[Tolo News] At least eight Afghan non-combatants were killed in a kaboom in southern Oruzgan province on Tuesday night, local officials said.
The incident happened as a bomb planted on a cycle of violencewent kaboom! at a vegetable market in Oruzgan province, killing eight people and wounding 27 others, local officials said.
Officials in Oruzgan province said 13 others were maimed and all the victims were civilians.
Insurgents plant Improvised Explosive Devices to target Afghan and foreign forces in the country, but civilians are often the main victims.
Oruzgan province is bordered by the southern Kandahar province, where forces of Evil have been active in most villages.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A joint operation conducted on Tuesay by the peacekeepers of the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Mission in Somalia (Amisom) and the Somali police force seized a large store containing ammunition left by Al-Shabaab ... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban. The organization's current leader is Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad, also known as Ibrahim al-Afghani. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Kenyan al-Qaeda member, is considered the group's military leader... in Mogadishu.
The ammunition was found at Bakara market, the largest trading centre in Mogadishu, which had served as a base for Al-Shabaab cut-throats before the cut-throats announced to have vacated their positions in the city on 6th of August.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Ankunda, the front man of the African force, the radical loyalists of Al-Shabaab had stores with large quantities of ammunition.
He added that Amisom peacekeepers will do all they can to ensure security. He said: "We will continue making the city safer for the people of Somalia. "Al-Shabaab had hidden large quantities of arms and explosives in the city."
He added that some are buried in the vacated positions.
Amisom stated that it uncovered 137 rockets of 155 mm each and had loaded them in trucks before removing the ammunition from the market.
The peacekeepers were assisted by contracted Western experts in explosives, urban warfare and how to conduct DNA tests.
On Monday, the team also discovered a workshop that was assumed to have been used by Al-Shabaab to fabricate home-made bombs and other explosives.
Lt. Col Ankunda added: "The workshop was the largest facility found so far that was used to produce deadly artifacts."
Shells for mortars, Rocket Propelled Grenades (GRBG) and other guns and rockets were found.
Cutting machines and other devises indicated that the place was a small factory.
On 10th of August, the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... published a report that Bancroft Global Development, an American private security company was engaged in training Amisom troops in Somalia.
The Western experts have dug out explosives that were haphazardly abandoned in some places, according to residents in areas abandoned by Al-Shabaab fighters in Mogadishu.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wrecked scow, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow... the UN's World Food Programme said today that the "vast majority" of its aid relief to famine-stricken Mogadishu was reaching those in need, in response to claims that some is being stolen, adds AFP.
"The WFP is confident that the vast majority of humanitarian food is reaching starving people in Mogadishu and saving lives every day," WFP spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume told news hounds.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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[RIA/Novosti] Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy ...Proof that a madman with money will be politely received... may soon hand over power to the justice minister and leave the country, the Albawaba news portal said citing top military sources.
A source said the embattled leader is ready to hand over power to Justice Minister Muhammad Alqamoda and go into exile on the condition that NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... immediately ends its military mission in the country.
The deal was reportedly discussed on Monday in southern Tunisia, during secret talks between Qadaffy envoys and the Transitional National Council, the supreme political body of the Libyan opposition. The talks, which the rebel government denies, are said to be attended by representatives of Venezuela, which is ready to accept Qadaffy and his relatives.
The source added that a plane to transport Qadaffy and his family members to Venezuela is possibly already being prepared at a Tripoli airport.
Other sources said Qadaffy is sick and requires urgent medical treatment outside Libya. The Libyan leader's chief aide, Bashir Saleh, met with representatives of the United Kingdom and La Belle France in Tunisia to discuss possible ways of taking Qadaffy and his family out of Libya.
An uprising which began in Libya in mid-February against Qadaffy's forty-year rule has already claimed thousands of lives. An international military operation "to protect civilians" in Libya began on March 19 following a UN resolution and has been extended until late September.
Suggesting that the bruited end-August end-point is, quite possibly, hooey.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
WHERE is Kadaffy going to GO? Like Where?
Of course Saudi took Idi Amin, didn't they? Gave him a pension and saw he never left the grounds and waited for the spirochetes to do the rest. He was out in the suburbs with a "body guard and a doctor" and it was very dull on Friday nite...empty streets and reminded one, somehow, of Phoenix with Coyotes under the street lites. Surreal and very quiet so you could hear the bugs buzz.
Khadaffy would at least be alive and they would keep the money "for his own good"....and no loud music, better still give me the radio and we make sure to deliver food in an Army truck on time. Now go sit down and listen to the clock tick.
And say your prayers like a good little Moslem dictator.
Something to look forward to in Saudi. And if khadaffy wants to wear highheels and lipstick he can do it in the complete privacy with the Saudi Morals Police reporting it to Abdullah over his morning coffee.
Hell, is being yourself and staring at the mirror, and all alone except for the television and the regular checkups by the doctor every month.
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy than Khadaffy. What sort of television do they have in Saudi, BTW?
Venezuela? Please. But then, who took Mengele?
Posted by: de Medici ||
08/18/2011 10:03 Comments ||
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[Al Jazeera] Libyan opposition forces have pushed further to isolate Tripoli, moving towards a western town that links the capital and Sirte - the hometown and a stronghold for the Libyan leader, Muammar Qadaffy. ...dictator of Libya since 1969. From 1972, when he relinquished the title of prime minister, he has been accorded the honorifics Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya or Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution. With the death of Omar Bongo of Gabon on 8 June 2009, he became the longest serving of all current non-royal national leaders. He is also the longest-serving ruler of Libya since Tripoli became an Ottoman province in 1551. When Chairman Mao was all the rage and millions of people were flashing his Little Red Book, Qadaffy came out with his own Little Green Book, which didn't do as well. Qadaffy's instability has been an inspiration to the Arab world and to Africa, which he would like to rule... "The scouting teams of the revolutionaries reached the outskirts of Al-Heisha after expelling Qadaffy forces," the rebel military command said in a statement early on Wednesday.
Al-Heisha lies roughly 70km south of Misrata and 250km from Tripoli, near two key crossroads that link loyalist-held territory in the west with that in the oil-rich Sirte basin.
It was just the latest in a series of battlefield operations to isolate the capital.
In addition to gaining a foothold in Az-Zawiyah, rebels said they had taken two towns near Tripoli on key supply roads Gharyan, 80km south of the capital and Surman, less than 16km west of Az-Zawiyah.
"Gharyan is fully in the hands of the revolutionaries," a rebel front man, Abdulrahman, said by telephone. "Qadaffy has been isolated. He has been cut off from the outside world."
Government front man Moussa Ibrahim acknowledged in remarks broadcast on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
that rebel fighters were in Gharyan. "There are still armed gangs inside the city. We are able to drive them out," he said.
But while rebels controlled most of Az-Zawiyah, Qadaffy forces shelled the city, wounding several civilians.
Funerals were held for 23 others who rebels said were killed the previous day.
Nuri el-Bouaisi, an oil production engineer in the city, said rebels had cut off pipelines that transport gasoline and diesel fuel to Tripoli.
"We shut down all four pipelines to Tripoli," El-Bouaisi said, whose claim could not be verified.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Seems like the "rebels" found a strategy. Fancy that.
(Xinhua) -- The Yemeni opposition coalition announced Wednesday the formation of the "National Council for Peaceful Revolution Forces" to unify different forces across the country to ouster President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh. ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower... "The council consists of 1,000 representatives from all opposition forces," the president of the National Dialogue Committee of the opposition coalition Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), Mohammed Basindwah, told news hounds in a meeting in Sanaa.
"The national council came as a result of months-long efforts by the JMP and its partners in order to lead and unify the various opposition groups," Basindwah added.
He also condemned the United States and the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... ' stance towards "the peaceful youths revolution in Yemen."
"We expected that the international community, especially the United States and UN to press President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... to step down...but unfortunately this did not happen," Basindwah told the meeting.
The U.S. State Department on Tuesday declined to say whether the U.S. government supports or opposes the plan of the embattled president Saleh to return to his country, only urging him to sign the power-transition deal initiated earlier by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
The 1,000 opposition representatives have elected 143 members to lead the "National Council for Peaceful Revolution Forces" against Saleh and his ruling party.
The Yemeni government has earlier warned the JMP from moving ahead to form such a council, saying this would be considered as " establishing a new state inside another state."
Meanwhile, ...back at the pound, Zebulon finally found just the friend he'd been looking for... Saleh's ruling party front man Tariq al-Shami told Xinhua that "the formation of the national council of the opposition is a clear declaration of killing the GCC initiative."
No compromise has been reached by the rivals, as the country has been embroiled in a severe political crisis since the eruption of protests against Saleh in late January. Saleh has recently vowed to deal positively with the GCC initiative despite his past three times of refusal.
Saleh, in a speech broadcast on the state TV Tuesday, lashed out at the opposition and promised his supporters to return to Sanaa "very soon."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Law enforcers believe outlawed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, The JMB is said to be the youth front of Al Mujahideen, the parent organization that began working toward establishing Bangladesh as an Islamic state in the mid 1990s which remains obscure even today. Other organizations, such as Jama'atul Jihad, JMB, Jagrata Mohammedan Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), Hizbut Tawhid, Tawhidi Janata, Islami Jubo Shangha, Islami Shangha, Al Falah A'am Unnayan Shanstha and Shahadat-e al Hiqma are believed to be part of the Al Mujahideen network. The JMB at its peak was reported to contain at least 100,000 members, and an alleged 2,000-man suicide brigade, few of whom actually went kaboom!. JMB allegedly received financial assistance from individual donors in Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, Soddy Arabia and Libya. Reports have claimed that funding of JMB by international NGOs like Kuwait based Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage (RIHS) and Doulatul Kuwait, Soddy Arabia based Al Haramaine Islamic Institute and Rabita Al Alam Al Islami, Qatar Charitable Society and UAE-based Al Fuzaira and Khairul Ansar Al Khairia. The top leadership of JMB was captured in 2005 and hung in 2007, which pretty much shot their bolt. which came to the limelight for its synchronised bombing across the country six years ago, has almost no strength left to carry out any subversive activities.
The network of the bad boy outfit has totally collapsed with the arrests of its members of all tiers in massive crackdowns and its strength has almost waned, say officials of police and Rapid Action Battalion.
They however add JMB still has its roots, but there is hardly any chance of rearing their heads since they are under strong vigilance.
The Islamist outfit grasped the spotlight as a hardcore bad boy organization blasting 459 time bombs in 63 districts on August 17, 2005 that left two persons killed and 50 others injured.
In subsequent attacks, they also killed a number of people including two judges in Jhalakathi, sending a chill through the nation.
Since the attacks, 356 cases have been filed against around 800 JMB members and law enforcers have so far incarcerated 656 of them. Of the cases, 142 cases were filed in connection with the August 17 blasts against 443 JMB leaders and operatives.
Among the 142 cases, the courts pronounced verdicts in 78 cases giving death sentence to 24 accused, life term imprisonment to 92 and imprisonment to 77 others on different terms. Besides, 171 of the accused were acquitted.
Meanwhile, ...back at the secret hideout, Scarface Al sneeringly put his proposition to little Nell... a High Court bench last month delivered a dissenting verdict in the Jhenidah blast case filed on August 17, 2005 in connection with the JMB bombing.
Two judges of the HC bench gave a split verdict. One judge acquitted all the 21 convicted by the trial court, saying charges brought against them were not found to be proved. On the other hand, the other judge acquitted seven accused and gave life imprisonment to the rest.
The HC bench delivered the split verdict after holding hearing on the death reference of the case and jail appeals filed by the accused against their conviction.
Law enforcers suspect Sohail Mahfuz is now the JMB's helmsman after the arrest of ex- chief Moulana Saidur Rahman in June last year in the city. Sohail is an arrogant person and is skilled in making powerful bombs including belt bombs.
"But he alone cannot do anything. To execute a plan, he needs a network in all tiers, but he does not have any," said Rab legal and media wing director Commander M Sohail.
The Rab director however said they are not dismissing any possibility and that is why they are always vigilant against JMB activities.
Lt Col Ziaul Ahsan, intelligence wing director of Rab, told The Daily Star yesterday the banned outfit has again started some activities in some northern districts including Rajshahi, Dinajpur and Thakurgaon.
However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... the activities are limited to recruitment of members and fund collection, he added.
This article starring:
Moulana Saidur Rahman
Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
Sheikh Abdur Rahman
Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai
Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
Sohail Mahfuz
Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
So while the judge let some of the miscreatns go free, rest assured, Dear Reader, that they will soon re-appear in a future installment of the RAB on patrol.
[Dawn] Ex-MNA and Pakistain Peoples Party's (PPP) senior leader Waja Karim Dad was rubbed out in the Kharadar area in Bloody Karachi on Wednesday by unknown men, DawnNews reported.
Waja was at a restaurant along with friends for Iftar, when unknown gunniesfed him a load of hot lead.
He sustained critical injuries and pegged outshuffled off the mortal coilkicked the bucket breathed his last at the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi (CHK), said police.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Militants crossed over from Afghanistan and rubbed out an anti-Taliban tribal elder and his son in the Bajaur tribal region on Wednesday, a Pak official said. Would his son be an anti-Taliban tribal younger, then?
Tariq Khan said Afsar Khan and his son Sher Alam were standing guard at a border post manned by members of a citizens' militia in the tribal region when around 15 beturbanned goons attacked them. "Father! Look out!"
"Arrrr! Kill! Maim! Murder! Rape! Pillage!"
"Aaaiiieee!"
"Father! [Gurk!]"
"Maim! Pillage! Rape! Loot!..."
Police official Fazal Rabbi said Afsar Khan had been among volunteers who had burned the homes of a beturbanned goon faction some two months ago. "Maim! Pillage! Rape! Loot!..."
The Mighty Pak Army has fought faceless myrmidons in the tribal belt for years, but faceless myrmidons still mount attacks there. "Yeah! Dere attacks is like nuttin' to us!"
In recent months, several of the attacks have originated from across the mostly non-existent border in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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Turkish warplanes struck 60 Kurdish guerrilla targets in a "successful" operation in northern Iraq overnight, military headquarters said in a statement on Thursday.
It said Turkish artillery hit 168 targets in the region before the air operation, which was conducted after Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) snuffies ambushed a military convoy in southeast Turkey killing 12 security personnel.
The Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted at least one additional rocket fired Thursday night toward Ashkelon. The Color Red warning system was activated ahead of the interception.
Earlier, two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip and at least one of them was intercepted by the Iron Dome system. The other fell in a field
#1
Yet the question remains, why not augment Iron Dome with C-RAM? The guns themselves are a modest $1.5m, and with the radar as a system, only $15m. The airburst rounds, because the Israelis are terrified of harming any Paleo with falling detritus, are still quite cheap.
Whereas each Iron Dome missile is about $30k. And using a $30k missile to shoot down a homemade rocket is not cost effective.
#4
A 40% C-RAM failure rate is way too high to tolerate for area defense, especially in a country the size of Israel. Using longer ranged C-RAM doesn't solve that problem and doesn't have the very short time response needed.
[Iran Press TV] Israeli forces kill six Paleostinians in the southern Gazoo Strip following multiple attacks in southern Israel, which Tel Aviv blames on Gazoo resistance fighters.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 12:48 ||
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A three-stage terrorist attack along IsraelÂ’s border with Egypt took place Thursday morning when terrorists opened fire at an Egged bus traveling on Road 12 near Eilat.
Close to 10 passengers were wounded, including several in serious and moderate condition, and were evacuated to Yoseftal Hospital in Eilat. A number of soldiers were among the casualties.
Several minutes later, a number of bombs went off next to an IDF patrol traveling along the border with Egypt. There were also reports of mortar fire from Egypt into Israel. The terrorists apparently then moved on to another spot and fired an anti-tank missile at another vehicle, injuring a number of passengers.
...On Sunday, the Egyptian Military launched a massive operation to capture terrorist cells operating in the Sinai. Only a paranoid would believe there's any connection between Egyptian Military's presence in Sinai and, way beyond Paleo's level of competence, attacks
#1
Attack on bus was about 1 mile from egypt/israel border. Attackers were in a car. The car was hit by IDF bullets. Two of the terrorists who left the vehicle were killed (they probably got out to get a better shot at the bus). There is a chance that some of the terrorists will be captured.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
08/18/2011 8:13 Comments ||
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#9
No no no my Israeli friend. You are far too quick to read it as trying to make an excuse for Hamas. Not true at all.
Those assholes in Hamas are pissy the world is forgetting about them with the "Arab Spring" and all those crazy Norwegians. A murderous tantrum.
It also could be a hail Mary pass ordered by Iran to relieve pressure from Assad. Similar to Saddam shooting scuds at Israel in Gulf War I.
But Al Qaeda is suffering a credibility gap in the Muslim world. And the Egyptian branch in particular needs to assert itself or fade to history. Murdering Israelis during Ramadan would help their popularity with their target audience.
#12
Hamass just won't give up. I personally believe Israel should go full Mongol on Gaza AND the West Bank for about a month, then go in and see if anything's left alive. I also think we need to refurbish a half-dozen old "G" model BUFFs and GIVE them to Israel. That would be over-kill, but it would surely "send a message" to Lebanon and Syria to behave themselves. Station the BUFFs at the airfield about 25 miles due east of Gaza. The BUFFs would hardly have gotten their wheels up before it would be "Bombs away" time, but it would cut down on fuel use. Or fly them out over the Med, and have them come in virtually wingtip-to-wingtip at 100 feet, with 30-second delay fuses. BUFFs at 100 feet are an awe-inspiring sight, especially if it's a surprise at 4AM. If that's too much, just pull a Soviet and line artillery up hubcap to hubcap, with LOTS of ammunition. Gaza needs to cease to exist, both as a thorn in Israel's side and as a rallying point for muslim madmen, but I repeat myself.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/18/2011 13:34 Comments ||
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#13
OP,your tactics are always on the subtle side. Love it!
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/18/2011 14:42 Comments ||
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#16
Reports now are it's Paleos, but a different set from the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza. The Leader, Kamal al-Nairab, already is meeting his raisins along with 4 others via Zapping.
Posted by: Charles ||
08/18/2011 14:47 Comments ||
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#17
Actually, the first thing Israel should do is load the BUFF's up with all their Hamass and Fatah terrorists they have in prisons and air drop them sans parachute into Gaza. For added fun, tie each one to a dead pig.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division ||
08/18/2011 17:29 Comments ||
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#19
But Israel can claim they're providing the paleos with food.
And while I would love to be snarking more today, I get to go home for two weeks. After being out here 4 months with just two weeks off, going home sounds really good.
I realize it's not a patch on what our military does, I have most of the comforts of home, but it's still not home and hard to be away from family and the girlfriend that long.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division ||
08/18/2011 19:10 Comments ||
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#20
Have a safe trip, Silentbrick,
Posted by: Barbara ||
08/18/2011 19:15 Comments ||
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#21
A distinction without a difference, Penguin.
At one level, I agree. But the distinction might matter as an indicator of things to come, i.e. were these attacks al-Qaeda acting as a non-national network to re-establish its street creds vs. Hamas acting on Iran/Syria's behalf as part of major theater maneuvering vs. non-Hamas Palestinians vs .....
[Straits Times] The Philippines' largest Mohammedan rebel group has given a radical commander a final warning to stop a mutiny or face expulsion, which will open his breakaway force to possible military assaults.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front Vice-Chairman Ghazali Jaafar said on Wednesday his group's central committee will soon issue a resolution declaring Ameril Umbra Kato no longer a member.
Jaafar says an expulsion will mean Kato is no longer covered by accords the rebel group has forged with the government, including a truce that shields rebels from military assaults.
Kato has up to 300 armed fighters. Rebel front manVon Al Haq says Kato angered rebel leaders when he took steps that stoked a deadly land feud between two commanders in the restive southern Philippines.
This article starring:
Ameril Umbra Kato
Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Ghazali Jaafar
Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Von Al Haq
Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Five Kuwaiti MPs Wednesday submitted a draft bill demanding that the government suspend all cooperation agreements and loans with Syria over its bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.
Spokesman for the opposition Popular Action bloc, MP Mussallam al-Barrak, said the bill calls for ending all forms of cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding between Kuwait and Syria.
The bill, which must be passed by parliament and accepted by government to be effective, also calls for severing relations with Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... and to stop offering loans to Syria directly or indirectly.
Barrak said he will start next month collecting signatures of other MPs to hold an emergency parliamentary session to pass the bill. Kuwait's parliament is currently in summer recess until late October.
In May, half of Kuwait's 50-member parliament signed a statement urging the government of the Gulf state to sever ties with Damascus and expel its ambassador.
Kuwait last week recalled its ambassador from Syria for "consultations" but has so far resisted public pressure to expel the Syrian envoy.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Freeze "loans"? Hardee har har! Did it not occur to the Kuwaitis that Syria will simply "freeze" repayment?
Posted by: American Delight ||
08/18/2011 8:09 Comments ||
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#2
Often 'loans' from the oil-rich countries have very flexible repayment schedules in any case. Syria's dependent on such things, but no doubt Iran will step in to help.
[An Nahar] The identity of the jacket wallah, who detonated a large quantity of explosives concealed in a Mitsubishi van, killing ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and 22 others, remains unknown, the indictment released by the international tribunal said Wednesday.
"On 14 February 2005, at about 12:52, closed-circuit TV footage shows the Mitsubishi Canter van move slowly towards the St. Georges Hotel," the indictment said.
At about 12:55, the male suicide bomber detonated the explosives concealed in the cargo area of the Mitsubishi Canter van with engine block number 4D33-JO 1926.
"Forensic examination has established the quantity of explosives was approximately 2500 kilograms of TNT (trinitrotoluene) equivalent," the indictment said.
"Fragments of the suicide bomber were recovered at the scene and forensic examination has established both that the remains were: (a) of a male, and (b) not of ABU ADASS," it added.
Shortly after the kaboom, two of the suspects named in the indictment Hussein Oneissi, 37 and Assad Sabra, 34, acting together, called Rooters and Al-Jazeera TV network in Beirut. Then Sabra called Al-Jazeera again and gave information on where to find a videotape that had been placed in a tree at ESCWA Square in Beirut. The videotape was recovered together with a letter.
In the video, which was later broadcast on television, a man named Ahmad Abu Adass falsely claimed to be the suicide bomber on behalf of a fictitious fundamentalist group using the name "Victory and Jihad in Greater Syria."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Military operations in Syria killed at least four civilians on Wednesday in an unrelenting crackdown on dissent as a pro-democracy protest movement entered its sixth month, activists said.
The central committee of the ruling Baath party, which has been in power since 1963, met for the first time since protests against President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... regime erupted in mid-March, pro-government daily Al-Watan said.
A key demand of the opposition movement has been the removal of Article 8 of the constitution which stipulates that the Baath party is the sole "leader of state and society."
But in defiance of growing international condemnation, hundreds of Syrian security services raided homes in the port city of Latakia on Wednesday, activists said.
The Britannia-based-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 700 members of the security services took part in the operation in the southern district of Ramel, arresting people on lists.
"Heavy gunfire continued in most opposition neighborhoods" overnight, the Britannia-based group said.
In Jabal al-Zawya, a village in Idlib province near the border with Turkey, security forces rubbed out a man standing on his balcony, it said.
In Homs, a sniper rubbed out a civilian in its Armenian neighbourhood, while security forces conducting raids in the city of central Syria rubbed out two men and maimed three others, the Observatory said.
It said security forces in Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... carried out dawn raids in Rukneddine district, where electricity was cut off, and placed in long-term storage dozens of activists. Dozens of others were placed in long-term storage overnight on the outskirts of the capital.
Western countries are to call on the United Nations ...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas... top human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... body to hold a special session on the deteriorating rights situation in Syria, diplomats in Geneva said.
On Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague stepped up the pressure and warned that Assad was "fast losing the last shreds of his legitimacy."
And U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John Marshall ... urged Arab heavyweight Soddy Arabia and Syria's neighbor Turkey to push Assad to step down.
Switzerland on Wednesday widened its sanctions against the Assad regime, adding 12 individuals to a list of key players under financial embargo and travel restriction.
But the head of Russia's arms export agency, cited by the Interfax news agency, said Moscow was continuing to supply weapons to its traditional ally Damascus.
"While no sanctions are announced, while there are no orders or directions from the government, we are obliged to fulfill our contractual obligations, which we are now doing," Rosoboronexport chief Anatoly Isaikin said.
Since Sunday, 30 civilians have been killed in Latakia in a military offensive during which gunboats went into action for the first time since the start of pro-democracy revolts in mid-March, according to activists.
The official news agency SANA has denied any maritime operation and on Tuesday quoted a military official saying security forces were "hunting gunnies" in Latakia districts "who opened fire on residents."
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Paleostinian refugees reported that more than half of the 10,000 refugees of Ramel camp in southern Latakia had decamped under fire from Latakia districts.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem accused countries he did not identify of "putting pressure on Syria to stop the violence but ignoring that terrorist gangs are behind this violence," SANA reported.
An Agence La Belle France Presse journalist on a government tour of the eastern oil hub of Deir Ezzor said dozens of army vehicles left the city on Tuesday after a 10-day operation, which activists said killed more than 30 people.
Hours later the Syrian Observatory reported that one person was killed when security forces opened fire to disperse an anti-regime protest where "hundreds of people" marched in the city's Takaya Street.
Rights groups say the crackdown has killed 1,827 civilians since mid-March, while 416 security forces have also died.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Syrian diplomats were intimidating expatriates who speak out against the regime, and reporting back home where dissidents' relatives are then threatened and placed in long-term storage.
The B.O. regime told the Journal it had "credible" evidence that the regime is using the reports to target relatives of those living overseas, particularly Syrian-Americans who have joined peaceful U.S. protests.
Embassy staffers were tracking and photographing protesters, it said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Dawn] The UN-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 liquidation of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri said Tuesday it had published the full indictment.
"The pre-trial judge has ordered that his decision confirming the indictment related to the 14 February 2005 attack, as well as the indictment itself, be made public," the Special Tribunal for Leb said, in order to "proceed to trial."
Tribunal prosecutor Daniel Bellemare welcomed the tribunal's order to unseal the indictment, saying preparations will push ahead for the trial of four Hezbullies members accused in the case.
"This order will finally inform the public and the victims about the facts alleged in the indictment regarding the commission of the crime that led to charging the four accused," Bellemare said in a statement.
Judge Daniel Fransen last month ordered confidentiality around the names and charges against Salim Ayyash, 47, Mustafa Badreddine, 50, Hussein Anaissi, 37 and Assad Sabra, 34, be partially dropped.
Ayyash and Badreddine face charges of "committing a terrorist act by means of an bomb" and homicide, while Anaissi and Sabra faced charges of conspiring to commit the same acts.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
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.
[Tolo News] At least eight Afghan 
l-Shabaab
Qadaffy
Qadaffy.
.
[Dawn] Ex-MNA and Pakistain Peoples Party's (PPP) senior leader Waja Karim Dad was 
[Dawn] Militants crossed over from Afghanistan and 
[Straits Times] The Philippines' largest 
President-for-Life Bashir 
Hillary Clinton
[Dawn] The UN-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 
