[An Nahar] Sudan has no connection with a ship intercepted in the Red Sea allegedly carrying rockets from Iran to Gazoo, Khartoum's foreign ministry said on Thursday.
"We have nothing to do with this," foreign ministry front man Abubakr Al-Siddiq told AFP, adding that the vessel was in international waters.
Israel intercepted the "Klos-C" in the Red Sea between Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... and Sudan on Wednesday, claiming that Syrian-made weapons aboard had been shipped overland to Iran then onward by sea.
According to Israel, the M302 missiles were to have been offloaded at Port Sudan and then taken overland towards Gazoo via Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
Right overland through Egypt. North to Cairo, thence to Alexandria, make a right, follow the coast and there you are. All without being detected, of course...
Khartoum's links with Iran came under scrutiny after Sudan accused Israel of being behind an October, 2012 strike against the Yarmouk military factory in the Sudanese capital, which led to speculation that Iranian weapons were stored or manufactured there.
Israel refused all comment on Sudan's accusation about the factory blast.
After all, actions do speak louder...
But officials in the Jewish state had expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... about arms smuggling through Sudan and have long accused Khartoum of serving as a base of support for bully boyz from the Islamist Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement that rules the Gazoo Strip.
Iranian warships have periodically docked in Port Sudan, most recently in September, for what Sudan called "routine" visits.
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03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Branded by Kenyan authorities as an epicentre for the indoctrination and recruitment of Islamic krazed killers, the Musa mosque in Mombasa has become a primary target of the country's escalating war on terror.
But this war is also causing controversy, amid allegations of state-sponsored liquidations, heavy-handed raids and fears that these tactics could be helping and not hindering radical Islam.
In August 2012, the mosque's radical Imam, Aboud Rogo Mohammed, was bumped off, and in October last year his successor, Sheikh Ibrahim Ismail, met the same fate on a road near the steamy port city, again sparking riots.
For their followers, the two men -- long accused of supporting Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab rebels -- were simply murdered by Kenyan authorities, an opinion that appears to be largely shared by many independent observers, despite government denials.
Last month the mosque was yet again the scene of another deadly incident, when armed police launched a massive raid on the mosque to put an end to what officials said was a "jihadist convention" and Shabaab recruitment exercise taking place inside its white and green walls.
Well over 100 people were locked away ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... in the raid, with dozens then charged with being members of Shabaab, which is fighting Kenyan forces in southern Somalia and which grabbed credit for last year's carnage at Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall.
Several people were killed in the raid, and at least one of those arrested has since been reported missing.
- 'Spate of executions' -
"The invasion of Musa mosque was illegal. Nothing illegal was happening in that mosque. There was no recruitment," Abubaker Shariff Ahmed, one of the mosque's leaders, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Ahmed is known more commonly by his nickname "Makaburi", or "grave" in Swahili.
"The mosque was filled with undercover coppers, anyway nobody will go and recruit people in an open mosque, where anybody can walk in. Nobody will go and teach people how to use guns in an open mosque, it doesn't make sense," he insisted.
"It was not a jihadi convention. It was a convention dealing with issues concerning jihad, putting things right on issues about jihad, all the issues discussed there about jihad are in the Koran, in the Sunna, and they are not illegal to talk about, in a mosque or anywhere else in Kenya."
Makaburi denies any links with Shabaab, although he was placed on a 2012 UN sanctions list naming him as a "leading controller and recruiter of young Kenyan Moslems for violent krazed killer activity in Somalia".
However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... he does support "the implementation of Sharia Law anywhere in the world", does not hide his admiration for Al-Qaeda founder and late leader the late Osama bin Laden ... who doesn't live anywhere anymore... , and accuses Christian-majority Kenya's "un-Islamic" leaders of "extrajudicial killings" that target those who preach "true Islam".
But support for the Musa mosque among Mombasa's Moslem community is not total, according to Sheikh Ngao M. Ngao Juma, the chairman of the Kenya Moslems National Advisory Council, or Kemnac.
"These holy mans are doing business. It's business, human trafficking, slavery. They're trying to brainwash the youths using Koranic verses," he said.
"The jihad they are teaching is contrary to the meaning of jihad in the Koran. The meaning of jihad is distorted."
- 'Lost legitimacy' -
But he said the heavy-handed crackdown could backfire.
"Our advice to the government is that you shall not use guns, the use of a gun shall not solve that problem. You cannot fight an ideology with the gun. You can win this war only through discussion, awareness," he said.
"The youth need guidance and counselling but those preachers are criminals, they must be arrested and prosecuted."
According to Hassan Omar Hassan, an opposition senator from the area and former rights activist, radical Islam is a real threat for Mombasa and Kenya as a whole -- but he says the current strategy of singling out the Musa mosque is not working.
"The vilification of it by the government has literally turned it into a shrine of radicalization. It started as a very innocent kind of a problem with a radical preacher, but has escalated into a spate of executions," he said.
"The government has literally put the entire Moslem community in this country against itself. It has lost a lot of legitimacy."
He said the Kenyan government "refuses to dig deeper than the surface" and look at the roots of radical Islam, including "unemployment, undereducation, issues of representation in government, basic rights, citizenship rights."
"For a long time we have legitimized police violence on people on account of national security," he said.
"Anything extra-constitutional or extra-legal will continue to feed into the narrative about government oppression and the humiliation of the particularly Moslem or coastal communities."
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03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
#1
An inventive Islamic Mombasan
Once created a praying contraption.
He was hospitalized
When it radicalized
And turned into a pious assassin!
An expected drive to purge Islamist rebels from southern Somalia risks pushing them north into an area at the tip of the Horn of Africa better known for its coastal pirates than al Shabaab insurgents.
Semi-autonomous Puntland state, where one-third of Somalia's population lives, needs help from the African peacekeeping force AMISOM to secure its border with southern provinces, its regional president Abdiweli Mohamed Ali said on Wednesday.
How about a fence?
A new push to rout al Shabaab militants from urban redoubts in southern Somalia has been expected since Ethiopian troops joined AMISOM earlier this year, but it has not yet come.
"It is obvious that some (al Shabaab) will seek refuge in the very difficult terrain in Puntland, particularly the Galgala mountains," Ali told Reuters by telephone. He was referring to a small range of mountains where some fighters are operating.
Reeling from militant attacks on its doorstep, the central government in Mogadishu wants the al Qaeda-linked insurgents expelled from their southern strongholds this year as it struggles to shake off the tag of a failed state.
Ali's concerns underscore a worry that the offensive may destabilize Puntland, a relatively settled region that al Shabaab rebels slowly began infiltrating after they were flushed out of Mogadishu in mid-2011. Puntland blamed al Shabaab for a rare car bomb attack in December in the port town of Bosasso which killed seven people.
Although al Shabaab numbers have hitherto been limited, Puntland authorities and Western diplomats have voiced concern the Islamists might seek to strengthen ties with al Qaeda cells across the narrow Gulf of Aden in Yemen.
Ali bemoaned the lack of military aid for his administration to build up his security forces and the sparse information from Mogadishu about its campaign against al Shabaab.
Blame the 'partial arms embargo'. If you guys were a real government you'd be exempt...
"We have had no communication about this operation. We have a common enemy, al Shabaab, of course we should be consulted," the United States-educated leader said.
Ali said the unequal distribution of aid between Mogadishu and the regions was not limited to military funds and federal government revenues and foreign aid, of which Somalia is among the world's biggest recipients, must also be more fairly shared.
Ali needs to wet his beak...
That echoed complaints by Ali's predecessor Abdirahman Mohamud Farole, who in August cut ties with Mogadishu in protest and accused the central government of undermining plans to create a federal system.
Mogadishu has promised to share power and resources in the country seen as one of the last frontiers in the hunt for oil and gas in east Africa. But distrust of central government still threatens fragile security gains.
Ali said he was open to talks on how to divide power between the center and the regions, a thorny issue the current provisional constitution failed to address.
"Federalism is now the law of the land. The question is to what extent powers are devolved."
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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The United Nations Security Council today unanimously agreed to extend a partial weapons ban on Somalia for eight months amid reports that Al-Shabaab and other armed groups are able to divert arms and ammunition intended for Government forces.
"A partial weapons ban? What kind of ban is that?"
"Only the weapons they can't afford."
“All Member States are required to take the necessary measures to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer of weapons and military equipment to designated individuals and entities, which includes Al-Shabaab,” the Council wrote in the resolution.
The text, which extends the ban through 25 October, cites reports by the Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG) that arms have been diverted and expresses “serious concern” that the requirements for a suspension of the embargo “have not been fully met.”
The text also cites the 15 Members “condemning flows of weapons and ammunition supplies to and through Somalia in violation of the arms embargo on Somalia, as well as the destabilizing accumulation and misuse of such weapons, as a serious threat to peace and stability in the region.”
In March 2013, the partially lifted the weapons ban for one year to boost the GovernmentÂ’s capacity to protect areas recovered from the militant group Al-Shabaab and defend against fresh attempts by such groups to destabilize the country.
It decided that the arms embargo, originally imposed in 1992, would not apply to arms or equipment sold or supplied solely for the development of the GovernmentÂ’s security forces, but it kept its restrictions in place on heavy weapons, such as surface-to-air missiles.
It also required the Government to notify the CouncilÂ’s sanctions committee at least five days in advance of any such deliveries and provide details of the transactions. Alternately, Member States delivering assistance may make the notification after informing the Government of its intentions in that regard.
Under requirements set forth in todayÂ’s text, all transactions are required to include details of the manufacturer and supplier of the arms and ammunition, a description of the arms and ammunition including the type, calibre and quantity, proposed date and place of delivery, and all relevant information concerning their storage.
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03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisia could soon offer financial rewards to citizens who help authorities capture terrorists.
"We will adopt this method at some point, as it has been adopted in some countries of the world," interior ministry front man Mohammed Ali Aroui told Shems FM on February 25th.
Aroui warned of "the grave risks that may result from the return to Tunisia of people who were trained to fight in Syria", describing them as "ticking bombs".
Yet even before the mention of rewards, concerned citizens were already becoming more vigilant.
According to Mourad el-Abed, a 33-year-old from Kasserine, local residents have "become aware of the importance of reporting to the police when they notice unusual movements with regard to terrorists".
Eleven people were recently incarcerated Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! in Jendouba and Kasserine for allegedly providing support to terrorists.
"The region, especially Jebel Chaambi, has been affected by terrorism. This is what made us more conscious of actually participating in the effort to eliminate terrorists," el-Abed said.
Citizens have a key role to play in eliminating violent extremism, agreed Faten Arfaoui, 41.
"There is no doubt that offering financial rewards for anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest of dangerous terrorist elements will encourage many citizens where terrorism is entrenched, especially in poor areas," the Tunis resident told Magharebia..
"There is also the role of the media in educating citizens to help in the fight against terrorism at no charge because the security of the country is the security of the citizen himself," he added.
Tunisians can contribute to the fight against terrorism by detecting and reporting suspicious activities, Al-Majd party chief Abdelwaheb el-Heni said.
Establishing security in Tunisia requires "the adoption of a comprehensive strategy involving everyone, from citizens to the state apparatus", he said.
"The citizen is the main component who informs the state about every move and every suspicious element," el-Heni said.
"A central strategic security agency in charge of counter-terrorism should be launched to collect and analyse information," the politician added. "The absence of this entity is the main loophole in the fight against terrorism."
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03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The West warned Libya on Thursday that political instability is hampering international efforts to provide assistance to the deeply-divided country.
Italia's new Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini told Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan ... served as a diplomat for Libya during the 1970s, serving in India under Ambassador Mohammed Magariaf. Both men defected in 1980 and went on to form the National Front for the Salvation of Libya. Zeidan spent nearly three decades in exile in Geneva after the defection. During the revolution Zeidan served as the National Transitional Council's Europe envoy, and is credited as having played a key role in persuading French President Nicolas Sarkozy to support the anti-Qadaffy forces... and a large delegation of foreign ministers in Rome that "international partners are ready to help Libya", but the "uncontrolled circulation of arms" in the country was creating difficulties.
The talks, attended by U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... , were held to weigh assistance for the transitional authorities in Libya.
A U.S. intelligence assessment in February warned that a power vacuum in Libya, where the government is struggling to counter well-armed militias, was fueling krazed killer groups across the region and posed an "acute" terror threat.
Security forces are regularly attacked, especially in the east.
Observers fear rival ex-rebel groups, heavily armed with weapons looted from the arsenals of former dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...Proof that a madman with money will be politely received for at least 42 years until his people get tired of him and kill him... , could yet push Libya into civil war.
In February, La Belle France ruled out Western military action against Islamist fighters in southern Libya, a region that the U.S. has identified as a new haven for al-Qaeda-linked bad boys.
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03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Egypt said on Thursday it stopped a delegation of women activists from reaching the Gazoo Strip as it feared for their safety while travelling through the restive Sinai Peninsula.
Very thoughtful of them. Remember what happened to St. Pancake?
About 100 women from Europe and the United States intended to go to the Paleostinian enclave through Egypt's Rafah border crossing to celebrate International Women's Day on Saturday.
But the Egyptian authorities stopped them at Cairo airport, and have already deported Northern Irish Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire and American anti-war activist Medea Benjamin who wanted to join the delegation.
On Thursday, the authorities had prevented about 45 activists, mostly from La Belle France, from entering the country, an organizer of the delegation told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Prior to travelling, the group had asked to pass through the Rafah crossing in northern Sinai, but the authorities urged them to abandon the trip, foreign ministry front man Badr Abdelatty said.
The group was told "the timing was not appropriate... given the current extraordinary security conditions in northern Sinai and the difficulty of ensuring the security of the activist group until they reached the Rafah crossing," he said.
Since the military ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... in July, gunnies have stepped up attacks on security forces, killing scores of coppers and soldiers, mainly in northern Sinai.
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03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... urged Niger to explain its decision to extradite a son of late Libyan dictator Muammar Qadaffy ... who had more funny outfits than Louis XIV... on Thursday.
"We don't like him. He's icky and he smells funny."
"The authorities in Niger should explain why they were convinced that Saadi Qadaffy would not be mistreated and would get a fair trial," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East and North Africa director.
The New York-based group also pointed to the responsibilities of the Libyan authorities.
"Libya has the responsibility to see that Saadi Qadaffy gets his full due process rights. They should protect him from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; allow him visits from legal counsel, his family and medical personnel; and bring him promptly before a judge," it said.
Qadaffy, who is accused of murder and repression during the 2011 uprising that ended his father's rule, is in the custody of the judiciary's police, the Libyan government said.
Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... had repeatedly called for Saadi's extradition from Niger, which granted him asylum in 2011 on "humanitarian" grounds saying it had insufficient guarantees he would have a fair trial.
Tripoli charged he was sowing sedition from exile.
Niger said Thursday it handed over Qadaffy because it no longer felt he would face the risk of extrajudicial killing, and because it wanted to improve ties with Tripoli.
Marou Amadou, the justice minister and government front man, said the political situation had "changed" in Libya.
He added that Niger had tried to find another country to take Qadaffy, but "we didn't find any candidate."
But a group of NGOs in Niger condemned the extradition, warning that "the life of Saadi Qadaffy is under threat in Libya, which is a non-state with no security."
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03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[NY Times] Niger on Thursday extradited Saadi el-Qadaffy, the third son of Col. Muammar el-Qadaffy, back to Libya, where he is accused of participating in the corruption and abuses of his father's more than 40-year rule.
Libya has sought Mr. Qadaffy and other runaway members of his family since rebels toppled his father's government in 2011. But Libya's transitional government has shown little progress in building a credible or independent judiciary that might handle such high-profile cases, to say nothing of the problems it has found in creating a professional army, police force or prison system.
Niger's justice minister, Marou Amadou, said his country had accepted Mr. Qadaffy and members of his entourage "on the basis of certain conditions."
"They were enjoined to stay quiet and do nothing to destabilize Libya," he said. "And unfortunately, the Libyans gave us lots of information that they were not staying quiet. We couldn't keep harboring people who were taking actions that destabilized Libya."
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03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[NY Times] The violence in the Central African Republic jolted the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... Security Council into rare accord on Thursday, with La Belle France announcing that it would soon propose a resolution to establish a large and robust United Nations peacekeeping force and the United States expressing full-throated support.
United Nations officials have repeatedly warned of ethnic cleansing in the Central African Republic. On Thursday, they described to the Security Council a country where Mohammedans had fled their homes in response to rampaging Christian militias, where millions were living in chronic hunger and where state institutions had collapsed.
Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... this week recommended a force of nearly 12,000 soldiers and coppers to be deployed immediately to protect civilians, and eventually, civilian specialists to rebuild state institutions, from city halls to courts.
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03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Seleka
[DAWN] Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... has said commitment is required to overcome challenges like terrorism and energy crisis which are hampering the economic growth.
"It's hard to decide whether to improve security situation or to overcome energy crisis," said the prime minister at the inaugural ceremony of the 10th Pakistain Auto Show at Expo Centre here on Thursday. The three-day show has been organised by Pakistain Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (PAAPAM).
The prime minister promised fast track solutions to the issues confronting the auto industry.
"Provision of equal opportunities and a conducive environment for businesses is government's duty because if trade and industry thrive, the whole country prospers," said the prime minister while asking accompanying Federal Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir to discuss with the stakeholders issues like trade with India, imposition of GST on locally manufactured tractors, import of used cars etc.
"No correspondence, minister Sahib. Please sit with the industry people, listen to their grievances, redress the same on the spot if possible ...." said Sharif.
The government would extend all-out cooperation to the auto industry's endeavour to develop made in Pakistain or national car, said the prime minister while advising the organisers to further improve the standards of the event on the pattern of Geneva auto show and other such international exhibits.
Nawaz Sharif said seven years projects worth $32.69bn had been finalised in collaboration with China which would attract an annual foreign investment of $4bn.
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03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Pakistain's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Thursday announced the government was setting up a state committee to hold direct talks with the Taliban next week in a bid to accelerate the grinding of the peace processor.
Dialogue aimed at ending the Pak Taliban's seven-year insurgency, which has claimed thousands of lives, resumed on Wednesday following a two-week suspension after the gunnies killed 23 kidnapped soldiers.
The military retaliated with a series of air strikes that it said killed more than 100 bully boys, and the Taliban last weekend announced a month-long ceasefire.
But negotiations have so far been conducted through teams of go-betweens, which some observers say has hampered their effectiveness.
Thursday's announcement came hours after mediators representing the government and Taliban forces of Evil called for higher-level talks between the two sides following a breakfast meeting hosted by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
"It has been decided to accelerate the grinding of the peace processor, thus a negotiating committee (will) be formed which would be an official committee," Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told politicians in the National Assembly.
"The committee would have representatives from federal government and the provincial Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... government," Khan said, adding the government wanted to start direct talks with the Taliban within the next week.
"The prime minister will take parliamentary leaders into confidence after the start of direct talks," Khan added, saying existing avenues of communication would remain functional for liaison purposes.
Earlier in the day, the government's chief negotiator, Irfan Siddiqui, said the initial phase of peace talks had been completed and he had proposed direct talks with the Taliban.
"We have asked the prime minister to replace this committee with an effective forum," he said after Thursday's meeting with Sharif.
'Sensitive issues and demands'
"We believe that in the next phase, sensitive issues and demands will come up and we need to have a mechanism for direct contacts," Rahimullah Yusufzai, another government negotiator, told AFP
"We have proposed that those who have authority to make decisions should be part of this committee. There should be representatives from the government and the military in the committee."
On the Taliban side, chief negotiator Maulana Samiul Haq ...the Godfather of the Taliban, leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as Mullah Sandwich for his habit of having two young boys at a time... said his team was "satisfied with the round of talks this morning with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif."
"It was decided in the meeting that now the time has come to strengthen the committees and empower them more," he added.
Haq said his team might have to return to the Taliban's base in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistain in a day or two to report back to their leadership.
Observers have criticised the dialogue process for being a step removed from the real decision-makers, but analyst Imtiaz Gul said face-to-face contacts risked giving respectability to a banned bully boy outfit.
"It is a legitimate demand to have direct TTP representation in talks. However, a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... if that happens and the government representatives are sitting across the table, this could amount to lending legitimacy to an organization which the government has proscribed as a terrorist outfit," he told AFP.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain is the umbrella movement for the bully boys.
A statement issued by Sharif's office earlier said he was committed to peace.
"As prime minister it is my constitutional, religious, national, moral and human duty to stop the continuation of fire and blood and give peace to the country and citizens," it said.
The peace talks, which began in February, were a key campaign pledge for Sharif before he was elected to office for a third time last year.
But many analysts are sceptical about their chances for success, given the Taliban's demands for nationwide Sharia law and a withdrawal of troops from the lawless tribal zones.
Many regional deals between the military and the Taliban have failed in the past.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Surely the Pak army could wipe out the Taliban if they wanted to?
North WAziristan would be a start or have they got too many assets there?
Posted by: Paul D ||
03/07/2014 6:21 Comments ||
Top||
[DAWN] An Iraq-based bully boy group named the Ansar al-Islam has released a video of its new training camp, which is named after the Lal Masjid's Abdul Rasheed Ghazi. They have also apparently named a subdivision of their group after the Lal Masjid's controversial holy man. Rasheed Ghazi was killed in 2007 when an operation was conducted against the armed snuffies holed up inside the Lal Masjid in Islamabad. He was the brother of Abdul Aziz, the khateeb of the Lal Masjid.
The video starts, routinely enough, with a slickly edited training montage showing fighters of the Ansar al-Islam engaged in various exercises and posing for the camera, their faces covered by keffiyehs and pieces of cloth. Then, in a departure from the norm, the video segues into a tribute to Abdul Rasheed. In the beginning, what seems to be a 'message' from the late Abdul Rasheed Ghazi is read out, addressed to the "men of the ummah". While the voice-over is in Arabic, in one speech the speaker seems to be switching between Arabic and another language, most likely Kurdish.
In another part of the video, snuffies appear to be clad in traditional shalwar-like pants commonly worn by Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. This is in keeping with what is known about the Ansar al-Islam, a hardline bully boy group that operates in the Kurdish-dominated north of Iraq and aims at setting up a radical Islamist state. It was formerly called Ansar al-Sunnah and its membership is believed to be mostly Kurdish. The video then shows visuals of the Lal Masjid itself, along with the Jamia Hafsa and also visuals of troop deployment prior to the operation itself. The voice-over, which showers praise on the Lal Masjid bully boys, also condemns the government of Pakistain and the army for conducting the operation.
There is also a quote, attributed to the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse... , which refers to Ghazi as a hero. The Ansar al-Islam had previously released pictures from this camp, but this is the first known video of the actual camp.
The bully boys, who appear very well-trained, are shown practising hand-to-hand fighting, drilling hostage-taking scenarios and also demonstrating how to disarm opponents. The terrain seems to be that of a flat, rocky desert, and it is difficult to tell exactly where it may have been shot. At one point in the video the heavily armed snuffies are shown holding a banner with the organization's name: Jamaat Ansar al-Islam's Mu'askar al-Sheikh Rasheed Ghazi. This loosely translates as: Ansar al-Islam's Sheikh Rasheed Ghazi force.
Even more interesting is that the video ends with an Urdu jihadi anthem, interspersed with Arabic lines. While foreign bully boys, mostly of Arabic and Uzbek origin, have been known to operate in Pakistain, this is possibly the first time that a group has actually named itself after a Pak bully boyholy man. There is also anecdotal evidence suggesting that some Pak-origin snuffies may be fighting in Syria. Some reports suggests that Ansar al Islam has also sent fighters to Syria, where they operate under the name of Ansar al-Sham.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant
[Al Ahram] President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... has halted salary payments to scores of coppers loyal to a rival Paleostinian politician, deepening disarray within their U.S.-backed Fatah faction, officials said on Thursday.
They said Abbas's move appeared aimed at weakening Mohammed Dahlan, a former Gazoo Strip strongman who lives in Dubai but is widely expected to return to the Paleostinian territories to challenge the president and Fatah chairman.
That could spell a bitter and uncertain confrontation given Fatah's statutory limbo since Islamist Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, once its partner in the Paleostinian government, turned into a foe in 2007 and seized control of Gazoo during a brief civil war.
Fatah, which now holds sway only in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is due to hold a leadership election this year but that has yet to be scheduled. The schism with Hamas makes new national ballots nearly impossible, extending the term of Abbas, who was elected president in 2005.
Fatah official Sufian Abu Zayda said salaries had been suspended for 98 coppers who had worked under Dahlan in Gazoo before the Hamas takeover. Some of them have since moved to Egypt and the West Bank.
"We knew a month ago about the intention to suspend the salaries. By the time banks closed yesterday it was clear that nearly 100 people, 100 families, had lost their income," Abu Zayda told Rooters.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
Mohammed "Herb Tarlick" Dahlan
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/07/2014 22:25 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] An Egyptian court ban on Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, activities could push the increasingly isolated Paleostinian Islamist movement into another battle with Israel, analysts say.
The latest move marked a further deterioration in ties between Egypt and Hamas, which has close links to the Moslem Brüderbund of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... and is now the target of a sweeping crackdown by the military-installed government.
Since Morsi's overthrow, the Egyptian authorities have destroyed hundreds of tunnels along the border with the Hamas-ruled Gazoo Strip which had been used to bring in fuel and construction materials, as well as weapons and ammunition.
The loss of the tunnels has deepened the economic crisis in Gazoo, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2006, and a senior Hamas official warned the court's move could prompt a new confrontation with Israel.
"The situation between Egypt and Hamas has reached the point of no return," said Mukhaimar Abu Saada, political science professor at Gazoo's Al-Azhar University.
"For Hamas, the choices are extremely limited: reconciliation with (Western-backed Paleostinian) President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... , or open confrontation with Israel to embarrass Egypt and win the sympathy of the Arab world," he said.
"The latter option would be costly and risky."
On Tuesday, the Egyptian court banned Hamas from operating in the country and moved to seize its assets after accusing it of colluding with the Moslem Brüderbund to carry out attacks.
Gazooks celebrated in the streets when Morsi became Egypt's first freely elected leader in June 2012, a year and a half after Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... was toppled by an Arab Spring uprising.
But last year, the Egyptian army overthrew Morsi following massive protests against his divisive ...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled... rule and has since designated the Moslem Brüderbund a terrorist organization.
The destruction of the border tunnels is costing Gazoo $230 million (170 million euros) a month, Hamas says. Government workers say they have not been paid in four months.
Bassem Naim, an adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, told AFP the court ruling was "shocking", and said he hoped it would not translate into "restrictions on people's movement".
Egypt has severely restricted access through the border town of Rafah -- Gazoo's only gate to the world that is not controlled by Israel -- ostensibly for security reasons.
Ezzat al-Rishq, a Hamas official close to the movement's exiled leader Khaled Meshaal, said the ruling "will open the door to new (Israeli) aggression and war against Gazoo".
A fragile Egypt-mediated ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that ended a bloody eight-day conflict in November 2012 has brought more than a year of relative calm, with Hamas policing its borders to prevent rocket fire by rogue krazed killers.
Gazoo-based political analyst Hani Habib downplayed the court ruling as "a formality which will have little additional impact," saying border restrictions are nothing new and that Hamas has no offices or major assets in Egypt.
But Adnan Abu Amr, a politics professor at Gazoo's Ummah University, said: "A final, definitive break between Egypt and Hamas would mean increased pressure on Gazoo, meaning that it could blow up in Egypt or Israel's faces."
Political analyst Naji Sharab said the best option for Hamas would be to reconcile with Abbas's Fatah party, its Paleostinian rival based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
But that would require Hamas to moderate its core belief that Israel must be destroyed and accept U.S.-brokered peace negotiations -- which it has staunchly refused to do.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
I wish Hamas would---especially now when hysteric Progressive Humanity is distracted with Ukrainian crisis.
#2
the conflict between hamas and fatah does have an ideological component but its also personal and tribal; hundreds or even thousands of fatah operatives have been killed or tortured by hamas and visa versa
simply put, hamas and fatah hate each other
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/07/2014 8:44 Comments ||
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[Al Ahram] Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday rejected as "lies" an Israeli claim that it intercepted a ship carrying advanced rockets sent by Tehran to the Gazoo Strip.
"An Iranian ship carrying arms for Gazoo. Captured just in time for annual (pro-Israel lobby) AIPAC anti Iran campaign. Amazing Coincidence! Or same failed lies," Zarif wrote on Twitter, referring to a pro-Israel lobby group.
Israel intercepted the "Klos-C" in the Red Sea on Wednesday, saying Syrian-made weapons aboard had been shipped overland to Iran and then onward by sea, intended for Paleostinian bully boyz in Gazoo.
The annual policy conference of the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was held Tuesday in Washington, and was addressed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a meeting with the US President Barack Obama Jedi mind meld... , Netanyahu said Iran was the most urgent threat for Israel.
"The claim of sending a ship carrying Iranian weapons to Gazoo is not true," Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian was quoted as saying by official IRNA news agency.
"This claim is merely based on the repetitive and unfounded lies of the Zionist media" aimed at derailing negotiations between world powers and Iran over its contested nuclear programme, he said.
In November, Tehran struck an interim deal with the six powers under which it agreed to scale back uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief.
Obama threatened the congress in January to veto any new sanctions against Iran, since they would endanger the nuclear talks.
Iranian media said the allegation of the "imaginary ship" was a mutually hatched plot by the United States and Israel to put pressure on Tehran and its allies.
"It paves the way for intensifying pressure and Congress ratifying new sanctions against Iran as well as intensifying political and military measures against Syria," analyst Reza Seraj told Fars news agency.
"By linking Syria to Russia, they want to use the issue as leverage to gain political milage in Ukraine."
Iran has been a key regional supporter to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... as he has battled an armed uprising that erupted in March 2011.
Tehran is also a strategic allay of Russia which is at loggerheads with the West for sending its troops to Ukraine's flashpoint Crimea region.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Again, it looks like all sides agree publicly that such a thing would be evil.
[An Nahar] Syria's Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... has expressed his "solidarity" with Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... 's position on the crisis in Ukraine, state media reported on Thursday.
In a telegram, Assad "expressed... Syria's solidarity with Putin's efforts to restore security and stability to Ukraine in the face of attempted coups against legitimacy and democracy in favor of radical terrorists", state news agency SANA said.
Assad praised Putin for "wise politicianship and commitment to international legitimacy based on the law that governs ties between nations and peoples".
He said Syria was committed to "President Putin's rational, peace-loving approach that seeks to establish a global system supporting stability and fighting extremism and terrorism".
Posted by: Fred ||
03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Negotiators have lost contact with a group of nuns kidnapped from a Syrian town last year after their captors moved them, a source told AFP on Thursday.
The 13 nuns and three maids were kidnapped from the famed Christian hamlet of Maalula last year and transported to the nearby town of Yabrud, a rebel stronghold the army is fighting to recapture.
"I was in regular contact with them, but since yesterday we've lost contact," a source involved in negotiations said.
"It is very likely that they have been transferred to the region between Yabrud and the Lebanese border" nearby, the source said.
"Contacts are underway to try to ensure their safety."
The source said the kidnappers were from a group belonging to the Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front led by a man called Abu Malek al-Kuwaiti.
She said they had presented negotiators with a list of demands including the release of all women held in government prisons and the withdrawal of regime forces from Christian religious sites.
The kidnappers also asked for the provision of food to residents of rebel-held areas in the region and "military demands to do with the battle of Yabrud," the source.
"Things that are difficult to achieve," the source added.
The nuns, from both Syria and Leb, were kidnapped from a convent in Maalula in December, as regime and rebel forces battled for control in the surrounding Qalamun region.
They were moved to Yabrud, a rebel stronghold that has become the last opposition holdout in the Qalamun region and now at the center of fierce regime campaign.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The Syrian opposition rejected a proposal by former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford for the rebels to negotiate with Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... and other factions fighting alongside Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... 's troops as part of a political solution to the civil war.
In remarks published Thursday, the front man of the Syrian National Coalition, Louay Safi, said: "We only negotiate with the Syrians and we won't accept the participation of foreign militias that kill the Syrian people in the political solution."
The opposition won't surrender to the status-quo after three years of struggle, he said.
Ford, who stepped down on Friday, has recently said that the negotiations to resolve the civil war should include gangs, including Hizbullah, which has sent its fighters to Syria in support of Assad.
Ford left the Syrian capital in 2011, when the popular uprising against Assad turned into a bloody civil war.
The United States has closed its embassy in Damascus but has not cut off diplomatic ties with Syria, despite repeated condemnation of the Assad regime.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[UK.REUTERS] Syria will miss a major deadline next week in the programme to destroy its chemical weapons production facilities, sources at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said on Thursday.
Syria declared 12 production facilities to the OPCW and has until March 15 to destroy them under a deal agreed with the United States and Russia. Damascus has already missed several deadlines laid out in the agreement.
"That will definitely be missed," said an official involved in discussions with Syria, referring to the March 15 deadline.
The official, who asked not to be identified, said there were seven "hardened" aircraft hangars and five underground facilities. "None of them have been destroyed at the moment," the official said.
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 Nahar] Branded by Kenyan authorities as an epicentre for the indoctrination and recruitment of Islamic
An expected drive to purge Islamist rebels from southern Somalia risks pushing them north into an area at the tip of the Horn of Africa better known for its coastal pirates than al Shabaab insurgents.
[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisia could soon offer financial rewards to citizens who help authorities capture terrorists.
But the Egyptian authorities stopped them at Cairo airport, and have already deported Northern Irish Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire and American anti-war activist Medea Benjamin who wanted to join the delegation.
[NY Times] Niger on Thursday extradited Saadi el-Qadaffy, the third son of Col. Muammar el-Qadaffy, back to Libya, where he is accused of participating in the corruption and abuses of his father's more than 40-year rule.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
Nawaz Sharif
[Al Ahram] President 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] Syria's 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
