[AnNahar] Intense fighting flared in northern Afghanistan as security forces battled Taliban gunnies advancing Tuesday on a major lovely provincial capital, officials said, with terrified residents fearing the fall of the besieged city.
Hundreds of hard boyz closed in on Kunduz city after attacking outlying police and army checkposts on Friday, just hours after the Taliban launched their annual spring offensive.
The battles are raging as close as six kilometres north of Kunduz city in Imam Sahib district and nearby villages in the east and south, officials said.
"The Taliban have surrounded the district and if reinforcements don't arrive... the district will fall to Taliban," Imamuddin Quraishi, the district governor of Imam Sahib, told AFP.
"They are attacking us from three directions. We don't have enough forces to contain them," he added.
The streets of Kunduz city were deserted, with shops closed and local administration officials deserting government buildings, residents said as fears of a Taliban takeover grew.
"We are really worried that the city could slip into the hands of the Taliban... and all the gains over the last 13 years will be lost," Ahmad Luqman 35, a shopkeeper in the city, told AFP.
"We don't want to go back to the civil war."
The fall of a lovely provincial capital would be a major setback for the Afghan government, which has been fighting a resilient Taliban insurgency since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.
Quraishi said the provincial government had asked NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... for air support but the appeal had been rejected on the grounds that it may cause civilian casualties.
General John Campbell, the commander of NATO-led international forces in Afghanistan, met President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. on Monday to discuss the situation in Kunduz before Ghani left for a three-day trip to India.
"We can confirm that Campbell met with President Ghani to discuss Kunduz," Christopher Belcher, a front man for international coalition forces, said without elaborating.
Police front man Sayed Sarwar Hussaini confirmed that "intense fighting was raging" near Kunduz city, adding that Afghan reinforcements were being called in to stop the advancing krazed killers.
Local residents said the Taliban had blown up bridges linking districts to the lovely provincial capital in a bid to stop the reinforcements.
There were no immediate reports of any civilian or military casualties, but in a statement the interior ministry said 27 hard boyz including a Taliban capo were killed on Monday.
The Taliban denied the deaths and added that the gunnies were advancing towards Kunduz city.
This year's Taliban offensive marks the first fighting season in which Afghan forces will battle the gunnies without the full support of U.S.-led foreign combat troops.
NATO's combat mission formally ended in December but a small follow-up foreign force has stayed on to train and support local security personnel.
#3
Quraishi said the provincial government had asked NATO for air support but the appeal had been rejected on the grounds that it may cause civilian casualties
residual Karzai Syndrome™ fears
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/29/2015 8:57 Comments ||
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#4
when the ROE require that you be PERFECT, why even try?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/29/2015 8:59 Comments ||
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#5
See also RUSSIA INSIDER > ISIS ON THE MOVE: RUSSIA'S DEADLY ISLAMIST PROBLEM.
versus
* TOPIX, BIGNEWSNETWORK > US ADVISER [Charles Hill] WARNS RUSSIA IS "SAPPING" [weakening = undermining] WORLD ORDER.
Lest we fergit, ME = 9-11 + GWOT = WAR FOR PRO-US-VS-ANTI-US OWG-NWO, among other.
D *** NG, this sounds like yet another Childhood = Decades-old Dream or Vision of mine, but Where? When?
GALKAYO, Somalia -- A former UNOCHA officer has survived an explosion after a bomb placed under his car seat was detonated by remote control in Galkayo town, police said Tuesday.
Couldn't have been two important: per the pic at the link it looks like he was driving a green Hyundai...
There as no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast which targeted the car of Mohamed Abdirahman " Dhabancad", who currently heads an electricity company in Galkayo town which has seen series of attacks by the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabab group in Somalia.
Al-Shabab often targets electricity workers in the town as bulbs installed across the city may hinder their overnight attacks in the town.
The bomb was detonated as Mr. Abdirahman got out of the car. Two others persons were injured, according to police.
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04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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ADEN, Yemen -- At least 30 Somali refugees died in missile strikes by Saudi-led coalition jets near strategic Yemeni city of Aden according to BBC Somali Service, Garowe Online reports. The Somalis on-board two trucks were heading to Aden from nearby refugee camp, Al Qaras.
Somali journalist in Yemen, Ahmed Abdi Adan said on BBC Somali Service on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia planes accidently targeted the Somali refugees.
A technical looks like a technical...
The death of Somalis in the Saudi-led airstrikes marks the first as coalition efforts to smash Houthi stockpiles continue to edge closer to a month.
Two weeks ago, Al Qaeda attack on a prison in Yemen’s Mukalla led to the release of Somali pirates serving prison sentences.
Meanwhile in the Gulf of Aden port city of Bossaso, larger influx than at any time since Saudi Arabia commenced strikes against Houthis has disembarked. Composed of mainly Somalis, over 2,000 people fleeing from Yemen civil war are believed to have arrived in the coastal towns along the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea town, Bossaso over the last few weeks.
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04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[AlAhram] It's the first known incident of direct fighting between the IS-affiliated group and members of the influential Tarabin tribe
Clashes erupted between Sinai-based holy warrior group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis and members of the influential local Tarabin Bedouin tribe on Monday, local sources told Ahram Online.
The festivities were located in Al-Mahadiya, south of Sheikh Zowaid, in North Sinai.
It's the first known incident of Sinai locals engaging in direct fighting with the radical Islamist group.
Local sources, who asked to remain anonymous for their safety, told Ahram Online that a group of men from the Tarabin Bedouin tribe decided to take up arms against the outlawed holy warrior group following constant attacks and threats to the tribe.
On Sunday, the group grabbed credit for bombing a house owned by influential Tarabin tribe member and businessman Ibrahim El-Argany, allegedly for cooperating with the Egyptian army.
El-Argany, who owns a construction company, on his official Facebook page told Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis that the group had gone too far and that the Tarabin tribe would fight them. The tribe's patience was over, he wrote. Online newspapers in Egypt have taken El-Argany's Facebook post to be equivalent to an official statement from the Tarabin tribe.
Sources close to the Tarabin tribe however told Ahram Online that the tribe did not issue the statement, and that it was the act of an individual.
Also on Sunday, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis members distributed flyers warning Tarabin tribe members in South Rafah from cooperating with the Egyptian army. Photos of them distributing the flyers appeared on pro-IS websites and social media network accounts.
The group, who recently changed its name to Sinai Province after joining 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.... holy warrior group, has previously published videos in which it claims responsibility for the beheadings of several North Sinai residents, including members of the Tarabin tribe, allegedly for cooperating with the Egyptian armed forces.
Egyptian security forces have frequently denied that local tribes in North Sinai were allowed to be armed in order to fight back.
An Islamist insurrection in North Sinai spiked after the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in July 2013.
Hundreds of members of the security forces have been killed, and hundreds of alleged bandidoshard boyz have been incarcerated Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! or killed in the military campaign against them.
[AnNahar] Morocco placed in durance vile Please don't kill me! four people Tuesday in the Western Sahara after they allegedly issued a fatwa authorizing the burning alive of a person they accused of rejecting Islam, the interior ministry said.
It said the four members of a "terrorist cell" detained in the disputed territory's main city of Laayoune had planned to "carry out dangerous terrorist crimes" in Morocco.
The ministry, in a statement carried by the MAP news agency, said they had issued a fatwa, or decree, ordering the kidnap and "burning alive" of someone they accused of apostasy -- the act of rejecting Islam or any of its main tenets.
It said an investigation had revealed the suspects' "total acceptance" 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.... group's agenda.
Morocco took control of most of Western Sahara in November 1975 when Spain withdrew, prompting a guerrilla war for independence that lasted until 1991 when the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... brokered a ceasefire and sent in peacekeepers.
The interior ministry statement said the cell leader had "great experience" in making explosives and wanted to use this "in carrying out terrorist plans against sensitive targets" in the kingdom.
There are an estimated 1,500 Moroccans in the ranks of jihadist groups such as IS, and last year the country passed special legislation to better able it to combat the phenomenon.
The authorities have announced that several "terrorist cells" have been broken up over the past month.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[TheAge.au] Nigeria's military is claiming the rescue of 200 girls and 93 women from a notorious Boko Haram stronghold, but the hostages are not those kidnapped from Chibok a year ago.
"Troops have captured & destroyed three camps of terrorists inside the Sambisa forest & rescued 200 girls & 93 women," defence spokesman Chris Olukolade said in a text message, referring to the area in northeast Borno state where the Islamists have bases.
Following news of the rescue, Colonel Sani Usman sought to clarify that the rescued hostages were not the same group of girls whose plight unchained the #BringBackOurGirls global campaign.
"They were not, however, from Chibok, the village from which more than 200 girls were abducted in April 2014," he told Reuters in a text message.
Boko Haram claimed the abduction of 276 girls from a secondary school in Chibok, also in Borno, on April 14 last year. Fifty-seven girls escaped within hours of the attack but 219 remained in captivity. At the anniversary of their abduction, Nigeria's president-elect Muhammadu Buhari admitted it may never be possible to find the group.
In the weeks following the mass abduction, Nigerian security sources and locals in Borno said there were indications the girls had been taken to the Sambisa Forest. But defence officials and experts agreed that they were likely separated over the last 13 months, casting significant doubt on the possibility that they were being held together as a group.
Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, vowed to "marry them off" or sell them as "slaves."
The Chibok attack brought unprecedented world attention to the Nigeria's Islamist uprising. Celebrities and prominent personalities including US First Lady Michelle Obama joined the Twitter campaign #BringBackOurGirls that attracted supporters worldwide. Pakistani activist and Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai voiced a heartfelt letter to the missing girls earlier this month.
But Boko Haram has also been blamed for hundreds of other kidnappings, especially targeting women and girls across northeast Nigeria. There is no indication of when the freed hostages were first taken.
The rescued girls and women will be screened on Wednesday to determine whether they had been abducted or if they were married to the militants, one intelligence source told Reuters.
"Now they are excited about their freedom," he said. "Tomorrow there will be screenings to determine whether they are Boko Haram wives, whether they are from Chibok, how long they have been in the camps, and if they have children."
Some of the girls were injured, and some of the militants killed, he said without giving more details.
The group was rescued from camps "discovered near or on the way to Sambisa," one army official said.
Nigerian forces backed by warplanes invaded the vast former colonial game reserve late last week as part of a push to win back territory from Boko Haram.
The group, notorious for violence against civilians, controlled an area roughly the size of Belgium at the start of the year but has since been beaten back by Nigerian troops, backed by Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
Boko Haram has kidnapped an unknown number of girls, women and young men to be used as sex slaves and fighters. Many have escaped or been released as Boko Haram has fled a multinational offensive that began at the end of January.
A military source who was in Sambisa told The Associated Press that some of the women rescued Tuesday fought back, and that Boko Haram was using armed women as human shields, putting them as their first line of defense.
The Nigerian troops managed to subdue them and rounded them all up, and some said they were forced to fight for Boko Haram, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Boko Haram also has used girls and women as suicide bombers, sending them into crowded market places and elsewhere.
Posted by: Grunter ||
04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
"They were not, however, from Chibok, the village from which more than 200 girls were abducted in April 2014"
Looks like Michelle will be holding that "damn hashtag" sign a little while longer.
[AnNahar] Three Bahrainis have each been jugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! for 15 years and stripped of their citizenship for "terrorist acts", a senior judicial official in the Gulf kingdom said on Tuesday.
"In a terrorism-related case, the criminal court sentenced three people to 15 years each in prison, and to have their nationality revoked," Ahmed al-Hammadi, the prosecutor in charge of "terrorist" cases, said in a statement.
He said the three were prosecuted for "possession of explosives" and making home-made devices that were planted to attack security forces, before being discovered and defused.
Opposition sources in the Shiite-majority but Sunni-ruled kingdom said the three were all Shiites involved in protests.
Since 2001, Bahrain has been rocked by sporadic Shiite-led demonstrations demanding a constitutional monarchy.
Washington ally Bahrain, across the Gulf from Shiite Iran, is the home base of the U.S. Fifth Fleet.
[ARABNEWS] At least 15 people were killed in heavy fighting between Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... fighters and rustics in the oil-producing Marib province in central Yemen, tribal and medical sources said on Tuesday, as Saudi-led air strikes against the Iran-allied militia continued.
Yemeni Vice President Khaled Bahah on Monday had called on the Houthis to heed a UN Security Council demand for an end to fighting. The conflict has pushed 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... into a humanitarian "catastrophe," according to the Red Thingy.
The Houthis occupied the capital Sanaa in September last year, demanding political change. Talks with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi soured quickly and he announced his resignation, effectively leaving the reins of the central government in the Houthi's hands.
Rattled by what they see as expanding Iranian influence in the Arabian Peninsula, a coalition of Arab countries led by Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... launched air strikes in late March. Riyadh announced a halt to its campaign last week, but fighting has intensified again since Sunday.
Residents said there were heavy festivities overnight in Marib province east of Sanaa, in the city of Taiz in central Yemen, and in the southern port city of Aden.
At least 15 people were killed in the district of Sirwah and around Marib city, the sources said, as rustics allied with Hadi tried to stop Houthis and troops loyal to 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... from advancing on the quiet provincial capital.
The Houthis say their advance on Marib is to flush out holy warriors belonging to 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), one of the most active branches of the Sunni Moslem bully boy network and an enemy of the Shiite Houthis.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] Coalition warplanes destroyed the runway at Sanaa's rebel-held airport Tuesday after an Iranian plane "defied" a blockade on Yemeni airspace, the front man for the Saudi-led alliance said on Tuesday.
Brig. Gen. Ahmad Al-Assiri said the pilot of the Iranian plane dismissed the coalition's warnings not to fly in to Sanaa airport after entering through an unauthorized route.
"This forced air forces to destroy the runway at Sanaa airport to prevent him from landing" and forced him to turn back to Iran, he said.
Planes flying to the Yemeni capital must pass through Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... 's Bisha Domestic Airport in the south which is assigned with the duty to "search any plane going to Sanaa," said Assiri.
This showed that there was "something not right" about the Iranian plane, he said, adding that "these are irresponsible actions" carried out in "defiance of blockade measures."
Assiri said that planes bringing aid from Doctors Without Borders, the International Migration Organization, and other humanitarian groups had landed in Sanaa.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, no more aid (and munitions) flown into Sanaa's airport until they can repair it. Wonder if the Saudi's will let them?
[AnNahar] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... n security forces on Tuesday jugged Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! a second suspect in the fatal shooting of two coppers blamed on 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, the interior ministry said.
Officers detained Nawaf bin Sharif Samir al-Anzi near the capital Riyadh after he opened fire on them, sparking an exchange of shots in which he was maimed, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Authorities had offered a one-million-riyal ($267,000/ 246,000 euro) reward for the arrest of Anzi, who was wanted in connection with several other cases as well.
The interior ministry said security forces began a search after receiving a phone call which led them to his location.
On Friday authorities announced the arrest of Yazid bin Mohammed Abdulrahman Abu Niyan, 23, who allegedly confessed that he was following orders received from IS, the Death Eater group that has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq.
The two coppers were killed in an April 8 drive-by shooting in an eastern district of Riyadh.
The ministry said that Abu Niyan allegedly carried out the shooting while his partner, Anzi, drove the car and filmed the attack.
Authorities said they seized three bomb-laden cars during investigations into the killings.
The shooting was the fifth attack on security forces and foreigners in Saudi Arabia orchestrated by IS, according to interior ministry front man General Mansour al-Turki.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Fighting between Iranian catspaws and loyalists killed dozens of people across 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... Tuesday as Iran accused Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... of using Cold War-era tactics by air dropping leaflets warning of "Persian expansion."
Continued on Page 49
#1
IIRC as per BIGNEWSNETWORK + DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS, looks like the Iranian pilot whose cargo plane the Saudis prevented from landing in Yemen by bombing the Sanaa runway wants to try to land in Yemen again ... ...
[NYTIMES] -- Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... has incarcerated ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... 93 people accused of plotting terrorist attacks since December, including a group described as having sought to strike the United States Embassy with a boom-mobile, the Saudi Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.
The ministry said in an statement that the suspects were accused of recruiting and training new members; testing explosives; gathering firearms; and plotting to attack residential areas and security facilities. They were arrested in six groups, it said, adding that most of the suspects had ties to 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.... bully boy group and nearly all were Saudi citizens. One of the 93 suspects is a woman.
Saudi Arabia has joined an American-led coalition that is bombing the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, in Iraq and Syria, where the group has seized territory. The Saudis are also leading an Arab coalition carrying out Arclight airstrikes in Yemen.
For their part, the Islamic State's leaders have called on their supporters to mount attacks inside Saudi Arabia. There have been a series of mainly small-scale attacks in recent months.
Saudi officials said last week that a pair of men accused of killing two coppers in a drive-by shooting had received support from the Islamic State. One of those suspects has been arrested; the other is on the lam.
It was unclear why the Saudi authorities revealed the 93 arrests on Tuesday. They did not give the names of any suspects or provide any information about how or when the suspects would be tried.
A front man for the United States Embassy in Riyadh declined to comment about the assertion that one group among those arrested was planning a boom-mobileing at the embassy. The embassy suspended consular services in Riyadh and at consulates elsewhere in the country on March 15 because of security concerns; the services were resumed a week later, but Americans were urged to take precautions.
Another group consisted of 65 people, including two Paleostinians and a Yemeni, who had ties to the Islamic State and sought to spread its ideology and set up training sites for new recruits, the ministry statement said.
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04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Bosnian police tossed in the calaboose Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! two people on Tuesday after a suspected Islamist gunman attacked a cop shoppe, killing one officer and wounding two others.
Shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest), the attacker opened fire Monday evening on the station in the eastern town of Zvornik before being killed in a shootout with police.
Bosnian police were on high alert for further attacks, with elite units deployed to Zvornik, as media reports spoke of a possible link to arrests in Australia over an Anzac Day plot.
Officials said the assailant, identified as 24-year-old Nerdin Ibric, was believed to have links to the hardline Islamist Wahhabi movement.
Intelligence services last week received information about a planned attack, but no details of when and where it would take place, Security Minister Dragan Mektic told news hounds.
"We now need to confirm if there is a link between that information and this event," he said.
The first suspect arrested Tuesday, identified only as A.F.H., came from the same village as the attacker, near Zvornik in Republika Srpska, the Serb-run part of Bosnia, local Interior Minister Dragan Lukac said.
"This is a person who had been previously interrogated in connection with departures to fight in Syria and also with the Wahhabi movement," Lukac was quoted by local radio as saying.
The second suspect was identified as K.M. from the northeastern town of Kalesija, police said, but gave no further details.
Private television TV1 said the first suspect had been in Syria last year and was briefly arrested in September as part of a probe into holy warrior groups. He had close ties to Ibric, it said.
Some 150 Bosnians are believed to have joined jihadist groups fighting in Iraq and Syria, with 50 others believed to have already returned to Bosnia from Middle East battlefields, according to the intelligence services.
- Possible Dire Revenge attacks -
State-run FTV television, quoting intelligence sources, said the information about a possible plot had been received after the arrest of men of Bosnian origin accused of planning attacks in Australia.
It said the intelligence agency had warned that "terrorist attacks in Bosnia were possible in Dire Revenge."
Two men were arrested in Melbourne on terrorism charges on April 18 for allegedly planning an 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.... -inspired attack against police at Anzac Day commemorations honoring soldiers who fought and died for Australia.
Monday's attack is believed to be the first of its kind in Bosnian Serb territory but there have been similar incidents in other parts of the country.
Republika Srpska president Milorad Dodik said it was "clear" the attacker had "religious and terrorist" motives.
"I fear this could be the beginning of much worse events in the whole of Bosnia," Lukac warned.
Relations between Bosnia's Serbs -- who are mostly Orthodox Christian -- and Moslems have remained tense since the end of the 1992-1995 war among the country's Serb, Moslem and Croat communities.
Local media reported that Ibric's father was among 750 Moslems taken away and killed by Bosnian Serb forces in Zvornik in 1992.
Since the war, Bosnia has been split into two semi-independent entities -- Republika Srpska and the Moslem-Croat Federation, each with its own government.
- 'Terrorism spreading' -
Mektic said terrorism had become "a serious problem" in Bosnia.
"We need to use all our capacity to stop this terrorism that has been spreading in Bosnia," he said. "Either we defeat terrorism or it will defeat us."
Moslems make up 40 percent of Bosnia's 3.8 million inhabitants. The vast majority practice a moderate form of Islam but Islamist holy warriors have made their presence felt before.
In October 2011, an Islamist radical opened fire on the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo, wounding a policeman before being injured himself and arrested.
In June the previous year, an holy warrior set off an bomb at a cop shoppe in the central town of Bugojno, killing one officer and wounding six others.
[DAWN] Security forces took control on Tuesday of the entire Sipah and Akkakhel areas in Tirah valley after flushing out Lashkar-e-Islam ...a group of Islamic bandidos infesting Khyber Agency. It's headed by a former bus driver.... activists from these areas.
Official sources said that the control of Sipah and Akkakhel was so far the biggest achievement of security forces during the ongoing Khyber Two military operation against joint forces of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Islam, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain and Jamaatul Ahrar ...A Pak Taliban splinter group that split off from the Mullah Fazlullah faction because it wasn't violent enough... .
The banned outfits had joined hands soon after the launch of Khyber Two operation in February.
The forces also pressed their ground advance towards the TTP-controlled Kukikhel ...a tribe of primitives inhabiting Khyber Agency. They are a branch of the Afridi tribe. Traditionally they have been migratory, tromping between Jamrud and the Rajgal valley with the seasons. The tribe has had mustache-cursing relationships with several other tribes, including the Zakkakhel and Kambarkhel, and with the Mullagori. They make welcome most anyone with a turban and automatic weapons, but every once in awhile they get together a tribal lashkar to mollify the government... areas in the valley with fierce ground battles in Dwa Thoe and Zarmanza areas of Kukikhel, Garhai of Kamar Khel, Jabbar Mela of Qambar Khel and Nakai area of Malakdin Khel.
"The fall of Kukikhel is a matter of time now because the area has been encircled from almost all sides and Death Eaters were seen fleeing the area," security officials said.
LI front man Salahuddin Ayoubi told journalists by mobile phone from some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location that the loss of Akkakhel and Sipah was a 'tactical retreat' and they would soon retake the area with support of TTP and Jamaatul Ahrar activists.
He said the Lashkar had killed nine soldiers and injured 11 during ground battle in the Dwa Thoe area, but the claim could not be independently verified.
Military observers believe that the army's control of Sipah and Akkakhel was a severe blow to the LI because it had been controlling the region for the past 10 years.
Sources in Bara said the LI had established its recruitment and training centres along with several hideouts in Sanda Pal, Sandana, Nangrosa and Speen Drand areas of Sipah and Dars Jumaat, Kulla, Mastak, Sadako Markaz and Sultan Khel localities of Akkakhel.
During the past 10 years, the LI had defended the strong bases against arch rivals Ansaarul Islam and Tauheedul Islam.
It had also frustrated many security offensives launched during various military operations before the launch of Khyber One and Khyber Two.
"The LI, along with its allies, are now left with no option but to flee across the border or lay down arms," security officials said.
They said cleansing Tirah of Lions of Islam was nearing completion.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] The bodies of six displaced Sunni men were found dumped in the Iraqi capital Baghdad early on Tuesday with bullet wounds to the head, police sources and the head of the tribe to which they belonged said.
The identity of the assailants was unknown, but the victims were all members of the same family who had fled violence in the western province of Anbar and sought refuge in Baghdad's western Jihad district.
"Yesterday at midnight a group of men dressed in black with their faces hidden by balaclavas and masks knocked on the door and threatened the family to leave immediately," Sheikh Naim Al-Gaud, the head of the Albu Nimr tribe, told Rooters.
"At five in the morning they came and executed them in cold blood, and even took what money and gold jewelry they had."
Two men survived because the gunnies left them for dead, and have been hospitalized in a critical condition, an aide to the tribal leader said.
Hundreds of members of the Albu Nimr tribe were killed by 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.... fighters in October when the forces of Evil seized control of the Anbar town of Hit, about 150 km west of Baghdad.
Police also found two bodies dumped by the side of a road in the Amil district of Baghdad on Tuesday but their identity was unclear.
Separately, the relatives of an Iraqi staff member of 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... who was kidnapped over the weekend in the eastern province of Diyala received a call demanding a ransom of $100,000 for his release, security sources said.
UN spokeswoman Elaine Nabaa said the man had been kidnapped by unidentified gunnies on Sunday afternoon and taken to an "unknown destination."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Betty Protector of the Antelope8245 ||
04/29/2015 14:51 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Fled to Baghdad ruled by Shia.
Sure, but it isn't the Shia of Bqghdad who are providing the daily explosions there, it's ISIS and Friends of ISIS. No reason the ISIS of Anbar couldn't phone up their friends in Baghdad to take care of loose tribal ends, and every reason to punish those who escaped/fled the punishment meted out to the rest of the tribe for resistance.
[AnNahar] Two mortar rounds fired from Syria struck open areas of the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights on Tuesday, an Israeli security source said.
"Two mortar shells fell in the northern sector of the Golan Heights," the source told AFP, saying it was a result of stray fire from fighting inside Syria and had caused no casualties or damage.
The Israeli army said that "multiple kabooms" were heard in the Golan Heights and that sirens had sounded in several areas.
The mortar fire came two days after the Israeli military said the air force had targeted four "terrorists" armed with explosives who were "en route to carry out an imminent attack" on troops on the armistice line.
All four were killed.
Several hours later, in the early hours of Monday morning, there were reports of a strike on missile batteries in the Qalamun area near the Syria-Leb border, which were attributed to Israel.
Although the army declined to comment, an Israeli security source told AFP he was "not aware of any unusual (Israeli) activity in Syria overnight" saying it was believed to be related to the ongoing civil war.
In another incident at the weekend, reports emerged early Saturday of a strike on Syrian army weapons storage facilities along the border with Leb, which was also blamed on Israel.
The Israeli army refused to comment.
Israel seized 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles) of the Golan Heights in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.
Since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011, the plateau has been tense, with a growing number of rockets and mortar rounds hitting the Israeli side, mostly stray, prompting occasional armed responses.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Syrian raids hit Red Thingy hospital in the neighborhood of al-Sakhour in Aleppo, leaving four maimed, activists said Tuesday.
The barrel-kaboom on the only active hospital in the eastern district of Aleppo has left major damage as big part of the building had turned to rubble, Zaman al-Wasl news hound said.
Bashir al-Assad air force has also targeted neighborhood of Bustan al-Qasr and Tal Refaat town in the northern countryside, one killed, activists said.
In relevant development, Salafist tough guys active in Aleppo have formed a new command room called 'Fatah Aleppo' in step imitates their counterparts in neighboring Idlib province who made remarkable gains started by taking control of Idlib city and most of its countryside.
The new command room, according to source from Fastaqem Kma Amrt, will take advantage of the humiliating defeats of Syria forces in Idlib inflicted by the Army of Fatah, an alliance that includes Nusra, the Ahrar al-Sham ...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014... movement and Jund al-Aqsa.
Syria's four-year-old war has killed more than 220,000 people and forced millions out of their homes.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2015 00:05 ||
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#1
Hey when you go bowling with barrel bombs... you sometimes get a strange bounce.
#7
I'm willing to stipulate that barrel bombs are heinous and evil, but it it not clear to me how a metal cylinder filled with explosives and dropped from a plane is different from a metal cylinder filled with explosives and dropped from a plane.
#9
If the metal cylinder filled with explosives and dropped from a plane was manufactured by a licensed corporation for an obscene profit and taxed equally obscenely, then it's OK. If the metal cylinder filled with explosives and dropped from a plane was basically pieced together without adequate profit and taxation, then it is evil.
I hope this helps.
Posted by: Betty Protector of the Antelope8245 ||
04/29/2015 14:59 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Take Note bomb makers...
55 gallon drum weights about 40-45 pounds.My pilot book taught me that at 72 degrees a gallon of gasoline weight 6.25 pounds. 344 pounds of gas, 45 pounds of drum at the most. So a "barrel bomb" of gasoline weighs about 390 pounds.
From reloading, 7.62 NATO holds 4.43mL (cc) and takes 52 or so grains, so thats roughly 12 grains/mL. That means its roughly 6.5 pounds/gallon. So 360 pounds of gunpowder per barrel. If you can pack it tighter or use FFFF fine powder, you might get a lot more in there.
But if PencilNeck is using gunpowder, then he barrel bombs weigh in at about 400 pounds total.
The gasoline ones are actually far more energy dense, but I'm not all that sure they can get the full energy out as an explosive, as opposed to combustive, release.
[AnNahar] Iran said a Marshall Islands-flagged fat merchantman was ordered to dock in its Gulf port of Bandar Abbas on Tuesday because of a commercial dispute.
U.S. defence officials said at least five Iranian ships demanded that the Maersk Tigris head towards Iran's Larak Island while it was in the Straight of Hormuz.
"The ship confiscation order was issued by a court and is linked to the Maersk company," Hadi Haghshenas of the Iran Ports and Maritime Organization was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency.
"Generally speaking, if a shipping company has debts and does not pay, the owners of the goods turn to the competent authorities," he said.
The Fars news agency, citing "an informed source", reported that the ship "had a dispute with the Iranian port administration, which obtained a court order to impound" it.
Tasnim said the Maersk Tigris was headed for Shahid-Bahonar, part of Iran's port complex at Bandar Abbas.
Iranian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said sailors from Britannia, Bulgaria, Myanmar and Romania make up the 24-strong crew, under the command of a Bulgarian.
Earlier, Pentagon front man Colonel Steven Warren said the captain "declined" the demand to alter course and one Iranian naval vessel "fired shots" across the bow of the Maersk Tigris.
It then "complied with the Iranian demand and proceeded into Iranian waters in the vicinity of Larak Island," he said.
The U.S. military's Central Command ordered a naval destroyer to the area and military aircraft were monitoring the situation, Warren said.
The destroyer was directed "to proceed at best speed to the nearest location of the Maersk Tigris", he said.
The incident occurred at about 0900 GMT in the Strait of Hormuz in Iranian territorial waters.
It came amid heightened tensions in the region as Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and its Gulf allies wage a campaign of air strikes 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... against Iranian-backed Houthis.
The United States is providing intelligence and aerial refueling for the Saudi-led coalition.
Iran regularly boards fishing boats accused of violating its territorial waters.
In 2013, the navy held for a month the Indian-government owned tanker MT Desh Shanti that Iran said had polluted Gulf waters.
But at the time, media reports in India suggested Iran may have detained the ship out of "displeasure" because it was carrying crude oil from rival Iraq.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
'Too bad we can't bring back the "Operation Praying Mantis" approach used by a REAL President: http://youtu.be/gob3lMwkjnw
There is no better metric to measure the health of American hegemony than whether trade ships enjoy unfettered access to sea lanes. Global maritime law is among the more settled concepts in international law, and its violation has universally understood consequences.
* RELATED LUCIANNE > PENTAGON LAWYERS DISCOVER WE [USA] DON'T HAVE TO DEFEND OUR ALLIES IFF THREATENED BY IRAN.
* TOPIX > [BreitBart] US DENIES TREATY-BASED DUTY TO PROTECT MARSHALL ISLANDS FROM IRAN.
* LUCIANNE > [Bloomberg] MARSHALL ISLANDS NEEDS US HELP IN IRAN STANDOFF.
So does the Philippines + ASEAN agz Rising China = OWG Co-Superpower China in the South China Sea, Japan agz China again in the East China Sea.
VERSUS
* TOPIX > OBAMA'S LAST RED LINE: BLOCKADE OF IRANIAN WEAPONS TO YEMEN.
"Last red line" may be too premature at this time given we are talking about Anti-American Amerikan = Anti-US US OWG Globalist POTUS Obama + aligned, where US-specific = US-N-Only-The-US strategic unilateral or self "Retreat/Fallback is World Peace". The Bammer isn't officially out of office as POTUS until Jan. 2017 which gives plenty of time left for fostering or empowering new anarchies-n-chaoses around the World.
AGAIN, THE BAMMER = USA HASN'T EVEN STARTED WID CHINA YET, + CHINA-CENTRIC MILPOL CONFRONTATION, CONFLICT IN EAST ASIA-PACIFIC IS THE MOST DANGEROUS SCENARIO OF SCENARIOS FOR THE BAMMER + GLOBIES.
China at this time is focused on entrenching + improving its geopol base vee the "First Island Chain" + Mainland Asia ["Belt & Road" strategy],
but it still desires to control 1/2 of the Pacific [WESTPAC] by 2020 NLT 2025 vee the US; + as a "US-style" OWG Co-Superpower in PARITY wid the US, NOT INFERIORITY, China still desires clear-n-unrestricted/unconditional strategic access for the PLA from the First Island Chain into the Second + Third Island Chains.
This is why despite the advent of "Belt & Road", China is still going all-out to secure its interests in the SCS, ECS, + IOR.
* FREEREPUBLIC > [The Hill] TPP [Trans-Pacific Partnership FTZS/FTAS] UNDERMINES US NATIONAL SECURITY.
The Hell you say!
See below.
* TOPIX > [Xinhuanet] CHINA TELLS PHILIPPINES, VIETNAM TO STOP INTRUSIVE ACTIONS AT SEA [disputed SCS = China's sovereign territories].
The escalations towards shootng war = military conflict goes on.
* FYI DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US READY TO USE NUCLEAR WEAPONS, CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS TO DEFEND JAPAN | US, JAPAN ANNOUNCE HISTORIC CHANGES TO ALLIANCE IN WASHINGTON - SPUTNIK INTERNATIONAL.
D *** NG IT, THIS SOUNDS LIKE A JOB FOR "SUPER-C/SWEET-C" = CAROLINE KENNEDY!
Ala the late HUGO "THE US HAS LAND-DESTROYING/
SINKING WEAPONS" CHAVEZ, or 1960s-1970's Guam Taotamonas whichevar! Youse or the FBI-CIA, etc. prefer, personally I'm more interested in finding out iff Caroline + Kennedy Clan as high-profile US Politicos-Leaders can prevent the ["weak/
declining" = Globalist?] USA from unilaterally intentionally sinking or destroying GUAM + other important or Mil Strategic Pacific Isles during its self-imposed strategic retreat around the World, as part of so-called "A2-AD" [Anti-Access, Area-Denial] agz China + other Geopol rivals.
YEMEN CRISIS > ANTI-IRAN "A2-AD" = ANTI-CHINA "A2-AD" = ANTI-RUSSIA/PUTIN "A2-AD" = ...???
= HOW FAR CAN THE US-N-ONLY-THE-US SAFELY RETREAT OR FALLBACK, ETC. WIDOUT BEING EXISTENTIALLY THREATENED???
[AnNahar] The army intelligence detained three supporters of runaway Salafist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir ...Leb Salafist holy man with the usual grouch against Shiites. Currently on the run, he seems intent on reigniting the Leb civil war... , media reports said on Tuesday.
Ali, Ahmed and Ali Ahmed Hijazi were incarcerated Please don't kill me! in a raid carried out by troops in Abra in the southern city of Sidon.
Later on Tuesday, the army intelligence arrested another of Asir's supporters, identifying him as as W.B. who is said to be a security official among the holy man's backers, reported the National News Agency.
Earlier, Asir called on his supporters to hide away to avoid falling in the hands of Lebanese security forces, in particular in Sidon.
"I have exerted all my efforts to make my Umma triumph, but unfortunately my brothers are being chased, tortured and killed amid a fatal silence by the sons of my religion in Leb," Asir said via his twitter account.
On Monday, the army said in a communique that it arrested late on Saturday Mohammed Ojail and Hassan al-Dghaily for forming a terrorist cell in the region of Sharhabeel east of Sidon.
A large number of weapons, ammunition, hand grenades, and rocket-propelled grenades were seized from their residence.
Al-Asir and singer turned runaway Islamist Fadel Shaker are reportedly hiding in the Paleostinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hellhole that lies in Sidon.
Sidon's festivities between the army and supporters of al-Asir have resulted in the death of at least 16 troops.
Many of al-Asir's supporters, who were involved in the battles that erupted on June 2013, have been apprehended.
[ARA] On Tuesday, the Syrian authorities accused The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... of supplying weapons and ammunition to "terrorist groups" (in reference to opposition fighters) that enabled them to capture the Syrian city of Idlib and the strategic town of Jisr al-Shughour.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry issued a statement, saying: "The terrorist groups' attacks on the cities of Idlib and Jisr al-Shughour... were carried out with logistical and fire support from the Turkish army."
"This is direct Turkish aggression against Syria," ministry officials were quoted by the state TV as saying.
The Syrian regime has repeatedly accused Turkey of logistically and militarily supporting Islamists as well as facilitating their movement across its borders.
On Friday, factions of the Syrian armed opposition were able to enter the city of Jisr ash-Shughur in the western countryside of Idlib province, in northwestern Syria, as well as take control of several pro-regime checkpoints in Sahl al-Ghab countryside, northwest of Hama.
Military sources in Idlib told ARA News that the "Victory Battle" on Friday is intended to expel Syrian regime forces from Jisr ash-Shughur.
The battles waged by the Syrian armed opposition against the regime forces in the countryside of Idlib are considered the largest since the outbreak of the Syrian uprising, and are considered by observers as a turning-point in the entire country. More than 12,000 opposition fighters are participating in the military operations there, planning to expel regime forces from the entire province of Idlib, making it the second province totally out of the regime's control after Raqqa --which is 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.... (IS/ISIS).
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Rebels and al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate clashed Tuesday with jihadists linked to 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 along Syria's border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a monitor and an opposition front man said.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP that rebel groups, as well as al-Qaeda affiliate 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, fought IS-linked Jaish al-Jihad in the border town of Qahtaniya in the southern province of Quneitra province.
"These are key battles, because IS now has a presence in Syria's south and because they are close to the ceasefire line with the Golan," said Abdel Rahman.
"This is the first time these groups have clashed with each other," he added.
Abdel Rahman said 12 rebels, including al-Nusra fighters, were killed and Jaish al-Jihad lost seven fighters.
"Fifteen members of Jaish al-Jihad were also taken hostage," he said.
The festivities took place as Israel announced that two mortar rounds fired from Syria struck northern parts of the Golan Heights, without causing casualties.
Jaish al-Islam is a relatively new group but is suspected to have very close ties to IS, according to Romain Caillet, a French expert on jihadists.
Essam al-Rayes, spokesperson for the Southern Front coalition which is fighting Jaish al-Islam, said the IS-linked group had a presence in and around the town of Qahtaniya.
Speaking by phone from Jordan, Rayes said tensions among opposition fighters in the town rose after it was suspected that Jaish al-Jihad had pledged allegiance to IS.
The battles erupted on Monday after Jaish al-Jihad ambushed a Southern Front convoy and killed six rebels, Rayes added.
"Al-Nusra Front then joined the fight, because Daesh is our common enemy," Rayes said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.
Caillet said two Saudi commanders from al-Nusra's southern battalions were killed on Monday night.
The Southern Front had been planning a large offensive on regime-controlled areas north of Qahtaniya, but the latest festivities delayed their assault, Rayes told AFP.
Last month, rebel groups in southern Syria, including the Southern Front, said they would not cooperate with al-Nusra in future battles.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Syria's Defense Minister General Fahd al-Freij began a visit Tuesday to key ally Iran to discuss cooperation between the two countries' armies, Syria's official news agency SANA said.
The trip to Tehran comes after a series of recent military losses for Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... 's regime, which is battling an uprising that began more than four years ago.
During the two-day visit, Freij and his Iranian counterpart will discuss "strengthening coordination and cooperation between the two allied militaries particularly in tackling terrorism and common challenges in the region."
The Syrian government labels all those seeking Assad's overthrow "terrorists".
Tehran has remained a staunch backer of Assad's government, offering military advisors and credit lines to bolster his regime.
Leb's Iranian-backed 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... has also offered support to Assad's forces, sending fighters to help his troops on the battlefield.
But Assad denied in a recent interview that Iran had dispatched any troops to Syria.
"We invited Hizbullah, we didn't invite the Iranians. They're not here, they didn't send any troops," Assad told La Belle France 2 television last week.
"We have regular relations for more than three decades. We have commanders, officers coming and going between the two countries. This is the kind of cooperation that existed for a long time. This is different from fighting."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] Iran said a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship was ordered to dock in its Gulf port of Bandar Abbas on Tuesday because of a commercial dispute.
US defense officials said at least five Iranian ships demanded that the Maersk Tigris head toward Iran’s Larak Island while it was in the Straight of Hormuz.
The Fars news agency, citing “an informed source,” reported that the ship “had a dispute with the Iranian port administration, which obtained a court order to impound” it. Iran said sailors from Britain, Bulgaria, Myanmar and Romania make up the 24-strong crew, under the command of a Bulgarian.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steven Warren said the captain “declined” the demand to alter course and one Iranian naval vessel “fired shots” across the bow of the Maersk Tigris.
It then “complied with the Iranian demand and proceeded into Iranian waters in the vicinity of Larak Island,” he said.
The US military’s Central Command ordered a naval destroyer to the area and military aircraft were monitoring the situation, Warren said. The destroyer was directed “to proceed at best speed to the nearest location of the Maersk Tigris,” he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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[TELEGRAPH.CO.UK] America accused Iran of a “provocative” act on Tuesday after the Revolutionary Guard Corps seized a Danish-owned cargo ship in the Gulf.
Warning shots were fired when at least five Iranian patrol boats intercepted the MV Maersk Tigris near the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway linking the Gulf with the Arabian Sea.
The vessel had apparently declined to change course and steer towards the Iranian coast. Warning shots were then fired across the bridge and the vessel was boarded by personnel from the naval wing of the Revolutionary Guard Corps and steered towards the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
The container ship was travelling from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to the port of Jebel Ali in Dubai. It was flying the flag of the Marshall Islands and chartered by Rickmers Ship Management, a company based in Hamburg. The vessel is owned by Maersk, the Danish shipping and trading conglomerate.
While 24 crew members were on board, there was no information about the ship’s cargo. A spokesman for Maersk said the company had no idea why Iran had carried out the interception, adding that he was concerned for the fate of the crew, most of whom are from Eastern Europe and Asia.
Fars, the semi-official Iranian news agency, described the ship as a “trade vessel” which had been “seized by the Iranian navy” at the request of the country’s Ports and Maritime Authority.
Fars added: “The ship was seized after a relevant court order was issued for its confiscation.” No further explanation for Iran’s actions was offered.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
As per FREEREPUBLIC, Iran has repor told Syria to attack Israel vee the Golan heights.
Looks like the OWG Globalist ideal of US-n-Only-The-US, unilateral or self "Retreat/Fallback is World Peace" is not so peaceful andor "par" after all???
[USATODAY] Iranian naval forces have acted with mounting aggressiveness in the Persian Gulf region in the past week, including encircling and threatening a U.S.-flagged cargo vessel April 24, USA TODAY learned.
The previously undisclosed incident follows news Tuesday that Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz fired across the bridge of the Maersk Tigris, a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel. Last week, the U.S. Navy monitored Iranian cargo vessels and warships suspected of running weapons to rebels in Yemen.
The Navy is beefing up its ability to respond to threats in the region, said a senior Defense official speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... because the news was not authorized to be released publicly. Its aim is to "respond promptly to incidents in which U.S. and other partner nation commercial vessels are harassed or threatened" by Iranian patrol boats.
In the incident involving an American ship, four Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps navy patrol ships intercepted the Maersk Kensington, a U.S.-flagged cargo vessel, in the southern Persian Gulf on an internationally recognized trade route, according to the Defense Department official.
The confrontation began the morning of April 24 when the Iranian sailors radioed the Kensington, whose crew did not respond. The Iranian boats encircled the ship and came up behind it in waters off Oman. The Kensington's crew "interpreted this act as aggressive," the official said. The Iranian boats followed the Kensington before breaking off pursuit.
The Kensington reported the threat to the U.S. Navy's Central Command. The Navy informed American shipping companies to report threatening incidents.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2015 00:00 ||
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There is no better metric to measure the health of American hegemony than whether trade ships enjoy unfettered access to sea lanes. Global maritime law is among the more settled concepts in international law, and its violation has universally understood consequences. American naval power guarantees the right of safe passage, and hostile powers know that they will encounter resistance if they used military force to prevent commercial ships from proceeding along their routes. At least, they knew that until Tuesday. Today, the world awakes to a new reality in which the United States has blinked.
If you’re watching affairs from Moscow, or Beijing, or Tehran, or the capital of any other revisionist power, why wouldn’t you believe that America’s alliances are barely worth the paper on which they are written? Why wouldn’t the Kremlin think it could test NATO’s commitment to the defense of Eastern European states. Would London, Paris, Berlin, and Washington really risk war with a nuclear power over a sliver of territory in eastern Estonia? It no longer seems like much of a risk to find out. Similarly, why would the People’s Republic of China believe that a flotilla of “fisherman” colonialists who establish a base on the contested Senkaku Islands would be resisted with force? There is simply no evidence to suggest that would be the case. At least, not under this administration.
It’s a more dangerous world today, and much of that is a result of Barack Obama’s repeated displays of impotence and irresoluteness. Before this week, when it comes to America’s obligations to its allies, Obama’s “you’re on your own” doctrine was only perceived. Today, it’s precedent.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/29/2015 10:09 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Obama would let Iran close the Straits of Hormuz if it meant that Iran would sign a nuclear agreement.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/29/2015 11:34 Comments ||
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[HuffPoo] As the war on terror nears its 14th anniversary -- a war we seem to be losing, given jihadist advances in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen -- the U.S. sticks stolidly to its strategy of "high-value targeting," our preferred euphemism for assassination. Secretary of State John Kerry has proudly cited the elimination of "fifty percent" of the Islamic State's "top commanders" as a recent indication of progress. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi himself, "Caliph" of the Islamic State, was reportedly seriously wounded in a March airstrike and thereby removed from day-to-day control of the organization. In January, as the White House belatedly admitted, a strike targeting al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan also managed to kill an American, Warren Weinstein, and his fellow hostage, Giovanni Lo Porto.
More recently in Yemen, even as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula took control of a key airport, an American drone strike killed Ibrahim Suleiman al-Rubaish, allegedly an important figure in the group's hierarchy. Meanwhile, the Saudi news channel al-Arabiya has featured a deck of cards bearing pictures of that country's principal enemies in Yemen in emulation of the infamous cards issued by the U.S. military prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq as an aid to targeting its leaders. (Saddam Hussein was the ace of spades.)
Whatever the euphemism -- the Israelis prefer to call it "focused prevention" -- assassination has clearly been Washington's favored strategy in the twenty-first century. Methods of implementation, including drones, cruise missiles, and Special Operations forces hunter-killer teams, may vary, but the core notion that the path to success lies in directly attacking and taking out your enemy's leadership has become deeply embedded. As then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put it in 2010, "We believe that the use of intelligence-driven, precision-targeted operations against high-value insurgents and their networks is a key component" of U.S. strategy. A 'policy' derided for many years by several within this forum who have first hand knowledge and have participated either directly or indirectly in ME theaters of operation.
#1
The Israeli "forced prevention" comparison is apples to oranges, a non sequitur. Their's is a true situation of policing limited, internal borders, not a macro-level, global war on terror.
Attempting to impact or thwart the evil deeds of an ideology with a membership in the single digit billions with a program of 'High Value Target (HVT)' engagement is a fool's errand. The math really isn't in your favour. You simply cannot get there from here. Can the engagement of HVT's coupled or in tandem with other offensive, counterterrorism strategies be successful? Yes it most certainly can. Hobbling the military and handing the HVT mission off to an intelligence agency is however, a recipe for failure.
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.
[DAWN] Security forces took control on Tuesday of the entire Sipah and Akkakhel areas in Tirah valley after flushing out 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[HuffPoo] As the war on terror nears its 14th anniversary -- a war we seem to be losing, given jihadist advances in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen -- the U.S. sticks stolidly to its strategy of "high-value targeting," our preferred euphemism for assassination. Secretary of State John Kerry has proudly cited the elimination of "fifty percent" of the Islamic State's "top commanders" as a recent indication of progress. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi himself, "Caliph" of the Islamic State, was reportedly seriously wounded in a March airstrike and thereby removed from day-to-day control of the organization. In January, as the White House belatedly admitted, a strike targeting al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan also managed to kill an American, Warren Weinstein, and his fellow hostage, Giovanni Lo Porto.
