Fred wrote this heading into July 4th, 2002. I have it saved in my personal favourites list to reread regularly. Today I read it to remember what America really is — before, after, and around all the vicious nonsense of Progressive politics and the culture war. Happy Independence Day!
Rantburg] Here I sat, no, not broken-hearted, but reading something awful about the shootout in Waziristan, when the phone rang. It was The Little Woman. "Honey," she said (she always calls me Honey, 'cuz I'm so sweet) "could you go to the store and get some hot dogs and chicken legs for dinner this evening?"
We have company this weekend, The Little Woman's Cousin David and his family, from Mississippi and Ohio. We're going to fire up the grill and do dawgs and chicken feet, so it'd be to our advantage to have some of each on hand. So I put on my yellow hat and got in The Little Blue Car and drove away. I noted on the way to the store that there were a lot of people sitting along side of the street in their beach chairs, but the store wasn't crowded and I soon had my yessir, yessir, three bags full, and headed for home.
I made it as far as the stop sign. 4th of July week is coming up, and it's the week —yes, the entire week — of the Riviera Beach Carnival, sponsored by the helpful fellows of Volunteer Company 13. And we start off the carnival in the traditional manner, with a real by-God American Firemen's Parade.
If you're a lover of firemen's parades, you know what I'm talking about. If you've never been to one, let me try to describe it. There is no purpose to a firemen's parade except to have a parade. It's not even, despite the 4th of July coming up, despite the flags on display, an especially patriotic event. Many places have theirs in August, or even in September. Usually a politician or two makes an appearance, but even that's not really necessary. What's essential is firetrucks: pumpers, ladder trucks, utility trucks, boats on their trailers, tankers, you name it. Fire companies from miles around send their trucks, polished and spiffy, to appear in The Big Parade. Manning them are the volunteer firemen, the guys who put in hours of training for the privilege of riding the trucks to fires and emergencies.
You can't have a parade with only trucks and ambulances and police cars, even though the visiting firemen blow their sirens and wave to people as they go by. So firemen's parades have a few marching bands from the local schools. And there are pom-pom girls. I love pom-pom girls. They range in age from pre-school to, I would guess, the upper reaches of junior high. There is no purpose to a pom-pom girl other than to look pleasant. They may have actual pom-poms or they may carry batons, but they serve no more useful purpose than a vase of flowers. I always want to hug them.
I say that firemen's parades aren't patriotic, but I mean that only in the national sense. They're an expression of a community's pride in itself. The hulking vehicles are our vehicles, paid for with a combination of tax dollars, bingo games, bake sales and teen dances. The guys manning them are our guys, guys and girls who live and work in the community and devote the time to doing the training, keeping up the trucks, and rushing to fires and emergencies. The marching bands are our kids, and the pom-pom girls our daughters. So we put them on display so we can admire ourselves. The trucks go by, lights flashing and sirens sounding. The bands march and play, often in tune. The pom-pom girls march, sometimes in step. Dogs bark, sing along with the sirens, and sometimes run alongside the trucks. Hat sellers and trinket salesmen will be happy to sell you things you don't need, but that you want because you don't want to forget that you went to the Big Parade. After the parade, the visiting firemen will drink beer out of plastic cups, swap stories, and flirt with the local girls.
There aren't any pom-pom girls in Waziristan. They might not even have any firetrucks. If they're really lucky, someday they might.
To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
[Garowe] A dawn attack left at least three people dead in Mogadishu on Tuesday, eyewitnesses said, in the latest waves of attacks by al-Shabaab ...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... , in retaliation spree following activation of operations against the group across the Horn of Africa nation.
Three people including a father and two children were killed in the deadly attack, witnesses said, with the attack leaving several other people critically injured. Those injured have since been rushed to various hospitals in Mogadishu where they are undergoing treatment.
The attack, sources said, targeted Waberi and Warta Nabadda Districts, with the attackers using a mortar to unleash. It was not immediately clear who were the targets but the Death Eaters are fond of targeting government buildings, airport and Halane, the AU base.
Although the group is yet to take responsibility, it has carried similar attacks in the past particularly around Mogadishu where they are determined to disrupt operations. The al-Shabaab group is fighting to topple the fragile UN-backed federal government of Somalia for the last 15 years.
In recent weeks, the group has suffered massive losses in central and southern Somalia following activation of the first phase of operations against them, and the government has now diverted attention towards initiating the second round of operations against the Death Eaters in the country.
The second phase, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had hinted, will mainly focus on Jubaland and Southwest states in Somalia. Already, government soldiers, the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS] troops, US Africa Command and local militia have been prepared for this phase.
Contingents from the Æthiopia and Kenya have termed the impending operation as "final assault" against the al-Shabaab, forcing a number of imported muscle to flee from the country. Kenya on her part has established several Forward Operating Bases along the border to block movement of al-Shabaab.
The group has insisted in recent weeks that the operations have not gained their objectives, arguing that the government of Somalia has "lost" the plot, a claim which has been often disputed by the administration of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. ATMIS soldiers have also kick-started drawdown.
A dawn mortar fire was reported in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, targeting villages near the presidential palace and other vital areas.
A Quranic teacher and his Daughter died in Waberi District while 3 others were injured after a mortar struck a residential zone, according to the eyewitnesses.
Four other mortar shells landed in Wardhigley district, specially around the heavily fortified Presidential palace. At least three people are reportedly killed in the bombardment.
The Federal Government’s security agencies have not yet given details about the mortar that hit Mogadishu, and they arrested any suspects over the incident.
Father, daughter killed in separate twin mortar shell attacks in Mogadishu https://t.co/t9L7fwLCJn
[ShabelleMedia] Somali troops launched an attack against al-Shabaab ...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... base in Jubaland state as the region prepares for an all-out offensive to wipe out the krazed killers.
The operation was carried out by the joint forces in a place where it was said that al-Shabaab fighters were gathering in the vicinity of the airport of Dhoobley district.
There was a heavy fight between the government forces and those of Jubbaland on one side and the al-Shabaab who were in the area of the attack.
It is not yet known the official damage caused by the attack, but the local residents indicated that the fighting was strong and caused casualties. with death and injury.
Al-Shabaab used to organize attacks on military positions in Dhoobley district and its surroundings.
This planned operation comes at the same time as the government and Jubbaland forces have increased their operations in the Lower Jubba region
[AFRICANEWS] Fierce fighting between the forces of rival generals shook the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Sunday as disease and malnutrition threatened the rising number of displaced.
A video posted online on July 3 and filmed on July 2 shows fighters from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) manning a checkpoint at the Wad al-Bashir Bridge in Omdurman, north of Khartoum, as fierce fighting between forces of the rival Sudanese general continues to shake the capital.
Khartoum residents said they were shaken awake by warplanes and "violent mostly peaceful fighting" between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Witnesses told AFP a police base and the state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
building in the capital's northwest were under attack by the RSF, who said they had shot down an army MiG fighter.
In central Khartoum, others saw "scores of RSF vehicles" driving towards the vicinity of "the Armoured Corps".
Since April 15, the war between Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, has killed nearly 3,000 people and displaced 2.2 million within the country, with another 645,000 fleeing across borders, according to the International Organization for Migration.
"The situation is grave," the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a statement detailing the hardships of displaced Sudanese stuck in nine camps in White Nile State which borders South Sudan.
In addition to Khartoum, the worst fighting has been in the western region of Darfur where residents, as well as the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... , United States and others, say civilians have been targeted and killed for their ethnicity by the RSF and allied Arab militias.
The corpse count is believed to be much higher than recorded, as the World Health Organization says about two-thirds of health facilities are "out of service" in combat-affected areas.
Many injured people are unable to reach hospitals, and bodies lie rotting in the streets of Khartoum and Darfur.
A record 25 million people in Sudan need humanitarian aid and protection, the UN says.
"Hundreds of thousands of people, most of them women and kiddies", pack camps that stretch out from the south of Khartoum all the way to the border with South Sudan, MSF said.
"There are suspected cases of measles, and malnutrition among children has become a vital health emergency.
"From June 6 to 7 we treated 223 children with suspected measles, 72 were hospitalised and 13 have died," MSF said.
The war has smashed the country's already fragile infrastructure, leaving residents short of water and electricity in the oppressive summer heat.
Numerous ceasefires, including some negotiated by the United States and 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... , have failed to hold.
Fighting continued during the just ended Eid al-Adha ...a major Moslem holiday, marked by animal sacrifice and ritual rioting... holiday for which the warring sides announced separate unilateral truces.
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07/04/2023 00:00 ||
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[LIBYAREVIEW] The Libyan authorities have found two bodies on the Mediterranean coast, in the north of the country, suspected to be immigrants colonists.
The media office of the Ras Lanuf Security Directorate said that a body was recovered and transferred to a hospital to be placed in a mortuary refrigerator, until legal measures are taken by the competent authorities.
Moreover, another body was recovered from the seashore in the Umm al-Khandafs area, decomposing.
The investigating officer said that he found a passport showing the identity of the body, which belonged to a Bangladeshi immigrant.
All necessary legal measures have been taken, according to the statement.
Last month, the Benghazi Security Directorate announced the arrest of a Bangladeshi man, who was part of an international human trafficking network. The detainee, who fled from 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... was involved in the abduction and torture of migrant workers.
In a statement, the Security Directorate said that information had been relayed to the detectives at the Bouatni Police Center about a Bangladeshi national who had come from Tripoli. He had rented a house in the al-Masaken area, where he kidnapped Bangladeshi migrant workers, torturing them in return for ransom from their families.
The statement reported that the detainee had been smuggling people via the sea to Europe, using Libyan shores, charging each person 10,000 Libyan Dinars.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2023 00:00 ||
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[LIBYAREVIEW] The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) announced that Libyan patrols have intercepted 601 migrants colonists within a week, and returned them to Libya.
It said on Monday that the migrants colonists, including women and kiddies, were "intercepted and returned to Libya between 25 June and 1 July 2023."
"So far this year, a total of 8,496 migrants colonists have been intercepted and returned to Libya," the organization said, adding that "780 migrants colonists have died and another 944 are missing at sea off the Libyan coast."
According to the IOM, the first quarter of 2023 was the ’deadliest’ since 2017, with 441 migrants colonists deaths along the Mediterranean route.
Notably, the EU delivered two more patrol boats to the Libyan Coast Guard in a ceremony in Italia, on Thursday. The step was a part of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... ’s executive project of Support to integrated Border and Migration Management in Libya.
The project aims to "strengthen the capacity of relevant Libyan authorities in the areas of border and migration management, including border control and surveillance, addressing smuggling and trafficking of human beings, search and rescue at sea and in the desert."
The EU delivered "two Currubia Class" vessels which were former Italian Finance Guard patrol boats, according to Radio Radicale journalist, Sergio Scandura. It was heavily criticised by a United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... report released in late March, which documented the collusion of the high-ranking staff of the Libyan Coast Guard with traffickers and smugglers, according to EurActiv news website.
According to the report, the Coast Guard "are reportedly connected to militia groups, in the context of the interception and deprivation of liberty of migrants colonists."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2023 00:00 ||
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[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Ministry of Defence of the government loyal to the Saudi-led coalition, on Monday directed the command of the “First Military Region” affiliated with Islah Party in Hadhramaut province to raise combat readiness to face what it called “emergency challenges.”
Chief of General Staff in the pro-coalition government, “Sagheer bin Aziz”, stressed the need to confront “terrorist organizations, and defend the Republic and unity”, in reference to the confrontation with the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) factions.
Bin Aziz’s directives to increase combat readiness in the first region coincided with the Transitional Council’s leadership escalating and threatening to use armed force to expel Islah forces from Hadhramaut Valley districts.
This comes after the announcement of the establishment of the “Hadhramaut National Council” in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, last June, to confront the UAE-backed STC project in the oil-rich province.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2023 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Houthis
— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) July 3, 2023
The 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 authorities on Monday put to death five people convicted of carrying out a deadly attack on a house of worship, the state media said, the biggest group execution this year.
The five men -- four Saudis and one Egyptian national -- were tried for an attack that killed five people and injured an untold number of others in the kingdom's east, home to most Saudi oil and most members of its Shiite minority.
An interior ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency did not specify when the attack took place or what type of house of worship was targeted.
The State media said one man was beheaded while the others were executed by other means.
This brought to 68 the total number of people put to death so far by Saudi Arabia, a frequent target for criticism by rights groups who object to its prolific use of capital punishment.
More than 20 executions have been carried out since early May for terrorism-related offences, the vast majority in the eastern province.
In late May, authorities put to death two Bahrainis convicted of terrorism in a case that Amnesia Amnesty International said hinged on "torture-tainted confessions".
Last year, Saudi Arabia executed 147 people in total -- more than double the 2021 figure of 69, an AFP tally showed.
The figure for 2022 included 81 people executed on a single day in March of that year for terrorism-related offences, an event that sparked an international outcry.
More than 1,000 death sentence ...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead... s have been implemented since King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Lord of Most of the Arabians... assumed power in 2015, according to a report published earlier this year by Reprieve and the European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights.
The recent surge in executions in Saudi Arabia comes as the kingdom, known for its strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law, has been trying to soften its image through sweeping social and economic changes as part of its "Vision 2030" reform agenda.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2023 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
[IsraelTimes] Authorities battle nightly looting, rioting for almost a week since 17-year-old killed by officer during a traffic stop, rekindling long-standing accusations of systemic racism
Mayors across La Belle France held rallies Monday calling for an end to violent mostly peacefulfestivities that erupted after a teen was rubbed out by police last week, as signs emerged that the unrest was beginning to ease.
The government has battled riots and looting since 17-year-old Nahel M.
..more fully Nahel Merzouk, the precocious known wolf who already had a rap sheet as long as your arm, dear Reader....
was killed by an officer during a traffic stop on Tuesday, rekindling long-standing accusations of systemic racism among security forces.
Monday’s demonstrations calling for a "return to republican order" came after the home of the mayor of a Gay Paree suburb was rammed by a burning car, prompting widespread outrage.
"Democracy itself has been attacked... this can’t continue and it won’t," said Vincent Jeanbrun, the conservative mayor of L’Hay-les-Roses, whose home was attacked early Sunday.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said the deployment of 45,000 police and gendarmes would be maintained on Monday and Tuesday nights.
"The priority is to ensure the return to order," she announced.
President Emmanuel Macron visited a police barracks in the capital’s 17th Arrondissement on Monday night, "assuring them of his support" in his first outings on the scene since the protests erupted, a source in his office said.
Authorities reported a sharp decline in incidents nationwide, with just 11 arrests in Gay Paree and its suburbs as of 10:00 pm (2000 GMT), the police department said.
A total of 157 people had been arrested overnight Sunday to Monday — a small fraction of the number held the night before. Three coppers were also hurt.
Some 3,900 people have been arrested since Friday, including 1,244 minors, the justice ministry said.
"The nights have been tough for residents since Tuesday," when Nahel was killed, said Patrick Jarry, the mayor of Nanterre just west of Gay Paree where the teen of Algerian origin lived.
"The string of violent mostly peaceful episodes is unacceptable," he added, calling for calm.
All bus and tram services in the Gay Paree region remain suspended from 9 pm (1900 GMT).
But, in a move which could spark fresh anger, a collection for the family of the policeman who fired the fatal shot — now charged with voluntary manslaughter — topped one million euros ($1.1 million).
Politicians from the ruling centrist party condemned the collection — organized by a far-right figure — as "indecent" and dangerous.
In all, 99 town halls have been attacked in the violence, the Interior Ministry said, including a weekend attempt to ram the home of one mayor with an explosives-laden car.
Across France, 34 buildings, many of them linked to the government, were attacked from Sunday into Monday, along with 297 vehicles.
[IsraelTimes] Report in pro-government daily claims Ottoman Turkish intel uncovered Tel Aviv-operated spy ring whose missions included hacking phones and marking targets in Beirut
A report in a pro-government Ottoman Turkish daily Monday claimed seven members of an Israeli spy ring were arrested by the counterintelligence branch of the country’s National Intelligence Organization, as part of a crackdown on an allegedly larger spy network.
According to the Daily Sabah, the seven were part of a 56-member team operated remotely from Tel Aviv by Israeli handlers, who communicated with the separate cells using burner phones. The report said the seven, who were not identified, confessed to working for Israeli intelligence.
It was not specified what happened to the other suspects, which were said to include an Arab Israeli, Ottoman Turkish nationals and Syrians.
The operatives reportedly gathered intelligence on targets using sophisticated surveillance techniques, including by sending links with viruses that infect phones when clicked. The report said some of the links were to stories on fake news websites set up by the network, most of which were in Arabic.
The Ottoman Turkish daily said the network’s Arabic-speaking members were dispatched to Leb ...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... and Syria to gather intelligence and pick out targets to be later struck by Israel, among them a building in Beirut where senior figures from the Hezbollah terror group reside.
The report also asserted dozens of other operatives traveled to a secret Mossad facility in Thailand
Oooooooohhhh — a secret trailing facility? How cool is that!
to learn the art of espionage, such as evading counterintelligence and put tracking devices on vehicles. Once in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund... , they then reportedly had to undergo further training to test their skills and loyalty before going operational.
One would hope so. The Mossad does not accept inferior agents, unlike some spy agencies which need not be named.
Israel, which rarely comments publicly on Mossad actions, has not reacted to the allegations.
In recent years, Ottoman Turkish intelligence has claimed via Daily Sabah reports to have uncovered numerous Mossad espionage rings, including in May, when it said 11 people were arrested for spying on Iranian targets for Israel.
They do say so. And the Syrians claim to shoot down almost all Israeli missiles, the North Koreans claim they meant to hit the sea, and Iran claims to have invented ground-breaking new weapons.
The reports have come as the two countries have moved to patch up ties after years of tensions, fully reestablishing diplomatic ties last year.
...keep your enemies closer...
A year ago, security forces from both countries worked together to prevent an Iranian liquidation plot on Ottoman Turkish soil. Ottoman Turkish forces tracked and arrested the Iranian agents as they attempted to kidnap and kill Israeli tourists in Istanbul in a Dire Revenge attack for Israel’s alleged liquidation of a high-ranking Iranian military figure in May.
A major outstanding point of contention between the two regional powers is the Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", office in Istanbul, which Ankara insists deals only with political activities.
...among their political actions being the obtaining of funds for the military wing...
Israel charges that 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... -ruling terror group uses its hub in Turkey to direct terror attacks and has publicly demanded that the office be shuttered.
There is so much new detail here that I’m letting it stand as a separate post instead of attaching it to today’s earlier post on the subject. There is a useful infographic — a satellite image with circles and arrows and an explanatory paragraph — at the link.
[Jpost] The IDF on Sunday night launched its largest operation in Jenin since the Second Intifada with a series of more than ten airstrikes and moving brigade-level forces into the northern West Bank Palestinian city.
IDF sources and the political echelon made it clear that they were significantly upping the level of force being used to end a wave of terror dating back to March 2022, but the IDF home front command also got ready for potential revenge attacks by Hezbollah in Lebanon or Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza.
The IDF Chief Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari said early Monday that as of now the operation is focused on Jenin, but that it could expand to other parts of the northern West Bank, also known as Samaria. There were no indications that the IDF would expand the operation to the central and southern portions of the West Bank.
DURATION AND STRATEGY IN JENIN OPERATION
Hagari refused to set a timeline for the operation, but the impression was that it would last a minimum of several days, and could easily last weeks or longer, but would not be open-ended and would not lead to the IDF trying to permanently hold territory in any way. It was also possible that the IDF might leave Jenin within days, but then initiate another large-scale operation elsewhere.
The IDF was careful not to attack any Palestinian Authority security forces and Hagari specifically said that the operation is against local Jenin terror groups and not the PA.
According to Hagari, the strategy of the operation was to root out a deep and systematically developed terror apparatus in Jenin, which has grown over several months and has gone way out of control. He said over 50 terror attacks emanated from Jenin and over 19 terrorists have tried to escape there after carrying out attacks.
OPERATION OUTCOMES AND THE HUMAN TOLL
Over 300 Palestinian improvised explosives were seized and a couple dozen key terror command and control and other targets were destroyed.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Monday evening that at least eight Palestinians were killed and 50 injured, 10 of them seriously, since the beginning of the operation. The slain Palestinians were identified as Sameeh Firas Abu al-Wafa, 21, Aws Hani Hanoun, 19, Hossam Abu Theebeh, 18, Nour Eddin Marshoud, 16, Mohammed Muhanad Shami, 23, Ahmed al-Amer, 21, Ali Hani al-Ghul, 17, and Majdi Ararawi, 17.
One IDF soldier was slightly injured by shrapnel during the operation and taken to a hospital for medical treatment, but later insisted on returning to the battle.
Over 100 Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces for further interrogation, with some later released and an unspecified number kept in detention.
DESTRUCTION OF TERROR INFRASTRUCTURE
Soldiers located and confiscated an improvised rocket launcher and other weapons. Most notably, they destroyed several laboratories for the production and storage of explosives, according to an IDF statement. One of the larger laboratories had hundreds of improvised explosives ready for use and another one had dozens of such explosives ready for use.
Around 1:15 p.m., the IDF and a large group of armed Palestinians engaged in a wider gunbattle near a mosque. IDF aircraft also engaged the Palestinians to "remove them as a threat."
By 6:00 p.m., the IDF noted that after its exchange of fire with Palestinians, some of whom used the mosque as a new position to fire on IDF forces, it eventually succeeded in gaining access to lower regions of the mosque. In subterranean levels of the mosque, IDF intelligence and the Shin bet (Israel Security Agency) helped locate and neutralize two pits full of explosives and weapons.
The IDF spokesman in Arabic, Avichay Adraee, denied Arabic reports circulating on social media according to which the IDF attacked the Freedom Theater in Jenin during the operation. Adraee attached a video clip in which the theater can be seen from the air, untouched by IDF airstrikes.
JENIN'S COMPLEX DYNAMICS AND ONGOING OPERATIONS
For more than half a year, Jenin has in any case been beyond the control of the PA.
Hagari would not identify which terror groups, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Lions' Den, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or others, which have been struck so far, saying it was too early to know.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have each transferred millions of shekels to their cells in Jenin during 2023.
The IDF estimates that 25% of Jenin residents identify with Islamic Jihad and 20% with Hamas. Of the 49,000 Palestinians living in Jenin, around 18,000 live in the Jenin refugee camp which has been at the heart of the conflict since March 2022, but even more in 2023.
Some IDF forces are going house-to-house in search of terrorists and their weapons in some portions of Jenin, but so far the incursion has not been as broad as Operation defensive Shield in 2002. The IDF also has not yet used tanks in Jenin, though it could in the future if the fighting gets out of hand.
OPERATION EXECUTION AND INTELLIGENCE BACKGROUND
Hagari was adamant that the operation had no name because it is not a full scale operation, would not lead to a war and also therefore, did not receive or need cabinet approval. However, at the same time, the home front was on high alert should Gaza, Hezbollah or other groups attempt to intervene or attack Israel.
The IDF chief spokesperson said that the operation was approved 10 days ago, but that the IDF had waited for local holidays to end as well as for improved weather conditions. Other sources said that some kind of larger operation has been considered by the IDF for the past year.
Israel warned the US a week ago that it would soon act decisively against the terror in Jenin, without giving exact details of the operation, Kan reported.
"Jenin has become a "sanctuary city" for terrorist operatives, and the intelligence that has been accumulated has indicated that there is an effort by Iran and its proxies, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to transfer a lot of money and weapons to terrorists," Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi stated on Monday morning.
[IsraelTimes] Chanting ’Democracy,’ thousands rally at main terminal, stepping up opposition to shakeup of judicial system; police eject protesters from arrivals hall; 37 held, all freed later
Thousands of anti-government protesters rallied Monday at Ben Gurion Airport, clashing with police and defying calls to alter their plans, as they moved to rev up their opposition to the coalition’s renewed judicial overhaul legislation. Police said 37 protesters were arrested for disturbing the peace after overrunning barricades, blocking roads, and entering Terminal 3.
Officers used force to prevent protesters from blocking the street and dragged people out of the arrivals hall as chants of "Democracy" and "This government is criminal" rang through the cavernous space. After several hours, police declared the demonstration illegal and geared up to disperse it, with mounted officers on hand. Police said that in addition to crowding into the road, demonstrators dragged plants into the streets to create barricades.
According to Hebrew media, some 15,000 demonstrators were at the facility, in protests that began in late afternoon and continued into the night.
The disarray caused massive traffic jams at the entrance to the airport and roads leading toward the site. Some flights were delayed by hours, and Hebrew media reports said many passengers missed their flights. Some 93,000 travelers were scheduled to arrive and depart in the course of the day, on some 550 flights.
Hundreds of protesters later gathered outside of the Ramle cop shoppe, where demonstrators arrested at the airport rally were taken, to demand their release. All of those detained were released, the police said in a statement issued after midnight.
While stressing that they would uphold demonstrators’ right to protest, police had vowed to act to maintain public order and keep access roads open for emergency vehicles.
The protest went ahead after police warned that blocking roads in and around the airport could result in "disaster" if there were an emergency, a justification dismissed by critics as a convenient pretext. Police initially said they would limit the protest to a designated area at Terminal 1, but later relented, after protesters pledged to protest at Terminal 3 in any case.
Protesters had also faced calls to scrap the rally, due to a major Israeli counterterror operation in the West Bank.
Protest organizers and opposition figures had said the demonstration would go ahead unless Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition halted Knesset committee deliberations on a bill to block justices from exercising judicial review over the "reasonableness" of government decisions.
MK Simcha Rothman, head of the Knesset Constitution Committee, held a session on Monday as scheduled, however, and said the bill would be approved by the panel and advanced Tuesday to the Knesset ahead of first reading early next week.
The protests were a harsh welcome to Israel for many unsuspecting tourists, as they were greeted by thousands of activists with noisemakers and drums, filling Terminal 3 with cacophony.
Organizers had said they were targeting the airport as it "symbolizes that Israel is a flourishing liberal and democratic nation."
Ahead of the airport protest, demonstrators blocked access to the Haifa port in the morning, preventing vehicles from entering the terminal.
While protests had calmed somewhat over the past few months, while the judicial overhaul legislation was paused, organizers say that now that the government has begun moving ahead in the Knesset with some elements of the plan, they are renewing their efforts.
Organizers have said they plan for Israelis to go about their daily routines in the coming days, even as they adopt a more aggressive stance toward the coalition’s moves.
Saturday saw the 26th weekend of nationwide protests against the judicial shakeup. The main demonstration was, as usual, held on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street. Channel 13 partner Crowd Solutions estimated 130,000 participants while organizers put the number at some 150,000. Nationwide, the organizers claimed a turnout of 286,000.
“We want to raise children here. And we need to make this country a place (where) we can have girls and not be afraid someone will speak (down) on them in the street because they’re wearing short sleeves,”
[IsraelTimes] A 14-year-old Paleostinian from a village in the Jenin area of the West Bank was detained for allegedly stabbing and lightly wounding an Israeli man in the central city of Bnei Brak, police said Monday.
A terror motive was being investigated, police added. Police chief Kobi Shabtai referred to the attacker as a "terrorist."
The injured man was taken to the Mayanei HaYeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak for treatment.
The suspect expeditiously departed at a goodly pace after the attack, but was caught by a police officer on a cycle of violence. Police also detained his father and brother for questioning.
The attacker said after he was captured that he carried out the stabbing in response to the Israel Defense Forces operation in Jenin, Ynet reported.
The Jenin operation came after a series of Paleostinian terror attacks against Israelis killed 24 people since the start of this year. Many of the attackers came from Jenin and its environs.
The northern West Bank, and especially the Jenin area, has long been considered a hotbed of terrorism by the IDF.
According to the IDF, some 50 shooting attacks were carried out by residents of the area since last year, and 19 wanted Paleostinians escaped to Jenin to seek refuge there from Israeli forces.
Follow up to this story from yesterday. Also see detailed subsequent post here.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Israeli aircraft and ground forces have conducted a nighttime raid on the city of Jenin and its refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, killing at least four Paleostinians and injuring dozens, some of them at death's door.
According to Paleostinian Health Ministry, one of the Paleostinian youths killed in Israel’s early Monday raid has been identified as 21-year-old Samih Abu al-Wafa. They were fatally shot after Israeli aircraft targeted a house in the center of the Jenin refugee camp with several missiles.
That was no house. They call that the 'joint operations centre', the command post for the 'Jenin Brigade'.
According to eyewitnesses, after Israeli aircraft launched a series of air raids on the Jenin refugee camp, dozens of the regime’s military vehicles stormed the camp, following which armed festivities broke out between Paleostinian resistance fighters and Israeli forces.
Paleostinian media said Israeli forces stormed the camp from two directions, while resistance fighters targeted their vehicles with homemade bombs.
In addition to the house targeted in the center of the Jenin refugee camp, Israeli aircraft bombed several other locations across the camp, causing injuries among its residents.
As the aerial raid on the camp continued, a large number of Israeli forces, accompanied by military bulldozers and supported by Apache helicopters and reconnaissance planes, stormed the city of Jenin .
"There is bombing from the air and an invasion from the ground," Mahmoud al-Saadi, director of the Paleostinian Red Islamic Thingy in Jenin, was quoted by AFP as saying, adding, "Several houses and sites have been bombed....smoke is rising from everywhere."
Israel’s Kan television channel claimed the decision to launch the military operation in Jenin was taken about two weeks ago, but it was postponed until the end of the Moslem holiday of Eid al-Adha ...a major Moslem holiday, marked by animal sacrifice and ritual rioting... Various Paleostinian resistance movements were quick to react to the occupying regime’s nocturnal raid on Jenin.
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... , which is headquartered in the besieged 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, issued a statement, condemning the raid.
The Islamic Jihad said Jenin will not surrender "and our fighters are determined to confront the Zionist enemy and fight regardless of the sacrifices they may have to make."
The movement said the Zionist enemy bears full responsibility for the consequences of this aggression, adding that Israel will fail to achieve its objectives while Jenin will remain a symbol of steadfastness.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine (PFLP), for its part, slammed the Israeli savagery, saying, "The Zionist aggression against Jenin and the crimes of the occupation will only strengthen our people’s determination and steadfastness to continue the resistance."
"We call on our people in all the neighboring villages and towns to unite with the people of Jenin to repel this terrorist aggression," it added.
Hazem Qassem, a front man for the Gaza-based Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, resistance movement, said the Israeli onslaught against Jenin will not achieve its goals and the Zionist enemy will fail.
He added that Israel’s fascist ...anybody you disagree with, damn them... and hard boy cabinet, headed by the its criminal prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, bears all responsibility for the consequences of tonight’s aggression against Jenin.
The Hamas front man noted that the occupying regime "will not be able to win the battle against the resistance and our people, who will continue their struggle and fight until achieving their goals of freedom and independence."
Qassem added that Jenin, along with all other Paleostinian cities, will continue their uprising despite the crimes of Israel, stressing that "the will of our people to stand firm is stronger than the military machine of the occupation."
Head of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... , also reacted to Israel’s attack on Jenin, emphasizing that the blood shed in Jenin will determine the next stage of the fight against the regime.
Haniyeh said, "Our people know how to respond to this barbaric aggression in all places where they are present."
He also called on all Paleostinian people throughout the West Bank to stand by Jenin and defend its people in order to thwart the enemy’s plans.
[IsraelTimes] IDF denies reports it ordered evacuation of West Bank city, as Paleostinians stream out of refugee camp and Israeli reinforcements move in
Thousands of Paleostinians streamed out of the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on Monday night to escape fighting as Israeli forces push ahead with a major anti-terror operation launched almost 24 hours earlier. The Paleostinian Red Islamic Thingy emergency services group said 3,000 people had been evacuated from a densely populated quarter of the city.
"There are about 3,000 people who have left the camp so far," Jenin deputy governor Kamal Abu al-Roub told AFP, adding that arrangements were being made to house them in schools and other shelters in the city of Jenin. He said about 18,000 Paleostinians reside in the camp.
Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... agency for Paleostinian refugees, confirmed to AFP that residents of the camp were leaving. Footage released by Paleostinian media showed crowds walking out of Jenin, some moving past Israeli military vehicles. Paleostinian media reports also said the Israeli military was deploying reinforcements to Jenin. In footage shared online, a large convoy of army vehicles, including bulldozers, were seen entering the area Monday evening.
Israeli officials denied ordering an evacuation after Paleostinian media said the IDF had instructed residents to leave the area. The IDF’s Arabic language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said the evacuation reports were baseless. Security officials told the Ynet news site that the Israel Defense Forces did not issue an evacuation order, and that the Jenin residents were fleeing to escape the fighting. Hundreds of armed hard boyz were holed up in the refugee camp, the officials said, stoking fears among residents they could be caught in the crossfire.
Throughout the operation on Monday, IDF troops who entered Jenin, located weapon storage sites, explosives labs, and other "terror infrastructure," clashed with armed Paleostinians, and carried out airstrikes against various targets in the refugee camp, the IDF said in a statement.
Paleostinian health officials said eight people were killed and at least 80 others were maimed, including 17 listed at death's door, during the strikes and in festivities with Israeli forces, which continued into the night on Monday. Several of the slain Paleostinians were identified by media reports as members of gangs in the city, although there was no immediate official statement issued by 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... or other local terror organizations.
[IsraelTimes] The Israel Defense Forces says troops located hidden underground storage sites with weapons and explosives inside a mosque in the West Bank city of Jenin.
After lengthy shootouts with armed Paleostinians who were holed up inside the mosque, Israeli forces managed to break in, the IDF says.
The IDF says that on the ground floor, troops found two underground storage sites containing explosivesAi, weapons, and other military equipment.
The equipment is being seized and destroyed, the IDF adds.
[IsraelTimes] Troops operating the West Bank city of Jenin have uncovered an explosives laboratory with hundreds of devices already prepared for use, the Israel Defense Forces says.
The IDF says two similar labs with dozens of makeshift bombs are also found in the area.
The soldiers confiscated the weapons and explosives, the IDF says.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2023 00:00 ||
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[NPASYRIA] 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... (HTS) pressed on Monday the residents of a makeshift camp near the town of Kafarya, eastern Idlib, to evacuate within 72 hours from the date of the notice or pay the due rent along with the rent for the next three months.
A local source from the camp told North Press that "HTS has warned the residents of the Muwali camp to evacuate within 72 hours or to commit to paying the rent due for May and June, along with the rent for the next three months."
He added that the camp was established on an agrarian land that was seized by the HTS as "war spoils", with an area of 2.5 dunams (0.6 acre).
The camp contains about 45 families distributed among 38 tents, which were provided to them by an NGO a year ago. Most of the camp’s residents work as day laborers or as shepherds, according to the same source.
The source emphasized that the camp’s residents can barely secure their basic needs. HTS’ decision leaves them with the difficult choice of either being evicted or paying the rent to stay.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2023 00:00 ||
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Two Syrian government soldiers were killed and three others were wounded after their military vehicle was targeted in northern #Daraa, southern #Syria.https://t.co/fo6BP2RZ0g
— NORTH PRESS AGENCY - ENGLISH (@NPA_English) July 3, 2023
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2023 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] The Hezbollah terror group has removed one of two tents set up in an area along the Blue Line between Leb ...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... and Israel, according to several Hebrew-language reports late Sunday evening.
According to the Ynet news site, the same number of Hezbollah fighters remains on the Israeli side of the contested area, but they have now been condensed into the remaining tent, while the second one was moved to the Lebanese side.
The Walla news site reported that Israeli officials believe Hezbollah is seeking to quietly avoid an armed confrontation with Israel by moving the tent. Israeli officials did not immediately confirm the reports on Sunday evening.
The news broke hours after Israel reportedly sent a message to Hezbollah threatening an armed confrontation if it did not remove the outpost soon. According to an unsourced Channel 12 report, Israel warned Hezbollah that the tents would be removed "even at the cost of days of fighting."
The outpost was set up by the Iran-backed terror group in early April, north of the border fence, but on the Israeli side of the internationally recognized Blue Line in the contested Mount Dov region, an area also known as the Shebaa Farms and claimed by Israel, Lebanon and Syria. The UN and the Lebanese government have both since confirmed it sits south of the Blue Line.
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.
...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
...a major Moslem holiday, marked by animal sacrifice and ritual rioting...
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead...
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
...anybody you disagree with, damn them...
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
