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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Adam Gadahn finally actually dead
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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Afghanistan
Adam Gadahn finally actually dead

The decade long manhunt for Gadahn ended in January when he was killed during the U.S. counter-terrorism operation announced by President Obama announced on Thursday that also accidentally killed two innocent hostages.
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/23/2015 11:54 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Killed in January but announced now? What will be released late Friday night that the administration is trying to distract attention from?
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 04/23/2015 13:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Happy goats?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/23/2015 13:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Earnest P Worrell stepping all over his answers.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/23/2015 13:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Does he get 72 goats?
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/23/2015 14:05 Comments || Top||

#5  Hopefully the goats get him.
Posted by: gorb || 04/23/2015 14:16 Comments || Top||

#6  A roadkill comparison in the photo might be better.

Bid rocks are not easily manipulated and at least have some 'character'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 04/23/2015 16:02 Comments || Top||

#7  Ululululululululul *deep breath* ulululululululululu...

Another one discovers his outcome is Hell rather than Paradise, and all the houris are long-tailed devils instead of beautiful maidens.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 19:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Maybe they are met by 72 VIRGINIANS - or more. Like the 125 killed at the Pentagon on 9/11.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 04/23/2015 20:24 Comments || Top||

#9  Hey AQ - if you like your Gadahn you can keep your Gadahn.

Good riddance Goat Boy.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy || 04/23/2015 23:07 Comments || Top||


Africa North
LNA claims to cut coastal highway west of Tripoli
[LibyaHerald] Heavy fighting
... as opposed to the more usual name-calling or slapsy...
between Libya Dawn
...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar...
forces and those of the Libyan National Army (LNA) have continued today at a number of locations west and south west of 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...
The LNA says it has taken Zahra, 30 kilometres from Tripoli International Airport and one of the main towns in the Warshafana area. It also claims to have closed the coastal highway at Bridge 27, between Tripoli and Zawia. The bridge is next to Camp 27, itself much fought over last summer but since then held by Libya Dawn.

Libya Dawn media confirm the capture of Zahra and of festivities near the highway which it says has been shelled by the LNA. But it counter claims that it closed the coastal road for security reasons.

The developments follow unconfirmed reports that the largest Libya Dawn, Al-Halboos, from Misrata, has pulled out its forces in the district after agreement with Warshfana elders. Rumours of negotiations between the Misratans and the Zintanis and Warshefana have been circulating for several days.

Elsewhere, it is reported from Sabratha that two local Dawn fighters were killed in fierce festivities south of the historic town. Sabratha supports Dawn.

There are also continuing festivities near Gharyan at Hosh Siteen and Abu Sheiba. An agreement is reported between Zintan and Gharyan on exchanging the bodies of their dead fighters.

UPDATE: The coastal highway was reported reopened this evening.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Further clashes in Tripoli
[LibyaHerald] There has been fresh unrest in 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...
today, this time in central district of Zawiat Al-Dahmani. It saw local residents hurrying for the safety of their own homes.

Trouble broke out when a security guard at the Wataniya TV headquarters just beyond the foreign ministry on Al-Shat road was shot and killed by another military man belonging to the security authority known the Sixth Force. It is headquartered nearby.

Family and friends of the dead man this afternoon attacked the headquarters and set it on fire.

There are reports that the initial attack was linked to Dire Revenge for last weeks events in neighbouring Fasloum but this has not been confirmed. The situation in Fashloum and in Tajoura is still very tense. In Fashloum, where many homes and shops were damaged because of the festivities, the Tripoli government has promised compensation but there is a weariness that the promises will not materialise.

Meanwhile,
...back at the argument, Livia grabbed for Jane's hair to make her point. Jane elbowed her in the face in rebuttal...
the closure of the coastal highway to Zawia triggered queues at petrol stations in Tripoli; supplies come to the capital along the route.

This evening residents across the city are were returning early to their homes and closing the doors behind them. "The best thing to do is to stay at home since the early evening with my kids away from any danger," one resident has told the Libya Herald.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Algeria Army Kills Three Armed Islamists
[AnNahar] Algerian troops killed three armed Islamists and recovered weapons and ammunition west of Algiers on Wednesday, the defense ministry said.

The three were killed at around 1:00 am (0200 GMT) in an ambush close to the town of Hamman Righa, around 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the capital, said a statement on the ministry website.

The operation seized three automatic rifles, ammunition and several hand grenades, as well as binoculars and mobile phones, it added.

Violence involving Islamists in Algeria has fallen considerably since the civil war of the 1990s, but groups linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb still carry out some attacks, mostly on security forces.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Arabia
Yemen Rebels Free Defense Minister, President Brother
A goodwill gesture? The Houthis must be feeling pain to do that.
[AnNahar] Rebels in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
have released the defense minister, a brother of the exiled president and another general held since late March, a source close to mediators said Wednesday.

"Defence Minister General Mahmud al-Subaihi, General Nasser Mansour Hadi (the president's brother), and (army) General Faisal Rajab have been freed," the source said.

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's brother is the intelligence deputy chief in charge of the southern provinces of Aden, Abyan
...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues...
and restive Lahj
... a Yemeni governate located in the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It is the stomping grounds on the southern secessionist al-Harak movement
Mediation efforts for the trio's release were led by General Awad bin Farid, head of the military police in Ataq, capital of the southern province of Shabwa.

He is known for his close ties to the Shiite Houthis who had been holding them, the source said.

The trio left the Huthi-held capital Sanaa on Wednesday and were on their way towards Ataq, the source said.

The move came after a Saudi-led coalition carrying out air strikes against the rebels since March 26 announced on Tuesday an end to the first phase of its operations.

Observers said the trio's release appeared to be a goodwill gesture by the rebels, whose leaders have been sanctioned under a UN Security Council resolution passed this month.

Subaihi escaped house arrest at the hands of the Huthis in late March but was soon seized by the rebels in Lahj.

President Hadi fled to Riyadh last month and was joined by several members of his government.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


7 Qaida Suspects Killed in Yemen Drone Strike
[AnNahar] Seven suspected Al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons were killed in an apparent U.S. drone strike on the Yemeni port city of Mukalla which the jihadists overran earlier this month, a local official said on Wednesday.

The overnight strike hit a vehicle parked near the presidential palace in Mukalla, capital of Hadramawt province, witnessed said.

The United States, whose intelligence agencies consider the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000...
(AQAP) to be the most dangerous branch of the jihadist network, is the only country that operates drones over the war-torn country.

On April 14, AQAP announced the death of one of its ideological leaders, Ibrahim al-Rubaish, in a similar drone strike in Hadramawt.

Al-Qaeda has exploited fighting between rebels and beleaguered government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition to consolidate its grip on the southeastern province.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has acknowledged that Al-Qaeda is gaining ground but has vowed that Washington will keep up its battle against the group.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Yemen Huthis Demand Complete End to Attacks, Seek Talks amid New Coalition Raids
[AnNahar] Iranian catspaws in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
on Wednesday demanded a complete end to attacks by a Saudi-led coalition as a condition for U.N.-sponsored talks, a day after the alliance declared an end to the first phase of its operations.

"We demand, after a complete end to the aggression against Yemen and the lifting of the blockade, to resume political dialogue... under the sponsorship of the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
," Mohammed Abdulsalam, the front man for the Houthis, said in a statement.

Saudi-led warplanes launched new strikes Wednesday on rebel positions in Yemen's third city Taez after the coalition had warned it stood ready to counter any advance by the rebels and their allies.

The Houthis' front man praised the United Nations' "positive efforts and its declared support for national dialogue."

His remarks came despite the U.N. Security Council's adoption last week of a resolution that slapped sanctions on the rebels and demanded they immediately withdraw from territory seized.

The U.N. had sponsored a Gulf-brokered peace deal that eased former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
out of office in February 2012, ending a year of nationwide bloody protests against his three decades of iron-fisted rule.

But the U.N. envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, resigned last week after he lost Gulf countries' support, according to diplomats.

Meanwhile,
...back at the wrecked scow, Agent 49 felt gingerly for his head. It was still there. He had been hoping differently...
ground fighting between the rebels and forces loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi raged on in a string of battleground towns, including the second city of Aden as well as Taez, in a blow to U.S.-led calls for renewed peace talks.

In Taez, the rebels took advantage of the lull in air strikes to overrun the headquarters of the 35th Armoured Brigade, loyal to Hadi, which they had besieged for nearly a week, an army officer said.

The Saudi-led coalition hit back with air strikes against rebel positions inside the captured camp and elsewhere in the city.

The fighting left "dozens dead and maimed", the officer told AFP.

The World Health Organization says at least 944 people have been killed in Yemen since March 19 and there were calls from all sides for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  Hudna! Airstrikes and cutting off resupply must be working
Posted by: Frank G || 04/23/2015 9:10 Comments || Top||


Europe
Italy arrests Tunisian suspected of trying to fight in Syria
[Ynet] Italian police said Wednesday they have detained a 27-year-old Tunisian resident suspected of preparing to join the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group in Syria.

Italia's anti-terrorism police said that they detained the suspect, identified as Louati Noussair, 27, in Ravenna as he was preparing to leave for Germany en route to Syria. A previous attempt to reach Syria by flying to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
failed due to problems with his passport.

Police said he had made contact over Facebook with a Paleostinian fighter to organize the journey, and that he planned to raise travel money by selling drugs. Noussair, who has been living in Ravenna, is married to an Italian woman but police say she apparently was unaware of his plans.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


'Stay-at-Home' Jihadists Pose New Threat, Dutch Warn
[AnNahar] While European intelligence focuses on the dangers of Islamist fighters returning from Iraq or Syria, the Netherlands warned Wednesday of the growing threat from radicalized Moslems who have never left home.

These "stay-at-home" turbans are sometimes "frustrated after failing to join the fight" in the Middle East," the Dutch security service AIVD said in its annual report.

They could also never have had the intention of going to the battlefield but "get radicalized at home by the propaganda of groups such as Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
," which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria, it said.

Around 180 Dutch nationals have traveled to join Islamic State or other Islamist groups, according to the latest figures. Around 20 have been killed in fighting, and 35 have returned to the Netherlands.

The report said there were "several hundred" jihadists in the Netherlands at the moment, and "thousands" of sympathizers.

The would-be jihadists pose a threat to the Netherlands as they could act on calls by Islamic State leaders to carry out domestic attacks in response to air strikes on areas under their control.

"They feel close to a group without belonging to it and could end up committing violent crimes," the AIVD said, noting that their varied profiles make them difficult to identify: they could be highly educated or have left school early, religious or adventurous, Moroccan, Turkish, Caribbean or Dutch.

An increasing number of women are also joining Islamist groups, around a quarter of the total, according to the AIVD, while around 30 children with a Dutch parent currently live in Islamist-controlled territory, half of whom were born there.

Those returning to the Netherlands are not necessarily a threat as many of them have been disappointed by their first-hand experiences of jihad.

"The romantic image of a glorious fight against the infidel can be very different to the reality on the ground," the AIVD said. "They might find themselves doing the cleaning or washing up instead."
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Salafists

#1  Perceptive of them
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/23/2015 0:56 Comments || Top||

#2  I swear! You can't make some people happy. They bitch if they leave, they bitch if they stay.
News flash: You're never going to make these people into well rounded poulders.
(Of course, with the Dutch, there's always the same solution they used with the South Moluccans...)
Posted by: ed in texas || 04/23/2015 15:08 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
U.S. Teen 'Seduced' by IS Ideology, Convicted on Gun Charge
[AnNahar] A 16-year-old American accused of planning to join the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group has been found guilty of illegal possession of a firearm in South Carolina, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

The teenager, who has not been identified because he is a minor, conspired with another person to travel to the Middle East with the intention of joining IS and "perhaps cause trouble in the United States," prosecutor Kevin Brackett alleged.

Because South Carolina does not have anti-terrorism laws, the youth was convicted on Tuesday of illegal possession of a handgun, an offense punishable by up to five years in prison, Brackett said.

"He was seduced by the ideology of ISIS," the prosecutor told AFP.

"I don't know specifically that ISIS reached out to him personally. But he was in contact with people in North Carolina who shared his views and he had embraced this sort of radical Islamic ideology and he wanted to travel to the Middle East to join ISIS and join that cause," he said.
And now the authorities know who they are, so the NSA can pull up the records of all their little friends and relations.
During the Tuesday hearing in the town of York, Brackett alleged that the youth wanted to use the handgun to shoot US military personnel.

The youth, who was tossed in the calaboose
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
in February, apologized to the court for his actions and said he did not intend to carry out his plans.

"I just regret it," he said, adding he wanted "to go back to school, I want to change everything I did."
Sorry, kid. Darwin always wins.
Audio of his comments were posted on the website of The Herald, a local newspaper.

His conviction followed the arrest of six Somali Americans from Minnesota who allegedly planned to travel to Syria to join IS.

They were charged on Monday with conspiring to support a terrorist organization.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Another teen bonehead who filled his young head with ideological scat.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/23/2015 16:11 Comments || Top||

#2  He may (may he?) soon experience another type of seduction.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 04/23/2015 19:23 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Police file charge sheets against 16 'MQM workers'
[Dawn] KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
on Wednesday accepted charges pressed by police against 16 men said to be affiliated with Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
(MQM) who were enjugged
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
during the March 11 raid on Nine-Zero.

The charge sheets were submitted for illegal possession of weapons and kabooms, and include Ubaid K-2, Faisal Mota, Nadir Shah, Amir Khan, Rasheed Ahmed, Abdul Qadir, Amboro Nabeel, Imtiaz Amir, Rizwan Tauseef, Noman Asif among others.

It may be recalled that 26 suspects were booked in connection with the recovery of illicit weapons and kabooms allegedly recovered from Nine Zero.

Meanwhile,
...back at the palazzo, Don Smilzo looked for an avenue of escape. The only window opened a hundred feet above the moat. The nearest of the hired assassins hold a bloody axe.
The window was looking better all the time....

the court directed the Investigating Officer (IO) to submit charge sheets against the remaining 10 suspects.

Last month, around 100 suspects were picked up by Rangers personnel near Nine Zero, the headquarters of MQM during early morning raids. Over 60 suspects were placed under a 90-day preventive detention by the paramilitary force -- including Rabita committee member Amir Khan.

Twenty six suspects were handed to police who booked them in 26 cases pertaining to illegal possession of weapons and kabooms.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Seven security personnel injured in South Waziristan clash
[Dawn] PESHAWAR: Seven security personnel were maimed during a clash in South Wazoo on Tuesday night.

According to a security official, snuffies attacked a checkpost in Ladha Tehsil's area of Ziarat as a result of which seven security personnel sustained injuries.

The attack was successfully repulsed after which krazed killer hide-outs were targeted with aerial strikes, security sources said.

In another incident last night, a group of snuffies from Afghanistan attacked the Nawa Pass security checkpost in Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central
...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth...
. The snuffies were successfully held off, however, two security personnel sustained injuries.

The semi-autonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border have for years been a hideout for Islamist snuffies of all stripes, including Al Qaeda and the Pak Taliban as well as imported muscle such as Uzbeks and Uighurs.

Pakistain began a long-awaited push to clear turban bases from North Waziristan last June after a bloody Taliban attack on Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
airport finally sank faltering peace talks.

People temporarily displaced from Waziristan and Khyber Agency have started returning home, and by July about 600,000 of them would be back in their areas in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

Governor Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
Mehtab Ahmed Khan Abbasi had previously said that a proper plan for the rehabilitation of the displaced people had been made, which would also help improve relations between the state and the citizens.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Bombings in Iraqi capital kill 10
[Rudaw] Two kabooms in Baghdad killed at least 10 people on Wednesday, Iraqi officials said.

Police officials said a boom-mobile went off at noon Wednesday near a car repair shop in an eastern district, killing seven people and wounding 16 others. The blast also damaged several shops and cars. Security forces sealed off the area.

Later, a kaboom killed three people and maimed six on a commercial street in a southwestern neighborhood, police officials said.

A medical official confirmed the casualty figures from both attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

The attacks come as Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led Arclight airstrikes are battling Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
gunnies across northern and western Iraq.

No group immediately grabbed credit for the Baghdad bombings. The Islamic State, a Sunni Lion of Islam group, has claimed past attacks targeting security forces and the country's Shiite majority.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Sunni tribesmen fight their own after breaking with ISIS group
[Rudaw] MAKHMOUR, Iraq -- When Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
holy warriors swept across northern Iraq last summer, the Sunni al-Lehib tribe welcomed them as revolutionaries fighting the Shiite-led government in Baghdad. But less than a year later, the tribe is bitterly split between those who joined the bully boy group and those resisting its brutal rule.

The tribe hails from a village just south of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, Iraq's second largest city, which was captured by the ISIS last year. Like many Sunnis in northern Iraq, they initially welcomed the Islamic State group as liberators.

"We were happy when Daesh came," tribal leader Nazhan Sakhar said, using an acronym for the bully boy group. "We thought they were going to Baghdad to establish a government. But then they started killing our own people. It turned out they were the same as al-Qaeda."

Now he leads a group of around 300 fighters who have reluctantly allied with Iraqi troops and Kurdish forces to fight the ISIS group -- and fellow rustics who still support the bully boys.

Iraq's Sunnis have complained of discrimination and abuse since the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led dictatorship and replaced it with an elected government dominated by the country's Shiite majority. That discontent fueled the rise of the Sunni ISIS group and paved the way for its takeover of much of northern and western Iraq last year.

The government is now trying to rally Sunni support, which will be key to defeating the ISIS group. But for many Sunnis that poses a dilemma, forcing them to choose between faceless myrmidons who reserve their worst brutality for suspected traitors, and what many see as a sectarian government with a history of broken promises.

Sakhar once fought with the Sahwas, or Awakening Councils, which were made up of Sunni rustics and former gunnies who allied themselves with the US military starting in 2006 to help roll back al-Qaeda in Iraq, a precursor of the ISIS group. But the Shiite-led government never warmed to the Sahwas, and as US troops withdrew support for the fighters dwindled.

Sakhar said this time around he is getting some help, with each fighter receiving his first monthly paycheck from Baghdad, of around $600.

But they have struggled to arm themselves. "We received weapons from (Kurdish) peshmerga forces, but it wasn't enough. Then we bought the rest of the weapons with our own personal money," he said. He said he has spent $150,000 on weapons, including a heavy machine gun, five lighter machine guns, a pickup truck and two rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

Sakhar says his men will need more arms to drive the ISIS group out of Mosul and surrounding areas. He also said that with more weapons he could triple the size of his fighting force to 1,000 men, but that many rustics are holding back for now for fear they won't be able to defend themselves.

His decision to ally with Iraqi troops brings grave risks. The Islamic State group has massacred the men, women and kiddies of Sunni tribes who rise up against it. Sakhar says he is second on an Islamic State hit list and has survived numerous liquidation attempts, including one last week. He points out the bullet-hole in his car.

He also laments the fact that he is now battling against his former neighbors and fellow rustics.

"We are sure that a lot of the people who are fighting with Daesh now come from our tribe," he said. "I am sad for this situation, but they chose the wrong path."
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Peshmerga weed out IS infiltrators near Tel Afar
Posted by: frozen al || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Peshmerga weed? Duude!
Posted by: SteveS || 04/23/2015 1:41 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Kurds intensify anti-ISIS operations in Syria’s Hasakah
[AraNews] On Tuesday the Kurdish forces of the People's Protection Units (YPG) launched an extensive assault in the countryside of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) in an attempt to eradicate Lions of Islam of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(IS/ISIS) in the province of Hasakah, in northeastern Syria, military sources said.

Speaking to ARA News, A.B., a YPG fighter in Sere Kaniye's frontline said (under the condition of anonymity) that the Kurdish forces mobilized some 380 fighters into the anti-IS major frontline, aiming at breaking into IS-held positions and fortifications in the southern countryside of the city of Sere Kaniye in the province of Hasakah.

"While heavy battles continued between the two sides (YPG-IS) in western Sere Kaniye, the Kurdish forces, covered by the U.S.-led international coalition's warplanes, reported a fresh advancement in the western areas of the city," the source added.

"Several IS-held headquarters were hit with guided missiles by the coalition's warplanes, causing the death of a number of IS Death Eaters and the destruction of two armored vehicles," the source told ARA News.

The same source confirmed that the Kurdish units seized control of the al-Warat area after IS withdrawal, while the festivities continued until the early morning hours, coinciding with intensified raids by the international coalition's warplanes on the area of Abu Bakr and the surrounding villages in the western parts of in the town of Ameriya.

However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning...
opposition activists reported that IS bandidos bully boys were able to regain control of al-Warat area in a few hours following the Kurdish control of it.

The YPG-IS festivities left dozens of dead and maimed in the ranks of the two parties where the radical group (IS) was able to pile the Kurdish fighters' corpses on the ground, while many Lions of Islam corpses were burned as a result of the U.S.-led coalition's warplanes in Hasakah province.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syrian rebels attack regime positions in Aleppo
[AraNews] On Tuesday, clashes renewed between Syrian rebels and pro-regime forces in the Rashideen and Salahuddin districts of Aleppo in northern Syria, amid attempts by opposition fighters to advance in the strategic neighborhood of Rashideen which is considered a main supply line to the pro-regime forces in Aleppo.

Speaking to ARA News in Aleppo, documentation activist Mohammed al-Zahrawi said that the clashes began with the early morning hours in the southwestern part of the neighborhood of Rashideen where the opposition forces were able to seize new buildings following the partial withdrawal of pro-Assad forces.

At least two pro-regime solders were killed in the clashes, while the armed opposition lost four of its fighters during Tuesday’s operations.

In the Salahuddin district, fierce clashes broke out Tuesday where the pro-regime forces tried to regain some of the buildings overlooking an intelligence unit.

“The clashes continued until midnight Tuesday,” said al-Zahrawi.

In the meantime, media activist Mohammed Jamal stated to ARA News that regime-launched barrel bombs and rocket attacks continue on the opposition-held neighborhoods and some towns and villages in the countryside of Aleppo.

“A rocket landed in the al-Mashhad neighborhood, while several shells dropped on both the Shaar and Hulk neighborhoods, causing dozens of casualties among civilians,” Jamal reported.

“The Ansari neighborhood in Aleppo saw artillery shelling on Monday night, while the towns of Anadan, Huraytan and Hayan in the northern countryside witnessed barrel bombs’ attacks,” the source told ARA News, pointing out that the pro-regime warplanes targeted the outskirts of Kafr Hamra (north of the city), with machine guns.

ARA News couldn’t verify the numbers of casualties in the targeted areas.

The Syrian regime forces and warplanes launched an intensified bombing campaign on the neighborhoods and towns held by the armed opposition over the past ten days, causing dozens of casualties between dead and injured, most of them were reportedly civilians.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


70 Syrian soldiers killed in Nusra-led attack near Idlib
[AraNews] Militant fighters of al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
Front (Syria's branch of al-Qaeda) were reportedly engaged in festivities against Syrian regime forces in the countryside of Idlib.

The festivities took place in the city of Ariha of Idlib province during the last two days. Pro-Nusra sources reported the death of at least 70 soldiers of the regime's army during the festivities.

The al-Nusra Front issued a statement, of which ARA News received a copy, saying that a number of jihadists (jacket wallahs) were able to infiltrate a regime-held military center in Ariha city, west of Idlib, and carry out "a strategic operation against the Syrian regime forces and Shiite militias there".

The Front confirmed that its fighters fought fierce festivities with what it called "thugs" who were stationed in a secondary-school building and a health clinic in the city, adding that two of their fighters carried out a "jihadist" operation in the regime-held center.

"The operation resulted in the death of more than 70 soldiers, including fighters from the Lebanese Shiite faceless myrmidons of Hezbollah who support the Syrian regime in those areas," the statement added.

Ariha is a strategic city held by the Syrian regime in the countryside of Idlib, through which the road linking Aleppo and Latakia on the Mediterranean coast passes, which is deemed a major supply line for the regime forces in Aleppo.

The Syrian armed opposition factions backed by Islamic Brigades and the al-Nusra Front took control of the city of Idlib last March after forming a Joint Operations Chamber under the name of the "al-Fateh Army".
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Syria activists say 23 killed in government airstrikes
[Rudaw] Syrian government aircraft bombed rebel-held areas in the capital's suburbs and a northern town and surrounding villages controlled by the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group, including a strike on a local hospital, killing at least 23 people Wednesday, activists said.

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Arclight airstrikes on the town of Dayr Hafir and surrounding villages in the northern province of Aleppo killed at least 12 people, including women and kiddies, and maimed at least 40. The group said the casualty figures are likely to rise.

Activist Abu al-Hassan Marea, who is based near the town, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named the Arclight airstrikes in Dayr Hafir hit a local hospital, killing at least 21 people, mostly civilians and medics. The Aleppo Media Center activist group said the strike on the hospital killed 23, mostly civilians.

Marea said another Arclight airstrike on a nearby village, also held by Islamic State fighters, killed seven people.

The discrepancies in the casualty figures could not be immediately reconciled, but such differences are common in the chaotic aftermath of attacks in Syria.

Aleppo, once Syria's commercial center, has been carved up into areas controlled by the government and others controlled by an array of rebels since an opposition offensive in mid-2012. Long a stronghold for Syrian rebels, the area, a strategic stretch because of its proximity to the Turkish border, has been a flash point since the Islamic State group advanced into the region several months ago.

Also Wednesday, the Observatory said government Arclight airstrikes killed at least 11 people, including two women, in rebel-held areas in the suburbs of the capital Damascus, and maimed others.

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group that tracks the Syrian civil war, also said 11 people from the suburbs Harasta and Douma were killed, including the two women.

The government repeatedly has targeted rebel strongholds in the capital's suburbs. The rebels have carried out mortar and rocket attacks that occasionally reach areas near the city center.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


At Least 42 Dead in Rebel-IS Clashes near Damascus
[AnNahar] At least 42 fighters were killed in 24 hours of fierce fighting between Salafist tough guys and the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group in Syria's Damascus province, a monitoring group said Wednesday.

"At least 30 Salafist tough guys and 12 fighters from IS were killed in fighting since Tuesday" in the hilly region of Qalamun, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Qalamun is divided into a western portion, which borders Leb and is mostly controlled by the regime and its ally, Leb's 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...
.

The eastern sector has seen intense festivities between rebels and IS, and is strategic because it borders the "badiya," the Syrian steppe.

These plains are used by rebels to transport weapons from the Turkish border to the north and the Jordanian frontier in the south.

According to the Britannia-based Observatory, IS has already cut off one of these routes and aims to take more to "suffocate" the rebels.

Meanwhile,
...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout the long-awaited message arrived. They quickly got to work with their decoder rings...
13 civilians, including nine children, were killed Tuesday night in shelling in the northwest province of Idlib, whose quiet provincial capital was overrun by al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate and allied rebels.

Among them, a man and five children, three of them sisters, were killed in a regime air raid on Maarat al-Numan.

Seven others, including a couple and their four children, were killed by rebel shelling on Jisr al-Shughur, one of the last regime-held cities in Idlib province.

Since they lost control of Idlib city, regime forces have been trying to chip away at opposition-controlled parts of the province to protect their supply route between Ariha and Jisr al-Shughur.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Terror Networks
U.S.-led coalition target ISIS weaponry
[AraNews] United States and allies conducted a new round of Arclight airstrikes against gunnies of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
in Syria and Iraq over the last two days.

The U.S. Central Command reported in an official statement on Tuesday that the international coalition's warplanes targeted the radical group with six Arclight airstrikes in Syria and 22 similar raids in Iraq.

The coalition's strikes in Syria were concentrated on the countryside of Kobane and the province of Hasakah.

The U.S.-led strikes hit IS-held tactical units and checkpoints, as well as armored vehicles and fighting positions, according to the statement.

The coalition warplanes new raids in Iraq focused on tactical units of the Islamic State in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, al-Huwayjah, Bayji, Sinjar, Tal Afar, Fallujah and Ramadi.

The U.S. Central Command said that these new strikes against the radical group were aimed at weakening their positions and military capacities in the targeted areas, adding that a weapons factory held by the group in Mosul was a main target during Tuesday's strikes.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/23/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
32[untagged]
10Islamic State
2Govt of Syria
2Govt of Iran
2Govt of Pakistan
2Houthis
1Salafists
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1Taliban
1al-Nusra
1Moro Islamic Liberation Front
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Commies
1Narcos

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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2015-04-23
  Adam Gadahn finally actually dead
Wed 2015-04-22
  IS “crucifies” family in Derna
Tue 2015-04-21
  Iraqi security official: heavy fight continues in Ramadi
Mon 2015-04-20
  Clashes, Saudi-led Air Strikes Kill 85 in Yemen
Sun 2015-04-19
  IS claims Responsibility for Deadly Afghan Bombing
Sat 2015-04-18
  ANZAC Day terror plot foiled in Melbourne
Fri 2015-04-17
  Top Saddam aide Izzat al-Douri killed
Thu 2015-04-16
  BIFF names new chief
Wed 2015-04-15
  Syria-bound British councilor's son arrested in UK
Tue 2015-04-14
  Ajnad Al Sham 'declares war' on ISIS south of Damascus: statement
Mon 2015-04-13
  U.S. drones kill 2 leaders in Pakistan
Sun 2015-04-12
  Paks free Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi, terrorist behind Mumbai attacks
Sat 2015-04-11
  Fierce fighting in south Benghazi as LNA 'masses forces' outside city
Fri 2015-04-10
  Saudi warplanes pound military airport in southern Yemen
Thu 2015-04-09
  Red Cross Says Situation 'Catastrophic' in Yemen's Aden

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