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Today: 56 articles and 119 comments as of 12:56.
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Saudi halts $3 bn in aid to Lebanon army
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
Afghan forces capture key ISIS position in Nangarhar
Afghan security forces have cleared 70 percent of Achin district in eastern Nangarhar province of Daesh militants, said security officials on Friday. The district is considered as the main stronghold of the terrorist group in the region.

Security officials in the province said that they will expand their offensive against Daesh to other districts of the province.

After a long delay, Afghan security forces launched their operations in Achin district last week. Officials said that security forces have destroyed the main military base of the group and have seized a large number of weapons.

"Daesh rebels were executing and prosecuting people in this military base. Now, they have lost control over most of the area," said Zaman Waziri, the commander of Selab 201 Military Corps.

Nangarhar police chief, Fazel Ahmad Sherzad, said that a large number of Daesh rebels have also been killed in the district.

"Police, army and public uprising groups will jointly work to safeguard the district," he added.

Nangarhar governor, Salim Khan Kunduzi, asked internally displaced people from Achin district to return to their homes. He said that schools and hospitals will soon be reopened in the district.

"I call on the brave people of Shinwari tribe to come to their villages and we will help them to come to their homes," he added.

Meanwhile, residents of the district urged the government not to let Daesh rebels return to the district. A resident from the district said that foreign militants enter from across the border. The resident also said Daesh had planned to fight Pakistan, but then they started brutalizing locals.

Afghan security forces have been fighting Daesh militants in Achin district for the past eight months. Security officials said that they have killed around 1,000 Daesh rebels during this time.
Posted by: badanov || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Kidnapped ICRC workers released in Ghazni province of Afghanistan
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Five aid workers belonging to the International Committee of the Red Thingy (ICRC) were released after four days in captivity of the unknown gunnies in southeastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan.

According to a statement released by the Geneva-based aid organization, the five aid workers were kidnapped on 16th February from Ghazni province and were released unharmed on Friday.

"The ICRC welcomes their unconditional release and calls for greater respect for its work and staff in Afghanistan," the statement said.

Jean-Nicolas Marti, head of the ICRC delegation in Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
, said "We are immensely relieved to know our five colleagues are free and in good health. We want to thank all involved for the swift resolution of the crisis."

The staff members were held while on their way to carry out an assessment, with the aim to assist conflict-stricken communities in the Waghaz district of Ghazni, the statement added.

Reaffirming the organization's commitment to continue supporting the victims of the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, Mr. Marti, said "We urge for greater respect for the ICRC's humanitarian work all over the country. Our staff must be allowed to work in safety. We are currently reviewing the security conditions in Ghazni with all parties to the conflict and hope to receive renewed security guarantees in order to resume our work in the province as soon as possible."

ICRC was established in 1987 in Afghanistan and operates to prevent violations of international humanitarian law, to protect detainees, to provide water, sanitation and means of support to civilians affected by the conflict.

Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa North
Egyptian IS group affiliate publishes photos of beheading of 'army spies'
[AlAhram] The claims of the executions were reported by the SITE monitoring service

The Egyptian affiliate 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 claims it has beheaded two men in Sinai for "spying" for the Egyptian army, posting photos online of the killings.

The photos were circulated on Twitter accounts affiliated with the Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis group late on Thursday.

The claims were reported by the US-based monitor SITE Intelligence Group.

In the captions accompanying the photos, one of the men, named as Walid Ahmed Amer, is described as "a spy for the army intelligence" and the second man, Mostafa Zeraa Salmi, as "a spy for the army."
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2016 00:52 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)


Serb diplomats killed in US Sabratha air strike
There are unconfirmed reports that two kidnapped Serbian diplomats perished in the IS compound in Sabratha that was hit by US warplanes early this morning.

Serbian embassy communications officer Sladjana Stankovic and a colleague Jovica Stepic were seized in last November when their vehicle was stopped west of Sabratha near the Talil Tourist village by gunmen.

They had been travelling in a convoy which also contained the Serbian ambassador Oliver Potezica, whose vehicle escaped. At the time the Ghwell administration said that the diplomats had been travelling without authorisation from the Tripoli authorities.
Posted by: badanov || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa Subsaharan
Boko Haram bombers kill 20 in Cameroon, injure 52
[THENEWSNIGERIA.NG] Two Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
jacket wallahs killed 20 people and injured 52 in a market in Meme, northern Cameroon
...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there...
early today, according to updated official figures, published by L'oeil du Sahel.

The bombing is the latest in a string of deadly attacks in northern Cameroon, an area where Nigerian murderous Moslem group Boko Haram is active.

On 10 February, three Boko Haram bombers also attacked a funeral wake keep, in which they killed many people, including children.

The attack came a few days after Cameroon announced details of a major assault against a key Boko Haram base in Nigeria at the week end, in which it inflicted heavy losses on the Islamist group, seized arms and freed prisoners.

The Cameroonian army offensive took place from February 11 to 14 in Ngoshe, also spelt as Goshi, in Nigeria, some 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the northern town of Ashigashia on the border between the two countries, government front man and Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said in the statement.

"162 Boko Haram faceless myrmidons were neutralised," or killed, and two Cameroonian soldiers also died, he said.

The minister said around 100 hostages had been released, including 15 Cameroonians, in the attack against the Boko Haram command post housing facilities for making bombs and mines.

The facilities were all destroyed.
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Britain
Man arrested in murder of Rochdale imam
A 31-year-old man has been arrested over the murder of an imam in a children's playground, with police set to investigate if the attack was racially motivated.

Jalal Uddin, 56, was found covered in blood with serious head injuries in the play area near South Street in Rochdale, Manchester. Police were called to the scene around 9pm last night and he was taken to hospital, where he died a short time later.

Locals said he had been to evening prayers at a mosque before visiting a friend. It is believed the former Jalalia Jaame Mosque imam was taking a shortcut through the playground on his way home after eating dinner at the friend's house.

Forensic officers were examining the scene and the area was cordoned off today.

The force this afternoon confirmed a 31-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Assistant Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Rebekah Sutcliffe, said detectives are looking at the possibility that the incident was racially motivated but added: 'At the moment we just cannot say one way or the other.'

She continued: 'We have additional patrols in the area and we are working closely with partners in the local authority.

'There will be additional staff in the area this evening. We want to reassure the community that we are doing everything to identify who was responsible for this attack and understand what has happened.'
Posted by: Steve White || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Given the location, I can think of one possible motive.....
Posted by: Pliny Unoluper4465 || 02/20/2016 13:14 Comments || Top||

#2  When authorities not only refuse their responsibilities but openly side with the oppressors, the citizenry will take matters into their own hands.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 02/20/2016 13:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Okay, after eating dinner at a friend's house. Presuming that isn't a regular/ predictable thing, neither would be his shortcut. So he wasn't ambushed just for being him.
To be beaten to death by somebody just hanging out in the playground requires somebody with deficient, murderous impulse control be hanging out thinking about stuff....or waiting for the next shortcutter.
Or he was followed by somebody with murderous intent. Why?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 02/20/2016 15:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Why not?
Posted by: Sgt.D.T. || 02/20/2016 21:22 Comments || Top||


British imam Jalal Uddin dies from head injury in playground
Recall that Rochdale was near ground-zero in the horrible Greater Manchester child sex abuse scandal in Britain. Don't know if the imam was involved with that or not. The Brit papers, of course, won't say. 48-hour rule.
The imam of a mosque in Rochdale has died after being found with head injuries in a children’s playground. The man, named locally as Jalal Uddin, was believed to be walking home on Thursday night when he was injured.

Passers-by found him with a serious head injury in the playground in South Street shortly before 9pm. Police and paramedics were called to the scene but he died of his injuries in hospital. A post-mortem was scheduled to take place on Friday afternoon.

Mr Uddin had attended evening prayers before visiting a friend for dinner and was taking a short cut while walking home, ITV News reported.

“A major investigation has been launched and enquiries are ongoing to formally identify the man and establish the circumstances surrounding how he came to be injured,” a spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said.

The Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim group trying to foster community cohesion, paid tribute to Mr Uddin, who was the former imam of Rochdale’s Jalalia Jaame Mosque. Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the foundation, said: “The news that a popular local Imam from Rochdale was murdered last night returning from prayers at a local mosque is shocking and tragic. Whilst it is too early to speculate about the circumstances of the murder we would urge the community of Rochdale to stay united and calm.

“Qari Jalaluddin saab was on his return home from Jalali Jame Mosque when he died. We pay tribute to him and his unique contribution to our community in Rochdale.

“We offer our sincere condolences and prayers to his family, friends and the wider community.”

Police have not confirmed speculation that Mr Uddin was attacked but Mr Shafiq urged mosques in the area to consider security precautions and measures to ensure people travelled homes from mosques safely.

Detective Superintendent Jon Chadwick, from GMP’s Serious Crime Division, said police wanted to hear from anyone in the area as they try to establish how Mr Uddin was injured.

Superintendent Rick Jackson added: “We know local people will be worried when they hear the news of what has happened and we have extra patrols in place to try and reassure the community.

“If you have concerns or believe you may have seen, heard or know anything that can assist this investigation then please approach one of these officers.

“There has been a lot of speculation on social media about what has happened but I would to ask that people allow us to investigate this incident and if you have information then please contact police.”
According to The Guardian, 56 year old Jalal Uddin was originally from Bangladesh. The mosque's website says it opened to the public in the early 1980s, can accomodate up to 1500 worshippers, and has speakers available in English, Bengali, and Urdu.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "His head just exploded!"
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2016 1:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Nah, Skid, he fell off the swings; or tried to stand up on the slide.

We won't even mention the monkey bars.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/20/2016 8:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Nothing to see here Gov'ner. Just move along please.
Posted by: John Frum || 02/20/2016 9:00 Comments || Top||

#4  My money is on either
1. Fellow Mohammadean immigrant got him for personal (not because of islam) vendetta reasons.
2. Mugging gone horribly wrong. (ordinary street crime)
Posted by: Nguard || 02/20/2016 9:18 Comments || Top||

#5  One of the children fought back
Posted by: Frank G || 02/20/2016 9:31 Comments || Top||

#6  Or, Frank, one of the parents decided the imam was involved and went vigilante.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/20/2016 14:42 Comments || Top||

#7  In any case, it appears Allan was not there to watch over him.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/20/2016 17:49 Comments || Top||

#8  Inshalla.
Posted by: Mugsy Glink || 02/20/2016 18:20 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
How ISIS Takes Revenge on Russia
[Daily Beast] CHERKESSK, Russia -- On a recent morning, armed and uniformed policemen patrolled nearly every block in downtown Cherkessk, the capital of Karachay-Cherkessia, one of six republics in Russia's Northern Caucasus. Every so often, they had to break their stride to get around the garbage that covered the dirt sidewalks, and the water-filled potholes in the broken roads that reflected the sky.

Local police and federal anti-terrorism special units have re-enforced their positions all across the region, as ISIS-connected terrorist groups have targeted federal highways, attacked and murdered officials, killed tourists--and claimed credit for all these atrocities.

The Northern Caucasus, with 9.7 million people, could be famous for its spectacular natural beauty, snow-peaked mountains, and health spas built around mineral springs. Instead, it's known for its shaky peace and, recently, as a focus for activity by the so-called Islamic State, which is not only recruiting from the local population, but exacting retribution for what happens on the faraway battlefields of Syria.

For many young men here, ISIS has offered what seems a romantic action-oriented life, however brief, instead of the mire of poverty and unemployment that surrounds them here.

An old woman in house slippers and green socks is sweeping the street outside an old mosque by the city's canal; she asks that "the dirt and poverty" in her city not be photographed. "Such shame," she says.

Last year it seemed that Russian authorities had begun to win the ongoing war on terror. The number of attacks dropped by almost 50 percent, from 525 terrorist attacks in 2014 to 258 in 2015.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2016 11:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Every so often, they had to break their stride to get around the garbage that covered the dirt sidewalks, and the water-filled potholes in the broken roads that reflected the sky.

Practiced technique to steer the patrol into a target zone or IED.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2016 13:19 Comments || Top||


Europe
Switzerland charges man suspected of supporting Islamic State
[Ynet] A 25-year-old Swiss man has been charged with supporting 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....
, the first time Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
has brought a suspected "jihadi traveller" before courts, the attorney general's office said on Friday.

It said he was suspected of being bound for the Middle East to join up with Islamic State before his arrest at Zurich airport last year.

"This represents the first time in Switzerland in which a suspected 'jihadi traveller' who was tossed in the slammer
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
before embarking on a trip to a conflict zone has been brought before the courts," Attorney General Michael Lauber's office said in a statement.

The man, from near Zurich, is charged in Switzerland's Federal Criminal Court with violating the nation's so-called "Islamic State law" that bans the violent group and related organizations, the statement said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  No chocolate for you!
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 02/20/2016 6:58 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey detains 3 more over Ankara attack, case 'almost solved': prosecutor
[AlAhram] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
has detained three more suspects over the attack on a convoy of military buses in Ankara that killed 28 people, prosecutors said Friday, adding that the case was almost solved.

The government has blamed a Syrian Kurdish group classified as a terror organization by Ankara as well as homegrown Kurdish Lions of Islam for the boom-mobileing on Wednesday in the heart of the Turkish capital.

A total of 17 suspects have now been detained after nationwide raids in the wake of the attack, with one more still on the run, the official Anatolia news agency said, quoting Ankara prosecutors.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
had said on Wednesday that 14 suspects were tossed into the calaboose.

"The case has almost been solved. State officials will soon make the necessary announcements," Ankara chief prosecutor Harun Kodalak was quoted as saying.

The Anatolia report said Sherlocks were focusing on the links of those detained to the PKK. It said the raids took place in cities from Izmir on the Aegean to Diyarbakir in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

Davutoglu said the bomber was a Syrian national who according to press reports slipped into Turkey along with refugees from Syria's civil war.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2016 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
3 policemen gunned down in Faisalabad
FAISALABAD: At least three policemen were killed in a gun attack on Friday evening in Faisalabad.

The suspected miscreants opened fire at policemen when they were stopped by patrolling police near Miran Wala Bangla Bypass, resulting in the killing of three policemen. The bodies were moved to hospital where they were handed over to heirs after autopsy. However, the suspects managed to escape. Heavy contingent of police cordoned off the area after the incident and launched search operation.

Punjab chief minister expressed profound grief over the killing of three policemen and directed the police inspector general to submit a report, besides bringing the culprits to book. Two days back, unidentified assailants targeted two policemen Asif and Mubashir in Lahore.
Posted by: badanov || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


3 bullet-riddled bodies found in Chaman
QUETTA: Three bullet-riddled bodies were found in Chaman, a town located close to the Pak-Afghan border, on Friday.

According to sources, Levies personnel received information that three bodies had been dumped in Shakh-Darreh, a locality on the outskirts of Chaman.

The personnel rushed to the site and found the bodies, which were shifted to the district hospital.

“The victims had multiple bullet wounds in the head and other parts of their bodies,” said an official, quoting doctors who examined the bodies.
Posted by: badanov || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Sunni tribesman clash with ISIS in Fallujah
[Rudaw] Iraqi Sunni rustics and 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....
(ISIS) jihadists engaged each other in deadly festivities in and near ISIS-occupied city of Fallujah in Anbar Province on Friday.

Iraqi army's allied Sunni rustics fought ISIS's so-called Al-Hisba group, who enforce the groups strict religious laws in the territories the group control.

The exiled official responsible for Fallujah,
... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids...
Issa Sayir, told AFP that, "Clashes took place between sons of the Al-Mahamda and Al-Juraisat tribes against the Al-Hisba group."

The fighting, he said, took place in Al Jolan to the northwest of the city and expanded to include Al-Askari to the east and the Nazal area in the city-center.

Deteriorating conditions, described by Anbar Governor Sohaib al-Rawi as having "reached a state of famine," seem to be resulting in more rustics seeking to oust ISIS from their Sunni Arab-majority province.

The US has urged Baghdad to win the trust of the Sunni rustics of Anbar and solicit their help when it comes to uprooting ISIS from Anbar. A policy not unlike the Sahwa, Sunni Awakening, strategy used during the Iraq War against ISIS's al-Qaeda predecessors in that same province.

There are an estimated 300 to 400 ISIS members still in Fallujah.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2016 01:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Troops thwart attempted car-ramming in West Bank
[IsraelTimes] Security forces kill driver as he heads directly for them; no Israelis injured in incident

A Paleostinian man was killed Friday afternoon as he tried to carry out a car-ramming attack against Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank.

The troops spotted the driver as he directed his vehicle at them during riots in the town of Silwad, the Ynet news website reported. They opened fire on the man and killed him, Army Radio said. There were no Israelis maimed in the attempted attack.

The attempted attack occurred at the British Police Junction, at the entrance to the village near Ramallah, the radio said.

"During a violent riot in Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, an assailant attempted to ram his vehicle into soldiers," the army said in a statement. "The soldiers responded to the immediate threat and fired towards the assailant, resulting in his death."

Paleostinian police sources identified the man as Raed Hamed, 20. His body was later handed over to the Paleostinian Authority, the Walla website said.

The attempted attack came hours after two Border Police officers and a bystander were maimed in a stabbing at Jerusalem's Damascus Gate on Friday morning.

One officer was stabbed in the upper body and moderately hurt. The other was stabbed in the arm and was in light condition. Both officers, in their early 20s, were taken to Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center.

According to the Magen David Adom ambulance service, the bystander, identified as a 50-year-old Paleostinian woman from East Jerusalem, was hit in the leg by fragments or ricochets from the shots fired at the assailant by security forces. She was lightly hurt. After being treated on the scene by medics, she was taken to an East Jerusalem hospital.

Later on Friday, two Paleostinian protesters were maimed by IDF fire during festivities near the northern Gazoo Strip, Paleostinian media reported.

According to the Walla News, Israeli soldiers opened fire on the protesters adjacent to the Erez border crossing after dozens approached the border fence and began hurling rocks at army patrols.

In similar demonstrations further south along the border fence, protesters inside the Paleostinian territory hurled rocks and rolled burning tires at IDF soldiers near the al-Bureij refugee camp and in the Nahal Oz area.

Palestinian dies of wounds from West Bank clash with IDF

[IsraelTimes] Army says troops open fire on 21-year-old as he shoots at them during protests in Beit Fajjar

A Paleostinian man died Friday afternoon of wounds he sustained during a clash with IDF troops in the West Bank earlier in the day.

The man died at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem, where he had been taken after the incident in the town of Beit Fajjar, between Bethlehem and Hebron, the Walla news website said.

The IDF said that he and another protester had been shot after opening fire at troops on the scene. The second protester was lightly hurt.

The Paleostinian Authority's Health Ministry named the man as Khaled Taqatqa, aged 21.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2016 00:10 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Gaza bombing targets home of Shiite terror leader
[IsraelTimes] No injuries in pre-dawn blast directed at Sheikh Hisham Salem, Iran-backed head of Strip's tiny religious minority

A kaboom targeted the home of a leader of a Paleostinian Shiite Muslim movement in the Gazoo Strip early Friday, causing damage but no injuries, the group and security sources said. The pre-dawn blast caused extensive damage at the home of Sheikh Hisham Salem, his Al-Sabireen group said in a statement.

Shiite Muslims are a tiny minority among Paleostinians who are almost exclusively Sunni Muslims or Christians.

Al-Sabireen, which says it is supported by Iran, accused "the occupier (Israel) and its collaborators."

The Israeli army declined to comment on the allegations.

Reliable information is difficult to ascertain in Gazoo, which is run by Islamist group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and blockaded by Israel and Egypt.

Hamas, a Sunni terror group, seems to want to avoid conflict with Al-Sabireen, although there is no significant Shiite community in Gazoo.

Shortly after the kaboom, Gazook security forces went to the scene and opened an investigation to find the perpetrators, security sources said.

"We went out and found an bomb placed near the door of the house," said a brother of the leader, Issam Salem, who was in the house at the time of the blast.

"The windows of the house and those of a bus were blown out," he told AFP, adding that the kaboom had sent children inside the home into a panic.

Al-Sabireen was formed in 2014 by Hisham Salem, a former member of the Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
terror group, which also takes inspiration from the Shiite Iranian revolution but which is itself Sunni.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ooops
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2016 1:26 Comments || Top||

#2  You won't like me when I'm mad.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/20/2016 8:08 Comments || Top||

#3  We know the Jooooos didn't do it. He's still alive
Posted by: Frank G || 02/20/2016 9:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Neighbors mad about a Shiite bringing the property values down?
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 02/20/2016 10:05 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Three Civilians Dead in Philippines as Troops, Rebels Skirmish
[AnNahar] Three non-combatants were killed in a roadside kaboom kaboom in a remote Philippine region where the army and Muslim rebels have engaged in sporadic fighting for days, police said Wednesday.

Muslim gunnies booby-trapped a highway to target military convoys, but it detonated when a van with six people aboard drove through late Tuesday, according to a report from the provincial police office that was sent to Agence La Belle France Presse.

Three of the van's passengers were killed while three others were maimed, according to police in nearby Datu Saudi Ampatuan town. They said they were also verifying reports one of the fatalities was a young boy.

The military has been battling a Muslim rebel faction near farming villages in the area since last week, regional military front man Major Filemon Tan told AFP.

He said about 300 soldiers had been providing protection for a flood control project in the area after the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters
...a MILF splinter group aligned with the Islamic State...
(BIFF) set fire to the private contractor's dredging equipment last week.

Two air force helicopters also fired rockets as well as machine gun rounds at BIFF positions on Tuesday, he said, but there were no confirmed casualties.

The festivities followed a major setback in efforts to end decades of fighting in the region, when parliament earlier this month failed to pass a law granting the country's Muslim minority wider autonomy.

The BIFF is not party to the peace deal, which the government signed in 2014 with the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Four decades of fighting in the south have left 100,000 people killed according to official estimates. The setback in parliament derailed the peace timetable, including the disarmament of an estimated 10,000 MILF fighters.

After the collapse in 2008 of the last attempt to seal a peace deal with the MILF, hardline rebels raided Christian farming villages, triggering fighting that left more than 400 people dead and 600,000 displaced.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2016 01:03 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian rebels liberate Shaddadi city in Hasakah
[ARA News] HASAKAH – Western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Friday midnight the liberation of Shaddadi city in Hasakah province from the Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants.

After months of battles with ISIS, the SDF has regained control of Shaddadi city –ISIS last bastion in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province.

ISIS militants have evacuated their headquarters in Shaddadi under heavy bombardment by the Kurdish-Arab alliance of the SDF.

“More than 50 Daesh militant fighters were killed in Fridays’ battle for Shaddadi,” a spokesman for the SDF told ARA News, using an acronym for ISIS.

The source added that eight SDF fighters were killed and 11 others injured, before the U.S.-backed alliance was able to expel the extremist group from the area.

“The U.S.-led coalition’s air cover has facilitated the SDF progress on the ground. Hasakah province is now free of Daesh terrorists,” he said.

This comes just hours after the SDF units cut off a main supply route for the ISIS radical group near Syria’s northeastern border with Iraq.

“SDF units have closed a strategic supply route near Shaddadi in Hasakah province after fierce clashes with ISIS militants,” the SDF leadership said earlier on Friday, adding that ISIS movement was paralyzed subsequent to losing its main supply line with Iraq’s Mosul.

The SDF, which includes Kurdish, Arab and Christian units, had earlier liberated more than 240 towns and villages from ISIS militants on the border with Iraq. The alliance has imposed its full control over the entire territory of Hasakah province on Friday midnight.
Posted by: badanov || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


ISIS Golden Throat, 2 others die in US airstrikes
[ARA News] ERBIL – A number of top ISIS officials were reported dead in a U.S. airstrike in Hasakah countryside, northeastern Syria, informed sources reported on Friday.

The airstrike has targeted a convoy for the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS) in the vicinity of Shaddadi city –which was announced a liberated city by the western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Friday midnight.

Rima al-Jarish, head of ISIS media center in northeastern Syria, was killed in the raid, along with a number of senior jihadis from the extremist group.

“The targeted convoy was carrying leading members of Daesh who were trying to escape Shaddadi after the city was stormed by Kurdish and Arab fighters from the SDF on Friday,” media activist and member of the Shaddadi local documentation center, Alwan Hamoud, told ARA News, using an acronym for ISIS.

“Among those killed in the American airstrike were Rima al-Jarish, director of ISIS media center in the region, Adam al-Chechani, commander of ISIS operations in Hasakah province, Abu Abeer al-Iraqi, Deputy Emir of Shaddadi, and Abu Aicha al-Jazrawi, head of Sharia Court in Shaddadi,” said Hamoud, who based his information on ISIS security sources.

Rima al-Jarish, a Saudi national, had led the media machine of the jihadi propaganda on behalf of the ISIS self-declared Caliphate over the last two years in northeastern Syria. She was involved in recruiting foreign jihadis to join the ranks of ISIS.

Al-Jarish was also known as one of the founders of the so-called al-Khansaa Brigade for female jihadis.

ISIS militants have evacuated their headquarters in Shaddadi under heavy bombardment by the Kurdish-Arab alliance of the SDF. “The U.S.-led coalition’s air cover has facilitated the SDF progress on the ground,” an SDF spokesman told ARA News on Friday. “Hasakah province is now free of Daesh terrorists.”
Posted by: badanov || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Al-Nusra troops launch fresh offensive in Aleppo
[ARA News] ALEPPO – Dozens of civilian casualties were reported on Friday in bombardment by militants of al-Qaeda on a Kurdish district in Syria’s northern Aleppo province.

Militant fighters of al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda wing in Syria, launched an attack on the Kurdish district of Sheikh Maqsoud by mortar fire and “Hell” canon, bombing residential buildings in the war-torn district.

“More than 20 civilians were killed and dozens more wonded in the district under heavy bombardment by Nusra and its allies,” rights activist Rezan Hiddo told ARA News in Aleppo.

“Rescue teams have pulled dead bodies of dozens of victims from the rubble of the bombed buildings in Sheikh Maqsoud on Friday evening,” the local source reported. “We are still searching for victims stranded under the ruins.”

Sheikh Maqsoud has been repeatedly exposed to Nusra-led attacks over the past few months, amid sporadic clashes between the Islamists and Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units (YPG)–who are in control of the district.

Hiddo pointed out that the Sheikh Maqsoud district suffers a sharp shortage of medicine and food supplies as a result of siege imposed by al-Nusra Front and the Islamic Movement of Ahrar al-Sham.

This comes just one day after Turkey’s military stationed on the Syrian border bombed the Kurdish city of Afrin and nearby villages in northwestern Aleppo, which caused casualties among civilians. The attack, which took place in the midnight on Thursday, hit residential neighborhoods in Afrin and its suburbs. Afrin is under the control of Kurdish forces from the People’s Protection Units (YPG). The city and its countryside have sheltered thousands of displaced people from war-torn Aleppo.

The Turkish bombardment has also reached the villages of Deir Ballout, Hammam, Firera, Hasna, Sanar and Hakjeh –administratively linked to Afrin. Dozens of civilian casualties, including children, were reported in the heavy artillery shelling by the Turkish army on Thursday.
Posted by: badanov || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Kurds, allies cut off main ISIS supply route on Syria-Iraq border
[ARA News] HASAKAH – Kurdish-Arab alliance of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Friday cut off a main supply route for the Islamic State (ISIS) radical group near Syria’s northeastern border with Iraq.

“SDF units have closed a strategic supply route near Shaddadi in Hasakah province after fierce clashes with ISIS militants,” the SDF leadership said in a statement.

“This progress by our forces will help paralyzing ISIS movements in Shaddadi and its surroundings, especially that the captured supply route has been for long used by ISIS to bring military reinforcements from Iraq in order to support its operations in Hasakah province against the Kurdish-led SDF,” it said.

Subsequent to clashes with ISIS fighters, the SDF recaptured on Friday a number of villages in eastern Shaddadi, including Alwah Fouqani, Mehsan and al-Hassan. The Kurdish-Arab alliance has blocked the road linking the ISIS-held areas in Hasakah with Mosul –the group’s main bastion in Iraq.

At least 23 ISIS militants were killed in Friday’s clashes, while four SDF fighters lost their lives and seven others were wounded.

The SDF, which includes Kurdish, Arab and Christian units, had earlier liberated more than 240 towns and villages from ISIS militants on the border with Iraq, including the key town of al-Hawl which has been for long used by the jihadis as a key supply route between Syria and Iraq.
Posted by: badanov || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Airstrike kills Saudi woman who joined ISIS in Syria
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A Saudi woman who left 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...
to join ISIS was killed on Friday in Syria, Al Arabiya News reported, citing social media.

Syrian activists posted on Twitter that Reema al-Juraish, who was part of the group's propaganda team, was killed by US-led coalition Arclight airstrikes, the report said.

It was reported that Juraish, who was wanted by the Saudi government, left the kingdom for Syria in November 2014. The wife of a Saudi detainee, Juraish fled the country with her four children (14-year-old Maria, 13-year-old Abdul Aziz, eight-year-old Sarah and six-year-old Ammar) to join ISIS in Syria, and to join her son who had already left Saudi Arabia to join ISIS a year before.

According to the report, Juraish posted on her Twitter account that she had escaped to 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...
before going to Syria. She allegedly fled to al-Qaeda in Yemen, where she would get help to go to Syria.

Whilst in Yemen, Juraish reportedly met with another Saudi woman who had left Saudi Arabia in March 2009 to join her husband in al-Qaeda in Yemen.
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Hundreds of Syria rebels re-entered country from Turkey to reinforce trapped insurgents
[Ynet] At least two thousand Syrian rebel fighters re-entered the country from Turkey to reinforce insurgents fending off an assault by Syrian Kurdish-led militias seeking to capture the border stretch, several rebel sources said.

The rebel fighters, with weapons and vehicles, headed into the embattled rebel stronghold of Azaz, in Aleppo province.

The route across Turkey for fighters has become the only path for rebels to their north Aleppo enclave along the border after recent Syrian army advances in the northern Aleppo province closed the main lifeline into rebel territory for years.

The UK's Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence across the war torn-country, also confirmed that hundreds had already crossed with weapons via a border crossing into Azaz.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  resupply run?
Posted by: Bov Flimbers || 02/20/2016 23:22 Comments || Top||


Saudi halts $3 bn in aid to Lebanon army
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] 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...
said Friday it has stopped a $3 billion program for military supplies to Leb in protest against Hezbollah, the Shiite holy warrior group fighting in support of Syria's regime.

In response, Leb's PM Tammam Salam urged Saudi to reconsider the suspension of the package.

In light of positions taken by Hezbollah the kingdom proceeded to "a total evaluation of its relations with the Lebanese republic", an unnamed official told the Saudi Press Agency earlier.

The kingdom's loyal Gulf allies, the UAE and Bahrain, expressed support for Saudi's decision.

Saudi added that the remainder of a $1 billion financing package for Lebanese security forces had been suspended, in a separate decision.

The $3 billion program financed military equipment provided by La Belle France.

Leb received the first tranche of weapons designed to bolster its army against miliatnt threats, including anti-tank guided missiles, in April last year but the program then reportedly ran into obstacles.

Alleged leaders of Leb-based Hezbollah are under sanction by Saudi Arabia.

Hezbollah is supported by Iran.

In the statement, the Saudi official said Riyadh had always stood with Leb and supported the country through difficult times.

"Despite these honourable stands, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia had been met with Lebanese stands that are against it on Arab, regional and international arenas, in the shadow of the confiscation of the will of the state by the so-called Lebanese Hezbollah," the statement said.

Hezbollah is the Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim group that wields major power in Leb. Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia is the arch-regional rival of Shi'ite Iran.

The SPA statement said Leb, at recent meetings of the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
and the Organization of the Islamic Conference
OIC is an international organisation with a permanent delegation to the UN, with 57 member states. It represents all countries with substantial Moslem populations (as opposed to the Arab League, which excludes members not of the Master Race) except those which member countries block from joining. These include India, which has more Mohammedans than does Pakistain, whose membership is vetoed by Pakistain...
, had failed to condemn "the blatant aggression on the kingdom's embassy in Tehran and the consulate in Mashhad," last month.

It was referring to an attack by Iranian demonstrators protesting over the execution by Riyadh of a Saudi Shiite convicted of incitement to violence.

Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran over the attacks on its missions.
Update from An Nahar at 7:30 a.m. ET:
Turkey Willing to Provide $1.1 Million Military Aid to Lebanon

Following the halt of a Saudi program to fund aid to the Lebanese army, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
expressed willingness to provide Leb with military aid worth $1.1 million, the National News Agency said.

Turkish ambassador to Leb Cagatay Erciyes told Defense Minister Samir Moqbel that his country is ready to "continue to support Leb and its army," NNA said.

"The Turkish government has decided to provide military aid worth $ 1.1 million to meet the needs of the Lebanese army, and to include Leb within a program to provide military aid to foreign militaries," the ambassador pointed.
From whom will Turkey get a loan to cover the $1.1 million they so grandly talk of giving away? Not Saudi Arabia, one assumes. China, perhaps? Or has Turkey's economy suddenly started growing?
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Terror Networks
US leads total of 41 strikes against ISIS on Wednesday and Thursday
US leads 22 strikes in Syria, Iraq against Islamic State

[Ynet] The United States and its allies conducted 22 strikes against 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 Iraq and Syria Thursday, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement.

Thirteen strikes staged in Iraq were concentrated near djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
and Ramadi, where they hit three of the Death Eater group's tactical units as well as a weapons storage facility and a dozen fighting positions, the statement released on Friday said. Other strikes hit targets near Al Baghdadi, Albu Hayat, Hit and Sinjar.

In Syria, nine strikes were conducted near five cities, including Al Hasakah, where four strikes hit two Islamic State tactical units, five vehicles and two fighting positions.

US, allies stage 19 air strikes against Islamic State

[Ynet] The United States and its allies conducted 19 air strikes against 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 Iraq and Syria on Wednesday, the coalition leading the operations said.

In a statement on Thursday, the Combined Joint Task Force said seven strikes in Syria targeted tactical units, vehicles, an bomb and destroyed a building.

Separately, 12 strikes near eight Iraqi cities destroyed rocket rails, fighting positions and machine guns, among other targets, the statement said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
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3Hezbollah
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2Arab Spring
1Palestinian Authority
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1al-Nusra
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1Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters
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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2016-02-20
  Saudi halts $3 bn in aid to Lebanon army
Fri 2016-02-19
  Foreigners among 24 terrorists killed in Badakhshan
Thu 2016-02-18
  Freed Gitmo detainee, ex-bin Laden aide returns to former career
Wed 2016-02-17
  44 Daesh militants killed in Nangarhar's Achin District
Tue 2016-02-16
  British Sniper Decapitates ISIS Executioner
Mon 2016-02-15
  Taliban confirm losing 13 fighters in Paktika drone strikes
Sun 2016-02-14
  Boko Haram kills at least 30 people in northeastern Nigeria
Sat 2016-02-13
  Turkish artillery hammers airfield near Aleppo
Fri 2016-02-12
  Syrian rebels launch offensive on pro Syrian troops in Latakia
Thu 2016-02-11
  Female Suicide Bombers Kill 58 in Nigeria
Wed 2016-02-10
  New Hampshire primary: Trump, Sanders win
Tue 2016-02-09
  Russian police arrest 7 Islamic State militants
Mon 2016-02-08
  ISIS executes 300+ in Mosul
Sun 2016-02-07
  North Korea fires long-range rocket despite warnings
Sat 2016-02-06
  Yemeni Army's Tochka Strikes Saudi-US Aggression Camp in Marib, Kills 104

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