some 10 Moslem visitors at the compound after they disrupted public order.
The site is the holiest in Judaism as the site of the biblical Temples, and the third holiest for Moslems, who refer to it as the al-Aqsa Mosque compound or the Noble Sanctuary.
It has been the scene of intermittent festivities between Moslem worshipers and police.
Under the 1994 peace treaty between the two countries, Israel recognizes Jordan as the custodian of the Temple Mount and Jerusalem holy sites.
Some Jewish activists have pushed for Israel to allow Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount as part of the country’s commitment to freedom of religion.
But any talk or even rumors of changes to the status quo arrangement at the holy site are typically met with vociferous protest from the Moslem world, which has accused Israel of attempting to "judaize" the site or expand access for Jewish pilgrims.
[Aljazeera] In his first Friday sermon delivery since 2012, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has defended the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) amid a growing backlash after it mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, killing all 176 people on board.
Khamenei's address comes as Iran and its rulers face intense pressure at home and abroad after the United States assassinated General Qassem Soleimani, former leader of the elite Quds Force, and public anger erupted at Iran's military after its accidental downing of the commercial airliner soon after it took off from Tehran on January 8.
The Iranian leader's statement drew a quick response from US President Donald Trump, who on Friday evening wrote on social media: "He should be very careful with his words."
Posted by: Besoeker ||
01/18/2020 02:02 ||
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[11132 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Quick. Better mend those fences. IRGC & Basenji the only things keeping you from the nearest lampost.
Twelve Syrian troops were killed and 24 injured in the past 24 hours in Syria’s opposition-held Idlib province, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.https://t.co/J5UmM5OuEC
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.
...
[Military.com] Less than a week after an attack by the militant group al-Shabaab on a Kenyan airfield killed a U.S. soldier and two American contractors, the Defense Department has conducted a deadly airstrike on militants in neighboring Somalia.
...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 
...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 
...Home of the Multan Sultans...
...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 
[IsraelTimes] Police disperse crowd at holy site following Friday morning prayers; 
[Aljazeera] In his first Friday sermon delivery since 2012, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has defended the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) amid a growing backlash after it mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, killing all 176 people on board.
