[AnNahar] Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy, so it's kind of hard to describe him as a Qadaffy holdover. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... , whose forces have been battling to capture the seat of the UN-recognised government in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... since April, has said he is open to dialogue after repeatedly rejecting UN calls for talks.
"When all is said and done, we need dialogue and we need to sit down" at the negotiating table, Haftar said in a statement issued on Wednesday night on the eve of a special session on Libya on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Haftar stressed however that dialogue was "not possible so long as terrorist groups and criminal militias control Tripoli," a reference to the myriad of militias that back the Government of National Accord.
Haftar welcomed the special session to be co-chaired by La Belle France and Italia in New York later Thursday, saying that he hoped it would come up with "proposals that serve Libya's interests and at the same time restore security and stability."
Earlier this month, Haftar, whose forces control eastern Libya and most of the far-flung oases and oilfields of the desert south, rejected a UN call for renewed peace talks, saying that a military solution was the best way of bringing the conflict to an end.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/27/2019 00:00 ||
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[AlAhram] The first evacuation flight of African refugees and asylum-seekers was set to arrive in Rwanda on Thursday in the latest effort to divert and care for thousands from the continent who failed in their efforts to reach Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... The East African nation's agreement to take in 500 people who have been trapped in crowded, dangerous Libyan detention centers has raised questions and concerns. It is not clear how long they will be held in Rwanda and what happens if no other country agrees to take them permanently.
``Refugees who will wish to stay in Rwanda permanently will be given asylum,'' Olivier Kayumba, permanent secretary in the ministry of emergency management and refugee affairs, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named. Authorities said the people were in a bad state of health and media access to their arrival was restricted.
[JPost] A Pakistan court on Friday convicted the brother of social media star Qandeel Baloch of her murder, a 2016 killing that sparked a change in laws and ignited fierce debate over the prevalence of 'honor killings' of women.
A court in the eastern city of Multan found Muhammad Waseem guilty of the murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment, his lawyer told Reuters.
"Waseem has been given life in prison," the lawyer, Sardar Mehboob, told Reuters by phone, shortly after the verdict was delivered. He added he would file an appeal against the verdict.
Six other people, including two of Baloch's other brothers, had been acquitted, he said.
Waseem admitted in a 2016 media conference organized by police that he strangled his 26-year-old sister due to her social media activities. Baloch had posted risque Facebook posts in which she spoke of trying to change "the typical orthodox mindset" of people in Pakistan. She faced frequent misogynist abuse and death threats but continued to post provocative pictures and videos.
Baloch, whose real name was Fauzia Azeem, was described as Pakistan's Kim Kardashian and had built a modeling career on the back of her social media fame, but drew ire from many in the conservative South Asian nation.
[OneIndia] The arrest of Jahidul Islam alias Kausar has given the National Investigation to several clues as to how the Jamat-ul-Mujahideen had been operating in South India.
Islam is an accused both in the Burdwan and Bodhgaya blasts and he was arrested after nearly a five year chase. He along with his accomplice, Habibur Rehman were hiding in Karnataka at the time of their arrest.
Prior to this they have moved around several places in South India, which included Tamil Nadu, where they even tested rocket shells. Interestingly these were not the only arrests that were made in connection with the same module and case.
It may be recalled that in January 19, 2018, two more persons Abdul Karim and Mustafizur Rehman were arrested from the labour camp of Bengali speaking persons in Mallapuram in Kerala. Both were also of Bengal origin and were wanted in connection with the Bodhgaya case.
Intelligence Bureau officials tell OneIndia that this is not for the first time that turbans have come down South to hide. There have been several such instances reported in Kerala and Hyderabad as well. They tend to mix with the migrant population including the Rohingyas and continue to stay on in states such as Telangana, Kerala and Karnataka.
In Mallapuram, the members of the JMB were staying at a camp for a long time which was set up for Bengali speaking people. Even in Karnataka, their activities go unchecked as they tend to mingle with those who have migrated in search of work. There is also a concern with regard to the Rohingyas who have moved to various parts of the country in large numbers, including Karnataka. These turbans often use such persons as a shield and use such states as a safe haven.
The Bengal-Bengaluru connection is not restricted to terror alone. There has been a dedicated route between these two states which has been busted by the NIA which probing a case relating to fake currency.
The NIA's Hyderabad wing had in March 2018 arrested Saddam Hussain, a resident of Bengaluru who was found in possession of fake currency to the tune of Rs 26,000.
The NIA team also recovered two demonetised currency notes of the value Rs 1,000. The accused was allegedly circulating fake currency in various parts of his country after obtaining it from his contacts in Mada, West Bengal.
During investigation it was revealed that accused Saddam had travelled to Malda from Bangaluru on the instructions of Amirul Hoque and collected High Quality FICN from Roustam on four occasions.
[HindustanTimes] Saeed, chief of UN-designated terrorist organization Jammat--ud-Dawa was banned in December 2008 by the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... Security Council after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed.
Pakistain has approached the UN security council committee with a request to let Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... emir Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat. He is periodically placed under house arrest so it looks like the govt is doing something. Once the heat is off they let him go.... to withdraw money for what Islamabad described as "necessary basic living expenses".
Saeed, chief of UN-designated terrorist organization Jammat--ud-Dawa was banned in December 2008 by the United Nations Security Council after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed. Four years later, the United States had announced a US $ 10 million bounty for his arrest.Hafiz Saeed had tried to get off the UN list earlier this year but the attempt was firmly blocked.
In a request to the UNSC panel overseeing enforcement of sanctions against snuffies such as the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks plotter, Pakistain said one of the bank accounts frozen on UNSC’s orders was one where his pension - Saeed was once a college professor before he made terror his full-time business - was deposited by the Pakistain government.
Also read: ’We spent millions on JuD,’ Pak minister admits funding banned terror organization
"His bank account was blocked by the Government of Pakistain under compliance with UNSC resolution 1267, requesting an asset freeze exemption to access frozen funds in the amount of Rs 1.5 lakh (USD 1000) to cover the necessary basic living expenses for himself and his family," the Pakistain request to the UNSC panel said.
Indian officials say Pakistain’s hard push to let the global terrorist access a mere Rs 1.5 lakh from his bank accounts is important for three reasons.
Firstly, it highlights the nexus between Islamabad and jihadists in the country who are backed by the official machinery. Second, it confirms India’s understanding and information about Hafiz Saeed’s clout in the Pak security establishment. And thirdly, people familiar with the development say, it is a "hugely symbolic move" that is seen to support Hafiz Saeed’s claims that he was not the terrorist criminal mastermind that Indian agencies accuse him of but just another ’retired college professor’.
[Rudaw] Reconstruction at the once war-ravaged University of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... has reinvigorated its campus, now brimming with new students as the 2019-2020 academic year commences.
University officials say they have decided to enroll as many as 15,000 of this year’s high school graduates, with repair works at many of its colleges completed.
"Repair works at the Science College, Engineering College, Accounting College, Education College, College of Arts, and Business Administration have finished," Engineer Osama Ahmed, in charge of the reconstruction and project department at the Mosul University, told Rudaw on Wednesday.
Once one of Iraq’s most prestigious academic institutions, the University of Mosul was left in ruins by the long battle to liberate the city from Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS ...embracing their inner Islamic Brute... ) in 2016.
The university became an ISIS barracks, while the education system was refashioned to suit the demands of its so-called caliphate.
"Though ISIS worked to eliminate the university, it is now back. The university is very active," university president Dr. Qusay Kamaladin told Rudaw. "We managed to restore the university to its original state."
Rudaw visited the campus on Wednesday and saw long queues of students submitting applications for new academic year enrollment.
"After the liberation of Mosul, life has resumed at Mosul University too, though part of it lies in ruins," Mustafa Ahmed, a waiting university applicant told Rudaw.
"We are glad to see that the university is under repair," he said.
ISIS snuffies destroyed the economic infrastructure of Mosul and oppressed the city’s residents for three grueling years.
Another applicant we met called on the Iraqi government to put measures in place for students who had dropped out due to uncertainty and fear under ISIS rule.
"Many students fled the city with their families and have not returned to the university yet," student Tamir Mohammed said.
"I hope the Higher Education Ministry [of Iraq] will start a scientific investigation into such cases and find a solution," Mohammed added.
The nine month alley to alley battles to recapture Mosul from ISIS saw 70 percent of the university and its facilities damaged.
Seventy five percent of the university's electrical system was damaged, as well as 45 percent of its water system. Hundreds of university-owned vehicles were taken by ISIS and more than one million books burned, according to Kamaladin.
The year-long repair works, primarily conducted by the UNDP with support from the Iraqi government, has reduced the scale of damage from 70 to 25 percent, he added.
Probably just talk, but wouldn’t it be fun if he did!
[IsraelTimes] PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase.... promises to call general elections in areas that the Paleostinians envision as part of a future state when he returns to Ramallah from the UN General Assembly. so, he's not coming home?
"From the outset, we have believed in democracy as a foundation for the building of our State and society. We have enshrined this in our constitution and exercised this on the ground. We conducted general elections in 1996, 2005 and 2006, in addition to regular local elections," he says.
Abbas blames the Hamas, a regional Iranian catspaw, terror group’s takeover of the Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip in 2007 for the failure of elections to be held since then.
"I call on the UN and the relevant international organizations to monitor these elections, and I will attribute full responsibility to those who may attempt to prevent it from happening on the date determined," he says.
He doesn’t address how the West Bank based-PA will administer the elections in Gaza and East Jerusalem, which are respectively under Hamas and Israeli control.
Abbas, who is in the 14th year of a five-year president term, also doesn’t say whether the elections will be for president, the PA legislature, or both.
[IsraelTimes] Population expected to reach 10 million by 2024; Jewish Agency says 14.8 million Jews worldwide, a slight increase from last year
Israel’s population stands at 9,092,000 and is expected to reach 10 million by Rosh Hashanah 2024, the Central Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
In figures published ahead of the Jewish new year which begins Sunday evening, the CBS said the country’s 6.744 million Jews make up 74.2 percent of the total population, and its 1.907 million Arabs represent 21%.
Other minority groups comprise 4.8 percent of the population with 441,000 residents.
Since Rosh Hashanah 2018, the population rose by 184,000, marking a 2.1% increase, a similar change to previous years. Israelis gave birth to 196,000 children in the past year, while 50,000 citizens died. Some 38,000 people moved to the country, of whom 35,000 were Jewish immigrants colonists who received citizenship.
At its current pace, the Jewish State will have 15 million residents by its hundredth birthday in 2048 and 20 million by 2065, the report said.
Worldwide, there are now 14.8 million Jews, a slight increase from the 14.7 million tallied the year before, the Jewish Agency reported on Thursday.
There are 8.1 million Jews living outside Israel, with the largest population in the United States, which has 5.7 million Jews.
Following Israel and the US, the countries with the largest number of Jews are La Belle France (450,000), Canada (392,000), Britannia (292,000), Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... (180,000), Russia (165,000), Germany (118,000) and Australia (118,000).
The Jewish Agency says there 26,000 Jews living in Arab and Moslem states, with 15,000 in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... , 8,500 in Iran, 2,000 in Morocco and 1,000 in Tunisia.
The statistics are based on self-identification as Jewish and not as any other religion. The Jewish Agency said when looking at those eligible to get citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return, which requires at least one Jewish grandparent, there are 23.6 million Jews worldwide.
[Free Beacon] The Trump administration on Thursday banned all members of the Iranian regime and their family members from entering the United States, a move aimed at stopping regime figures from sending their children to America for schooling and other opportunities.
"The President announced a presidential proclamation restricting entry into the United States for senior Iranian government officials and members of their families," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a notice to reporters.
"For years, Iranian officials and their family members have quietly taken advantage of America's freedom and prosperity, including excellent educational, employment, entertainment, and cultural opportunities in the United States," Pompeo said. "Under this proclamation, designated senior regime officials and their families will no longer be allowed entry into the United States."
"No longer will elites reap the benefits of a free society while the Iranian people suffer under the regime's corruption and mismanagement," according to the State Department.
Iranian regime figures have long taken advantage of America's educational institutions, with many sending their children to the United States for college.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2019 10:12 ||
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#1
should have done this before Rhouani visited the un
Posted by: chris ||
09/27/2019 10:49 Comments ||
Top||
Suddenly the Trump administration seems to be sanctioning everyone on a very long list. What changed?
[Ynet] The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on a firm it said was participating in a scheme to avoid U.S. sanctions while helping provide jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria.
The U.S. Treasury Department said the newly sanctioned firm, Maritime Assistance LLC, was operating as a front company for OJSC Sovfracht, a company the United States had previously sanctioned in relation to operations in Ukraine.
#1
Suddenly the Trump administration seems to be sanctioning everyone on a very long list. What changed?
Plans announced at G8,
Trump message to the UN,
Dron66's presentation of India's strategy,
Macron getting hard,
Today's twit Emily Feng,
Failed Taliban peace talks,
Iran getting more testy,
(More) arms to SA.
I think the containment strategy is surfacing around the world.
#2
Its about time!
In September 2016, OFAC designated Sovfracht for violating sanctions against Crimea and prohibited the company from transacting in US dollars.... without first receiving a license from OFAC. Following these new restrictions, the defendants started using Maritime Assistance LLC as a front company for Sovfracht to continue conducting US dollar transactions. Maritime and Sovfracht employees acted interchangeably, according to the indictment, and Maritime assumed debts and contracts previously owned by Sovfracht.
Maritime allegedly continued to operate with US dollars for the delivery of jet fuel to Syria, violating both the Crimean and Syrian sanctions.
In which President Trump once again displays his superpower of inciting his enemies to turn on one another.
[IsraelTimes] Iran’s supreme leader says Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... ans should not be trusted, based on their inability to save the 2015 nuclear deal that the US unilaterally withdrew from last year.
Since then, US sanctions have kept Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... from selling its oil abroad and have crippled its economy.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini... speaks a day after Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani ...Iran's moderate president, which he is, relative to his predecessor, which doesn't mean he's anything but a puppet of the nearest holy man... attended the UN General Assembly in New York.
Khamenei says: "Europeans did not fulfill any of their commitments, and this is the strongest reason that they shouldn’t be trusted."
There had been hope European mediation could help salvage the Iran’s nuclear agreement with world powers.
Iran’s supreme leader says Europeans should not be trusted, based on their inability to save the 2015 nuclear deal that the US unilaterally withdrew from last year.
Since then, US sanctions have kept Iran from selling its oil abroad and have crippled its economy.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks a day after Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani attended the UN General Assembly in New York.
Khamenei says: "Europeans did not fulfill any of their commitments, and this is the strongest reason that they shouldn’t be trusted."
There had been hope European mediation could help salvage the Iran’s nuclear agreement with world powers.
But Khamenei says Europeans are as hostile toward Iran as the US, and that European mediation had provided little so far beyond "long speeches."
But Khamenei says Europeans are as hostile toward Iran as the US, and that European mediation had provided little so far beyond "long speeches."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/27/2019 00:00 ||
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[AlAhram] Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... has started using advanced models of centrifuges to enrich uranium, the UN's nuclear watchdog said Thursday, in a new breach of the faltering 2015 deal with world powers.
Advanced centrifuges at Iran's Natanz facility "were accumulating, or had been prepared to accumulate, enriched uranium", the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report seen by AFP.
Under the 2015 deal with world powers that puts curbs on Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief, Tehran is only meant to enrich uranium using less efficient IR-1 centrifuges.
The landmark deal has been in jeopardy since May last year when President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... withdrew the US from it and reimposed sanctions.
The remaining parties to the deal with Iran -- Britannia, China, La Belle France, Germany and Russia -- have tried to salvage the accord, but Tehran has repeatedly accused Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... of not doing enough.
[Rudaw] Tunnels run for hundreds of metres, connecting caves strewn with mattresses that formed what the Syrian army and its Russian allies say was a vast rebel underground network.
The road leading to the entrance of the tunnels in Lataminah in northwestern Syria is lined with the charred shells of cars and armoured vehicles.
According to the Russian army, which organised a press tour of the site for dozens of journalists, the network of caves dug into a rocky outcrop could shelter up to 5,000 people.
The Russian army said it has uncovered around 10 such underground networks across northwestern Syria and others in the desert region of Palmyra.
"We think this network was dug about four years ago with sophisticated machinery, of a kind which is not available in Syria," a Syrian army colonel said as he led news hounds into the tunnels, escorted by Russian demining experts.
The red-brick entrance to this underground base still bears the scars of the battle that saw Russian-backed regime forces retake the area in the province of Hama earlier this year.
"Those who fought here retreated to the north. First to Khan Sheikhun and then further into Idlib province when our forces took the city," the colonel said.
In some places, the tunnels are barely big enough to stand in but connect large rooms carved out of the rock, including a prayer room, a drone workshop, a bathroom and even a prison.
Military officials told AFP news hounds that the total size of the underground network, in which crates of ammunition were found, has not yet been fully assessed.
DRONE WORKSHOP
It was used primarily by fighters from jihadist groups, among them the alliance known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... that now dominates the entire Idlib enclave.
The caves provided shelter to those fighters from the intensive air strikes Russian and Syrian aircraft usually conduct as a prelude to any ground advance.
In some of the caves, empty food cans and crumpled plastic water bottles, jerricans and decaying clothes give a glimpse of daily life in the dark hideout.
Some rooms were done up with tile panels and a coat of paint while others have fully cemented walls, over which Syrian soldiers have since scribbled slogans praising Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... One room was even equipped with an old TV, wired up with cables that run around one kilometre from the nearby town of Lataminah.
The room which officers believe was used as a prison was dug out no less than 400 metres deep into the maze of tunnels and caves.
Blood stains are still visible on the ground, as are tiny separate cells with rusting doors.
The Russian army said it has uncovered around 10 such underground networks across northwestern Syria and others in the desert region of Palmyra.
Officers said the Lataminah cave was a local hub for the manufacture of drones that jihadist fighters used against regime and Russian forces.
The massive Russian military base of Hmeimim, which lies in the neighbouring province, has been repeatedly targeted by rebel drone attacks.
[Jpost] The Trump administration said on Thursday in a statement it would dramatically cut the number of refugees to be resettled in the United States in the 2020 fiscal year to 18,000, the lowest level in the history of the modern refugee program.
So many wars have ended, and clearly so-called economic refugees will no longer be considered.
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.
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy, so it's kind of hard to describe him as a Qadaffy holdover. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
[JPost] A Pakistan court on Friday convicted the brother of social media star Qandeel Baloch of her murder, a 2016 killing that sparked a change in laws and ignited fierce debate over the prevalence of 'honor killings' of women.
...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat. He is periodically placed under house arrest so it looks like the govt is doing something. Once the heat is off they let him go....
...embracing their inner Islamic Brute...
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
[Rudaw] Tunnels run for hundreds of metres, connecting caves strewn with mattresses that formed what the Syrian army and its Russian allies say was a vast rebel underground network.
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
