[ShabelleMedia] Somali elite forces from the Danab commando unit have seized a large cache of weapons from the militant group Al-Shabaab during a military operation in the Barjaale area of Lower Juba region, officials said Thursday.
The offensive, carried out in recent hours near the Afmadow district, resulted in the deaths of more than 40 Al-Shabaab fighters, including senior commanders, according to military sources. Several others were captured alive.
“The operation was successful. We killed over 40 Al-Shabaab militants and captured key operatives alive. Their weapons and defensive positions were destroyed,” a senior military official told state media.
Images released by the Somali National Army show the bodies of slain fighters and the underground bunkers that were dismantled during the raid.
Military sources confirmed that the operation is ongoing, with Danab units actively pursuing fleeing Al-Shabaab elements in the region. Several strategic villages have reportedly been recaptured and are now under government control.
The assault in Lower Juba is part of a broader military campaign aimed at eliminating Al-Shabaab from its remaining strongholds.
Over the past 24 hours, Somali forces say they have killed more than 120 Al-Shabaab members in simultaneous operations across the Hiiraan, Lower Shabelle, and Lower Juba regions.
Somali elite forces from the Danab commando unit have seized a large cache of weapons from the militant group Al-Shabaab during a military operation in the Barjaale area of Lower Juba region, officials said Thursday.
The offensive, carried out in recent hours near the Afmadow district, resulted in the deaths of more than 40 Al-Shabaab fighters, including senior commanders, according to military sources. Several others were captured alive.
“The operation was successful. We killed over 40 Al-Shabaab militants and captured key operatives alive. Their weapons and defensive positions were destroyed,” a senior military official told state media.
Images released by the Somali National Army show the bodies of slain fighters and the underground bunkers that were dismantled during the raid.
Military sources confirmed that the operation is ongoing, with Danab units actively pursuing fleeing Al-Shabaab elements in the region. Several strategic villages have reportedly been recaptured and are now under government control.
The assault in Lower Juba is part of a broader military campaign aimed at eliminating Al-Shabaab from its remaining strongholds.
Over the past 24 hours, Somali forces say they have killed more than 120 Al-Shabaab members in simultaneous operations across the Hiiraan, Lower Shabelle, and Lower Juba regions.
[ShabelleMedia] Heavy Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s struck rural areas near Adan Yabal district in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region late Wednesday, targeting suspected al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... turbans, according to local sources.
The aerial bombardment, believed to have been conducted by aircraft from countries allied with the Somali government, focused on the Howd area — a known hideout for al-Shabaab fighters. Residents reported hearing loud explosions, but due to the remoteness of the location, the full extent of the damage and casualties remains unknown.
"There were multiple strikes in the area, which is often used by al-Shabaab as a base," one local official, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered... , told Radio Shabelle. "We are still gathering information about the aftermath."
The Somali government has yet to issue a formal statement regarding the operation, which appears to be part of an ongoing offensive against the al-Qaeda-linked group.
In a related development, community militias known as Macawiisley — based in the neighboring Hiiraan region — have unexpectedly pulled back from frontline positions near Adan Yabal. These militias have played a key role in supporting Somali forces in recent festivities against al-Shabaab.
The reason for their sudden withdrawal remains unclear. No official comment has been made by Macawiisley leadership or government authorities, raising questions about coordination and morale among local anti-Al-Shabaab forces.
[Garowe] A court in Kenya has found two men guilty of aiding an al-Shabaab ... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all ofwhich have enough problems without them... attack in Kenya that left 21 people dead in 2019, with the Kahawa Law Courts linking them directly with the prime perpetrators following evidence tabled before the judge.
The two, Hussein Mohammed Abdille Ali and Mohammed Abdi Ali, who were earlier found to have a case to answer, appeared before Lady Justice Diana Kavedza, who found them guilty on all charges except one, of conspiring to commit a terrorist act contrary to the law.
According to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP), Hussein was found guilty of facilitating the gunnies through the payment of $6500 to one of the killers who died instantly after the attack.
"The court found that he had facilitated the attack by transferring a total of Ksh.. 836,900 (6500) via M-Pesa to Ali Salim Gichunge, also known as Farouk or Erick Kinyanjui Munyi — the dear departed attacker and a member of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group," stated the ODPP.
"These transactions occurred between October 14, 2018, and January 12, 2019, in the Soko Mbuzi area of Mandera County."
A total of 46 witnesses were presented by the prosecution, which played an integral role in securing convictions. The team wants sentences for each count to run consecutively rather than concurrently.
The court ordered the preparation of a probation report within 21 days, to be submitted by June 17, 2025. The matter was scheduled for a sentencing hearing on June 19, 2025. This is a major breakthrough in the fight against al-Shabaab.
In the recent hearing of the case, the first accused, Mire Abdulahi, previously entered a plea bargain with the prosecution and was duly convicted and sentenced. The court on January 21st found that the two suspects had a case to answer.
During the trial in January, Lady Justice Kavedza in her ruling said, "Having considered the evidence of 55 witnesses, including expert testimonies, and the material presented before me, I am satisfied that the prosecution has established a prima facie case against the two accused persons. I hereby place the second accused, Hussein Mohammed Abdile, and the third accused, Mohammed Abdi Ali, on their defence."
Two Kenyan men charged with facilitating the 2019 attack on a luxury hotel complex that left 21 people dead were found guilty on Thursday and will be sentenced next month.
Judge Diana Kavedza, while sitting in a court in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, ruled that the prosecution had proved that Hussein Mohamed Abdille Ali and Mohamed Abdi Ali sent money and helped acquire fake identification documents for the militants who died during the DusitD2 hotel complex attack.
[AA.COM.TR] The Nigerian army on Friday said that it killed 16 Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... murderous Moslems in northeastern Borno state.
In a statement, army spokesperson Onyechi Anele said the soldiers engaged the murderous Moslems with sustained indirect fire around 1:00 a.m. (2:00 WAT) in the Damboa local government on Friday and the shootout led to the death of no fewer than 16 terrorists.
Boko Haram, a deadly terror group based in northeastern Nigeria and also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... , and Mali, has carried out a series of deadly attacks and displacements of innocent people for over a decade.
Borno State has, in the last few months, witnessed an increase in the activities of the terrorists, using bombs to wreak havoc.
''The main thrust of the attack targeted the Brigade, prompting the swift deployment of air support to reinforce ground troops,'' Anele said in a statement on Friday.
She also confirmed that an ammunition storage area was hit during the exchange but was swiftly brought under control, with no further escalation recorded.
Similarly, Nigeria's National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu said 15,543 Lions of Islam were killed across the country in the first two years of President Bola Tinubu's administration.
Ribadu disclosed this in a presentation he made at the national summit of the All Progressives Congress to mark the two years of President Bola Tinubu's administration on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/24/2025 00:27 ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Unknown persons fired at the Russian research vessel Atlantis off the coast of Mozambique, the Russian embassy reported on May 23.
The incident occurred on May 10. There were no casualties among the crew members.
"Unknown persons fired at the Russian research vessel Atlantis off the Mozambican coast of the Indian Ocean. No Russians were hurt, and minor damage was caused to the equipment. After that, the vessel called at the port of Maputo, and then headed for Durban, South Africa," Polina Zhukova, press attaché of the Russian Embassy in Mozambique, told TASS.
[GEO.TV] A knife attack at the main station in the German city of Hamburg left at least 12 people injured with some of them in a life-threatening condition, local emergency services said.
"According to initial information, a person injured several people with a knife at the main train station," Hamburg police said in a post on X.
"The suspect was apprehended by the responding forces."
A front man for the Hamburg fire department told AFP that 12 people had been injured in the attack.
Among them were "six people with life-threatening injuries", the front man said.
Some of the victims were being treated in trains, according to the German daily Bild.
Germany has been rocked by a series of violent mostly peaceful attacks in recent months.
On Sunday, four people were maimed in a stabbing at a bar in the city of Bielefeld.
The investigation into the attack had been handed over to federal prosecutors after the suspect in the attack told the coppers who arrested him that he had murderous Moslem beliefs.
German police on Friday said they had arrested a woman after at least 17 people were maimed in a knife attack at the main station in the northern city of Hamburg.
Some of the victims sustained life-threatening injuries in the stabbing, which took place in the middle of the city’s evening rush hour, emergency services said.
The suspect, a 39-year-old German woman,
…which does not tell us whether she was Moslem, nuts, or both…
was arrested at the scene by law enforcement, a Hamburg police front man said said.
Officers "approached her, and the woman allowed herself to be arrested without resistance," Florian Abbenseth told journalists in comments carried by public broadcaster ARD.
"We have no evidence so far that the woman may had a political motive," Abbenseth said.
"Rather, we have information based on which we now want to investigate whether she may have been experiencing a psychological emergency."
The suspect was thought to have "acted alone," Hamburg police said in a post on X.
Four of them had suffered life-threatening injuries, the front man said, revising down an initial figure.
A previous statement by the fire department said six people were in a life-threatening condition.
Among the 17 victims were six severely injured people and seven people with light injuries, the front man for the fire department said.
The attack was reported by German media to have taken place just after 6:00 p.m. local time on one of the platforms in front of a standing train.
The suspect was thought to have turned "against passengers" at the station, a spokeswoman for the Hanover federal police directorate, which also covers Hamburg, told AFP.
Twelve people are injured and three of them are in “mortal danger” after a mass stabbing at Germany’s Hamburg Central railway station.
Update 2100 — Four are in critical condition
A clearer picture of today’s mass stabbing in Germany is developing, with Die Welt reporting the number of known injured has risen to four in critical condition. A further six are seriously injured and seven more suffering light wounds. 17 in all were injured.
The attack is the second mass stabbing in Germany in a matter of days. As previously reported, a stabbing in the early hours of Sunday morning in Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, allegedly by a Syrian migrant was days later classified as a possible terror attack after Islamist literature was found on the attacker and at his home. As well as using a knife, the man is alleged to have wielded a spear and a bottle of petrol.
A Syrian migrant, identified 35-year-old as Mahmoud Mhemed, was arrested on Monday by police on attempted murder charges in relation to a mass stabbing in Bielefeld in North Rhine-Westphalia. Five people were injured, and four of them seriously: the German Justice minister revealed they “barely escaped with their lives”.
The bar where the attack took place said in a social media post that one of those “critically injured” men had been a member of the public who had bravely fought the knifeman to end the attack. They said: “Had it not been for him, things would probably have been even worse”.
Now the investigation into that attack has been taken over by the Federal Prosecutor on suspicion of a religious terrorism motive. Per a report by Germany’s Die Welt, they believe they have found evidence for Islamism, that the suspect had an interest in the Islamic State, and had been in contact with a known Islamist fundamentalist.
It is stated the attack, which took place at a bar in the city, saw football fans attacked by a man wielding a knife and a home made spear, being a knife tied to a pole. A group of patrons fought back, causing the suspect to flee. As previously reported, the man dropped a bag containing “multiple knives, a liquid that smelled of gasoline, and personal documents indicating Syrian nationality”.
Zeit states a spokesman for the Federal Prosecutor, which has specialist counter-terror investigators and takes suspected terror cases over from local non-specialised prosecutors, who said the mass stabbing is being treated as an attack on Germany’s liberal democratic order and that at the time of the suspect’s arrest “a document was found on him that suggests the crime may have been religiously motivated.”
Further, images concerning Hezbollah and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are said to have been found at the suspect’s apartment.
Suspect Mhemed entered Europe through the territory of Turkey and was granted temporary refugee status by the German Migration Office in 2023. Earlier reports that he had no police record have been superseded, Focus reports, noting he had previously been investigated for “politically motivated crime” .
He was arrested on Monday after leading police on a 100 mile chase through Germany, taking several trains and other public transport from Bielefeld to Essen and to other towns beyond, finally being found in an apartment of a relative in Heiligenhaus.
#3
A few dance around answers, and the media again, avoiding asking the questions that need to be bluntly asked.
Were all the victims White and of German historical bloodline?
Were there any middle eastern victims, or was it "Get German Whitey Day"?
"We have no evidence so far that the woman may had a political motive,"
A dance around, but was it religious or racist based?
1st there was no motive and then use the motive of mental illness?
"Rather, we have information based on which we now want to investigate whether she may have been experiencing a psychological emergency."
Mental illness w/o motive? Heck, even a crazy person has an imaginary reason/motive.
The knife don't suddenly appeared in her hand and started swinging itself around at specific type of people.
Summary:
To avoid the EU/German Liberals OPEN BORDERS stupid policy that allowed in literally MILLIONS of Muslim Radicals. A group of people with a 2000+ year history of wanting to kill Whitey and all Infidels. They now hide the disastrous results in carefully worded open-ended statements.
Basically what I see here is the German & EU Government again avoiding the actual facts to anything that clearly points out their Liberal minded Globalist agenda stupidity.
#9
The Islam comments are "right" but they leap past the more basic fact that ONE citizen with a *gun* could have stopped this. This is what your country is set up for once the citizens are disarmed.
[IsraelTimes] Palestinian media reports that three Palestinian security prisoners who were freed as part of the recent hostage deal were rearrested by Israel last night.
The three are named as Mahdi Akas, Saeed Diab and Ibrahim Atiya. Atiya had served a life sentence for his involvement in a shooting terror attack in which a 7-year-old girl was murdered in 2003, as part of his membership in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club, a Palestinian organization representing those who are in jail in Israel, announced yesterday, prior to the arrests last night, that a total of 13 Palestinians released in the deal had been rearrested, 6 of whom remained in detention as of yesterday.
[IsraelTimes] During operations overnight in the West Bank village of Baqat al-Hatab, the IDF says it demolished the home of a Palestinian terrorist who killed an Israeli last year.
In the attack on August 18, 2024, Sultan al-Jani attacked Gidon Peri, 38, with a hammer in an industrial park near the settlement of Kedumim. Peri, a civilian security guard, was fatally wounded.
As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly attacks.
[IsraelTimes] An Israeli airstrike last night in Gaza City targeted the offices of a currency exchange company, which the IDF says was funding the military wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“Al-Cairo” had changed its name from “Dubai” in 2022, after the company was declared by the defense minister to be “aiding terror organizations due to its involvement in transferring funds to such groups,” the military says.
The IDF says the offices targeted last night were used in recent years to funnel millions of dollars to Hamas and Islamic Jihad for the terror groups’ military activity.
“Throughout the war, the workers of the currency exchange office continued to aid and fund the activity of Hamas terrorists and transferred millions of dollars to operatives of Hamas’s military wing for military activity purposes, thereby enabling the continuation of Hamas’s terror activity,” the IDF says.
In August 2024, the IDF says it killed one of the employees of the company, Tahseen Al-Nadiyya, over his involvement in funding Hamas.
[IsraelTimes] Military says 98th Division has returned to the enclave, operating in Khan Younis; Hamas-run Gaza civil defense says 52 killed in aerial bombardment in past day
An IDF tank commander was seriously maimed during fighting in the northern Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip on Thursday as the military pushed ahead with its widened offensive in the enclave.
Gaza’s health authorities said the ongoing campaign had killed more than 50 people over the past day.
The military said that the injured tank commander, who serves in the 401st Armored Brigade’s 52nd Battalion, was evacuated from the Strip to a hospital, and his family was notified.
In a separate incident on Thursday, a soldier was lightly maimed when a grenade went kaboom! during operations in southern Gaza.
Late last week, the military launched its new offensive dubbed Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which Israel says seeks to destroy remaining Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... capabilities and seize and retain Gaza territory while relocating Paleostinians across the enclave.
The military announced on Thursday that the IDF’s elite 98th Division had returned to operating in the Gaza Strip, bringing the number of divisions acting in the enclave to five. The elite formation of paratrooper and commando units — made up of thousands of soldiers — is operating in Khan Younis, the military said, and is working to establish "operational control" and destroy Hamas’s infrastructure in the southern Gaza city, both above and below ground.
The army said that troops of the division had already killed dozens of terror operatives, including in close-quarters combat and through directing Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s. Some 200 sites used by terror groups had been demolished, including tunnels, the army added.
At the same time as the IDF operated across large parts of southern Gaza, it issued an evacuation warning for Paleostinians in 14 different locations in the enclave’s north.
Among the areas included in the evacuation zone were Sheikh Zayed, Salatin, Beit Lahiya, and Jabaliya.
In a post on X, the IDF’s Arabic-language front man, Col. Avichay Adraee, warned that the military was operating "with great force" in these areas and that they were considered "dangerous combat zones."
A map posted alongside the warning showed a swath of territory marked in red.
The army had issued a similar evacuation call for northern Gaza late Wednesday following rocket fire on southern Israel.
The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million have been displaced at least once during the war.
Hundreds of people have been reported dead across the Strip since the start of the new Israeli offensive, and on Thursday evening, the Hamas-run civil defense agency said that 52 people had been killed in the past day, and dozens more had been injured. The figures, which do not differentiate between civilians and button men, could not be verified.
Israel says it only targets terror groups and makes efforts to minimize harm to civilians.
AFP footage of northern Gaza showed numerous plumes of smoke rising from the area over the course of the afternoon.
Earlier on Thursday, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said a tank shell hit a medicine warehouse inside al-Awda Hospital in Beit Lahiya, on the northern edge of the enclave, and set it ablaze.
Videos taken by a health official at al-Awda showed walls blown away and thick black smoke billowing over wreckage.
While rescue workers were trying to extinguish the fire, medics said tanks had been stationed outside the hospital, effectively blocking access to it.
Hospital director Mohammed Salha said that the civil defense agency had spent three hours trying to contain the fires and failed.
[IsraelTimes] Palestinians, whose homes were destroyed in counter-terror operation, speak of hardships after months of displacement; some say they only found out after the fact
With hundreds of structures demolished and thousands of residents displaced as the Israel Defense Forces escalates its most extensive counter-terror campaign in years across the northern West Bank, Paleostinian residents have spoken out about the difficulties of displacement and their determination to return ot their homes.
On January 21, the IDF launched Operation Iron Wall in the Jenin refugee camp, adjacent to the city of Jenin. In February, the operation expanded to include refugee camps near the city of Tulkarem in the western West Bank — Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps. In the first days of the operation, the IDF ordered all residents of those camps to evacuate their homes, and today they remain completely empty.
According to the UN agency for Paleostinian refugees, UNRWA, approximately 40,000 people have been displaced from the camps and are currently staying in nearby villages or the adjacent cities of Jenin or Tulkarem.
Early in the campaign, footage emerged showing the IDF demolishing some homes as part of its incursions and to achieve tactical control on the ground, as was seen in previous operations. However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... as the fighting progressed, destruction exceeded that of earlier IDF operations in the camps.
For example, in the Jenin refugee camp alone, the IDF demolished 25 homes in February — something not seen in recent years. According to an IDF statement, these were buildings that "served as terrorist infrastructure."
In early May, the IDF announced the demolition of 100 structures in the Jenin camp due to "urgent security needs," followed by a similar announcement regarding 90 structures in the Nur Shams and Tulkarem camps.
Mohammad Sabar, head of the Jenin camp’s Civil Services Committee, told The Times of Israel that around 200 homes have been destroyed there, previously housing approximately 600 families. In Tulkarem, according to Paleostinian reports, demolitions are still ongoing.
In early May, the IDF stated that "to prevent terrorism from reestablishing itself in northern Samaria, the IDF is making changes in the camps — including the opening of routes and roads — in order to allow freedom of movement and operational capability for IDF forces in the area."
In response to a query from The Times of Israel regarding the number of homes demolished so far in the refugee camps, the IDF replied: "In recent years, the refugee camps in northern Samaria have become terrorist strongholds, with button men operating from within civilian neighborhoods. To prevent the return and entrenchment of button men in the northern Samaria area, the IDF is reshaping and stabilizing the region, in part by demolishing homes, based on the operational needs of forces operating in the field."
It said that in the refugee camps mentioned, over 250 structures have been demolished. The demolitions were carried out following extensive discussions and careful review, and limited to the smallest number possible.
STRATEGY BEHIND DEMOLITIONS
Hebrew media have published several reports in recent weeks providing further details from security sources regarding the scope and purpose of the widespread demolitions.
In a report by Ynet, military officials were quoted explaining that the goal of the demolitions is "to preserve the IDF’s freedom of operation. The method — preventing the reconstruction of homes and roads that were destroyed — will turn the camps from fortified strongholds into urban neighborhoods. The psychological impact: Reducing the phenomenon of refugee camps as terror hubs."
In an interview with Channel 12, a military lieutenant colonel speaking anonymously stated: "We are building a network of routes throughout the entire [Jenin] camp. The idea is to turn it into a regular neighborhood. You’ll be able to drive here, walk here, and it will allow us freedom of operation."
The speakers in both interviews said the narrow alleys in the refugee camps were used by terror operatives against IDF soldiers. Aerial footage published by Haaretz in recent months has shown homes demolished to widen roads.
There are 20 historical refugee camps in the West Bank, all of which were established shortly after 1948, housing Paleostinians who fled or were expelled during the War of Independence from homes located in what is now the State of Israel. Over the years, these camps have evolved into densely populated and enclosed neighborhoods where both the Paleostinian Authority and Israeli security forces face operational challenges.
’A TERRORIST HUB? AN ISRAELI NARRATIVE’
Taqqiya.
One of the residents who learned of Israel’s plans through Israeli media is a resident of the Jenin camp who asked not to be named for safety reasons. His home was demolished during the operation.
Speaking to The Times of Israel by phone, he said: "The Israeli narrative is that every house destroyed to open a road won’t be rebuilt. Israeli media says the goal is to reduce the camp’s population by half, so that 8,000 people won’t return."
He said Israel talks of creating "a new Netzarim Corridor," a reference to a route the IDF carved out in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... to better control the territory during the war, as well as "new streets, and that the army won’t withdraw from the camp until next year."
The IDF has stated that the operation was launched to combat armed gangs that had grown stronger within the camps and were using them as launching points for shooting attacks against Israelis.
On May 7, the IDF reported that 100 button men had been killed in the northern West Bank during the operation, including 36 senior operatives from various terror organizations. According to the military, around 320 wanted individuals have been arrested, approximately 450 weapons have been confiscated, hundreds of bombs destroyed, and dozens of homes used as weapons caches or explosives labs demolished.
The resident rejected this.
"This claim that it’s a hub for terrorists, it’s a narrative," he said. "The army itself says it didn’t find anyone in the camp." (This is incorrect.)
"The young men who were there were arrested by the Paleostinian Authority," the resident went on. "The army found nothing. It found civilians and attacked civilians. It’s my right to peacefully resist and hold onto my home. Is it a crime if I try to hold on to my home? Why do you come to my house, uproot me, and destroy it?"
Some camp residents who spoke to The Times of Israel denied that any significant activity by gangs had taken place in their neighborhoods. Others argued that such activity was legitimate in response to foreign forces entering Paleostinian areas.
Montaser Abu al-Hijaa, from Jenin camp, whose home was burned down during the operation in March, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir "know that there are only 20—30 gunnies in the entire refugee camp, but they want to satisfy a certain segment of Israeli society. The Israeli army has been in the refugee camp for 120 days. There are no festivities, no gunfire. The wanted individuals were arrested by the PA or by Israel, or they were killed."
Nihal al-Jundi from Nur Shams camp said, "Since 1948, there has been popular resistance. That’s the nature of resistance. [Israel] opposes any form of resistance. Every occupied people has the right to resist."
FINDING OUT ON SOCIAL MEDIA
A resident of the Jenin refugee camp, who spoke with The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity, said he was not informed by any official source that his home had been demolished. He only found out after seeing videos on social media.
The 36-year-old father of two recounted: "We left in January, as soon as the order was given for everyone to evacuate. Fourteen of us lived in that house — myself, my parents, my siblings, their kids, and my own children. My daughter cried and screamed at night from the sound of gunfire and explosions. The drone circled overhead and broadcast a message telling us to leave. We left against our will. They didn’t let us take anything — not even clothes. We left with what we were wearing."
He described his displacement journey after leaving the camp: "At first, I stayed with relatives in the city for a bit. Then at my sister’s, then at my uncle’s. But it’s not easy living like that, especially as the operation dragged on. So I rented a house in Jenin for NIS 2,500 ($700) a month. Now I live in a smaller, cheaper place — I can’t afford more. I currently pay NIS 1,700 ($470) a month. The place I’m renting doesn’t have a fridge or basic appliances. It’s two rooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom, and 14 people live there."
According to Nihad Shuweish, head of the Civil Services Committee in Nur Shams, neither the IDF nor Israeli authorities officially informed Paleostinian residents of a plan to alter the structure of the refugee camps.
He told The Times of Israel in a phone call that the only official notification came from the District Coordination and Liaison Office (DCO), and it included a list of homes scheduled for demolition, so families could be notified. Those families were given about two hours, coordinated with the Civil Administration, to go in and retrieve belongings. Those notifications happened in Jenin and Tulkarem, according to the military.
However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... some resident said they weren’t notified and were not allowed to collect items from their house before the demolition. In response to The Times of Israel’s inquiry, the IDF stated: "The Coordination and Liaison Administration has conducted itself transparently throughout the operation and has coordinated with residents of the camps to arrange a proper schedule for evacuation and collection of belongings."
FINANCIAL HARDSHIP
One of the main challenges reported by displaced residents whose homes were demolished is the financial burden of living outside the camps. Many of meager means had previously lived in homes they owned, but are now forced to pay rent.
In addition, since the establishment of the Paleostinian Authority, residents of refugee camps have not paid for water, electricity, or municipal taxes.
I understand that Israel made sure the utility companies were paid, just like they did for Gaza.
This policy reflects the PA’s view of camp residents as "temporary" until a resolution to the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict is reached — one that, under the Paleostinians’ demanded right of return, would allow descendants of refugees to go back to their ancestral homes in pre-1948 Israel. Such an eventuality is highly unlikely.
Alaa Abu Zina, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp whose home was destroyed about a month ago, told The Times of Israel by phone: "I’m 50 years old. We left with the entire extended family — my brothers and their children. Ten of us lived in that house. We left on the first day of the military operation, in January, the moment the army entered and began shooting. My family and I left under fire. They shot at people who left before us. It was terrifying. We didn’t take anything.
"We went to live with relatives in a nearby village and then returned to the city. Now I live in an apartment with my sisters, and my brother and his kids live in another apartment in a different neighborhood. I pay NIS 2,000 ($550) in rent every month."
Jamal Abu al-Shalabi, whose home was demolished in a previous IDF operation in the Jenin camp in July 2024, has been living outside it ever since. "I’m 46 and have eight children. We were 10 people living in the house: me, my wife, and the kids. Now we live in a rented apartment. We want to return to the refugee camp," he said.
"We can’t afford life in the city: rent, transportation, water, electricity. In the camp, we didn’t pay for water or electricity, and there was no need to pay for transportation. Everything was nearby, even education. There are no UNRWA schools outside the camp, only private ones."
Nihaya al-Jundi, a resident of Nur Shams refugee camp, left with her family when the military operation began there in February. Her home was demolished a day after she left, likely due to its location on the edge of the camp, where the military sought to gain access.
"Soldiers came into the house on February 8, told me to leave, and then demolished it with a bulldozer. I left Nur Shams on February 9 and haven’t returned since. We were three living in the house. I’m 35, married, and have a 14-year-old daughter. I now live in a rented apartment in Tulkarem, paying NIS 3,000 ($830) a month for a two-room unit with a kitchen and bathroom. I left without a fridge or washing machine. All the residents of Nur Shams are in the same situation, searching for furniture and renting homes."
’WE’LL RETURN THE MOMENT IT’S ALLOWED’
Many of the displaced residents from the Jenin and Tulkarem camps, whose homes were demolished, said they intended to return as soon as the army allows it, despite the destruction of their homes.
Mohammad Amer, a resident of Jenin camp whose home was demolished by the IDF in January, said: "Historically, we’re not from the refugee camp. I’m from Haifa. My grandfather was a refugee from Haifa. For me, returning to Haifa would be better, but our aspirations are smaller. We want to return to the refugee camp."
Abu al-Hijaa, from Jenin camp, said his house was burned during the operation in March, though the circumstances remain unclear. He told The Times of Israel: "I heard from journalists who entered the camp and took photos. I saw that my house had completely burned. I saw the photos in March and saw that it was scorched. I don’t have more details, and I don’t know if it was demolished afterward."
He added, "Everyone sees their home as a palace, it’s their life. You don’t give that up. We grew up there. The moment they say we can go back to the refugee camp — at 2 a.m., 3 a.m. — we’ll go back, put down a mattress, and live in the burned house."
However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... entire residential areas have been razed, and many Paleostinians fear that the number of returning residents will be reduced. These concerns stem from statements by Israeli military officials indicating that homes demolished for road-widening purposes will not be allowed to be rebuilt.
There is currently no clear timeline for when the military operation in the camps will end. In February, Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that he had instructed the IDF to remain in the camps throughout the coming year.
#1
Those were NEVER your homes. Nobody cares how long you were squatting on rightfully Jewish land. Get out and stay out. Forever.
If nobody lives there, no new terrorists can come from there.
See how this works?
And once the whole area is graded flat new modern settlements can spring up like saplings after a forest fire and the land will bloom with new life.
[IsraelTimes] No injuries or damage in latest attack carried out by Iran-backed group; 38 ballistic missiles launched since late March
A ballistic missile launched at Israel by the Iran-backed 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 in 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... on Friday morning was intercepted by air defenses, the military said.
The missile fire marked the second day in a row of Houthi attacks on Israel, and the fourth within a week.
There were no reports of injuries or damage in the attack early Friday.
The missile set off sirens at around 4 a.m. in central Israel, including in Tel Aviv, sending nearly a million residents scrambling to bomb shelters. Preceding the sirens by some three minutes, an early warning was issued to residents, alerting them of the long-range missile attack via a push notification on their phones. However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... the advanced warning does not override the do-not-disturb functions on cell phones, unlike the siren alerts.
The Israel Defense Forces said air defenses successfully intercepted the missile.
Video shared on social media purported to show an interceptor missile launched to shoot down the Houthi projectile.
Last week, the Israeli Air Force struck the Houthi-controlled Hodeida and Salif ports in Yemen in response to the Iran-backed group’s repeated attacks on Israel. The Houthis vowed to respond and have since continued their missile attacks on Israel.
On Thursday, the Houthis launched two missiles at Israel, claiming to have targeted Ben Gurion Airport. The IDF said both were intercepted. On Sunday, another missile fired from Yemen was shot down, according to the military.
Earlier this month, a Houthi missile slipped through air defenses and landed in the grounds of Ben Gurion Airport, injuring six people, none of them seriously. A slew of international carriers promptly halted services to Israel, though some have since said they will resume operations.
Israel responded to that attack with strikes on Sanaa airport, causing an estimated $500 million worth of damage. On Saturday, some flights to the Yemeni airport resumed.
[GEO.TV] Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s killed at least six Paleostinians guarding aid trucks against looters, Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... officials said on Friday, underlining the problems hindering supplies from reaching hungry people in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... following Israel's 11-week-long blockade.
An umbrella network of Paleostinian aid groups said 119 aid trucks have entered Gaza since Israel eased its blockade on Monday in the face of an international outcry. But distribution has been hampered by looting by groups of men, some of them armed, near the city of Khan Younis, the network said.
"They stole food meant for children and families suffering from severe hunger," the network said in a statement, which also condemned Israeli airstrikes on security teams protecting the trucks.
The IDF says it targeted several armed Palestinians — some of them Hamas operatives — who were spotted next to humanitarian aid trucks in the central Gaza Strip early this morning in a drone strike.
In response to a query by The Times of Israel, the IDF says that it targeted the gunmen after identifying them near the trucks, adding “the aid was not hit as a result of the strike.”
The statement doesn’t elaborate on how the army knew that only some of the armed operatives targeted were Hamas members.
Hamas claimed that the targeted gunmen were “members of the aid security and protection teams… who were performing purely humanitarian tasks,” and that six were killed in the strike.
A military source denies Hamas’s allegation that the targets were local security, saying, “This is a false and unfounded claim.”
“This is another example of the cynical use by terror organizations in the Gaza Strip of civilians and humanitarian aid infrastructure that enters the area. The IDF will allow humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, while making every effort to ensure that the humanitarian aid does not reach terror organizations,” the IDF adds in its response.
While critics argue that armed guards are needed to secure aid to prevent looting, given the desperate need for food in Gaza, Israel in the past has targeted gunmen unless their operations are coordinated. But aid groups say that many of their requests to coordinate the transportation of trucks go unanswered by Israel.
Israel says 83 trucks of aid entered Gaza on Friday
[IsraelTimes] The Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announces that 83 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip today.
Israel resumed daily aid deliveries to Gaza on Monday, after a pause since March 2.
COGAT says the aid delivery comes “following the recommendation of professional IDF officials and in accordance with the directive of the political echelon.”
Today’s trucks include flour, food, pharmaceutical drugs, and medical equipment, COGAT says.
The aid underwent an inspection first by Israeli authorities before entering Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Aid groups have faced significant challenges distributing the aid because of insecurity, the risk of looting, and coordination issues with Israeli authorities, UN officials say.
[IsraelTimes] Flight of pro-Assad factions comes amid Trump’s demand that the new regime crack down on Palestinian terrorism as a condition for sanctions relief
Leaders of Iran-backed Paleostinian terror groups in Syria close to former president Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... have left the country under pressure from the regime of Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the ouster of the Iran-backed strongman in December, Paleostinian sources said Friday.
The armed factions’ flight comes amid a White House demand that Sharaa crack down on Paleostinian terror groups as a condition for the removal of Washington’s sanctions on Damascus. There have also been unconfirmed reports that Syria’s new regime has held indirect talks with Israel on potential normalization between the two countries, despite Israeli leaders’ deep suspicion of Sharaa due to his jihadi past.
The crackdown did not appear to affect the Syrian presence of Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... -based Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... , which is also backed by Iran, nor that of Fatah, the secularist faction that dominates the West Bank-based Paleostinian Authority.
The leader of one Iran-backed Paleostinian group, who left Syria after Assad’s overthrow, said on condition of anonymity that "most of the Paleostinian factional leadership that received support from Tehran has left Damascus" to countries including Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel... . Another faction leader still in Damascus confirmed the development.
The first faction leader said "the factions have fully handed over weapons in their headquarters or with their cadres" to the authorities, who also received "lists of names of faction members possessing individual weapons" and demanded that those arms be handed over.
A third Paleostinian faction source in Damascus said that after Assad’s overthrow, "we gathered our members’ weapons ourselves and handed them over, but we have kept individual light weapons for protection... with the [authorities’] authorization."
In Yarmouk, a Paleostinian refugee camp in the Damascus suburbs that was devastated during Syria’s civil war, factional banners usually displayed at the entrance were gone and party buildings were closed and unguarded, AFP photographers said. Factional premises elsewhere in Damascus also appeared closed.
Many Paleostinians fled to Syria in 1948 following the creation of Israel, and from the mid-1960s Syria began hosting the leadership of armed Paleostinian factions. Iran-backed Paleostinian groups enjoyed considerable freedom of movement under Assad.
Washington, which designates some of the factions as terrorist organizations, last week announced it was lifting sanctions on Syria. The White House had earlier said the new Syrian regime would have to comply with demands, including suppressing terrorism and preventing "Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... and its proxies from exploiting Syrian territory."
According to the White House, during a meeting in Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... last week, US President Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... gave Sharaa a list of demands that included deporting "Paleostinian terrorists."
The Iran-backed Paleostinian factions in Syria, along with other terror groups from Lebanon, Iraq and 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... , are part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance®, which is openly committed to Israel’s destruction. Some Axis members fought alongside Assad’s forces when civil war erupted in Syria in 2011.
In neighboring Lebanon, a government official told AFP that the disarmament of Paleostinian camps, where factions usually handle security, would begin next month based on an accord with visiting Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....> , who also met with Sharaa in Damascus last month.
’UNWELCOME’
The Iran-backed Paleostinian groups in Syria "did not receive any official request from the authorities to leave Syrian territory" but instead faced restrictions, the first faction leader told AFP.
Some factions "were de facto prohibited from operating," or their members were arrested, he said, adding that the new authorities have seized property from "private homes, offices, vehicles and military training camps in the Damascus countryside and other provinces."
Syrian authorities did not immediately provide a comment to AFP when asked about the matter.
Earlier this month, officials from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine-General Command (PFLP-GC) said Syrian authorities briefly detained factional chief Talal Naji.
In April, 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... said Syrian official Khaled Khaled and organizing committee member Yasser al-Zafri were tossed into the calaboose "without explanation." A source from the group told AFP on Friday that they were still detained.
The second Paleostinian faction leader, from a group that has remained in Damascus with limited representation, said there was "no cooperation between most of the Paleostinian factions and the new Syrian administration."
"The response to our contact is mostly cold or delayed. We feel like unwelcome guests, though they don’t say that clearly," he added, also requesting anonymity.
A Hamas official in Gaza told AFP that it had "channels of communication with our brothers in Syria."
Hamas has minimal representation in Syria, having left the country after the civil war there began. Hamas’s ties with the Assad regime had deteriorated amid the terror group’s support for opposition demands.
Yarmouk camp resident Marwan Mnawar, a retiree, said that "nobody knows what happened to the factional leadership," adding that "people just want to live, they are exhausted" by the conflict and factional infighting.
[IsraelTimes] IDF fighter jets hit additional sites in country’s south and the eastern Beqaa Valley, also targeting rocket launchers belonging to terror group
The IDF killed a Hezbollah operative in a dronezap on southern Leb ...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... ’s Rab Thalathin Thursday evening, as it targeted several sites where the terror group was said to be active.
Lebanese media identified the Hezbollah operative as Haider Muhammad Faqih.
Later that night, Israeli Air Force jets carried out a strike in the southern Lebanese village of Toul.
The IDF warned it would target a Hezbollah site in the village and issued an evacuation warning ahead of the strike.
Israeli fighter jets also bombed a Hezbollah weapons depot in Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa Valley. The site contained rocket launchers and other weapons, according to the military.
Hezbollah activity was identified at the facility, and therefore it was struck, the IDF said, calling the presence of weapons and activity by Hezbollah "constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon."
The IDF added that it struck rocket launchers in southern Lebanon belonging to the terror group.
IDF says it struck 15 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon last night
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says it struck 15 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon last night, including in the south of the country and the eastern Beqaa Valley.
Ahead of one of the strikes, in the village of Toul, the military issued an evacuation warning.
(ZeroHedge] In another clear indicator of just how drastically everything has changed in Syria in the wake of Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December last year, a militant group attempted to storm Russia's Hmeimim air base on Syria’s coast on Wednesday. Already the future of the base is uncertain, but Russia has still been maintaining it - given also Hmeimim is Moscow's only airbase on the Mediterranean.
"Militants attacked a Russian air base in Syria, killing two soldiers, a Syrian government official and a local activist said Wednesday," according to The Associated Press. Russian statements, which offered little detail, did not indicate if the slain were Russian soldiers or possibly foreign nationals who were contractors.
At least two militants were killed during their assault on the airbase. They are being widely reported as foreign Islamist fighters affiliated with the new Syrian government's military under President Sharaa (Jolani).
The Jolani/HTS government has tried to distance itself from the attack, as it is still seeking diplomatic normalization with Russia and a reset in relations:
The government official said the two militants who were killed were foreign nationals who had worked as military trainers at a naval college that was training members of the new government’s military. He said they had acted on their own in attacking the base and were not officially affiliated with any faction.
Damascus has on Thursday deployed additional forces in an effort to stabilize the security situation in villages near the airbase.
"The city of Jableh and the villages surrounding the Russian Hmeimim air base in the Jableh countryside are witnessing a security alert. Heavy deployment of public security forces has been observed in the villages of Al-Sharashir and Al-Qubaisa, both close to the base," the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says.
SOHR had further described "clashes in which medium and heavy machine guns were used, coinciding with the sounding of alarm sirens inside the base" - when the incident unfolded.
One regional outlet has said Russian soldiers were killed, and that it was Uzbek terrorists behind the assault:
According to a report by the Erem outlet, the 20 May attack resulted in the killing of three Russian soldiers and the injury of at least six others. The report says the attack was carried out by an Uzbek-led faction, which afterwards began to mobilize in the village of Al-Sharashir, just two kilometers from the base.
Erem also said the Uzbek armed group, responsible for past atrocities including the killing of children, have displaced and intimidated scores of residents and have seized homes in in the nearby town.
#BREAKING | Islamist militants reportedly affiliated with ruling HTS attacked Russia’s Khmeimim Air Base in Syria around 4–5 AM. Russian forces returned fire, reportedly killing four militants. https://t.co/UQGcfjWqt0pic.twitter.com/JorasQW3My
This coastal area near Latakia has for months seen attacks and massacres conducted by Islamic militant factions against the minority Alawite community of Syria. Christians and Druze have also been targeted.
Thousands of Alawites have been reported killed, and while the Jolani government has formally condemned the killings, eyewitnesses have consistently said the attacks had the involvement of HTS (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham) fighters, which remains the ruling faction in Damascus.
During the height of the sectarian killings, Alawite families sought refuge at Hmeimim air base in large numbers. Many thousands have been camped out on the base tarmac, with at times Russian troops seen handing out food and water and necessities of survival.
Back in March, Alawites expressed their distrust of HTS provided "security"...
HTS AlQaeda reps try to convince Syrian Alawi refugees to leave the Russian Hmeimim air base and go home. "Trust us now, mistakes happen, things got out of control". pic.twitter.com/JIpzSHpAB0
— tim anderson (@timand2037) March 18, 2025
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this week expressed particular concern about the chaotic situation in Syria, where he said extremist militant groups are carrying out "real ethnic cleansing and mass killings based on ethnic and sectarian identity". He blasted what he called the West’s "stunning" indifference to mass killings acts of terrorism.
The strong comments followed in the wake of President Trump meeting with Syria's Sharaa while in Saudi Arabia earlier this month. This stunned even some Washington officials, given that Sharaa/Jolani has long been a US-designated terrorist. Trump has said he wants to give Syria a fresh start, and also announced the US will drop sanctions.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week told a Senate hearing that Syria could collapse within just weeks; however, he didn't acknowledge in the testimony that it was the CIA's Operation Timber Sycamore which served to weaken and destabilize the country in the first place.
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.
...
... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all ofwhich have enough problems without them...
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
