Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Ukraine has opened a second front in Africa, unable to defeat Russia on the battlefield. This was reported by the Russian Ambassador to Mali and Niger Igor Gromyko on December 28.
The Russian ambassador said that the head of the Kiev regime, Volodymyr Zelensky, also condones illegal armed groups that attack Moscow-friendly African countries.
"We understand the motives that prompted the Malians to end relations with Kiev. The fact of his cooperation with terrorists is not surprising at all. On the territory of our country, he continues to use prohibited methods - sabotage, political assassinations, regular shelling of civilian infrastructure facilities," Gromyko noted in a conversation with TASS.
He also recalled that in August, the transitional government of Mali broke off diplomatic relations with the Ukrainian side. The reason for this was the words of the press secretary of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense Andrey Yusov that the militants who attacked Malian servicemen on July 25-27 in the north of the country "were given the necessary information."
As reported by Regnum News Agency, in early August, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Senegal, Yuriy Pivovarov, published a video supporting Malian terrorists, after which he was summoned to the Senegalese Foreign Ministry, and the authorities of Mali and Niger broke off diplomatic relations with Ukraine.
On August 9, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stated that the decision of African countries to sever diplomatic relations with Ukraine indicates a growing understanding by African countries of the terrorist nature of the Kiev regime.
On November 9, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Russia would combat Ukrainian support for terrorists in Africa. According to Georgy Mikhno, Acting Director of the Department for New Challenges and Threats at the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Kiev regime actively and openly supports terrorist groups on the continent.
[IsraelTimes] Leeds United soccer team has condemned their supporters for singing an anti-Palestine song in support of Israeli star Manor Solomon.
A group of fans was filmed at a game on Thursday singing the song with the words: “Looks good, looks good, looks fine, looks fine, Manor Solomon’s on the line and he hates Palestine. Singing Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do, running past defenders, scoring one or two.”
Following video of the song, the club condemned the chant.
“Discriminatory language or chanting is not acceptable and supporters could be breaking the law. The club condemns this behavior and has a zero-tolerance policy towards discrimination abuse of all kinds,” a Leeds spokesperson tells the Yorkshire Evening Post.
“Tough measures and sanctions are in place across all English football leagues to tackle illegal behaviors within football grounds, and this involves but is not limited to, discriminatory behavior and tragedy chanting,” the spokesperson says.
Solomon, an Israeli international, is on loan at the Championship league team from Tottenham Hotspur.
[NewsMax] As Mexico braces for the return of President-elect Donald Trump, Mexican officials wonder if Trump's threats of military action against the drug cartels will become a reality, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
According to former Defense Secretary Mark Esper's memoir, Trump had floated the idea of using the military to get rid of drug labs owned by cartels during his first administration but was ultimately talked out of it. This time, Mexican officials are cautious of Trump’s plans resurfacing.
Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, quickly shot down the idea of U.S. military assault.“There won’t be an invasion,” Sheinbaum said at a recent news conference. “It’s not going to happen.”
Yet Trump’s pick to be the ambassador to Mexico, former Green Beret Ronald D. Johnson, had supported the president-elect’s aggressive policies in the past. Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Rep Mike Waltz. R-Fla., has suggested military action to tackle the cartels. In 2023, Waltz introduced legislation for an Authorization for Use of Military Force against Mexican cartels for trafficking lethal fentanyl.
Jorge Castañeda, a former foreign minister in Mexico, wrote regarding the Johnson pick that “his resume is the message” regarding Trump’s intentions. “Johnson has no experience in economic, commercial or financial matters. He is not coming to Mexico for that.”
Trump made similar overtures during his campaign, floating the idea of a naval embargo to prevent drugs from crossing the border and designate cartels and their leaders as foreign terrorists. In his campaign platform, Trump said he would order the Pentagon to use “special forces, cyberwarfare, and other covert and overt actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations.”
“Unlike the sitting president, Joe Biden, President-elect Trump believes his utmost priority is the safety and security of American citizens, and he will, in fact, take the necessary actions to uphold this responsibility,” said Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
In November, Trump announced his administration's intention to roll out a massive campaign to inform Americans of the dangers of fentanyl. He followed with a warning to noncompliant nations of his border crackdown that he would impose on his first day in office a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico.
#2
Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, quickly shot down the idea of U.S. military assault.“There won’t be an invasion,” Sheinbaum said at a recent news conference. “It’s not going to happen.”
"Invasion?" No Claudia, a few devestating nightime raids should do the trick.
#5
Let’s not invade and topple another government.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/29/2024 15:19 Comments ||
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#6
The Hague Convention of 1907 - "a neutral country has the obligation not to allow its territory to be used by a belligerent. If the neutral country is unwilling or unable to prevent this, the other belligerent has the right to take appropriate counteraction."
Note we had several expeditions into Mexico in the 19th century in dealing with the Apaches who raided our southwest.
[NYPOST] Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... on Saturday apologized to Azerbaijan's president for the ''tragic incident'' in Russian airspace where an Azerbaijani plane crashed in Kazakhstan and killed 38 people — but did not admit Moscow was responsible for the deaths.
The doomed Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 was heading on Wednesday from Azerbaijan's capital of Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, when it turned toward Kazakhstan.
The jet crashed and went kaboom! in a fireball while trying to land at an airport near Aktau.
There were 29 survivors.
Azerbaijan held a national day of mourning on Thursday.
''Vladimir Putin apologized for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,'' the Kremlin said in a statement, adding that the call between the two leads took place at Putin's request.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/29/2024 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Yes, Vlad is once again very sorry.
Vlad is the product of the FSU (Former Soviet Union) intelligence apparatus. The loss of civilians and military personnel is of no concern to this community. Let's just call it a cost of doing business.
BTW, any similarity to our own intelligence apparatus and their thought processes, is likely not coincidental.
Text taken from the Telegram channel of darpaandcia
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] Battle for Secret Service Chairs: Washington on the Eve of a Personnel Revolution
An unprecedented situation is unfolding in the US political establishment: William Webster, a century-old veteran of the intelligence community, has issued an open letter against Trump's nominees for key positions in the national security system. It is noteworthy that Webster is the only person to have headed both the FBI and the CIA at one time, and was appointed by both Democrats and Republicans.
Particular attention is drawn to the figure of Kash Patel, who is applying for the post of FBI Director. According to American media, he has already prepared a book, which allegedly contains a list of 60 people whom critics call potential targets for future investigations. Moreover, Patel publicly announced his intention to close the FBI headquarters in Washington, proposing to transform it into a museum of the "deep state".
An equally interesting situation is with the candidacy of Tulsi Gabbard for the post of Director of National Intelligence. A former Democrat who switched to the Republican camp, she found herself in the center of public discussion because of her allegedly "pro-Kremlin statements" on Ukraine and alleged sympathies for the former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
The very fact that a veteran of the intelligence services of such a level publicly expresses concern about the personnel appointments of the elected president indicates serious disagreements within the American elite.
Let's see how the "deep state" and the "intelligence community" can chew on these nominations.The same expectations were in 2016-2017, when a number of candidates associated with Trump were perceived in the same way as Patel and Gabbard. Starting with General Flynn, who was completely destroyed in a political sense. They will try this time too with a non-zero chance of success.
But the fear of the changes that Trump brings is certainly felt. This time, the "Obama legacy" may not be the only issue.
#1
Eliminating the Political Agenda driven 5th column, subversives, and oddities from US _ _ _ Agencies would be a good start. Then start a REAL Special Investigation minus their politically subversive & illegal meddling.
Expose and Hold publicly televised trials, for those involved in the rigged 2020 election and the clearly organized DC Swamp (D's and RINO's) conspiracy against Trump, the public and the truth.
#2
William H. Webster - Wikipedia
William Hedgcock Webster (born March 6, 1924) is an American retired attorney and jurist who most recently served as chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council from 2005 until 2020. He was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeal…
He served as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1978 to 1987 and director of Central Intelligence (CIA) from 1987 to 1991. He is the only person to have held both positions. AND HE IS AS OLD AS METHUSELAH.
Posted by: Albert Pelosi3459 ||
12/29/2024 9:24 Comments ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [Regnum] Russia calls on Pakistan and Afghanistan to exercise restraint and engage in constructive dialogue amid the escalation on the border. This is stated in a comment by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.
“Moscow is concerned about the escalation of tensions on the Pakistani-Afghan border, where not only military personnel but also civilians are dying as a result of shootouts,” the diplomat noted in a commentary published on the Foreign Ministry website.
The representative of the Foreign Ministry called on the parties to exercise restraint and engage in constructive dialogue aimed at the peaceful resolution of all disagreements between the two countries.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on December 28, the Afghan Defense Ministry reported that the Afghan Armed Forces attacked a number of areas of Pakistan in response to an airstrike on the Afghan army. It was also noted that the strikes were carried out on locations beyond the border with Pakistan.
In the border areas of Khost and Paktia provinces in Afghanistan, fighting has been going on between Taliban supporters (the Taliban is a movement under UN sanctions for terrorist activities) and Pakistani military since December 27, as reported by Iranian media.
On December 11, the Taliban-led Afghan government's Minister of Refugees, Khalil Haqqani, was killed in an explosion at his office in Kabul.
[Regnum] The Afghan military attacked a number of areas of Pakistan in response to an airstrike on the Afghan army. This was reported on Saturday, December 28, by the Afghan Defense Ministry.
"The Afghan military attacked the centers and shelters of hostile forces and their supporters," the department said in a statement on the X social network.
It is also noted that the strikes were carried out at locations beyond the border with Pakistan.
In the border areas of Khost and Paktia provinces in Afghanistan, fighting has been going on between Taliban supporters (the Taliban is a movement under UN sanctions for terrorist activities) and Pakistani military since December 27, as reported by Iranian media.
As reported by Regnum news agency on December 11, the Minister of Refugees in the Taliban-formed government of Afghanistan, Khalil Haqqani, was killed in an explosion in the building of the department he heads in Kabul.
In April 2023, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that Afghan authorities were pursuing a policy that would strengthen security not only in the country but also in the region. According to him, there were no threats to Central Asian countries from Afghanistan.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/29/2024 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
If regional history is any indicator, "dialogue" will get you nowhere. Please continue the fighting.
This is not a live-action, multiplayer internet game. In the real world, the fog of war is always a factor. So is institutional arrogance.
[IsraelTimes] The Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet failed to investigate a testimony from a rescued hostage who said he had reason to believe a female hostage was being held nearby, just days before the murder of six hostages in a tunnel under Rafah back in August, Channel 12 reports.
The report comes days after the IDF presented the findings of its investigation into the murder of the hostages, where it said that it did not have any concrete or real-time intelligence on the hostages being held there in the weeks before they were killed, but had general indications that Israeli abductees could be in the area.
According to Channel 12, Farhan al-Qadi, who was rescued from Gaza on August 27, told both the IDF and the Shin Bet that he had heard a woman speaking Hebrew in the vicinity of the site where he was rescued several weeks before he was found.
However, despite delivering the warning twice, the defense establishment did not deem it credible, Channel 12 reports, and no steps were taken to investigate it further.
Two days later, on August 29, hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi were killed by their captors in a tunnel nearby. Their bodies were discovered by troops on August 31.
In its probe into the murder of the hostages and the events surrounding it, the IDF said it found that al-Qadi did not have any information on other hostages in the area.
[IsraelTimes] The army has vastly expanded zone it controls bisecting the Strip, from where it launches raids against Hamas; everything can be taken down quickly, but there’s no sign that will happen
Everything the Israel Defense Forces has established in the Netzarim Corridor is temporary, military officials have said. But the reality on the ground in this zone bisecting the Gaza Strip indicates that the IDF will remain here for the foreseeable future.
The army does not know when it will leave the corridor, which according to some officials is intended to serve as a bargaining chip in a hostage deal with Hamas. As the months have passed, and the prospect of an agreement with the terror group to release the remaining 100 hostages it holds grows and then recedes, the military has been steadily expanding its presence in the corridor.
The corridor — which is now known internally by the military as the Be’eri Corridor, after the Israeli border community that was attacked on October 7, rather than after the former Netzarim settlement in the Gaza Strip — is currently controlled by the 99th Division’s Harel Reserve Armored Brigade and the 551st Reserve Paratroopers Brigade. The Harel Brigade is responsible for the southern portion of the corridor and the entire road, while the 551st Brigade is tasked with the northern section.
This week, The Times of Israel was given exclusive access to the corridor during an escorted visit by the military.
At the start of Israel’s ground offensive against Hamas in late October 2023, the corridor was just the tracks left behind by IDF tanks and armored personnel carriers, as the military’s 36th Division pushed into Gaza from the east and reached the coast, south of Gaza City.
Over the following months, the IDF established a four-mile road running along the corridor, as part of efforts to block Palestinians seeking to return to northern Gaza after fleeing south.
The IDF had ordered northern Gaza residents to evacuate and head to the Strip’s south as it focused the beginning of its offensive against Hamas on the top half of the Strip. Not all of the estimated one million residents heeded the orders. Some of those who remained were Hamas fighters, some faced threats by Hamas not to evacuate, others feared the seemingly no-less-dire conditions of the coastal humanitarian zone, and some reported coming under IDF fire while trying to evacuate.
The road along the corridor was eventually paved — dubbed Route 749 after the 749th Combat Engineering Battalion that constructed it — and the surrounding area turned into a buffer zone to secure the thoroughfare from Hamas attacks.
The military has also periodically enabled humanitarian aid organizations to use the road to deliver crucial supplies to the war-torn north of Gaza.
As time went on, the IDF expanded the buffer zone, from just a few dozen meters on each side of the road to reaching as far as the outskirts of Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood to the north, and the Wadi Gaza stream to the south, encompassing around 47 square kilometers (18 square miles) of land, or around 13% of the Strip’s total territory.
Hundreds of buildings were destroyed in the process, wiping out Palestinian villages in the area. The IDF has argued that it was necessary to demolish the buildings to adequately secure the corridor, as Hamas was using the structures to launch attacks on troops.
In what is now a massive zone, the IDF has established more than a dozen small military outposts, where soldiers carry out guard duty, and at least four forward operating bases, which serve as logistics hubs and as headquarters for the units operating in Gaza.
From these bases, the IDF launches raids against Hamas in Gaza City and central Gaza. One such operation was the rescue of four hostages from Hamas captivity last summer.
Such major operations have been increasingly rare as the war enters its 15th month, but smaller raids are carried out nearly every day, according to the army.
The raids are “based on intelligence against concentrations of terrorists and terror infrastructure,” Lt. Col. Omri, one of the Harel Brigade’s deputy commanders — whose surname was withheld by the IDF for security concerns — told The Times of Israel during an interview from the corridor.
Asked why the corridor had been expanded so widely in recent months, Omri said that under the IDF’s doctrine, “you need to build security zones.”
“You can’t just live in your little square and say it’s all good. No, you need to protect the soldiers. You need to create an area from which you will have enough time to respond if [the enemy] tries to attack,” the deputy brigade commander elaborated.
While this may explain the establishment of a buffer zone around the corridor, it was not clear why expanding it to the size of 47 square kilometers was necessary for operational purposes.
“Early warning is the reason why we are doing this. Nobody is doing this for you know what,” he said, referring to claims that troops have been capriciously demolishing homes. The army has come under close scrutiny over the past year, as some undisciplined soldiers have recorded themselves celebrating the demolition of homes in clips uploaded to their social media accounts.
“We do this to create a protected area from which our soldiers can work,” he asserted.
“We aren’t coming from a place where we want to take revenge and destroy. Absolutely not. Everything has a rationale. There are orderly orders, with logic behind them,” Omri said.
TEMPORARY INFRASTRUCTURE, PERMANENT PRESENCE?
To reach the corridor, this reporter needed to go through three separate military checkpoints — one near Be’eri, another at a military position close to the border, and a third on the border fence itself — highlighting the difficulty for any unauthorized people to try and enter this part of Gaza.
The IDF’s main checkpoint to enter the corridor was initially called Gate 96. It was later renamed Control Point 3, and is now known as Terminal 3.
In a small convoy of open-top humvees, we drove from Terminal 3 into the Gaza Strip. The only threat the officer in charge of the convoy warned us about was potential mortar fire by Hamas operatives at the corridor.
After driving some three kilometers, the convoy reached a forward operating base positioned alongside the Salah a-Din road — the Gaza Strip’s main north-south highway.
The IDF considers this base to be part of the military’s rear, relatively distant from the enemy — or the opposite of the frontline — despite being inside the Gaza Strip.
The base featured everything one would expect at a well-entrenched position for troops to remain indefinitely, except that nothing seemed to be permanently attached to the ground.
All of the buildings at the base were caravans or a type of reinforced shipping container to protect against shrapnel impacts. Two antennas for cellular service were attached to large concrete foundations, rather than being dug into the ground. A fuel depot at the base for the IDF’s tanks and other vehicles was a large above-ground container.
The offices and living quarters in the base all had air conditioners.
A new water line from Israel to the IDF’s bases has allowed the soldiers in Netzarim to have functioning toilets and hot showers. Electricity lines, along with backup industrial generators, keep the base running at all times.
“We need to give the soldiers minimal facilities in which to live. We are the IDF, not some guerrilla organization. I don’t want to use equipment that belongs to Palestinians, and I don’t want to use Palestinians’ homes,” the deputy brigade commander said. Palestinians’ homes in other parts of the Strip, by contrast, are regularly used to house soldiers during military operations.
The base visited by The Times of Israel also serves as a checkpoint for Palestinians heading south from northern Gaza, though very few civilians have been doing so of late.
Palestinians are instructed to walk along the Salah a-Din road, and the IDF can single out suspected members of terror groups, pull them aside, and interrogate them inside the base.
Military officials have said that all of the IDF’s temporary infrastructure in Netzarim can be removed within a short while. There is a ready-to-go plan if the army is ordered to leave the area, but many in the IDF are skeptical that will happen in the foreseeable future.
‘NOTHING REALLY HAPPENS HERE’
At the beginning of the war, troops were not supposed to bring phones into Gaza, though many of them did. The erection of cell towers in Netzarim demonstrates that the policy has changed.
Ground troops involved in raids against Hamas are still not permitted to have phones on them during the operations for security concerns, but those hanging back at the bases in Netzarim are.
No longer needing to climb up on a hill for spotty reception, this reporter was able to send updates on Thursday to The Times of Israel’s liveblog after preparing a coffee at the base’s well-stocked lounge.
Because the vast majority of the buildings in the corridor have been flattened, and the IDF has set up advanced surveillance equipment, very rarely do Hamas operatives try to carry out raids against the army positions in Netzarim, according to soldiers.
The deputy brigade commander said there are “constant intelligence alerts” regarding potential Hamas attacks on the military’s posts in Netzarim, but few are carried out.
Since there have been no direct attacks on the corridor’s forward operating bases in months, soldiers stationed there — including those on guard duty — have long stopped wearing their helmets and protective vests.
There have been weeks at a time with no action: “Nothing really happens here,” said one soldier stationed at a post on the edge of the base.
“In the frontier posts there’s a bit more action,” he went on, referring to the army’s small positions on the edge of the corridor — at the farthest points from the road and the large bases — where at times Hamas operatives have tried to attack.
The small posts deeper in the corridor are “aimed at establishing the line of contact,” Omri said, meaning a type of demarcation or dividing line between the IDF and the rest of Gaza.
“The closer you get to the line of contact, the more you experience incidents of sniper fire or RPGs,” the deputy brigade commander said.
Palestinian civilians have also approached and crossed the “line of contact” in Netzarim. Military sources in the 99th Division said some of these incidents were cases of Hamas sending civilians to “test the army’s response.”
“They want to see how we will respond, from where do we respond, when did we identify them, how quickly,” one source said.
A report by Haaretz earlier this month compiled testimony from soldiers from another division that previously served in the corridor, who described seemingly indiscriminate and casual open-fire policies and who claimed that the IDF was tallying the deaths of civilians as slain terror group fighters.
The IDF rejected the report, and military sources in the division currently deployed in the area said that troops have been far more careful with people approaching the corridor than was described in the report.
The sources said that when possible, the IDF attempts to detain apparent Palestinian civilians who try to enter the corridor and that steps are taken before carrying out an airstrike or using other deadly fire.
With raids by Hamas on troops in the corridor becoming rare, the terror group has mostly resorted to launching mortars and short-range rockets at the IDF’s bases in Netzarim, both from south of the corridor and north of it.
Those attacks, too, have become less frequent recently, according to soldiers serving in the corridor.
SETTLEMENT DESIRES
Some Israeli government lawmakers have become increasingly vocal in recent weeks about their desire to re-establish Jewish settlements inside the Gaza Strip, especially inside the Netzarim Corridor, for the first time in almost two decades.
Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 under the Disengagement Plan, uprooting some 9,000 people and demolishing 21 settlements, including Netzarim.
With the land now cleared of Palestinian homes, and the military setting up its infrastructure here (albeit officially temporarily), some far-right activists are waiting for the moment when they can enter and revive Jewish settlement.
“I am not interested in political discourse. I have ultra-Orthodox fighters with me, leftists and right-wingers. Political discourse and political opinions have no place — none,” Omri said when asked what he thought about the potential re-establishment of settlements in Netzarim.
“We have a mission. I trust my ultra-Orthodox brother, I trust my leftist brother and I trust my right-wing brother. They will all have my back, and I will have their back, because we are here together. People’s desires are people’s desires. Everyone has their own opinion. This is their right. But it has no meaning [on the battlefield].”
“There is a political echelon that decides, a military echelon that commands, and us to carry out what is required,” he added.
[IsraelTimes] Israel delayed op until after new president sworn-in, apparently to spare Iran from further embarrassment; IRGC initially wrongly told Khamenei that IDF missile killed Hamas leader
A broken air conditioning unit nearly scuttled Israel’s July 31 liquidation of Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... leader 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 continued as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintained a separate PM in the West Bank. Zapped during the 2023-24 war, to eveyone's satisfaction... , who appeared on the verge of changing rooms before staff at the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ guest house in Tehran managed to fix the cooling system, according to a Channel 12 report that aired on Saturday. "Why is the HVAC Tech wearing a yarmulke?"
The network offered new details on the operation days after Defense Minister Israel Katz became the first senior Israeli official to confirm that Jerusalem was behind it.
The Israeli decision to take out Haniyeh came shortly after October 7 when the Hamas leader was placed somewhere at the top of a list compiled by senior intelligence officials. It was only a matter of when, Channel 12 said.
Haniyeh lived in Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... , but killing him there risked torpedoing the hostage negotiations that Doha has mediated since the start of the war. Accordingly, the options for where to kill Haniyeh were The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... , Moscow and Tehran — the three countries frequented by the Hamas leader.
Israel feared a furious reaction from Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... and similarly did not want to anger Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... , leaving 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 the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... as the most suitable option, the network said.
The fact that Haniyeh stayed repeatedly in the same IRGC guest house in the luxurious northern Tehran neighborhood of Sa’adat Abad made the operation easier to plan.
However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... he was guarded as a guest of honor by the IRGC’s top personal security team, requiring a deep level of infiltration in order to pull off the liquidation.
Israeli liquidations of top Hamas officials have gone awry over the past several decades. Accordingly, the various security bodies have worked to improve their cooperation in recent years in order to boost chances of success, Channel 12 said.
According to foreign media reports, the initial Israeli plan was to kill Haniyeh when he came to Tehran for the funeral of former Iranian president Ibrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash on May 19. However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... the operation was shelved amid concerns that it would lead to the deaths of civilians.
Israel waited with the operation for more than two more months when Haniyeh returned for the inauguration of new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
There had been a proposal to move forward on the night before the inauguration, but a decision was made to wait until after the ceremony — ostensibly to avoid further embarrassing Tehran and shaking up plans for the confab.
Shortly before the ceremony, agents installed an improvised bomb in Haniyeh’s room near his bed. The IED was slightly larger than Israel had planned but still not big enough to harm those in adjacent rooms, Channel 12 said. However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... there was still enough material in the bomb to ensure that Haniyeh would be killed on the spot.
Shortly before the planned detonation, the AC unit in Haniyeh’s room broke down, and the Hamas leader left his room in order to request assistance. He was gone for so long that Israel feared that Haniyeh was being moved to a different room in what would have scuttled the entire operation, Channel 12 said, citing a source familiar with its planning.
After some time, though, the AC unit was fixed and Haniyeh returned to his room. At around 1:30 a.m., the IED exploded, blowing a hole through the outer wall of Haniyeh’s guest room and rocking the entire IRGC compound.
Within seconds, an on-site IRGC first-aid team arrived at Haniyeh’s room where it was forced to declare his death shortly thereafter.
Haniyeh’s deputy Khalil al-Hayya arrived next and collapsed to his knees in tears after seeing the Hamas leader’s bloodied body, according to Channel 12.
Analysts who spoke with the network said the operation was too complex to be carried out by Israeli agents, explaining that Iranian citizens, IRGC members or Hamas officials had to have been involved. All three options have surely been probed by Hamas and Iranian authorities, Channel 12 said.
Amid the major embarrassment for Iran, panic and fear flooded the ranks of the Islamic Theocratic Republic and the head of the IRGC’s elite Quds Force Esmail Qaani went dark for several weeks as Tehran scrambled to determine how exposed it was to additional Israeli attacks.
Hours after the liquidation, Qaani himself called Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> and told him that Haniyeh had been killed in an Israeli missile attack. Khamenei immediately ordered Iran to retaliate against Israel.
The message to the Iran supreme leader was the source of further embarrassment for the IRGC, given that it very quickly became clear to those who surveyed the guest house that a missile was not the cause of Haniyeh’s death.
The retaliatory operation was subsequently shelved, as Iran appeared to prioritize probing the extent its leadership was compromised by Israel.
Only two months later, did Iran hit back against Israel with an October 1 missile attack that was largely thwarted by the IDF along with the armies of the US and Jordan.
Haniyeh was replaced as Hamas politburo chief by Yahya Sinwar, until then the group’s 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 a rusty iron fist by Hamas with 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... chief. Sinwar’s reign was short-lived, however, as he was killed by IDF troops in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on October 16.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Kirill Semenov
[REGNUM] The fall of the Assad regime in Syria and the rise to power of the armed opposition has undoubtedly become the main sensation of the year, leaving many other significant episodes in its shadow. This event has already shaken the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), but it is likely that we are only hearing distant rumblings so far, and the main waves of this tsunami may follow later and spill out beyond the region.
The conquest of Damascus after a ten-day campaign by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allied forces led by Ahmad al-Sharaa (as Abu Muhammad al-Jolani is now known by his real name) could lead to a new awakening of the Middle East. The "Arab winter" could be replaced by a new "Arab spring". But for now, the Russian Federation is concerned with more pressing issues.
TWO MAIN QUESTIONS FOR RUSSIA
The issue of the presence of foreign, primarily Russian-speaking, jihadists in Syria will obviously require prompt intervention from the new authorities.
Most of the violence and extrajudicial killings, including against members of minorities, which have already sparked mass protests among Alawites, are linked to them. The same applies to attacks on religious sites of Alawites and Christians.
Obviously, these people did not come to Syria to watch Jolani destroy their dream of “Sharia rule and the spread of jihad,” but instead to implement his “Ikhwan” project, based on the work of the “Muslim Brotherhood”.
However, there is already a well-trodden path for such jihadists.
Jolani "expelled" his most radical supporters from Idlib towards Ukraine back in 2022-23. This concerns, for example, part of the "Ajnad al-Kavkaz" and "Albanian Jamaat" groups, which joined the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
This summer, the Kiev regime already expressed its readiness to take the most radical jihadist groups into its fold. At that time, Jolani apparently had his own plans for them. But now, after the end of military operations, it is obviously more profitable for him to get rid of them as soon as possible rather than keep them, and they can go not only to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but also to Russia.
And this is one of the threats to Russia emanating from the “new Syria”.
The second factor that directly affects Moscow’s interests is the fate of Russian military bases.
As it became known after the direct line with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the country's leadership has not yet made a final decision on them, if we are talking about the long term. However, at present and probably in the coming months, their functioning will continue.
The new Syrian authorities, at least at this stage, also do not object to the preservation of Russian military facilities. This, in particular, was stated by Jolani in an interview with a British media outlet.
At least at this stage — words to be concerned by.
According to him, Syria and Russia have long-standing strategic relations that cannot be broken off overnight in a hurry, so the new Syrian authorities are in no hurry to demand the withdrawal of Russian bases, as some wish or imagine. To a clarifying question from a journalist whether this means that the Russians, with the right approach, can stay, he answered that in principle, yes, they can stay.
However, it is obvious that under any scenario Russia will no longer be able to use its military facilities in Syria in the same way as before.
"Since the start of the Syrian campaign, Syria, as a zone within the interests of the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces, has been fully used by Moscow to demonstrate a threat on NATO's southern flank. Now, even if we manage to reach an agreement on bases with the new Syrian authorities, no general will risk deploying Tu-95MS strategic missile carriers or MiG-31 high-speed interceptors with long-range missiles, given that the planes could be fired upon, allegedly by accident, by "certain cells" with small arms from commanding heights," Anton Mardasov, an analyst in the field of Middle East security, told Regnum.
According to him, there remains the possibility of using bases in Syria as a logistics hub to support Russian operations in Africa.
At the same time, as Mardasov notes, it will be quite difficult for Russia to strengthen ties with current Damascus, given that Moscow’s opponents, such as Ukraine and Poland, are rushing to establish cooperation with it, not to mention Britain, France and the United States.
Moscow will most likely continue to expand its activity in regions with crisis situations. However, given the limitations of economic resources and the ability to project power through, for example, reliance on the Navy, it will be possible to fully move to this only with the solution of problems in Ukraine, which will be able to provide Russia with a positive result and add weight in the international arena.
At the same time, as the analyst emphasized, Sudan or Libya, even with successful agreements, are too temporary options for official facilities, given the specifics of power in these countries, and are unlikely to be able to replace Russian bases in Syria.
TRIANGLE RUSSIA, IRAN, TÜRKIYE
Another open question at the end of the year: was Iran really so weakened and frightened by Israel’s actions that it did not intervene in the final, fleeting phase of the Syrian conflict, or did Tehran have other, much more pragmatic motives for “giving up the game”?
A good question.
Perhaps the Iranian leadership has begun to rethink its role and real possibilities in Middle Eastern affairs. In the face of the threat of a social explosion due to the growth of internal contradictions, the baggage called the "Assad regime" has become an increasingly heavy burden for Iran.
On the horizon is January 20, 2025, and Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office, along with the tightening of sanctions pressure on the Islamic Republic and the closing of all loopholes for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to receive income from Iranian oil exports and the subsequent deprivation of the ability to finance the “Axis of Resistance.” This will lead to a sharp deterioration in the lives of most Iranians and an even greater increase in protest sentiment.
Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that Iran wants to open a new page in relations with the United States. Moving away from financing and supporting its proxies to solving exclusively internal pressing problems could allow, if not to reduce Washington's pressure, then to minimize the prospects for introducing new restrictions.
Deploying regular IRGC units and tens of thousands of Shiite militias to Syria to save Assad would be perceived by Israel and the US as a direct threat and would lead to their intervention in the conflict. And Iran does not need the inevitable new sanctions that would accompany it, given its already exorbitant costs.
Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that Tehran chose not to intervene in order not to worsen its own situation.
As Nikolai Sukhov, a leading research fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and a professor at the Institute of Oriental and African Studies at the Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg, told Regnum, “the loss of Syria as an ally weakens Iran’s strategic position, especially its ability to support Hezbollah, in connection with which Tehran may increase investments in proxy groups in Lebanon and Iraq to compensate for the loss of influence in Syria. Or, on the contrary, it may focus resources on mitigating internal economic and social problems, thereby reducing the pressure of the Axis of Resistance on Israel and the United States.”
According to the orientalist, increased pressure from Israel and the US “is forcing Iran to adapt its foreign policy, and the scenario its leadership will choose will be shown in the near future.”
Good.
In this context, it is important for Moscow to understand whether Tehran is aiming to further expand its partnership with Russia, which should soon become “strategic” (tentatively, after February 2025, when the corresponding memorandum is planned to be signed). And whether Iran will abandon deepening ties with Russia in favor of normalizing relations with the United States and the West.
The Great Satan? Not likely, so long as the Mad Mullahs are in charge.
Events in Syria have shown that such a scenario is quite realistic.
In turn, Iran itself is showing similar concerns.
Tehran is concerned about the prospect of a quick end to the NWO and a deal between Moscow and Washington in which the Islamic Republic could become a bargaining chip.
The fall of the Assad regime has already generated a certain amount of mistrust on this issue. In Iran, there are behind-the-scenes opinions that Turkey and Russia could have agreed behind Tehran's back on the fate of the former Syrian regime.
"Iran, of course, is also offended by Ankara, but, in fact, only because it itself missed the opportunity to save the regime that it subsidized for so many years. In the new reality, Tehran will one way or another face a serious revision of its "Axis of Resistance", the capabilities of which have changed significantly. And in this regard, expanding ties with Turkey may be a completely viable option, especially since, contrary to idle talk, Turkish actions in the South Caucasus after the end of the Karabakh story are not as dangerous for Iran as Iranian ones are for the Turks," says Mardasov.
One way or another, Assad’s fall had a negative impact on the background of both Iranian-Turkish and Russian-Iranian interactions.
Although, indeed, if we talk about relations between Moscow and Ankara, there is now one less conflict point in Russian-Turkish relations, even though in Russia itself Turkey’s actions in supporting the armed opposition can be seen as another stab in the back.
Türkiye is trying to try on the laurel crown of the winner in the Syrian war, but it will itself face many new challenges.
Good.
It is obvious that Ankara will help Syria to carry out reforms, including constitutional and military ones, including the creation of a new army.
I must have missed a step. How is it obvious?
Turkey emphasizes the need to take into account the rights of all religious and ethnic minorities. Also, the new Syrian authorities will receive support in the fight against terrorism, hoping first of all to solve the problem of Kurdish groups from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The United States generally welcomes Turkey's increased role in Syrian affairs and is likely to be willing to compromise its support for the SDF. The same applies to its position on protecting ethnic and religious minorities. Now this is also a headache for Turkey.
Washington does not understand the true nature of HTS and does not trust Jolani, so they want to shift all responsibility to Turkey. And Washington will redirect the claims for failures both in the fight against ISIS terrorism and for violence against minorities to Ankara.
There is another weak link in Turkey’s consolidation of its role in Syria: it cannot fully control Jolani, who has always been inclined to play his own game and “screw” his former patrons. In Idlib, the Turks had much more leverage over HTS than they do now.
SYRIA AND THE NEW "ARAB SPRING"
The fall of the Assad regime demonstrated that the Islamic factor in the Middle East continues to play a role and is capable of serving as a basis for consolidation.
If it takes the form of “moderate Islamism” instead of “Salafi jihadism,” it can be accepted by the wider Sunni society, not just its religious part. In this case, the majority refuses to support and defend with arms the rule of secular autocrats. As happened in Syria.
Therefore, political Islam was written off too early. In this regard, we can expect an awakening of Islamic forces in other countries where the "Arab Spring" has passed into "autumn" and finally, it would seem, ended in a "long winter".
Moreover, in most countries affected by the events of the "Arab Spring", the reform processes have not been completed or, more precisely, have not even begun. And all those factors that forced the people to take to the streets in 2011 demanding the departure of the previous governments are still relevant.
The main lesson from the events in Syria is that all attempts to preserve the situation in one country or another and to do without deep transformations, even in the event of a military victory by one of the parties in an internal conflict, promise only a new collapse, social explosion or revolution.
In Syria, the Assad regime refused to engage in substantive dialogue with the opposition, labeling all of its opponents as terrorists, did not take into account the objective factors that caused the civil war in the country, and was intent on returning to the situation of 2011 without any significant changes to the state structure and the system of relations between the government and society.
The fall of the Assad regime also demonstrated that it is not enough to win the war to retain power; to do so, it is also necessary to win the peace.
It is necessary to carry out reforms, and not limit ourselves to demonstrative half-measures. It is necessary to conduct a dialogue with the real opposition, including the armed one, to be able to attract it to the side of the authorities, and not to replace the search for compromises with opponents by creating "tame oppositionists". It is also very important to be able to find the strength to share part of the power in time, so as not to lose everything.
Thus, according to Nikolai Sukhov, "the fall of the Assad regime and the rise to power of HTS underscore the importance of understanding the internal political dynamics and supporting local elites. Despite significant military and diplomatic assistance from Russia, Assad was unable to maintain control over the entire country in the long term. Russia must take into account that supporting authoritarian regimes without taking into account the interests of different ethnic and political groups, as well as without adequate and long-term, rather than one-time, intervention in the process of internal reconciliation, can lead to the collapse of the state."
In this regard, according to the orientalist, Russia’s intervention in the Syrian crisis, despite achieving short-term military goals, did not ensure long-term stability.
“In the future, Russia must be prepared to pay more attention to social, political and economic processes in the countries it supports, ensuring a comprehensive solution to problems, and not just military intervention,” Sukhov notes.
All the same problems that led to the fall of the Assad regime are, in one form or another, inherent in those states where it would seem that the "Arab Spring" was reversed. Be it Egypt or Tunisia. The only difference is the absence of an armed opposition.
But in addition to this, there is a threat of revolutionary changes in the states that are neighboring Syria and closely connected to it, which at the same time find themselves, to one degree or another, drawn into the conflict around Palestine, and the events in this country have a direct and negative impact on their internal political dynamics.
According to Sukhov, the threat of radicalization in Syria and instability in the south of that country will prompt Amman to strengthen security on its northern border, and “in Jordan’s domestic politics, one can predict the strengthening of the influence of local branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, up to and including an attempt at a coup and seizure of power by Islamists.”
According to the orientalist, this will also affect Lebanon.
"The loss of support for the Assad regime weakens Hezbollah, which has already changed the Lebanese political dynamics, and forces hostile to Hezbollah are trying to minimize its role in the country's economic and social life, thereby reducing the population's support for the military-political course of this organization. At the same time, the Lebanese economic crisis could be aggravated by new migration flows from Syria and an increased threat of local interfaith conflicts," Sukhov said.
SYRIAN LESSONS
Summing up the events in Syria, it is important for Russia to work on its mistakes in order to avoid them in Africa and other regions of its military presence.
During the Syrian campaign, its initial goals - the fight against ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists - were absolutely correct and understandable. But it soon became clear that the Russian Armed Forces in Syria would support Assad against all his opponents, including the moderate opposition, which, in order not to go beyond the initial objectives, was informally called "moderate terrorists."
This led to Assad, having achieved his goals in the civil war with the help of Russian weapons, becoming increasingly less receptive to signals from Moscow. The Russian side could not encourage the Syrian leadership to reform and properly influence decision-making. And most of the decisions made by Damascus were wrong.
Russia became the victor over ISIS in Syria, but it was unable to simultaneously become the country that put an end to the civil war, launched a full-fledged peace process, and began restoring the economy and returning refugees. To do this, it was necessary to act in defiance of Assad and force his regime to change, rather than follow his wishes.
Thus, by strengthening Assad and doing his job of clearing out any armed opposition, Moscow deprived itself of leverage over Damascus, which became less and less with each successful operation against the opposition.
Conversely, maintaining the situation of at least 2017, with a strong opposition and a process of reconciliation with Assad under Russian auspices, would strengthen Russia's position, turning it into a real guarantor of the implementation of agreements for both Assad and the opposition. And involving the opposition in the work of the government would allow it to begin to climb out of the quagmire of corruption into which the Syrian authorities have driven themselves.
Therefore, in Africa, we should also avoid Russia becoming simply a participant in a civil war instead of fighting terrorist groups, supporting one of the parties that has come to power in much the same way that the Tuaregs want to create their own state, in the same Mali.
In order to strengthen one's influence abroad, it is necessary to create a multi-layered presence, which should not be limited to supporting the government. And when destroying terrorists, it is necessary not to cleanse the armed opposition and rebels, but, on the contrary, to negotiate with them, turning them into one's own proxy forces and allies, and through them to influence the government, including introducing them into its composition.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Following the change of power in Syria, the US and UK authorities intend to prevent the situation in that country from stabilizing and are going to maintain chaos throughout the Middle East. This was reported on December 27 by the press bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of Russia.
"In a broader sense, they (the US and Britain. - Ed.) set the task of maintaining a state of chaos in the Middle East. Washington and London proceed from the fact that in such conditions they will be able to more quickly achieve their own geopolitical goal - to ensure their long-term dominance in the region based on the odious concept of a 'rules-based' order," the report says.
It is specified that these plans are hampered by the presence of Russian military forces on the Mediterranean coast of Syria, which continues to be a significant factor in stability in the region. Apparently this was written before they were kicked out
“In order to eliminate this ‘interference’, British intelligence services are developing plans to organize a series of terrorist attacks on Russian military facilities in Syria,” the report notes.
The press bureau added that these terrorist attacks are to be carried out by ISIS militants (a terrorist organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation), whom the "new authorities" of Syria have recently released from prison and who have received virtually uncontrolled access to the remaining arsenals of the country's former army. The terrorists have also received attack drones for attacks on Russian military bases, the SVR clarified.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on December 8, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Bashar al-Assad had resigned as president of Syria and left the country, ordering a peaceful transfer of power. After that, he and his family arrived in Russia, where they were granted asylum.
Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Bogdanov said on December 12 that Russia expects to maintain military bases in Syria because they play an important role in the fight against international terrorism. The diplomat said that Moscow has established contacts in Syria with the political committee of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (a terrorist organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation).
The leader of the armed Syrian opposition, Ahmed al-Sharaa (known by the nickname Abu Muhammad al-Julani ), said that the country's new authorities "give Russia the opportunity" to reconsider relations with the people of Syria. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan noted on December 21 that the fate of Russian army bases in Syria should be decided by the people of the republic.
#1
“In order to eliminate this ‘interference’, British intelligence services are developing plans to organize a series of terrorist attacks on Russian military facilities in Syria,” the report notes.
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.
[NewsMax] As 
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
[Regnum] Russia calls on Pakistan and Afghanistan to exercise restraint and engage in constructive dialogue amid the escalation on the border. This is stated in a comment by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
