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Dozens killed in suicide bombing at Damascus "Palace of Justice" courthouse
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
2 kops shot to death in Kabul
At least two policemen were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Kabul city late on Monday evening, security officials said Tuesday.

The incident took place in the vicinity of the 8th police district of the city after unknown gunmen opened fire on the policemen who were busy conducting search operation in the area.

Kabul police chief Hasan Shah Frogh confirmed that the two policemen were shot dead by unknown gunmen in Bani Esar area.

He did not disclose further information regarding the incident but added that an investigation is underway regarding the attack.

No group or individual has so far claimed responsibility behind the incident.

This comes as Kabul city was hit by some of the deadliest attacks during the recent days which left scores of people dead.

The incident in Bani Esar area took place hours after an explosion ripped through a van carrying employees of a telecommunications company.

According to the security officials, a woman was killed and at least nineteen others including four women were wounded.

No group including the Taliban insurgents has so far claimed responsibility behind yesterday’s attack but the ministry of interior officials are saying that three people have been arrested in connection to the attack.
Posted by: badanov || 03/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghan forces advance in Helmand
Joint Afghan security forces are advancing in Helmand’s Maiwand 17 operation which stared a week ago, officials say.

The advance started from the Lashkargah city PD 3 area to retake parts of Nad Ali district.

Local officials said that security forces have cleared PD 3 of Lashkargah city of insurgents and have reopened the route to Nad Ali which was closed for nearly six months.

Security forces are now in the Nadi Ali district center and they are trying to reopen the Marja district route too.

PD 3 is located in the South West of the Lashkargah city and is one of the key locations that connect routes of Nad Ali and Marja districts.

Security forces said that due to Taliban land-mining the area, the operation is progressing slowly. The added that the Taliban have suffered heavy causalities and foreign forces are backing Afghan security forces from air.

Last night Afghan commando forces conducted an operation in the Chah-e-Marz area of Nad Ali district and rescued 32 civilians and 4 local policemen from a Taliban prison.

A source told TOLOnews on Monday evening that foreign forces conducted an airstrike in Loye Manda area of Nad Ali which killed 15 Taliban including their local commander Haji Esmat. Two others were wounded.

Government officials have not commented about the Taliban and security forces casualties.

Taliban did not comment also regarding the operations and causalities.

The operations conducted at a time while in past one year Taliban insurgents intensify their attacks on several parts of Helmand province.

Officials said that due to clashes hundreds of families flee their areas.
Posted by: badanov || 03/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Taliban mutilates kid in Herat
Taliban insurgents cut off an 18 years-old boy’s hand a foot in Herat province for allegations of theft, local officials said Tuesday.

Jelani Farhad provincial governor spokesman confirms the incident in Oba district of Herat province.

The boy was arrested over theft allegations month ago and the Taliban cut off his right hand and left foot on Monday after a public trial, Farhad said.

The boy is hospitalized in Herat regional hospital for treatment and he is in a stable condition.

Taliban have not commented on the incident.
Posted by: badanov || 03/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Only a hand and foot? Must be Moderate Taliban
Posted by: Frank G || 03/15/2017 0:22 Comments || Top||

#2  18 years-old boy

Only a child in mental capacity.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/15/2017 0:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Only a child in mental capacity.

That goes hand-in-glo...er...well, that's how that plays out with Islam.
Posted by: Crusader || 03/15/2017 20:36 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
EU Naval investigates reports on Somali pirates seizing ship
The European Union Naval Force has sent a maritime patrol aircraft to the coast of Somalia to investigate reports that Somali pirates have seized a commercial vessel, a spokeswoman for the force said Tuesday.

“The aircraft is en route,” she told DPA. “We don’t know what happened. We are not categorizing it as a piracy incident at this time.”

The spokeswoman said the ship was flagged in Sri Lanka. She was unable to confirm reports that it was carrying fuel to Somalia.

The force known as EU Navfor runs anti-piracy operations in the area, where piracy flourished until security was tightened in 2012.
Update from Ynet at 7:00 a.m. EDT:
Somali officials say pirates have hijacked a ship off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation.

One official in the semiautonomous state of Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
says the incident occurred on Monday. The official says over two dozen men boarded the merchant ship off Somalia's northern coast. Another official in Puntland says the ship is a Sri Lankan-flagged freighter and is now being moved toward the coast. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

A spokeswoman for the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
Naval Force operation off Somalia, Flt. Lt. Louise Tagg, confirms that an incident involving an oil tanker has occurred off the coast of Somalia and an investigation is underway.
Another Ynet article adds details:
Somali pirates are suspected to have hijacked a Sri Lankan-flagged fuel freighter after the ship sent a distress call, turned off its tracking system and altered course for the Somali coast, a piracy expert told Reuters on Tuesday.

The Dubai-owned Aris 13 is believed to be carrying eight crew members, said John Steed of the aid group Oceans Beyond Piracy. Steed, a former British colonel, has worked on piracy for nearly a decade and is in close contact with naval forces tracking the ship.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Pirates

#1  EU has naval force?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/15/2017 5:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Remnants of the Austro-Hungarian Navy?
Posted by: SteveS || 03/15/2017 10:44 Comments || Top||

#3  The European Union Naval Force has sent a maritime patrol aircraft

They at least reportedly have an aircraft.
Might be fake news.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/15/2017 12:01 Comments || Top||

#4  not pirates; undocumented and free-lance merchant mariners
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/15/2017 14:06 Comments || Top||

#5  I have no idea, of course, but I suspect the aircraft belongs to one of the EU countries' national navies, and has been sent for the purpose with the crew wearing special EU Naval Force berets. When its turn in the rotation is up, the berets will be handed on to the next aircraft's crew.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/15/2017 14:10 Comments || Top||

#6  Just like the cable repairmen.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/15/2017 21:22 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Reports: Morocco Arrests Hizbullah-Linked Businessman at Washington's Request
[AnNahar] Prominent Lebanese businessman Qassem Tajeddine, who is close to 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...
, has been tossed in the clink
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
in Morocco at Washington's request, media reports said on Tuesday.

LBCI television said Tajeddine, 61, was arrested at Casablanca's airport on Monday morning.

Information obtained by LBCI said the arrest was made "at the request of U.S. intelligence."

MTV said Tajeddine arrived at Casablanca's airport from Africa and was scheduled to travel to Beirut aboard a Royal Air Maroc plane.

Residents of the southern town of Hanaway, Tajeddine's hometown, described the arrest as a "kidnap," noting that "U.S. intelligence agencies have pressed Morocco to detain him."

According to MTV, Tajeddine's family has communicated with the Foreign Ministry and Minister Jebran Bassil is "following up on the case in person."

"Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet...
has also been following up on the issue from the very first moment," MTV added.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat
... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
had on Monday urged Lebanese authorities to follow up on the case.

"Regardless of the motives and circumstances behind Hajj Qassem Tajeddine's arrest, logic says that our State should ask about him," Jumblat tweeted.

The man and his brothers, Hussein and Ali, have been blacklisted by the United States since 2009.

According to reports, the U.S. Treasury has put him on its sanctions lists and accused him of laundering money and using the funds to "support terrorist activities."

Tajeddine is also accused of running several companies that "cover up for Hizbullah's activities in Africa."

Angola had frozen the economic activities of the Tajeddine family in recent years, "also at Washington's request," media reports have said.

Together with his two brothers, Qassem Tajeddine has built a global foodstuffs and real estate network in several countries across the world. The man is also involved in real estate projects in Leb.

In 2003, he was placed in durance vile
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
for two months in Belgium where he was interrogated over charges of "laundering money on behalf of Hizbullah."
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/15/2017 01:08 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Benghazi Battles: 24 die
LNA loses three fighters in Benghazi

Tunis, 14 March 2017:

The Libyan National Army (LNA) launched a major offensive yesterday to finally rid Benghazi’s Ganfouda of Islamist fighters. An unknown number of militants remain holed up in the “12 Buildings” complex situated between Busnaib and Ganfouda.

A spokesman for the LNA’s 130 Artillery Brigade told the pro-Beida LANA News Agency that its forces had made important gains and were able to consolidate its hold on critical areas of the complex.

He claimed his forces had killed an unspecified number of Benghazi Revolutionaries Shoura Council (BRSC) fighters. However, a spokesman for the LNA’s Saiqa Special Forces, Milad Al-Zwai, told LANA three of his solders had been killed and another four injured in the attack. LNA fighter jets had supported the offensive, Zwai also revealed.

Nonetheless, he insisted the BRSC fighters remained trapped in the “12 Buildings” complex with no chance of escape. The LNA would not stop until the militants were crushed, he added.

A few dozen civilians are reported to be holed up in the buildings. Zwai alleged they were being used as human shields by the fighters and, as such, his men were advancing cautiously to prevent innocent casualties.

LNA lose 21 dead in retaking oil terminals

Benghazi and Tunis, 14 March 2017:

The bodies of 21 Libyan National Army soldiers have been brought to hospitals in Benghazi and Ajdabiya, local sources told the Libya Herald. All were killed in today’s fighting that saw the LNA recapture the Sidra and Ras Lanuf oil terminals.

No figures have been released for the number of soldiers injured nor for the dead and wounded among the Benghazi Defence Brigades.

LNA spokesman Ahmed Al-Mismari claimed this afternoon that the remnants of the BDB had fled to Misrata and Jufra. He told a Benghazi press conference that BDB fighters had been captured trying to escape to Jufra but he did not say how many.

Mismari added that Hafter had ordered his commanders to oust the BDB from Jufra and that LNA units were already concentrating to liberate the town.

According to social media, warplanes could be heard operating overJufra and Hun this evening

Meanwhile, the UK, US, French and Italian ambassadors have expressed their “strong concern” over the fate of Libya’s oil facilities. They called for an end to hostilities in the Oil Crescent to protect Libya’s most critical oil asset.

“Oil infrastructure, production, export and revenues belong to the Libyan people and must remain under the exclusive control of the National Oil Corporation,” they said.

All these ambassadors, save the Italian, came up with similar remarks eleven days ago when the BDB first attacked LNA positions in Sidra and Ras Lanuf.

The House of Representatives president Ageela Saleh has praised the LNA for retaking the oil terminals and offered his condolences to the families of those soldiers killed.
Posted by: badanov || 03/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Arabia
2 Qaeda suspects killed in Yemen strike: Security source
[Ynet] Two suspected members of Yemen's al-Qaeda were killed on Tuesday in an air raid on the southern Hadramawt province, a security official said.

The two, going by the names Abu Jandal al-Hadrami and Abu Hashim al-Sharuri, were killed in what appeared to be a US air strike, the official said, requesting that his name be withheld.

The United States has conducted more than 40 air raids, including dronezaps, against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000...
(AQAP) in March alone.

Many of the strikes have targeted towns in southern provinces where the radical group is known to operate.

At least 25 suspected AQAP members have been killed in the raids.

The United States regards AQAP as the Islamist Death Eater network's most dangerous branch. However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
Washington rarely reports on its drone raids on Yemen, which began in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Hadramawt, Yemen's largest governorate, is currently under government control. AQAP continues to hold limited sway in the province.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/15/2017 07:13 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula


Soddy warbirds hit Sanaa
Video at the link
The Saudi warplanes raided on Tuesday the Yemeni city of Saada with cluster bombs, inflicting heavy losses upon the civilians.

The Saudi-led coalition, as well as its mercenaries, continued raiding the various Yemeni cities, causing heavy human and materialistic damages.

In response, the Yemeni army and popular committees launched several attacks on Saudi posts in Jizan and the gatherings of the mercenaries in several areas, inflicting heavy losses upon them.
Posted by: badanov || 03/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Europe
German police raid flats, shut mosque visited by Berlin truck attacker
[Ynet] German authorities on Tuesday raided apartments linked to a mosque in the city of Hildesheim visited by Tunisian failed asylum seeker Anis Amri, who drove a truck into a Berlin Christmas market in December and killed 12 people.

The local state interior ministry said more than 300 police searched the apartments of eight people and shut down the mosque and the association which ran it, saying it recruited young Moslems to join Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
murderous Moslems in Iraq and Syria.

"The ban of the association breaks up a hot spot of the radical Salafist scene in Germany," Lower Saxony Interior Minister Boris Pistorius said, referring to Moslems who espouse a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/15/2017 07:13 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Spanish authorities reveal details of huge black-market weapons seizure
[DW] Police in Spain have released photos of automatic rifles and other weapons covering a warehouse floor. Authorities fear the trove fed criminal and terrorist organizations in Europe.

After two months of examination and categorization, Spanish police on Tuesday finally revealed the extent of the massive weapons haul they undertook in January 2017.

According to the published police statement, the cache included 9,000 CETME fully automatic rifles, anti-aircraft guns, 400 shells and grenades, pistols, and revolvers.

Photos published by the police show piles of assault rifles, guns and weapons parts lying in stacks and leaning against the walls of a warehouse.

Cracking down on Europe's black market weapons
Spanish police originally seized the firearms in a raid undertaken on January 12 and 13 in the northern regions of Catalonia, Cantabria and the Basque country. The operation was initiated after the May 2014 shooting at the Jewish Museum in Belgium that left four dead and spurred authorities across Europe to crack down on black market weapons.

Police reported the group bought decommissioned weapons that they then reactivated. The pieces needed for such reactivation were found in the trove.

Alongside the thousands of arms, authorities also discovered material needed to falsify arms documentation and tools required to change the weapons' identification numbers. Europol, the EU police force that worked alongside Spanish authorities in the operation, believe the illegal firearms were intended for sale in Spain, La Belle France and Belgium.

"The seized weapons had an easy journey in the black market and posed a significant risk of being acquired by organized crime groups and terrorists," Europol said in a statement.
The Times of Israel lists the seized weapons tally as:
The seized weapons included about 9,000 CETME rifles, 1,000 brand-name rifles, 400 howitzers, anti-aircraft guns, grenades, pistols and revolvers.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/15/2017 00:41 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A good get by the Spanish.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/15/2017 9:16 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
2 kops wounded in Lahore fighting
Three people, including two police officers, were injured in Lahore on Tuesday morning when they were fired upon by unidentified persons, DawnNews reported.

Speaking to reporters following the incident, DIG Operations Haider Afzal said three people were injured, which included police officers Zafar and Rizwan, who belonged to the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA), and a "private" accomplice named Afzal.

The team, along with Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Shoukat, were headed towards Tibi City area to conduct a raid when they were intercepted on Fort Road by the assailants, DIG Afzal told the press conference.

The wounded personnel were shifted to Mayo Hospital's emergency department where the injured police officers were declared to be in critical condition, while their accomplice Afzal is out of danger.

ASI Shoukat remained unharmed in the incident, he added.
Posted by: badanov || 03/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


3 teachers kidapped by militants in Balochistan
Suspected militants 'kidnapped' three government school teachers in Balochistan's Awaran district Tuesday evening, a security official told DawnNews.

Levis official Muhammad Jan told DawnNews via telephone that the 'militants' allegedly abducted the three teachers as they were returning from a training session facilitated by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics for the upcoming national census in Awaran's Giskhor area.

Jan identified the abducted teachers as Rashid Ali, Elahi Bakhsh and Rasool Bakhsh. The men are part of a team in the district that will collect data for the census.

The Levies launched a search operation in the area to recover the teachers but were unsuccessful, the official said.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the 'abduction'.

Pakistan will launch its first population census after a lull of 19 years across the country on March 15.

Some 200,000 army personnel and 91,000 civilian enumerators will accompany the census teams in the provinces, at a cost of over Rs14 billion to the national exchequer.
Posted by: badanov || 03/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Baghdad Bomb and Bullet Bulletin: 1 dead
Civilian dies in bombing attack

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) One civilian was killed and four others were wounded on Tuesday when an explosive device exploded in a district in southern Baghdad, security sources said.

The bomb was planted near a commercial area in al-Sehha district, south of the capital, police sources were quoted saying.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Islamic State militants have said
they had been responsible for several bloody explosions and attacks that hit the capital in the past months, leaving casualties among civilians and security troops.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) says violence in the country left nearly 392 dead and 613 injured, excluding security members, during February. Baghdad was the second most affected province with 120 deaths and 300 injuries, according to the organization’s monthly casualty count.

Some observers believe Islamic State have begun to escalate attacks outside the city of Mosul, where the group has been losing ground and personnel since October, so as to relieve pressure by government forces on that front and to divert attention from group losses. There are fears that Islamic State will still pose a security threat by shifting to lone wolf attacks and guerrilla-style war once defeated in Mosul, its biggest bastion in Iraq.
Posted by: badanov || 03/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraqi forces destroy ISIS hideout in Diyala
Google Map at the link
Diyala (IraqiNews.com) Tigris Operations Command announced on Tuesday destroying a hideout belonging to the Islamic State group, in addition to dismantling an improvised explosive device in al-Zor basin area, northeast of Baqubah, the center of Diyala Province.

Commander of Tigris Operations, Major General Mazhar al-Azzawi, said in a press statement, “Joint security forces, backed by al-Hashd al-Shaabi militia, destroyed a hideout of the Islamic State in al-Zor basin area.”

The security forces also discovered an improvised explosive device near the hideout, and dismantles it without causing any casualties.

Azzawi also added that Tigris Operations managed, in the few last months, to destroy several hideouts belonging to the Islamic State, especially in the area of al-Zor basin.
Posted by: badanov || 03/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Mosul Offensive News


Iraqi forces capture locales in Mosul
Google map at the link
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Federal Police recaptured Tuesday a railway station near western Mosul’s Old City as forces sweep through areas near the strategic Islamic State stronghold.

Alsumaria News said in a breaking news that Federal Police took over the Nineveh Railway Station, with operations continuing to clear western Mosul from IS militants amid tough resistance from the group coupled with inclement weather conditions. Other news reports said the police also took over the nearby Baghdad Garage.

The railway is part of Mosul al-Jadida (New Mosul), a district near the Old City which the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said took over on Monday.

Iraqi generals view Mosul’s Old City as decisive in realizing victory against IS in western Mosul. It remains, however, a serious challenge given its extremely narrow alleyways and dense population, factors that render the troops incapable of storming it with combat vehicles.

Iraqi government forces recaptured the eastern section of Mosul from Islamic State on January 24th after three months of battles, and recently said they became in control of 30 percent of western Mosul since another offensive launched in February to retake the region.

Iraqi troops have made remarkable victories in the western region by recapturing major government facilities, a military base and the city’s airport. Commanders also said they had cut off main roads between the city and extremists’ supply routes fro Syria and also from the rest of Iraq.

Iraqi forces capture parts of west Mosul
Musta hired on a new editor at Iraqi News: Google map at the link
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army forces recaptured Tuesday a village in northwestern Mosul as operations press on to clear the region from Islamic State militants.

The Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said army forces took over Sheikh Mohamed village east of the town of Badush, raising Iraqi flags there.

Pro-Iraqi government paramilitary forces also said they killed two suicide bombers from the Islamic State near Badush.

Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) said through its media the force killed two suicide attackers and destroyed a booby-trapped vehicle the town that has been a stage for continuous operations against Islamic State militants.

Al-Hashd said the pair was killed before an attempted attack on the PMUs at the outskirts of Badush.

Iraqi forces have recaptured several villages and neighborhood around Badush since operations to retake western Mosul from IS launched in February. They also recaptured the town’s famous prison where hundreds of inmates were executed in 2014 by the extremist group.Al-Hashd said recently the forces discovered a mass grave of 500 dead people believed to have been executed in the prison.

Iraqi government forces recaptured eastern Mosul from Islamic State on January 24th after three months of battles, and recently said they became in control of 30 percent of western Mosul since the start of offensives on the western region.

Iraqi troops have made remarkable victories in the west by recapturing major government facilities, a military base and the city’s airport.

9 ISIS Bad Guys now Pining for he Fjords in airstrike
Google map at the link
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Fighter jets from the U.S.-led military coalition killed nine senior Islamic State members in western Mosul on Tuesday, while the group continues to burn civilians’ homes, according to an Iraqi officer.

Col. Dureid Saeed, from the army’s Counter-Terrorism Forces, told Bas News that the strikes killed the militants in al-Islah al-Zerai district. He added that the extremist group continued to burn civilian-owned homes, with the latest round of fires arsons seen at ten houses evacuated from their dwellers in al-Rafai district.

Security officers and civilians say IS burn homes in a bid to create smokescreens that blur vision for assaulting aircraft.

Iraqi government forces recaptured eastern Mosul from Islamic State on January 24th after three months of battles. Security commanders recently said they became in control of 30 percent of western Mosul since another offensive launched in February to retake the region.

Iraqi troops have made remarkable victories in the west by recapturing major government facilities, a military base and the city’s airport. Iraqi and coalition generals have predicted the city to be free within six months from the beginning of battles. Though admitting fierce resistance from IS, the commanders believe the group, currently deprived from escape routes, have no other option but to fight to death.

Iraqi forces capture 3 new areas in western Mosul

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) A security source revealed on Tuesday, that Federal Police and Rapid Response Forces managed to storm into three new neighborhoods in western Mosul, while pointed out to the killing of 13 members of the Islamic State during the confrontations.

Captain Tarek Jassim said in a press statement, “Forces from Iraqi Federal Police and elite Rapid Response Unit managed to storm into the neighborhoods of al-Khatuniyah, Amo al-Bakal and the area of the Great Mosque, west of Mosul.”

“The confrontations resulted in the killing of 13 members of the Islamic State, and injury of others,” Jassim added.

Jassim also declared that security forces opened safe havens for civilians in the besieged areas, and approached the fifth bridge that links between the two sides of Mosul.

Nineveh Province is witnessing extensive military operations, after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced launching an offensive to liberate the western side of the city of Mosul.

Meanwhile, Security forces continue liberating the remaining areas controlled by the Islamic State in the province of Nineveh, as well as inflicting heavy human and material losses on the group.

Iraqi forces capture village in western Mosul
Google map at the link
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) We Are Coming, Nineveh Operations Command announced on Tuesday liberating al-Jamaliyah in the western side of Mosul.

Commander of operations, Lieutenant General Abdel Amir Yarallah, said in a press statement, “Troops of the army’s 16th infantry brigade liberated al-Jamaliyah Village.”

“Security forces continue liberating all villages and areas east of Badush,” Yarallah further added.

Nineveh Province is witnessing extensive military operations, after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced launching an offensive to liberate the western side of the city of Mosul, in addition to capturing the last stronghold of the Islamic State in the city.

ISIS Big Turban, 7 others die in western Mosul
Google map at the link
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Commander of the 2nd brigade of Imam Militia (one of al-Hashd al-Shaabi brigades) announced on Tuesday, that a leader of the Islamic State group was killed, along with seven of his aides, by a proactive operation in western Mosul.

Karim al-Khaqani said in a press statement, “Forces from al-Hashd al-Shaabi conducted a proactive operation in Badush area, between western Mosul and Tal Afar District.”

“The operation resulted in the killing of the lslamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Iraqi, along with seven of his aides,” Khaqani added.

Khaqani explained that the operation was carried out based on accurate intelligence information.

Nineveh Province is witnessing extensive military operations, after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced launching an offensive to liberate the western side of the

Iraqi forces eject ISIS from Mosul train station

MOSUL: Iraqi forces said Tuesday they recaptured Mosul train station, once one of the country’s main rail hubs and the latest in a series of key sites retaken from radicals.

Baghdad’s forces launched a major drive last month to oust Daesh from west Mosul, a battle that has pushed more than 80,000 people to flee their homes in less than three weeks.

Iraqi forces have taken back a series of neighborhoods as well as sites including the city’s airport, the Mosul museum and the provincial government headquarters since the operation began.
Some, including the museum which was vandalized by the terror group, have been heavily damaged, and it will likely be a long time before trains are again plying the rails to and from Mosul.

But retaking the sites are symbolic victories for Iraqi forces and also bring them closer to fully recapturing west Mosul, though tough fighting remains ahead.

Lt. Gen. Raed Shakir Jawdat, the commander of the federal police, said his forces have retaken the train station as well as a nearby bus station, both of which are located southwest of Mosul’s Old City.

The station was the “main corridor from the north to the south and carries goods from Turkey and Syria to Baghdad and Basra,” Salam Jabr Saloom, the director general of Iraq’s state-owned railway company, told AFP.

Because of its importance, the station was “exposed to many terrorist attacks before the entry of Daesh,” Saloom said.

The station was built in the 1940s and was “very important from a trade standpoint” as it was a “launch point for trains carrying goods to Syria and Turkey and back,” railway company spokesman Abdulsattar Mohsen said.

“But it stopped after the Daesh attack on Mosul,” Mohsen said, referring to a terror offensive that overran the city and swathes of other territory north and west of Baghdad in 2014.

Trains once carried passengers to and from Mosul as well, but have not done so since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s government by US-led forces in 2003, he said.

Iraqi forces are operating on the edge of the Old City, a warren of narrow streets and closely spaced buildings where hundreds of thousands of people may still reside.

The area, in which they will have to advance on foot when armored vehicles cannot enter the small streets, could see some of the toughest fighting of the Mosul campaign. Iraqi forces are also battling Daesh outside the city, with the Joint Operations Command announcing that soldiers had recaptured the village of Sheikh Mohammed, northwest of Mosul.

Some 238,000 people are currently displaced due to the fighting in the Mosul area, while more fled but later returned to their homes, the IOM said.
Posted by: badanov || 03/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  would rather they be ejected from the train....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/15/2017 14:08 Comments || Top||


Joint forces kill 32 IS members north of Salahuddin
[Iraq News] Iraqi Ministry of Defense announced on Monday repulsing an attack launched by the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
on the area of Harariyat and Makhoul Mountains, north of Salahuddin, and killing 32 members of the terrorist group.

The ministry said in a press statement that forces from Salahuddin Operations Command, backed by the Army Aviation, repulsed an attack launched by the Islamic State group on the troops stationed in al-Harariyat Intersection and Makhoul Mountains.

Security forces also managed to kill 32 members of the Islamic State, as well as destroying two vehicles, armored truck and two hideouts, the statement added.

Furthermore, the statement revealed that detachments of Salahuddin Operations Commands stationed on Makhoul Mountains destroyed four hideouts, using four Kornet rockets and killed their occupants.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel shuts down PA agency keeping tabs on Arabs selling lands to Jews
[Ynet] Public Security Minister Erdan signs order shuttering the east Jerusalem agency whose mandate was to conduct surveillance and investigations into Arabs who sold real estate to Jews.

A Paleostinian Authority government agency secretly operating in east Jerusalem was shut down on Tuesday on the order of Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan.

The PA agency, operating in the Beit Hanina neighborhood, was carrying out surveillance and registering of Arabs who sold land to Jews.

The Paleostinian Authority used to have a bureau in Jerusalem that dealt with "map issues." The bureau would perform registration and monitoring of Paleostinian lands in east Jerusalem and record changes carried out by Israel as "land theft" by the Israeli government.

The Jerusalem Police Department has recently discovered the bureau had renewed its activities under the guise of a "geographic consulting firm." It is funded by the PA and is in regular contact with PA security forces.

Police investigation also learned that the names of Arabs wishing to sell homes and land to Jews were given to security services in Ramallah. PA security services investigates any suspicion of forgery or intent to sell a home or land to Jews.

"The activities of this Paleostinian Authority agency are part of a plan to undermine our illusory sovereignty in Jerusalem and terrorize Arabs who sell real estate to Jews," said Erdan. "We will continue to act with determination to prevent any Paleostinian government foothold in Jerusalem."
Al Ahram adds:
Israeli police closed on Tuesday a Paleostinian research centre in Jerusalem and jugged
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
its director, a prominent cartographer, accusing him of working for the Paleostinian security services.

The office of cartography in occupied east Jerusalem was shut down for six months, a police statement said.

Israeli officials accused its head Khalil Tafakji of working with the Paleostinian Authority to monitor the sale of land by Paleostinians to Israeli Jews in east Jerusalem.

Israel seized east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in moves never recognised by the international community.

Israeli internal security minister Gilad Erdan said Tafakji's work had been "part of the Paleostinian Authority's plan to undermine our illusory sovereignty in Jerusalem and terrorise Arabs selling real estate to Jews in the city."

"I'll continue to act assertively to prevent Paleostinian illusory sovereignty in Jerusalem."

Selling land to Israeli settlers is punishable by death under Paleostinian law.

Tafakji has been mapping the Paleostinian territories for decades and is regularly quoted by both international experts and the world press. He works within Orient House, which was long a hub of Paleostinian culture in Jerusalem under the Paleostinian Liberation Organisation but was closed in 2000 by Israel.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  For the Israelis OWN LAND.
They Paid for Fought for.
For Yerusalem, where there would be no fake mosque.
For a fake prophet that skipped all the others and turned the Entire Earth into a bloodbath.

An Abomination that causes desolation upon the Temple Mount. And the Daily Human Sacrifice must stop.

You all know what that means.
Posted by: newc || 03/15/2017 1:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Protecting the Human Rights of the Arabs from their rulers.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/15/2017 5:09 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Dozens killed in suicide bombing at Damascus "Palace of Justice" courthouse
Irony alert
A suicide bombing killed at least 25 people Wednesday in the Palace of Justice, the main courthouse in Damascus, Syrian state TV reports, citing police.

A number of people were wounded in the attack, which occurred during work hours. The Syrian prosecutor general said the strike was timed to inflict many casualties

Police tried to prevent the attacker from entering, but he was able to force his way into the location and blew himself up.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Posted by: Frank G || 03/15/2017 09:06 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Syrian forces stop ISIS attack on Deir Ezzor
The Syrian Army units, aided by the Syrian air force and in cooperation with the supporting forces, thwarted an ISIL terrorist attack on the axes of the eastern direction of Deir Ezzor city.

SANA reporter said Tuesday that the army units clashed with ISIL-linked terrorist groups on the axes of the airport, Liwa al-Taamin and al-Jafra village and in the surroundings of al-Faoj, inflicting heavy losses upon the terrorists in personnel and equipment.

The source added that the Syrian air strikes against the terrorists who fled away left many on them dead and injured and destroyed their vehicles and fortifications.
Posted by: badanov || 03/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Terror Networks
The Beatings Will Continue: Iraqi and Syrian Edtions
ISIS executes 3 in Kirkuk

Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State militants executed three civilians late Monday in Kirkuk over charges of collaboration with security forces as the security campaign mounts against the extremist group.

A security source told Alsumaria News that the militant group beheaded the trio in Hawija, IS’s most prominent stronghold in southwestern Kirkuk. He added that the three were executed at one of the group’s camps and prevented their families from receiving their dead bodies.

According to the source, the three civilians were arrested three months earlier, and an IS tribunal issued the verdict finding them guilty of cooperation with security forces.

Since it occupied large areas of Iraq in 2014, Islamic State has posted movies of heinous executions of civilians, security personnel, and foreign workers over multiple charges, most commonly collaborating with security authorities, as well as violating its extreme religious rules.

IS has held southwestern Kirkuk regions since 2014, which prompted thousands to flee to refugee camps.

There has not been an official security campaign targeting IS bastions in Kirkuk, but it is expected that the Iraqi government will charge at IS locations across Iraq after it is done with a campaign running since October to expel the group from Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city and IS’s key stronghold in Iraq.

ISIS torches cement factory in western Mosul
Google Map at the link
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) An officer in the elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) informed on Tuesday, that members of the Islamic State group burned Badush Cement Factory, in western Mosul.

CTS Officer, Major Ali Mohsen, said in a press statement, “The Islamic State group set Badush Cement Factory ablaze, after looting its contents.”

“Security forces also clashed with the Islamic State fighters, killing 15 militants and wounding 3 others,” Mohsen added.

Noteworthy, Islamic State group is burning facilities and houses, as well as destroying bridges, to hinder the security and military operations that were launched to liberate western Mosul, and drive out the group’s militants.

ISIS evacuates wimmin and kidz from Raqqa

(IraqiNews.com) The Islamic State group started to evacuate the families of its members and leaders, and all women and children from the Syrian city of Raqqa, with the approaching battles in the city, BasNews reported on Tuesday.

Activists in Raqqa said that the Islamic State started, yesterday, to evacuate the families of its leaders and members, as well as civilian women and children, from the city of Raqqa, to its-held areas in eastern the province.

The terrorist group also prohibited the exit of men and youths, and forced them to build berms in all streets in the city, while announced Raqqa as military area, the activists added.

Noteworthy, battles between the Islamic States and the Syrian Democratic forces are few kilometers away from the city of Raqqa, while the US-led coalition intensifies its air strikes on the group’s headquarters in the city.
Posted by: badanov || 03/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
22[untagged]
6Islamic State
3Taliban
3Moslem Colonists
1Commies
1Govt of Iraq
1Govt of Syria
1Hamas
1Hezbollah
1Houthis
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
1Narcos
1Palestinian Authority
1Pirates
1Sublime Porte
1Arab Spring

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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2017-03-15
  Dozens killed in suicide bombing at Damascus "Palace of Justice" courthouse
Tue 2017-03-14
  Suspected ISIS gas attack hits Iraqi forces in west Mosul
Mon 2017-03-13
  Kenyan police nab 6 terror suspects in coastal town
Sun 2017-03-12
  Double suicide attack kills 40 in Damascus
Sat 2017-03-11
  Syrian force a ‘few weeks’ from Raqqa, U.S. Marines deployed
Fri 2017-03-10
   Ax attacker at Düsseldorf main train station arrested
Thu 2017-03-09
  Baghdadi abandons Mosul fight to field commanders
Wed 2017-03-08
  IS gunmen dressed as medics kill 30 at Kabul military hospital
Tue 2017-03-07
  Mufti Hannan jailbreak attempt fails
Mon 2017-03-06
  New wave of US air raids on Qaeda in Yemen
Sun 2017-03-05
  Jordan hangs 15 death row prisoners at dawn in further break from moratorium on executions
Sat 2017-03-04
  Kurdish YPG fighters repel treacherous Turkish attack near Syria’s Afrin
Fri 2017-03-03
  Syrian Army recaptures Palmyra, aided by Russian Air Force: Kremlin
Thu 2017-03-02
  Islamic State supreme leader’s speech admits defeat in Mosul
Wed 2017-03-01
  Two women in nerve agent attack on Kim Jong-nam charged with murder

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