Hi there, !
Today Thu 01/02/2020 Wed 01/01/2020 Tue 12/31/2019 Mon 12/30/2019 Sun 12/29/2019 Sat 12/28/2019 Fri 12/27/2019 Archives
Rantburg
531689 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 63 articles and 257 comments as of 11:28.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Qais al-Khazali was a close associate of Qassem Suleimani - killed by USAF.
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
4 16:58 Rob Crawford [] 
7 23:15 jvalentour [2] 
1 14:38 Skidmark [] 
0 [2] 
3 20:52 gorb [] 
5 17:56 Skidmark [] 
0 [] 
0 [2] 
6 12:22 Lex [1] 
0 [1] 
1 14:40 Skidmark [] 
0 [1] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
Page 2: WoT Background
2 20:07 jpal []
5 17:31 Abu Uluque []
5 23:18 jvalentour []
6 11:23 Skidmark [2]
4 17:26 Chris []
2 13:19 g(r)omgoru []
0 []
0 []
0 []
1 08:17 b []
0 []
0 []
0 [2]
0 [1]
2 08:49 Mercutio [1]
0 []
0 [1]
0 [1]
4 09:25 Raj []
Page 3: Non-WoT
0 []
15 18:01 Skidmark []
4 11:09 Skidmark []
4 12:54 Lex []
5 20:14 Seeking Cure For Ignorance []
5 14:01 Lex []
6 15:31 Mullah Richard []
5 19:17 Procopius2k [2]
2 13:22 g(r)omgoru [2]
2 11:14 Skidmark []
1 11:12 Skidmark []
8 13:04 g(r)omgoru []
Page 4: Opinion
3 22:27 Lex [2]
2 13:16 g(r)omgoru [1]
20 14:59 Lex []
4 13:50 Lex []
31 19:59 Secret Master []
1 02:33 g(r)omgoru PB []
18 22:50 Secret Master []
0 [3]
3 10:53 Lex []
1 13:31 Lex []
1 07:03 Procopius2k []
Page 6: Politix
4 12:57 Lex []
5 15:34 g(r)omgoru []
5 14:11 ruprecht [2]
8 16:04 Bright Pebbles []
36 23:08 3dc [1]
-Land of the Free
Woman accused of assaulting 3 Jewish women arrested again day after release
[Twitter]
Posted by: 3dc || 12/30/2019 00:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thugs gotta thug
Posted by: Warthog || 12/30/2019 9:38 Comments || Top||

#2  She looks more than happy. Blissfully serene. A picture of madness crossed with evil.
Posted by: Lex || 12/30/2019 13:54 Comments || Top||

#3  A picture of madness crossed with evil.

My mother, Agnes.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/30/2019 14:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Agnes Dei?
Posted by: Lex || 12/30/2019 14:43 Comments || Top||

#5  Yes, she's dead
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/30/2019 17:56 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) faction Qari Hussain Force spokesman gunned down in Afghanistan
Posted by: 3dc || 12/30/2019 01:15 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan


Clearing Operation Secures Parts of Eastern Herat, Highway: ANA
[ToloNews] The 207 Zafar Army Corps said Sunday that security forces conducted operations along the Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
-Ghor highway and in eastern districts of the province, clearing the areas of holy warrior fighters.

A commander said the Herat-Ghor highway has long been under Taliban
...Arabic for students...
control.

"We want to reopen the Herat-Ghor highway, which has been closed for nearly one decade," said General Fazil Mohammad Junbish, 207th Corps commander.

According to the military official, winter operations will continue in other areas as well.

"We have other operations in the zone and also we conducted our winter operations all over the country," said General Mohammad Shoaib, deputy chief of staff.

Herat officials said that besides clearing operations along the Herat-Ghor highway, other eastern districts lacking security will also be cleared of holy warriors.

"The operation aims to clear the highway and reopen it for travelers," said Herat’s governor Abdul Qayum Rahimi.

"Our message to our enemies is "leave or be killed," said Abdul Qudos, an army soldier.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1 
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/30/2019 14:40 Comments || Top||


Taliban’s ambush in Takhar kills 20 members of public uprising forces
[KhaamaPress] Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
forces ambushed on the house of a former jihadi leader and public uprising forces head in Khwaja Bahauddin district of northern Takhar province last night.

Maryam Koofi, a former parliamentarian from Takhar province told Khaama Press that on Saturday late evening a number of Talibs ambushed on the house of Malik Tatar, a former Jihadi commander and the head of public uprising forces in Khwaja Bahauddin district of Takhar.

"The battle between the Taliban and Malik Tatar’s forces lasted for 12 hours as a result of which 10 Talibs and 20 members of public uprising forces were killed.", Maryam Koofi said.
Ynet adds:
The attack apparently targeted a local militia commander who escaped unharmed, said Jawad Hajri, a spokesman for the governor of Takhar province, where the attack took place late Saturday.

Local Afghan militias commonly operate in remote areas, and are under the command of either the defense or interior ministries.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
US strikes in Somalia kill four terrorists after deadly car bomb
[IsraelTimes] US Africa Command says it conducted 3 Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s targeting al-Shabaab
...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
members, a day after Somalia’s deadliest attack in two years killed 79.


The US military launched airstrikes against the al-Shabaab bully boy group in Somalia on Sunday, US Africa Command said, killing four terrorists.

The strikes came one day after Somalia’s deadliest attack in two years, when a boom-mobile killed at least 79 people in a busy area of Mogadishu.

"In coordination with the federal government of Somalia, US Africa Command conducted three airstrikes in two locations targeting al-Shabaab snuffies in the vicinity of Qunyo Barrow and Caliyoow Barrow, Somalia, respectively, December 29," AFRICOM said in a statement.

It said two strikes had killed two snuffies and destroyed two vehicles in Qunyo Barrow while a separate strike killed another two in Caliyoow Barrow.

US strikes in Somalia surged after President Donald Trump
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
declared the south of the country an "area of active hostilities". The rate of air strikes has risen sharply this year, and in an April statement AFRICOM said it had killed more than 800 people in 110 air strikes in Somalia since April 2017.

Saturday’s attack in Mogadishu has not been claimed, but the city is regularly hit by boom-mobileings and attacks waged by al-Shabaab Islamist snuffies allied to al-Qaeda.

"Since al-Shabaab’s first external attack in 2010, the group has ruthlessly killed hundreds," said US Army Major General William Gayler, AFRICOM’s director of operations.

"They have attacked and killed African partners, allies, and fellow Americans."
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/30/2019 00:23 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


16 Somalis Wounded In Mogadishu Bombing Airlifted To Turkey
[RADIOSHABELLE] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor...
has airlifted 16 badly maimed Somalis with a military plane to its country for proper treatment following Saturday’s deadly attack in Mogadishu’s Ex-control Afgoye.

The president of Somalia Mohammed Abdullahi Farmajo and other government officials have bidden farewell to the victims on Sunday at Aden Adde International airport.

The cargo plane brought medical supplies and doctors on Saturday evening to help the maimed people in local hospitals in Mogadishu.

The embassy said Turkey emphasizes the importance of international cooperation in the fight against terrorism on every platform and having lost two citizens in this attack.

No group has so far grabbed credit for the attack, however, Somali president blamed al-Shabaab
...... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
for being orchestrating the menace.

Posted by: Fred || 12/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Africa North
Turkey transfers over a thousand pro-Turkish Syrian fighters to Libya
[Twitter]
Posted by: 3dc || 12/30/2019 01:42 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  hmmm...no real retirement or pension plan then?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/30/2019 7:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Janissaries. Slave soldiers of the Caliph.
Posted by: Mercutio || 12/30/2019 8:21 Comments || Top||

#3  All joking aside.
1000 armed fighters may make a difference for Haftar's attack on Tripoli. Look for further outside intervention.
Posted by: Vespasian Ebboting9735 || 12/30/2019 10:39 Comments || Top||

#4  1000 soldiers well trained, well led, well motivated and well equipped will make a difference in Libya

1000 spear catchers will just catch spears
Posted by: lord garth || 12/30/2019 13:23 Comments || Top||

#5  Kinda tells us the Syrian fighting is over, eh?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/30/2019 14:37 Comments || Top||

#6  So much for well reasoned discourse. Just a site for smart ass comments.
Posted by: jvalentour || 12/30/2019 23:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Spear catchers?
Fucking idiot.
You think the Turks would spend $ to airlift 1000 to lybia?
Stop reading comic books
Posted by: jvalentour || 12/30/2019 23:15 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Two men shot dead in eastern Saudi city were driving car bomb, SPA says
[Jpost] Two Saudi men rubbed out last week in the eastern city of Dammam were driving a car loaded with explosives and were planning an "imminent terrorist operation," the SPA state news agency said on Sunday, citing security forces.

The two were found with explosive paste in the car, SPA said. They started shooting at security forces when they were approached on Wednesday and were rubbed out.Five kg of paste was taken from the car and found later to contain the explosive RDX, SPA said.

Police named the two men and said a third unnamed man had been arrested.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/30/2019 01:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sometimes the defensive shooters are too accurate.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/30/2019 14:38 Comments || Top||


Missile attack kills 9 at military parade in Yemen's south
More on this story from yesterday.
[AlAhram] A ballistic missile attack destroyed a military parade for a Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
i southern separatist group killing at least six troops and three children, a front man said Sunday.

The explosion took place while the separatists, known as the Resistance® Forces, were finishing a parade for new recruits at a soccer field in the capital of Dhale province, said Maged al-Shoebi, a front man for the group, who spoke with The News Agency that Dare Not be Named by phone.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Saudi court sentences Yemeni to death for attack on theatre group
[TWITTER]

Posted by: Fred || 12/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula


Britain
Pregnant woman is among dozens of migrants rescued from English Channel as at least three trafficking boats are intercepted by Border Force guards
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Authorities rescued expectant mother with 19 others near Dunkirk this morning

  • Two other vessels, one near Kent with 11 from Iran, and the other with 11 near Calais, also stopped today

  • It’s the latest migrant landing since Boxing Day, when group of 49 were detained including Iranians, Iraqis and Afghans, plus another 14 by the French

  • More than 125 migrants who entered the UK illegally via small boats have been returned to Europe in 2019, while more than 1,700 have crossed the Channel in small boats

  • Home Secretary vowed illegal migrant crossings of Channel would be halved
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/30/2019 10:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just more boat floaters, but claiming from Iran.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/30/2019 11:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Towed back to France or were they "rescued" by government people traffickers?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/30/2019 13:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Guys - you really banned that word? Better to sidebar the Seven Dirty Words so I can print them & put them on the side of my computer.
Posted by: Raj || 12/30/2019 14:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Didn't they hear what a hellhole England has become under Boris Johnson? Last I heard, minorities and illegals were terrified of what he would do.

(No one was leaving... Just like here in the US.)
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 12/30/2019 16:58 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Putin thanks Trump for intel that helped foil attacks: Kremlin
[AlAhram] Russia's 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 Sunday thanked US counterpart Donald Trump
...the Nailer of NAFTA...
for intelligence that helped to foil attacks on Russian soil, the Kremlin said.

Putin thanked Trump "for the transfer, through special services, of information allowing the prevention of terrorist acts in Russia," the president's office said in a statement.

Russia's FSB, a successor to the KGB, quoted by Russian agencies, said two Russian citizens were arrested on Friday suspected of planning an attack in St Petersburg during the New Year festivities.

They appeared to have been preparing a "terrorist act", the reports said.

Although Moscow and Washington are at odds on many issues, both regularly stress their mutual determination to fight terrorism.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  More like this, pls
Posted by: Lex || 12/30/2019 1:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Another article for impeachment ? He conspired with the lifelong enemy to thwart austere religious scholars of islam from practicing their religion.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 12/30/2019 2:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes, indeed #1.
Posted by: Dale || 12/30/2019 9:55 Comments || Top||


#5  We worked with Stalin for a bit to address a common enemy (BTW that was a Donk Prez).
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/30/2019 11:57 Comments || Top||

#6  We have two common enemies, each of whom poses a worldwide, major threat to our sovereignty and way of life: China and Islam.

It's ridiculous that America's supposed Wise Men can't come up with a strategy that enables us to work with the Russians to contain, thwart and suppress these common enemies.
Posted by: Lex || 12/30/2019 12:22 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Esper: “strikes were successful” and “discussed options & additional actions as necessary” with President Trump
[Twitter]
Posted by: 3dc || 12/30/2019 00:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Here's a little more detail.
Posted by: Mercutio || 12/30/2019 6:55 Comments || Top||


#3  Hezbollah vows 'very tough' retaliation

If I were in charge, that would be enough for me to hit them again.
Posted by: gorb || 12/30/2019 20:52 Comments || Top||


Pompeo and Esper in unscheduled national security meeting with Trump after Iraq situation.
[Twitter]

It kind of looks like the attack on the US base was an attempt to get Pompeo and so we responded by hitting Iraq Hez.
Turnabout is fair play.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies


Iraq
Abu Ali al-Khazali was a close associate of Qassem Suleimani - killed by USAF.
Much more on this story from yesterday.
Who is Qais al-Khazali?
Note al-Khazali is from Sadr City Iraq and led the Mullah's special forces but 41 Iranians and 25 PMU were killed in this bombing.

A follower of Muqtada al-Sadr's father he became a spokesman for Sadr Mahdi Army after the 2003 US invasion. He created Asaib Ahl al-Haq (عصائب أهل الحق‎) in 2006 as it emerged from the Mahdi Army's "Special Groups" and his Khazali network of followers. AAH is said to have been responsible for 6,000 attacks and eventually raised 10,000 fighters.

He was SANCTIONED by the USA on Dec 6th!
[Twitter]


Note that Iraqi government is starting to panic with this bombing.








41 Iranians and 25 PMU members tits up.

[Twitter]
The PMU response:


And another militia


Rudaw reports the story as well:
US forces conducted airstrikes on five facilities belonging to an Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria on Sunday night, the US Department of Defense has said. Fifteen of its fighters were killed in western Iraq, an official from the militia told AFP.

The "precision defensive airstrikes" were conducted on three Kataib Hezbollah locations in Iraq and two in Syria, according to a statement from US Secretary of Defense assistant Jonathan Hoffman, in response to repeated attacks on Iraqi bases hosting US-led coalition personnel.

Among the fifteen killed were commanders, an official from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) - an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias in Iraq, including Kataib Hezbollah - told AFP. Iraqi Security Media Cell reported four Kataib Hezbollah members were killed and 30 injured in three airstrikes at a base on the Iraq-Syria border at 7 pm on Sunday evening.

Among those killed was militia commander Abu Ali Khazali, according to a statement from the PMF.

A base in al-Qaim, western Iraq, was one of the targeted locations, a US defense official told Rudaw English.

The five locations included "weapon storage facilities and command and control locations that KH [Kataib Hezbollah] uses to plan and execute attacks on OIR [Operation Inherent Resolve] coalition forces," according to the US Defense statement.

The strikes "will degrade KH's ability to conduct future attacks against OIR coalition forces," the statement added.

Sunday's airstrikes follow an attack on the K1 military base in Kirkuk province on Friday night.

One US civilian contractor was killed when ten missiles struck the base. At least two Iraqi policemen were killed, according to a federal police source. Several US and Iraqi service members were also injured, US officials from the Combined Joint Task Force said on Saturday morning.

The US blamed Friday's attack on Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia that forms part of the PMF, a powerful umbrella group of militias in Iraq that operate with little Iraqi government oversight.

Iraqi bases hosting US military personnel have been subject to a spate of attacks in the last two months. Iran-backed groups are suspected by the US and its allies to have conducted the attacks.

One of Iraq's biggest parliamentary alliances has condemned the airstrikes as "American aggression against Iraqi sovereignty."

"The Nasr Coalition...demands the government [of Iraq] commit the American forces present on Iraqi soil to the terms of the agreements signed between the two countries...such attacks will harm security, stability and bilateral relations," the statement read.
The Times of Israel adds:
A few hours after the strikes, four rockets exploded near a base housing US troops close to Iraq’s capital without wounding anyone, an Iraqi security official told AFP.

The military spokesman for Iraq’s outgoing prime minister Abel Abdel Mahdi decried “a violation of Iraqi sovereignty”.

Another powerful pro-Iran faction, Assaib Ahl al-Haq — whose leaders were recently hit with US sanctions — called for Americans to withdraw from Iraq.

“The American military presence has become a burden for the Iraqi state and a source of threat against our forces,” it said in a statement.

“It is therefore imperative for all of us to do everything to expel them by all legitimate means.”

Bahrain supports U.S. strikes on Kataib Hizbollah sites in Iraq, Syria

[Jpost] Bahrain expressed support for strikes conducted by the United States targeting Kataib Hezbollah facilities in Iraq and Syria, Bahrain's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

Israel praises US strike on Iran-backed militia, calling it a ‘turning point’

[IsraelTimes] Foreign Minister Israel Katz praises the United States for its strikes on bases belonging to the Iran-backed Iraqi Hezbollah militia in Iraq and Syria, calling it “a turning point in the regional reality in light of the conduct of Iran and its metastases.”

“If the Iranians make a mistake in understanding the essence and power of the US, they will suffer blows they have never suffered before,” Katz says in a tweet.
And courtesy of g(r)omgoru:
U.S. officials: strikes on Iraq and Syria 'successful'

[Jpost] - U.S. officials said on Sunday that air strikes in Iraq and Syria against an Iran-backed militia group were successful, but warned that "additional actions" may still be taken in the region to defend U.S. interests.
Oh dear. I should be concerned, were I in any way connected to the Mad Mullahs...
The U.S. military carried out the strikes on Sunday against the Kataib Hezbollah militia group in response to the killing of a U.S. civilian contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base, officials said.

Posted by: 3dc || 12/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Government forces beat citizens of the city of #Mosul
[TWITTER]

Posted by: Fred || 12/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq



Who's in the News
34[untagged]
4Sublime Porte
3Commies
3Govt of Iran
3Taliban
2Govt of Iran Proxies
2Islamic State
2Moslem Colonists
2Govt of Iraq
2Houthis
1Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan
1al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
1al-Shabaab (AQ)
1Govt of Syria
1Hamas
1Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2019-12-30
  Qais al-Khazali was a close associate of Qassem Suleimani - killed by USAF.
Sun 2019-12-29
  Iraq launches new military operation against ISIS 4 provinces
Sat 2019-12-28
  US civilian contractor killed and several US and Iraqi personnel wounded in Kirkuk rocket attack
Fri 2019-12-27
  Libya's Tripoli-based govt makes formal request for Turkish military support, Turkey gets ready to rock
Thu 2019-12-26
  Jihadists suffer heavy losses in failed attempt to retake strategic southeast Idlib town
Wed 2019-12-25
  Boko Haram abducts 17 fishermen in Cameroon’s Far North region
Tue 2019-12-24
  Merry Christmas - Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht, Peter Alexander
Mon 2019-12-23
  Islamic State just issued this statement that claims the Battle of revenge is on
Sun 2019-12-22
  France kills 33 militants in Mali raid: president
Sat 2019-12-21
  Berlin police Foiled ISIS Terror Attack at Christmas Market
Fri 2019-12-20
  Government of National Accord in Libya have officially requested that Turkey intervenes militarily in the civil war
Thu 2019-12-19
  ISIS captures new ground in eastern Syria after launching powerful attack against Syrian Army forces
Wed 2019-12-18
  Assailants attack several protest camps in north and south Lebanon
Tue 2019-12-17
  Backer of Iraq anti-government protests killed in Baghdad
Mon 2019-12-16
  Iran claims the whole Persian Gulf. Both sides!

Better than the average link...



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.
44.210.240.31
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (19)    Non-WoT (12)    Opinion (11)    (0)    Politix (5)