[KhaamaPress] The Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... authorities report that a Pak Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... in Paktika ...which coincidentally borders North Wazoo and Kurram Agency... province has killed at least 46 people and injured 6 others. The attack has drawn widespread condemnation.
Hamdullah Fitrat, Deputy Spokesperson of the Taliban regime,, told Khaama Press on Wednesday, December 25, that the Pak military bombed four areas in the Barmal district of Paktika.
According to Fitrat, the airstrike killed 46 individuals, including women and kiddies, and left six others injured. The attack has been described as particularly devastating.
On Tuesday evening, December 24, the Pak Army launched an attack on "Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) bases" in the Barmal district of Paktika province. The Taliban have vowed to retaliate against this attack.
Media outlets close to the Pak Army reported that several snuffies were killed in these targeted strikes, and four operational bases of the TTP were destroyed.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Defense, however, stated that the attack targeted "Wazooi refugees," disputing the claim that the strikes were solely aimed at holy warriors.
The Ministry of Defense warned that this attack would not go unanswered. It emphasized its commitment to safeguarding Afghanistan’s territorial integrity and responding to such aggression.
unverified video of one incident:
Wild scenes from the Durand border from Afghan Taliban vs Pakistan clashes.
A UN worker hurt in an air strike on #Yemen’s main international airport has been evacuated to #Jordan for further medical treatment, #WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says on X.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] An air strike hit Yemen's capital on Friday, a day after deadly Israeli raids, according to the Iran-backed Houthis who blamed the US and Britain for the latest attack.
A Houthi statement cited ''US-British aggression'' for the new attack, as witnesses also reported the blast.
There was no immediate comment from Israel, the United States or Britain.
''I heard the blast. My house shook,'' one resident of the capital Sanaa told AFP.
The attack followed Thursday's Israeli raids on infrastructure including Sanaa's international airport that left six people dead.
The strikes came in response to a series of Houthi attacks on Israel.
They have also been firing on the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping route for months, prompting a series of reprisal strikes by US and British forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2024 01:13 ||
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Top|| File under: Houthis
The American THAAD missile defense system was used to intercept the Houthi ballistic missile yesterday. This is the first time the system has been used to combat a ballistic missile. pic.twitter.com/IS7fr3HOeO
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2024 00:00 ||
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[11138 views]
Top|| File under: Houthis
#1
...Beastie worked on the first shot, and under real world conditions. Not too shabby, and there should be some heads exploding in bad places over this.
The THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, was used to try to intercept a projectile from Yemen sometime during the last 24 hours, and an analysis would determine its success, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
It is the first time that the THAAD system deployed in Israel has been used.
I’m not at all certain what that first bit means, but it sounds like it’s a good thing.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The capital of Yemen, Sana'a, was hit by an airstrike on December 27. Powerful explosions thundered in the city, Al Arabiya reported.
The strike targeted Sanaa airport and other vital facilities in the city itself and in the coastal province of Hodeidah, including two power plants and an oil port.
As reported by Regnum News Agency, Yemeni Houthis launched a Palestine-2 hypersonic ballistic missile attack on an Israeli military facility in the Tel Aviv area on December 16. According to Houthi spokesman Yahya Saria, this was a response to Israel's ongoing attacks on Palestine.
Since then, Sana'a has been repeatedly hit. The Yemeni capital was subjected to a massive airstrike on December 22. In addition, on December 26, the Israel Defense Forces carried out a series of airstrikes on Sana'a.
At the time, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was at the airport in the capital of Yemen. He was not injured. According to the Houthis, six people were killed and 40 more were injured.
Saria reported on December 27 that the Houthis had launched a hypersonic ballistic missile attack on Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. The airport's operations were suspended.
#2
80 years ago today AP news item 28 Dec 1944
Moscow - Doomed Nazi garrison reeled backwards in the smoke-fill streets of western Budapest today but clung with suicidal resistance to positions in the eastern section of the capital... "The Russians are now attacking from the southeast, northeast and west," the broadcast said.)
The German and Hungarian defenders were reported to have already been denied the use of one of the two remaining airports Please turn to Page Three
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Mexican authorities have discovered 12 bodies buried in clandestine graves in Mexico's northern Chihuahua state, officials said Thursday.
Authorities discovered 11 graves containing 12 skeletons in Ascension municipality near the US border, the state prosecutor's office said in a statement.
''The discovery was made during tracking operations that took place on December 18, 19 and 20,'' it said.
''The unidentified skeletons and evidence were transferred to the laboratories of the Forensic Medical Service'' to the city of Ciudad Juarez, it said.
Chihuahua has been hit for years by violence linked to organized crime as a route for drug trafficking and the smuggling of migrants colonists colonists to the United States.
It has recorded 3,927 missing persons since 1952, according to official figures. Jalisco and Tamaulipas, the states hit hardest by violence, have recorded more than 13,000 missing persons each in the same period.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2024 01:32 ||
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Top|| File under: Narcos
Budget carrier flydubai has suspended flights from Dubai to the southern Russian airports of Sochi and Mineralnie Vody, Russian tour operators’ association ATOR says.https://t.co/vaPEvqN6dW
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2024 2024-12-28 01:18 ||
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[11124 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Members of the radical Islamist group "Vilayat Khorasan" who were preparing a terrorist attack near a police station were eliminated in Moscow.
Good. More like this, please.
This was reported on Friday, December 27, by the Public Relations Center of the FSB of Russia.
“When detained, the terrorists offered armed resistance to Russian FSB officers and were ultimately neutralized by return fire,” the special service emphasized.
It is alleged that the perpetrators purchased a car and placed gas cylinders in it, after which they began to assemble a homemade explosive device.
The investigation opened a criminal case on the attempted terrorist act, on the organization of the activities of a terrorist organization and participation in its activities. Firearms, ammunition and explosive components were found at the place of residence of the militants. On one of the seized mobile phones, a video was found with two men wearing black headbands with Islamist symbols. They shake hands with each other against the background of a flag with similar symbols.
On December 25, the FSB detained seven Russians, including three minors, who, on instructions from the Ukrainian special services, were preparing a terrorist attack against the head of one of the enterprises of the military-industrial complex. It was noted that before this, the detainees helped Ukrainian telephone scammers.
[KhaamaPress] The Pak military has announced that in separate festivities between its security forces and snuffies in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, one senior army officer and 13 members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban ...the once and current oppressors of Afghanistan... Pakistain (TTP) were killed. Recently, the conflict between Pakistain’s security forces and the TTP has escalated in this region.
The Mighty Pak Army identified the slain senior officer as Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Owais.
On Wednesday, the Pak military also reported that it had killed 13 snuffies in the South Wazoo region.
Earlier, the TTP had attacked a security checkpoint in South Waziristan, killing 16 Pak security personnel.
Pak officials have consistently claimed that TTP snuffies find safe havens in Afghanistan. However,
those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... the Afghan Taliban has denied these claims.
Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, a little lightbulb figuratively appeared over Bossy's head... on Tuesday evening, Pak fighter jets bombed several locations in the Bermal district of Paktika ...which coincidentally borders North Wazoo and Kurram Agency... province.
A Pak official told Rooters that the Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s targeted a camp of the Pak Taliban (TTP) murderous Moslems. However,
those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for the Taliban, stated that at least 46 people were killed in the attacks, the majority of whom were women and kiddies.
The ongoing military confrontations between Pakistain’s security forces and the TTP continue to exacerbate tensions in the region. These festivities highlight the persistent security challenges that both Pakistain and Afghanistan face, particularly concerning cross-border militancy.
The allegations of civilian casualties in airstrikes underscore the need for greater efforts to minimize harm to non-combatants and to seek long-term solutions for regional stability.
[KhaamaPress] Sources report that fighters from the Tehrik-e-Taliban ...Arabic for students... Pakistain (TTP) killed 11 Pak security personnel in different areas of North Wazoo.
According to reports, the TTP fighters involved in the attacks on Thursday, December 26, were from the group of Hafiz Gul Bahadur ...a member of the Madda Khel clan of the Uthmanzai Waziris. Educated in a Deobandi madrassa located in Multan, he is affiliated with the Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) political party. Upon the formation of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in December 2007, he was announced as the group's overall naib amir under Baitullah Mehsud, who was based in South Wazoo, but has largely distanced himself from the TTP due to rivalries with the Mehsuds and disagreements about the TTP's attacks against the Pak state.. The reports also added that the attacks took place in the Mirali area, specifically in the Khaiderkhel, Khadki, and other regions, with at least 16 other security personnel reported injured.
The Pak government has not yet made any statements regarding the incident.
Earlier, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) carried out an attack on a security checkpoint in South Waziristan, killing 16 Pak security personnel.
Pak officials have consistently claimed that members of the TTP find safe haven in Afghanistan. However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... the Afghan Taliban has denied these allegations made by Pak authorities.
Meanwhile,
...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact... on Tuesday evening, Pak fighter jets bombed several locations in the Bermal district of Paktika ...which coincidentally borders North Wazoo and Kurram Agency... province.
A Pak official told Rooters that the Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s targeted a camp of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) turbans. Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for the Taliban, stated that at least 46 people were killed in the attacks, the majority of whom were women and kiddies.
The ongoing airstrikes and cross-border conflicts between Pakistain and Afghanistan continue to cause significant loss of life and highlight the growing security challenges in both countries. The fact that civilians, including women and kiddies, are often caught in the crossfire underscores the devastating impact of such military actions on non-combatants.
The increasing violence in regions like North Waziristan highlights the fragile security situation in Pakistain’s tribal areas, where turban groups like the TTP continue to operate with relative freedom. These deadly festivities not only undermine the stability of the region but also place civilians at great risk, caught in the crossfire between Death Eaters and military forces.
[IsraelTimes] Military says ‘small fire in an empty building’ unrelated to troop activity, attacks ‘journalistic integrity’ of outlets running accusation; Arab states rush to condemn operations
The IDF on Saturday denied Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... allegations that Israeli troops had set fire to the Kamal Adwan Hospital in 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... . Nevertheless, the incident drew fierce condemnation from Arab states.
IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani pushed back on Hamas’s account. "While IDF troops were not in the hospital, a small fire broke out in an empty building inside the hospital that is under control," he said, adding that a preliminary investigation had found "no connection" between military activity and the fire.
"Running with unsubstantiated reports on the cause of this fire shows nothing but questionable journalistic integrity," said Shoshani.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry had accused Israeli troops of setting fires in several parts of Kamal Adwan, including the lab and surgery department, and said that 25 patients and 60 health workers remain in the hospital.
The ministry also said Israeli troops had entered the hospital, taken staff and patients outside and forced them to strip in winter weather. Unverified video circulating on social media purported to show patients and staff being marched outside in front of IDF tanks.
The Hamas ministry’s account could not be independently confirmed, and attempts to reach hospital staff have been unsuccessful.
The IDF said it had been conducting operations against Hamas infrastructure and operatives in the area, and that it had ordered people out of the hospital. However,
a hangover is the wrath of grapes... the IDF denied entering the Kamal Adwan complex as of Friday evening.
After Hamas accused Israel of storming and setting fire to Kamal Adwan, Arab states rushed to denounce Israeli operations.
Jordan’s foreign ministry said Amman "condemns in the strongest terms the burning of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip by the Israeli occupation forces, and forcing patients and medical staff to evacuate it."
The statement added that the reported Israeli military actions were "a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law."
A statement from the United Arab Emirates foreign ministry echoed the Jordanian statement, stressing Abu Dhabi’s "categorical rejection of this heinous act that violates international humanitarian law, and the systematic and reprehensible destruction of the remaining health system in the Strip."
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... also issued a statement decrying the Israeli operations and claiming they violate "international law, international humanitarian law, and the most basic humanitarian and ethical standards."
Hamas has fought from within hospitals throughout the war and even periodically hid some of the Israeli hostages kidnapped in its October 7, 2023, massacre inside. International law prohibits targeting hospitals during wartime, but hospitals can lose this protection if used for military purposes.
The IDF, which last operated against Hamas at Kamal Adwan in October, said earlier Friday that the hospital had "once again become a key stronghold for terrorist organizations and continues to be used as a hideout for terrorist operatives."
The IDF also said it had "facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients, and medical personnel prior to the operation" to mitigate civilian harm.
Since October, Israel has intensified its land and air offensive in northern Gaza, stating its goal is to prevent Hamas from regrouping in the area.
The IDF said it “facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients, and medical personnel prior to the operation” to mitigate civilian harm. The civilians were taken to other hospitals in Gaza in an effort coordinated by the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) with local health officials and international organizations, the military said.
“The IDF and COGAT continue to make extensive efforts to enable patients to continue receiving care in other hospitals by facilitating the evacuation of patients from the Kamal Adwan Hospital, the ongoing transfer of supplies, food and fuel to the area, and the restoration of operations of hospitals in the area, while maintaining ongoing communication with hospital officials,” the army added.
According to Munir Al-Bursh, the director of the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, the IDF ordered 350 people to leave Kamal Adwan for a nearby school sheltering displaced families. They included 75 patients, their companions, and 185 medical staff.
Youssef Abu El-Rish, the deputy Gaza health minister, said soldiers were transferring patients and medical staff to the Indonesian Hospital, which had already been put out of operation due to heavy damage resulting from Israeli fire a day earlier.
[IsraelTimes] Ludmila Lipovsky stabbed outside her assisted living facility; security services say assailant from West Bank helped bust terror networks, was moved to Israel after cover was blown
An 83-year-old woman was stabbed and killed in a terror attack in Herzliya on Friday. The assailant, a 28-year-old Paleostinian from the West Bank, had been a Shin Bet informant and was transferred to Israel after his cover was blown, the security agency said.
The victim, Ludmila Lipovsky, a Holocaust survivor, had just left her assisted living complex and was waiting for a ride to a doctor’s appointment at the time of the attack, Hebrew-language media reports said.
The attacker — identified by Ynet as Ibrahim Shalhoub, from the West Bank city of Tulkarem — reportedly pounced on Lipovsky and began stabbing her.
"[Lipovsky] went out and waited for her daughter to take her to the doctor and the terrorist started stabbing her, five or six times. She has been a resident of the nursing home here for many years. I heard screams, I went out and saw her lying on the floor," an unnamed staffer at the facility told the Walla news site.
Security guards in the area shot the attacker, seriously wounding him and "neutralizing" him, authorities said. He was then arrested by police. No details were given on his condition.
Lipovsky was rushed by the Magen David Adom ambulance service to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, where doctors pronounced her dead.
Following the attack, the Shin Bet security service revealed that the assailant was a former informant for the agency, and had been involved in uncovering terror networks in the West Bank, before his cover was blown and he was transferred to Israel. Transfer him back to Paleo control. They'll deal with him
Tel Aviv District Commander Haim Sargrof said the investigation into the attack was being managed together with the Shin Bet, and noted, "We are at a very high level of preparedness, this was a quick response that ended the incident."
Since October 7, 43 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another six members of the security forces were killed in festivities with terror operatives in the West Bank.
[Rudaw] Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) cells targeted the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria on Thursday, killing two and exploiting the security vacuum caused by the collapse of the Assad regime.
"ISIS is trying to take advantage of the chaos prevailing in Syrian territory to revive itself and have the strength to carry out terrorist acts, mainly targeting the areas of north and eastern Syria," the SDF said.
The two Kurdish SDF members were killed in separate attacks in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor province. ISIS forces of Evil also "fired an RPG shell" at a water station in Dhiban, a town on the Euphrates River, causing material damage.
The SDF noted the attacks coincided with an offensive by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... -backed militias and said "it has become clear that the danger of ISIS increases" as long as the Ottoman Turkish-backed operation continues.
On Thursday, Kurdish security forces (Asayish) announced they arrested four ISIS members on Wednesday in al-Junayna, in western Deir ez-Zor, in coordination with the global coalition. They also confiscated a cache of weapons and ammunition, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF confirms launching Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s early this morning against what it says was infrastructure used by Hezbollah on the Syria-Leb ...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?... border to transfer arms.
According to the military, Israeli Air Force fighter jets hit sites at the Janta crossing, located in the Beqaa Valley of eastern Lebanon.
"The Hezbollah terror organization uses civilian infrastructure to carry out terror activity and to transfer weapons, which are intended to be used to carry out terror attacks against Israeli citizens," the military says.
[RUDAW.NET] Ukraine has sent 500 tonnes of flour to Syria as a humanitarian gesture following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime, the country's president announced on social media on Friday.
''500 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat flour are already on their way to Syria as part of our ''Grain From Ukraine'' humanitarian program in cooperation with the WFP,'' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X, referring to the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP).
Zelensky emphasized his support for the Syrian people in a ''time of need.''
''The wheat flour is planned to be distributed to 33,250 families or 167,000 people, in the coming weeks,'' he added.
He expressed his hope for Syria's stable recovery and safety following 13 years of civil war.
Ukraine is a major exporter of wheat.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2024 02:37 ||
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[11126 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[IsraelTimes] But both Ragheb Alama and the Emirati singer he ostensibly spoke to say his voice was faked using AI in phone call in which Alama supposedly said Lebanon ‘relieved of Nasrallah’
Hezbollah members set fire to a school owned by popular Lebanese singer Ragheb Alama on Monday night, hours after he was heard in a viral video seemingly praising the killing by Israel of the terror group’s leader, His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...> , though it later came to light that it wasn’t him making the comments.
A video posted online Monday showed Emirati singer Abdullah Bilkhair on what was supposedly a phone call with Alama, who could be heard saying multiple times that Nasrallah was dead, media reports said.
At some point, Alama could be heard inviting Bilkhair to visit 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.... , saying: "It has now been relieved of Nasrallah."
After the video was spread online, Hezbollah Lions of Islam set fire to the entrance of the Saint Georges school in southern Beirut, which Alama owns, and spray-painted graffiti on its walls reading: "At your service, Nasrallah."
In one video on X, a group of men could be seen arriving on cycle of violences and setting fire to the school. One man in the video could be seen waving a Hezbollah flag.
In a post on X on Monday, Alama denied that it was him in the call, claiming that someone had used artificial intelligence to mimic his voice.
"I deny this communication completely and in detail. I will pursue the matter legally to reach this person," he wrote.
According to CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... Arabic, Bilkhair later confirmed this, saying he had been tricked by someone who was faking Alama’s voice using artificial intelligence, and added that he had been surprised when he thought the Lebanese singer had called him because the two had not communicated for a long time.
According to an interview given by Alama’s wife Jihan to the Lebanese paper Annahar, the artist has opened a number of private schools in Beirut’s impoverished southern suburbs, where he grew up, as a charity initiative to benefit the local community. The Shiite-majority area is a central Hezbollah stronghold, and hosts most of the terror group’s leadership.
In a social media post condemning the vandals, Jihan Alama wrote: "These mostly young men are roaming the streets at a time when the country is trying to heal its wounds from the war that has affected each of us in different ways. Some of them may have had the opportunity to learn in one of the schools built by Ragheb Alama. Yet, we now see them destroying those same institutions. It is painful to see this ingratitude towards efforts that were intended to uplift and educate them."
Nasrallah was killed by an Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... in Beirut in September after Israel ramped up its response to near-daily cross-border attacks that were initiated by Hezbollah, unprovoked, on October 8 last year, a day after its ally Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... ’s October 7 onslaught in southern Israel.
The Israeli army withdrew Thursday from the southern areas of Qantara, Adsheet al-Qusayr and Wadi al-Hujeir after it made a several-hour incursion that forced residents to flee and involved the abduction and wounding of a Lebanese UNIFIL employee.
The Lebanese Army said the Israelis retreated after "a series of contacts by the five-party committee overseeing the ceasefire agreement (Mechanism)."
Lebanese troops meanwhile removed sand barriers that the Israeli forces had erected to block one of the roads in Wadi al-Hujeir, the Lebanese Army said, adding that it is following up on the situation in coordination with UNIFIL and the ceasefire committee.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2024 2024-12-28 01:36 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
The wife and daughter of one of Bashar al-Assad’s cousins were arrested at the Beirut airport, where they attempted to fly out with allegedly forged passports, Lebanese security officials say. Assad’s uncle departed the day before.
A car bomb has exploded in the center of the flashpoint northern #Syria town of #Manbij, causing damage but no casualties, a war monitor says.https://t.co/l1GK8KIAmF
[IsraelTimes] Cecilia Sala left for Iran December 12 with a journalism visa and was scheduled to return a week later, but went dark a day before; Italian defense minister calls arrest ‘unacceptable’
Italia on Friday denounced the "unacceptable" arrest in 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... of an Italian journalist, whose employer said she was being held in solitary confinement in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison on unclear grounds.
Cecilia Sala, 29, who works for Rome-based newspaper Il Foglio and Italian podcast company Chora Media, was said to have been detained in Tehran on December 19.
Chora Media said news of Sala’s arrest was not immediately made public as her family and Italian authorities had hoped that keeping it quiet could help secure her swift release.
The Italian foreign ministry said it was in contact with Iran to clarify Sala’s legal situation and the conditions of her detention. There was no immediate confirmation of the arrest by Iranian officials.
Italia’s ambassador to Iran, Paola Amadei, visited Sala in prison on Friday and the journalist has also been in phone contact with her family, Italia’s foreign ministry said, adding that she has been allowed to make two phone calls to relatives.
Italian sources with knowledge of the matter said she was "very tired" but "physically fine."
It was unclear whether Sala’s reported arrest was related to tensions between Rome and Tehran. Iran last week summoned a senior Italian diplomat and the Swiss ambassador, who represents US interests in the country, over the recent arrest of two Iranian nationals, one of whom was detained in Italia at Washington’s request.
Italian police said Wednesday that the man, 38, was detained while in transit through Milan’s airport. Police said the unidentified man had been accused in a US court of supplying Iran’s Revolutionary Guard with supplies to build combat drones.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said on X that Sala’s arrest was "unacceptable," adding that Italia was using "high-level political and diplomatic action" to try to secure her release.
Elly Schlein, leader of Italia’s center-left Democratic Party, urged the government to act swiftly.
"We immediately call on the government to take every useful initiative to shed light on this matter, to clarify the reasons for this detention and, above all, to bring Cecilia Sala back to Italia as soon as possible," she said.
Chora Media said Sala had left Rome for Iran on December 12 with a valid journalism visa and was due to return on December 20.
The company said she had conducted several interviews and produced three episodes of her "Stories" podcast.
But Sala went quiet on December 19 and then did not board her flight. Shortly afterward she called her mother to say she had been arrested, the podcast company said.
"She was taken to Evin prison, where dissidents are held, and the reason for her arrest has not yet been formalized," Chora said in a statement.
The Il Foglio newspaper said she had been in Iran "to report on a country she knows and loves."
"Tehran has chosen to challenge everything the West universally holds sacred: our freedom," the publication wrote on X.
"Journalism is not a crime, even in countries that repress all freedoms, including those of the press. Bring her home," it said.
The Iranian constitution gives the Islamic Theocratic Republic broad leeway to shut down press reports "detrimental to the principles of Islam."
Iran has a dismal press freedom record and has detained news hounds who documented the brutality of its morality police, setting off large-scale protests there in 2022. In November, the US accused Tehran of plotting to kill Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, who is critical of the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
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.
...
...
...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...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...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 
