[PJMedia] Nothing illustrates the folly of our 18-year-long nation-building mission in Afghanistan better than the partial peace bought by a months-long negotiation breaking down after just 72 hours.
AFP also reports, "three killed, 11 injured in blast in east Afghanistan," so you know the Taliban wasn't kidding around. The "operation," as the Taliban likes to call it, or "savage terror attack," as any honest person would call it, was in response to confusion between the Trump White House and the Afghan central government over the release of up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners.
to release the Taliban prisoners," and that doing so "can’t be a precondition" for continued peace talks. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reminded Face the Nation yesterday morning that "There have been prisoner releases from both sides before; we have managed to figure our path forward," but maybe 5,000 was just too big a figure for Ghani to swallow.
The sane U.S. response would be to pack it up and go home.
There's no peace to be found in Afghanistan, at least not with the low level of violence we're willing to commit there. More than 18 years after the attacks of 9/11/2001, the American people don't have the stomach for killing the number of fighting-age males it would take to force peace on the Taliban. And any attempt at a power-sharing arrangement between the Taliban and Kabul -- the administration's current goal -- is doomed to failure. Kabul is corrupt to its core, and will never earn the love or respect of the Afghan people. As for the Taliban, for them, power-sharing is nothing more than a necessary step on the way to toppling the Ghani government. Even then, fighting in the countryside would continue, so it doesn't matter much who ostensibly is in charge in Kabul.
Parts of the agreement signed with the Syrian government are full Intelligence cooperation in the fields of military and counter #Terrorism and transferring all captured Syrian mercenary #terrorists to the Syrian authorities after being questioned in #libya#HoR#LNA#Syriapic.twitter.com/iLb1eWhUjc
#LNA forces successfully eliminate #AlQaeda leader "Abdel-Moneim Salem Khalifa Al-Hasnawi Al-Hajj", AKA (( "Abu Talha al-Libi")), was among the photos of the #terrorist organization's dead in the first sign of the organization to confirm him killing in #Libyapic.twitter.com/HTVcchU89e
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... ’s armed forces, along with Ansarullah fighters, have taken control of the strategic city of al-Hazm, the capital of the northern al-Jawf province, as Saudi-led mercenaries retreated after losing ground in the region.
Sources close to Saudi-allied former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, confirmed Sunday that forces led by Yemen’s popular Ansarullah movement took control of al-Hazm, which is located only 150 kilometers (90 miles) south of the border 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... This came after fierce fighting with Saudi-led mercenaries who were forced to withdraw to neighboring Ma’rib province.
At least 30 Saudi-led forces, including high-ranking pro-Hadi officers, were killed in the fighting over the past two days.
Maged al-Madhaji, executive director of the Sana’a Center, a Yemeni think-tank, told AFP that the capture of al-Hazm could be a game-changer.
"Control of the capital of al-Jawf could totally change the course of the war. Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s have made an exceptional advance and are changing the balance" in their favor, he noted.
[PULSE.NG] Greece has blocked nearly 10,000 migrants colonists trying to enter from the The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... border over the past 24 hours, a Greek government source said Sunday.
A massive influx of migrants colonists swelled along the border over the weekend after Turkey's President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... threatened to open its frontier to Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... He is seeking to pressure EU governments over the Syrian conflict after an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... in Syria's Idlib province on Thursday killed dozens of Ottoman Turkish soldiers.
A Greek government source said Sunday its army and police had stopped thousands from entering its territory.
"From 0600 (0400 GMT) Saturday morning to 0600 Sunday morning, 9,972 illegal entrances have been averted in the Evros area," the government source said, referring to the northeastern region along the Turkey border.
Huge crowds tried to cross into Greece via the Kastanies Forest in the early hours of Sunday, the source said.
Greek authorities said 73 migrants colonists had been arrested, but added that they "weren't from Idlib, but from Afghanistan, Pakistain, Somalia".
Some 13,000 migrants colonists have gathered along the Ottoman Turkish-Greek border, including families with young children, the International Organization for Migration said Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2020 00:00 ||
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[AlArabiya] Two Katyusha rockets have landed on Monday near the US embassy in Baghdad located in the heavily fortified Green Zone of the Iraqi capital, according to Al Arabiya correspondent.
No casualties have been reported.
The US diplomatic mission has been regularly hit by rockets in recent months.
The Green Zone houses government buildings and foreign missions.
Last Wednesday, the United States blacklisted a senior member of Iranian-backed Kata’ib Hezbollah militia, punishing it for its attacks targeting US forces, most recently for killing an American contractor in an Iraqi military base near the northern city of Kirkuk.
The US State Department said it has designated Ahmad al-Hamidawi as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), Secretary General of Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH), an Iran-backed terrorist group active in Iraq and Syria, which Washington designated as terrorist organization in 2009.
[Jpost] Two Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, delegations are currently visiting Moscow and Cairo. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... is leading the delegation to Moscow. The PIJ leadership is planning on visiting Moscow as well.
A mortar shell was fired from 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 an iron fist by Hamaswith 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 towards Israel on Sunday evening, but fell within Gaza, according to an IDF spokesperson. The attack comes just ten hours before polls open for the 23rd Knesset elections.
Locals reported hearing a kaboom in the area. An alert was activated in open areas near the border. No group has grabbed credit for the mortar fire.
Paleostinian media reported on Sunday that the Hamas terrorist groups had sent delegations to Moscow and Cairo. The delegation in Cairo is set to discuss recent festivities and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip with Egyptian officials.
The Hamas delegation to Moscow is headed by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and will discuss US President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... 's "Deal of the Century" Middle East peace plan and Russia's role in supporting Paleostinian rights, among other issues.
They’ll get pretty words instead of deeds or money, and be grateful for that much.
A delegation headed by the head of the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... (PIJ) terrorist group is also planning on visiting Moscow, but an exact date has not been announced.
[AnNahar] A Ottoman Turkish official said Saturday that The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor... destroyed a chemical warfare facility in northwest Syria after dozens of its soldiers were killed by Syrian regime fire.
The Ottoman Turkish army destroyed overnight "a chemical warfare facility, located some 13 kilometres south of Aleppo, along with a large number of other regime targets," the bigwig told news hounds on condition of anonymity.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/02/2020 00:00 ||
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#1
Blew up a swimming pool supply store, did they?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/02/2020 6:23 Comments ||
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#4
When I was in college some company (Dupont, Monsanto?) was running an ad that said "Without chemicals, life itself would be impossible." We yukked it up saying that while lining up the weekend's recreations.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/02/2020 7:33 Comments ||
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#5
Old Saddam stuff?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/02/2020 8:13 Comments ||
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#6
Syria has chemical warfare facilities? I'm shocked.
#7
When Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat (or anyone from Bellingcat for that matter), the NYTimes, and any global circulated mag (say the Economic Times), when they all repeat the same press release, "chemical warfare facility... 13 kilometres south of Aleppo" but none can cite the name of the facility (Bellingcat should be able to open source its name) - when I hear the same narrative repeated over and over in transnationalist rags/orgs, it triggers a confirmational bias and I have to call BS.
#8
Nope, we found all that stuff and it was US and German engineered stuff leftover from the 1980s. i.e. Reagan and Helmut Kohl were war criminals that would be executed had they been little pissant states at odds with us:
#10
Ulerert Ebbavith7568, your article describes what was found in Iraq, the New York Times finally admitting in 2014 what they’d adamantly been denying — and we’d been collecting reports on here at Rantburg — since 2004 or thereabouts.
Noticeable destruction at Kuweires Military Airbase in #Aleppo / One hangar destroyed with parking area completely burned out (could mean that TAF claim of 5 or so helicopters destroyed is true) Imagery: @AuroraIntel@planetlabspic.twitter.com/eLzs3cR4ow
The Russians are focusing their airstrikes around Saraqib. While the Turks do the same with their drones. Both aircraft ignore one another despite targeting the other’s side.
#Syria: Rebels launching their forces with significant amount of armor for the ongoing counter-Offensive in Jebal Zawiyah (S. #Idlib). pic.twitter.com/5WXUb9r9it
BREAKING — Turkey downed two Syrian SU-24 jets which tried to attack Turkish planes and destroyed one air defense system that shot down a Turkish drone — Turkish Defense Ministry
[AnNahar] Thousands of mourners thronged the coffins of five 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... fighters whose funeral was held Sunday in Beirut's southern suburbs after they were killed in neighboring Syria's northwestern Idlib region.
The fighters were among at least eight Hizbullah members who died Friday in Ottoman Turkish attacks amid fierce fighting between Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... 's forces and Ottoman Turkish troops and allied militiamen. The deaths marked the highest for Hizbullah in Syria in years.
Hizbullah sent thousands of its battle-hardened fighters into Syria in 2012, a year after the country's conflict began. They've been helping Assad's forces win major battles against rebels, and along with Russian air power have turned the tide of the war. Over the past two years, as the security situation stabilized in many areas, Hizbullah withdrew much of its forces, leaving only a few hundred fighters in several areas across the war-torn country.
The funeral was held in Beirut's southern district of Ghobeiri. A crowd of a few thousand people -- relatives and supporters -- walked behind five coffins wrapped in yellow Hizbullah flags amid cries of "Allahu Akbar," meaning "God is great."
Heavy gunfire rang out as supporters had gun sex, a traditional sign of mourning. At least five people were seen being taken on stretchers after they fainted, apparently overwhelmed by emotion.
It was not clear exactly how many Hizbullah fighters were killed in Friday's attacks in Idlib.
The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 14 Hizbullah fighters were killed Friday afternoon in the village of Talhiyeh when Ottoman Turkish drones attacked their post as well as others of the Syrian army.
The Observatory's chief, Rami Abdul Rahman, said the 14 Hizbullah fighters included 10 Lebanese citizens and four of other nationalities, including at least one Iranian.
Hizbullah later released a statement listing the names and photos of eight of its fighters, including an Iranian holy man identified as Sayyed Ali Zengani. It gave no details other than saying that they "were martyred while performing their jihadi duties."
More than a thousand Hizbullah fighters, including several founding members, have been killed in Syria.
Related: Another An Nahar article has photos labelled with the names in Arabic of the eight acknowledged dead men.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/02/2020 9:38 Comments ||
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#2
to me the big deal is that after at least a year of staying out of the fighting in Northern Syria (particularly Idlib), Hezbollah has committed (or been committed) to this conflict
it comes at a time when the Turkish and Turkish proxie side has heavy weapons and.., air force assets
and if Hezbollah is committed there must be some degree of IRGC supervision there
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/02/2020 10:02 Comments ||
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#3
Thousands of mourners five people were seen being taken on stretchers some degree of IRGC supervision there
true about those militias being Shiite allies of Hezbollah and the IRGC but my understanding it that these are lightly armed and poorly trained troops that end up being cannon fodder in actual combat
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/02/2020 18:47 Comments ||
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[Al Jazeera] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... 's military shot down two Syrian government fighter jets over northwest Idlib, hours after forces loyal to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... brought down a Ottoman Turkish drone over the region. In a Twitter post on Sunday, Turkey's defence ministry said its forces struck two SU-24 aircraft in response to the downing of the drone.
Syria's SANA news agency confirmed the aircraft were hit over northwestern Idlib province, but said no one was hurt in the attack. The pilots used parachutes and landed safely, it added.
The shootdowns came as Turkey announced a full-scale military operation dubbed "Spring Shield" against Syrian targets.
The Syrian military's al-Nayrab airport, on the outskirts of Aleppo city, was hit by air attacks "making it out of service", Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency cited "local sources" as saying.
Syrian forces used the airbase for "attacks against the Ottoman Turkish armed forces and civilians in Idlib", the news report said.
"The regime's range of action has been further restricted as the al-Nayrab military airport has been made unusable," sources were quoted as saying.
Al Jazeera was unable to independently confirm the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2020 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] An organization affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has warned The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor... to halt its Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on Tehran-backed militias based in and around the embattled Syrian province of Idlib, following the killing of over a dozen hard boyz from Iran-backed groups in Ottoman Turkish offensives on regime army targets since Thursday.
In a statement published by the Iran-backed, Hezbollah militia-affiliated al-Mayadeen outlet on Saturday, a group called the Iranian Advisory Center believed to be affiliated with the IRGC’s Quds Force, said Iran-backed militia groups have come under attack while assisting in the defense of areas held by Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... 's forces.
Iranian and Iran-backed groups "have not attacked Ottoman Turkish troops in the area since their arrival in Idlib," the statement reads. "Avoidance of Ottoman Turkish troops in the area is still on."
But in response to "a large-scale attack on Syrian regime army targets" on February 25 by Turkey-backed militia proxies, "Iranian militias supported the Syrian regime units to defend," the statement added.
The Ottoman Turkish-backed Turkestani Islamic Party in Syria and Jabhat al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... jihadist groups conducted their attacks with airstrike support from Ankara, according to the statement.
The body claims to have since sent a group of mediators to urge Ottoman Turkish troops to "halt their aggression and attacks" and negotiate a peaceful solution, but to no avail.
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... has militarily supported the Syrian regime in its nine-year war against opposition groups, as well as 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.... (ISIS). It also supports various foreign proxy groups and also funds Hezbollah, a Shiite militia that has staunchly supported Assad in Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2020 00:00 ||
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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.
[PJMedia] Nothing illustrates the folly of our 18-year-long nation-building mission in Afghanistan better than the partial peace bought by a months-long negotiation breaking down after just 72 hours.
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
[PULSE.NG] Greece has blocked nearly 10,000 
...
...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor...
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
...
