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Today: 64 articles and 129 comments as of 14:59.
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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq repel a major ISIS attack southeast of Fallujah
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Africa North
Egypt strikes deal to import 120,000 wheat tonnes
Egypt struck a deal to import 120,000 tonnes of Russian and Romanian wheat in an international tender, the country's supply ministry said on Tuesday. The imported wheat, bought at an average price $205.76 per tonne, will be delivered starting from June 16. The deal included 60 tonnes of Russian wheat and 60 tonnes of Romanian wheat.
So Egypt still can't feed itself. It can't pay directly for the imported wheat. It has to rely on the good graces of the UAE and the Saudis. Smart business plan there...
Also on Tuesday, supply minister Khaled Hanafi told Reuters that the ministry has so far bought about 1.6 million tonnes of local wheat since the current season began in mid-April.

Egypt expects to import around 3.7 million tonnes of local wheat for some 10 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.31 billion) which will ensure it has strategic reserves until the beginning of October. The season for local wheat procurements ends in mid-July.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Egypt: Five Christian children held for blasphemy for insulting the Islamic State
[JihadWatch]
Local police and government in Egypt can get nasty. Copts have to look to the national executive to protect them from their overexcited neighbours.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Better change that "Children" in the title to "Youths". The link gave no details about their ages, but was also calling them "students".
Posted by: dlr || 05/06/2015 14:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Just like Irish Rose loves her Abie,
Cuz everyone's somebody's baby --
Who don't like salami
And Mommy's a commie --
So Misry loves Coptic kids... maybe?
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 05/06/2015 15:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Like insulting Obama in Baltimore...
Posted by: borgboy || 05/06/2015 16:10 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Ansarullah: Al Saud Will Be Slapped in the Face by Yemeni People
[ALMANAR.LB] Yemen's revolutionary movement, Ansarullah stressed that Al Saud will be slapped in the face by the Yemeni people who are resisting the brutal aggression by Riyadh.

The head of the movement's politburo, Saleh Al-Sammad, said that 40 days of continuing aggression against Yemenis gave them the religious, humanitarian and moral legitimacy to defend themselves.

"Al Saud will be slapped in the face by the Yemeni people," he said on his Facebook account.

The head of the Yemen's Ansarullah politburo, Saleh Al-Sammad"The historic moment when the rehabilitation of the Yemenis would be restored will definitely come."

He said that the Saudi regime will pay price for its brutality against Yemenis.
Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, a little lightbulb figuratively appeared over Bossy's head...
the Ansarullah official dismissed claims on Iran influence in Yemen, stressing that the Yemeni decision is independent.

If these claims were true then "40 days of aggression could be considered a "chance" for Iran to take Dire Revenge against Saudi."

However,
the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits...
Sammad stressed that the attack took place after 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...
felt that they lost influence in Yemen.

He noted that the majority of Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
s in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
are Saudi, stressing that Riyadh launched the attack because it fears the return of those Takfiris to launch terrorist attacks in their homeland.

The official added that Al Saud consider Yemen a Saudi territory, noting: "We saw them treading the flag of the Yemeni Republic."
Posted by: Fred || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  Shiites sure do have a mouth on them.
Posted by: Eohippus Thigum6400 || 05/06/2015 11:12 Comments || Top||

#2  But small cajones...
Posted by: borgboy || 05/06/2015 16:07 Comments || Top||


Najran attackers won't go unpunished
[ARABNEWS] Yemen's Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
militia fired rockets and mortars into the southern province of Najran on Tuesday, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Brig. Gen. Ahmad Al-Assiri, front man of the Saudi-led "Operation Restore Hope", confirmed the attack and said a number of injuries were reported, SPA said.

Al-Assiri was quoted as saying Houthis fired mortar shells and some Katyusha rockets randomly, hitting some schools and a field hospital in Najran.

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 Airlines canceled flights into the border area of Najran as schools closed early amid the attack.

Al-Assiri said the shelling was not unexpected, considering that the Houthi militias have rejected the UN resolution that called for a cessation of hostilities in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
to allow humanitarian activities to take place. He also said the assault reflects the state of "Houthi chaos."

Nonetheless, the general assured the citizens of Najran that the situation is now "under control" and ground troops and border guards now are doing their job in dealing with the source of the attack.

He said the attackers "will not go unpunished" and the Saudi forces will deal with them appropriately. He added that Saudi Apache attack helicopters returned fire.

"We will continue to respond firmly because one of the goals of Operation Restore Hope is a response to the work of the Houthi militias," he said in a presser in Riyadh.
Posted by: Fred || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia


King Salman warns of Iran threat to Gulf states
[ARABNEWS] King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman
...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians....
warned at a summit Tuesday of a threat from Iran as guest of honor President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist...
said La Belle France was "by the side" of Gulf nations.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Riyadh came amid mounting international concern over the war in Yemen, the threat from jihadists and Gulf worries over Iran.

In a clear reference to Iran, King Salman spoke of the need to confront an external threat that "aims to expand control and impose its hegemony," threatening regional stability and creating "sectarian sedition."

Hollande, the first Western leader to attend a GCC summit, said La Belle France shares the dangers facing the region and he had come "to affirm the commitment of La Belle France to be by your side."

The Riyadh summit brought together leaders from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, 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...
, 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...
and the United Arab Emirates.

All but Oman are in the coalition that on March 26 launched air strikes in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
against Iran-backed Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
rebels and their allies who seized large parts of the country including Sanaa.

Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled to Riyadh when the rebels advanced on his southern refuge Aden.

Concern has mounted over the air campaign, which has continued despite the coalition announcing late last month it was moving on to a new phase.
Posted by: Fred || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia

#1  Heh - King Salmon. And his brother, Coho.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/06/2015 0:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Sorry now about a certain scholarship, Your Majesty?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/06/2015 2:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Ima tuna first comment out.
Posted by: Shipman || 05/06/2015 11:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Ship - you and Steve - go to your rooms.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/06/2015 11:47 Comments || Top||

#5  Blind Boy Fuller, Fulton Allen,
Dined on catfish by the gallon.
He was God's gift to North Carolina
Till he perished from Vincent's angina.
Posted by: Shuting Gurly-Brown7975 || 05/06/2015 12:56 Comments || Top||


Senegal to send 2,100 troops to join Saudi-led alliance
Senegal will send 2,100 troops to Saudi Arabia as part of an international coalition combating Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen, the West African nation's foreign minister said on Monday. Senegalese President Macky Sall said, after returning from a visit to Saudi Arabia last month, he was considering a request to deploy troops in the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthi, a Shi'ite Muslim group allied to Iran.

"The international coalition is aiming to protect and secure the holy sites of Islam, Medina and Mecca," Senegalese Foreign Minister Mankeur Ndiaye told parliament.

"The president...has decided to respond favourably to this request by deploying a contingent of 2,100 men in the holy land of Saudi Arabia," he said.

Senegal deployed troops to Saudi Arabia as part of the US-led alliance during the Gulf War against Iraq, when 92 of its soldiers were killed in the crash of a Saudi transport plane in 1991.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


UN urges Saudi-led coalition to stop targeting Yemen airport
A Saudi-led coalition should stop targeting Yemen's Sanaa airport, the United Nations said on Monday, as it prepared a plan to set up an air-bridge to airlift humanitarian workers and white Toyota Land Cruisers into the country from Djibouti.

"No flights can take off or land while the runways are being repaired," the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Johannes Van Der Klaauw, said in a statement.
The whole point of bombing the airport is to keep the other guys from using it. If the Saudis stop bombing, the Houthis and Iranians will indeed repair the airport, and use the pretext of "humanitarian relief" as a cover to bring in weapons and ammo. Either the UN is stupid and doesn't understand this, or the UN is venal and does...
"I strongly urge the coalition to stop targeting Sanaa international airport and to preserve this important lifeline - and all other airports and seaports - so that humanitarians can reach all those affected by the armed conflict in Yemen."

A Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes in Yemen to drive back Iranian-allied Houthi rebels.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why not both stupid and venal????
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 05/06/2015 1:54 Comments || Top||

#2  I flew into the place twenty years ago, bone jarring landings and take offs.

Repaired ?

How can you tell?
Posted by: Beldar Unock4590 || 05/06/2015 14:16 Comments || Top||

#3  preserve this important lifeline - and all other airports and seaports -

Yep, gotta make sure they get their ammo and arms from Iran with no muss or fuss. The International Elite as implemented in the UN is the most stupid being led by the most venal.

I can't help but to start believing in the OWG conspiracy theories this is all so f***ing insane.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/06/2015 16:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Most chowder and marching societies
Are loud and eschew the proprieties,
But not the UN, no --
There, dim innuendo
Enshrouds your anarchic anxieties.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 05/06/2015 18:40 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Reports: Australia Terror Accused Planned to Run Down, Behead Police
[AnNahar] Two Australian teenagers jugged
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
last month on terror charges allegedly planned to run down coppers with a car, behead them and then shoot other people, reports said Tuesday.

Two Melbourne men, Sevdet Besim and Harun Causevic, were charged with conspiring to commit a terrorist act, allegedly at an Anzac Day parade for Australia's soldiers on April 25.

Besim, 18, has withdrawn his application for bail but lawyers for Causevic told Melbourne Magistrates Court that their client, who is also 18, should be released pending his hearing, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

The case against Causevic was "far more limited" than that against his co-accused Besim, his lawyer Michael O'Connell told the court, the national broadcaster said.

Prosecutor Andrew Doyle said Causevic had carried out reconnaissance at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance and had in his possession knives and a tactical vest when arrested, the Australian News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported.

He said the two teenagers, who were being monitored because of their contact with a man who was rubbed out by police last year after stabbing two officers, were allegedly prepared to die in their attack.

"They're motivated by an extreme ideology. They've expressed support for a proscribed terrorist group," said Australian Federal Police officer Denis Scott, referring to the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group also known as ISIS.

Scott said Causevic allegedly told a driver with whom he had a minor car accident on April 11 that: "Australia is sh-- and ISIS is going to kill this country."

The court heard that both men had applied for passports and were allegedly preparing to travel to fight in Iraq and Syria alongside the jihadists.

Scott said Besim had allegedly been in touch with a 14-year-old British boy who was also arrested last month on terror-related charges and had told him he had access to a machete.

"Sharpen that as hard as you can, then run police over and decapitate," the Briton allegedly said, prompting Besim to reportedly reply: "That sounds like a plan."

Under cross-examination, Scott said there was no evidence that Besim relayed these conversations to Causevic, who turned 18 in January and has no prior convictions.

Australia raised its threat level to "high" last September and has since carried out a series of counter-terrorism raids, with alarm fuelled by the departure of more than 100 of its nationals to Iraq and Syria to fight alongside jihadists.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  lawyers for Causevic told Melbourne Magistrates Court that their client, who is also 18, should be released pending his hearing

Yeah, released to the Great Whites offshore.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/06/2015 13:03 Comments || Top||


Europe
French Lawmakers Approve Sweeping New Spying Powers
[AnNahar] French politicians overwhelmingly approved a new law on Tuesday granting the state sweeping powers to spy on its citizens despite criticism from rights groups that the bill is vague and intrusive.

The law has been in the works for some time but gained additional support after a jihadist killing spree in January that left 17 dead and saw the capital gripped with fear for three days.

La Belle France is still on high alert as it has received repeated threats from jihadist groups abroad and was reminded of the peril of homegrown extremism when police thwarted a planned attack on a church two weeks ago.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Muslims are very useful to Tranzis.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/06/2015 2:32 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
IS Claims Texas Attack as Portrait of Gunmen Emerges
Not exactly arrested, but the image of Abu Fez is otherwise perfect.
[AnNahar] The Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group on Tuesday grabbed credit for an attempt to storm an event in Texas showcasing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, as details emerged about the two slain gunnies.

It marked the first time the Death Eater group, which has captured swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq using brutal methods, claimed to have carried out an attack in the United States.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Women who hate ISIS sure are racking up the body count.
Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 || 05/06/2015 13:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Sounds like they were a little more than roommates.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/06/2015 14:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Simpson's lawyer is sure getting her 15 minutes of fame. Odds on her running for political office in the next election cycle?
Posted by: Pappy || 05/06/2015 17:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Even iff the ISIS/ISIL did NOT have any direct or specific role to Garland, IT DOESN'T MEAN THEY WON'T CARRY OUT THEIR TERROR THREATS AGZ THE US.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/06/2015 22:07 Comments || Top||


President assails Jirga decision against polio drive
[DAWN] President Mamnoon Hussain called on Tuesday for discouraging Jirga system in rural areas and said it could not serve the people of remote areas.

Talking to a delegation of Federal Ombudsman's National Committee on Children against the backdrop of failure to launch polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
vaccination campaigns in some parts of Federally Administered Tribal Areas because of the Jirga's decision not to let their children be administered polio drops, the president said that it was quite astonishing that people preferred to follow Jirga decisions instead of obeying the law of the land.

"Acceptance of Jirga's decisions by the people in rural areas is quite deplorable," a president's spokesperson quoted Mr Mamnoon as saying.
Posted by: Fred || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


U.S. Struggles to Counter 'Homegrown' Terror Threat
[AnNahar] An attempted attack by two suspected Islamist gunnies in Texas underscores the persistent threat posed by "homegrown" turbans and the difficulties U.S. authorities face in trying to thwart them, experts said Monday.

Investigators were still trying to piece together the details of Sunday's incident in a Dallas suburb in which a traffic policeman rubbed out two heavily armed gunnies who had tried to storm an event organized by an anti-Moslem group.

Amid reports one of the attackers had been suspected of planning to travel to Somalia to fight with jihadists, analysts said it resembled other cases of homegrown bully boyz taking action without orders from abroad.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's a struggle when no one in the appropriate offices of the government will call the problem for which it really is and hold people accountable for failures to provide security regardless of whining and bitching by the usual suspects.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/06/2015 8:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Gain control of the borders would be a good start. Track downs the one's who have already slipped across our southern border.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/06/2015 13:05 Comments || Top||

#3  I would say stop importing Muslims for starters.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/06/2015 13:16 Comments || Top||

#4  U.S. Struggles to Counter Deny 'Homegrown' Terror Threat

fify
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp52169 || 05/06/2015 13:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Work place violence, marathon protesters, and art show critics. Nothing to see here.
Posted by: Airandee || 05/06/2015 15:09 Comments || Top||

#6  FREEREPUBLIC = Artic denotes that evidence is growing that that the ISIS is operating a de facto base just over the TX border in Mexico.

* FYI DEMOCRATIC UNDERGOUND > [JustPasteIt.IT/Anonymous090] ISIS REVEALS IT HAS 71 TRAINED SOLDIERS IN 15 DIFFERENT US STATES READY TO STRIKE, INCLUDING 23 [of the 71] WHOM HAVE SIGNED ON FOR SIMILAR [Garland, TX-style = Suicide?] MISSIONS.

* FREEREPUBLIC > [Repost] ISIS WARNS OF "HARSHER" AND "WORSE" US ATTACKS AFTER CLAIMING RESPONSIBILITY FOR TEXAS SHOOTING.

VERSUS

* GROONG > [Strategic-Culture.Org] THE ISIL IS IN UKRAINE: AMERICA'S "AGENTS OF CHAOS" [to be?] UNLEASHED ON EURASIA.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/06/2015 22:05 Comments || Top||

#7  Unfortunately their definition of a 'homegrown terror threat' includes Veterans, Patriots, Conservatives, Police, and Tea Party members.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/06/2015 22:53 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
India to sign port deal with Iran, ignoring US warning against haste
Following the leadership of President Obama...
[Ynet] India will push ahead this week with plans to build a port in southeast Iran, two sources said, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi keen to develop trade ties with Central Asia and prepared to fend off US pressure not to rush into any deals with Iran.

India and Iran agreed in 2003 to develop a port at Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman, near Iran's border with Pakistain, but the venture has made little progress due to Western sanctions on Iran. Now, spurred on by Chinese President Xi Jinping's signing of $46 billion of energy and infrastructure deals with Pakistain, Modi wants to swiftly sign trade agreements with Iran and other Gulf countries.

"Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari will travel on a day-long tour to Iran to sign a memorandum of understanding for development of Chabahar port," a Shipping Ministry source with direct knowledge of the matter told Rooters. The deal will be signed on Wednesday, he said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Just the beginning.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/06/2015 6:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Let me get this right, Obama-ValJar are moving to make Iran a player in the region and then have anything to say about India's action? We must be lead by children invested heavily in fairy tales and fantasy.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/06/2015 8:10 Comments || Top||

#3  About that "snap-back" in sanctions...
Posted by: Pappy || 05/06/2015 11:55 Comments || Top||

#4  About that "snap-back" in sanctions...

Precisely, Pappy. And they knew it all along.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/06/2015 13:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Actually it's the "snap-crackle-pop" provision.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/06/2015 14:19 Comments || Top||

#6  Yup - we are being led by a bunch of Rice Krispies.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/06/2015 15:26 Comments || Top||


RAW instigating terrorism, says army
[DAWN] Military's top brass accused the Indian intelligence agency RAW on Tuesday of supporting terrorism in Pakistain.

An ISPR statement on a meeting of the Corps Com­manders held at the General Headquarters said: "The Conference also took serious notice of RAW's involvement in whipping up terrorism in Pakistain."

RAW has quite often been blamed by law-enforcement agencies for being involved in subversive activities in Pakistain, but it's unusual for a corps commanders' conference to directly point fingers at the hostile intelligence outfit.

It's the second time in three weeks that the military leadership has raised the issue of activities of foreign governments and intelligence agencies in Pakistain. Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif had during a visit to Quetta on April 15 warned "foreign governments and intelligence agencies" agai­nst their involvement in the insurgency in Balochis­tan, but on that occasion he did not explicitly name RAW.

In private conversations military officers say that besides Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
, RAW's footprints have been found in Fata and Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
. Confessio­nal statements of some criminals they had nabbed
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
recently, they said, point towards RAW's growing activities. To support their claim they also refer to a statement made by Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval almost a year ago about the Indian strategy to weaken Pakistain by promoting terrorism and separatism.

The ISPR statement did not mention specific instan­ces of RAW's involvement or the groups through which it had been operating, except for broadly accusing it of "whipping up terrorism".
Posted by: Fred || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Report sought on two cases pending disposal against Saulat Mirza
[DAWN] The Sindh High Court on Tuesday called for a report on two criminal cases pending disposal against Saulat Mirza, a death row prisoner belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
.

The order came on an application of the MQM worker seeking deferment of his execution on different grounds, one of them being that there were two criminal cases against him pending trial and he may not be executed till their disposal.

On Thursday, Mirza moved the application, fourth in a row, against his execution to the SHC Chief Justice Faisal Arab through a courier service.

He was sentenced to death by an antiterrorism court for his involvement in the killing of the then Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
Electric Supply Corporation managing director Shahid Hamid in 1997 and was scheduled to be hanged in March 2015. But hours before his hanging, he levelled serious allegations against the MQM, its chief Altaf Hussain
...think of the head of the Barzini clan, only in Urdu...
and the Sindh governor in a video statement aired on almost all news channels.

Subsequently, the president postponed his hanging and the Sindh government set up a joint interrogation team to investigate the allegations.

The fresh application was sent by Mirza's lawyer, Advocate Juma Khan, after the SHC member inspection team had turned down an identical application, advising his counsel to seek legal remedy under the law.

In his fresh application, the condemned prisoner also cited the MIT-II and an assistant registrar as respondents for not placing his three previous applications before the chief justice.
Posted by: Fred || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Isil opens five-star hotel with excellent TripAdvisor reviews in Mosul
[Telegraph] Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) has opened a five-star hotel boasting excellent TripAdvisor reviews for its commanders in jinn-infested Mosul.
Folks staying there already?
According to reports in Arabic language media, the jihadist group has reopened the Ninawa Hotel in Iraq's second-largest city.
How's the service? They won't keep their rating on fine surroundings alone -- it's service that makes all the difference. At at the top rating the staff are proud participants... not cowed kaffir slaves. Not that barbarians can be expected to tell the difference.
The 262-room hotel is thought to be the first accommodation of its type in the self-proclaimed caliphate.
Come for the nice sheets and continental breakfast, stay for the beheadings.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 05/06/2015 08:13 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  the Telegraph scooped The Onion on this one
Posted by: lord garth || 05/06/2015 9:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't forget the roof diving and cinder block massage.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/06/2015 10:57 Comments || Top||

#3  How many rooms has the UN booked for their next peace conference? The restaurants up to snuff? Couple of good eateries and it'll be in line for Gerbil Worming conferences, too.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/06/2015 11:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Couple of good eateries and it'll be in line for Gerbil Worming conferences, too.

But does Mosul have the airport accommodations to handle the large number of private jets for that GlowBull Worming Conference?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/06/2015 11:58 Comments || Top||

#5  Goats stay free on Friday nights.
Posted by: Airandee || 05/06/2015 13:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Word is they comp'd Geller a weekend in the Caliph suite.

Snark of the day.
Posted by: KBK || 05/06/2015 14:14 Comments || Top||

#7  Top review:
“I like it”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed September 6, 2013

Its the one of the best hotels thats I had already visit before. Its actually so comfortable and has a nice view with a large garden and a nice look to the river and in the most beautiful street in Mosul (Al-Ghabat)
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/06/2015 14:16 Comments || Top||

#8  Just goes to show, you can trust TripAdvisor. It's not like there are malevolent assholes people out there gaming the system.
Posted by: ed in texas || 05/06/2015 14:53 Comments || Top||

#9  The hotel will reportedly be available for visiting commanders, but it will also cater for weddings.

Ought to make for a good target.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/06/2015 17:46 Comments || Top||

#10  Targeting coordinates passed on to aerial kinetic delivery organization. Their motto: "only 5 stars, we will show you lots more stars."
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/06/2015 17:54 Comments || Top||

#11  Considered seriously, my daughter and I saw this story a few days ago, and we were wondering - who the heck would actually run it? Do the housekeeping, the cooking, the scut-work, maintaining the facility? Do the ISIS volunteers actually include people who have an interest and the skills for the hospitality industry? Is it going to be maintained by slaves captured in war, just as the various states of the caliphate were maintained in the days of the Barbary pirates?
Or - is this all for show, putting up a simulacrum of a state/society? How long will it last before it is an unsanitary ruin?
Any thoughts among the Rantburgundians with an interest in this kind of thing?
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 05/06/2015 17:56 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Netanyahu, Bayit Yehudi strike coalition deal two hours before deadline
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/06/2015 18:40 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Jordan hosts 18-country military drill amid wars, tensions
[Ynet] Jordan has kicked off a two-week military exercise with some 10,000 participants from 18 countries, many members of a US-led military coalition against the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group, which controls much of neighboring Iraq and Syria.

The kingdom is hosting the "Eager Lion" drill for the fifth year, but amid dramatically different circumstances.

Since the last drill, IS has seized large areas of Syria and Iraq and is seen as a threat to the stability of Jordan, a Western ally.

Jordan's Brig. Gen. Fahad al-Damen, in charge of joint training, told news hounds on Tuesday that the rise of krazed killer groups mandates cooperation "to fight all aspects and types of terrorism."
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel tests rocket propulsion system
Israel on Tuesday announced the successful testing of a rocket propulsion system that local media said was for ballistic missiles.

"The launch was carried out as part of tests planned by the defence ministry and occurred as planned," the ministry said in a message on Twitter, without elaborating.

Israeli business news website Globes.co.il said the test took place at the Palmachim airbase south of Tel Aviv. It said the system was likely to be used for the Shavit rocket that Israel uses to launch satellites into space.

Shavit is based on the ballistic Jericho missile, which foreign military experts say Israel keeps several batteries of in the hills around Jerusalem, and can carry nuclear warheads.
[cough] [cough]
Posted by: Steve White || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Sheikh Qassem: Both ISIL & Saudi Kill Arabs, Muslims, Don't Fight Enemies
[ALMANAR.LB] Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem
... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies...
asserted that what is going on in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
is an oppressing US-Saudi aggression which has surpassed the humanitarian and the legal limits and identifies with criminality and brutality.

Condemning the regional and the international silence, Sheikh Qassem added that as the UN Security Council rejected to approve a ceasefire in Yemen, it asserted its support to the Saudi-led aggression and displayed its criminal nature.

"What is the difference between Saudi and ISIL?" his eminence wondered, noting that both of them kill the Arabs and the Moslems and do not fight the enemies.

Sheikh Qassem pointed out that Hezbollah has always called on finding a political solution for the Yemeni crisis and that the current measures will exacerbate the situation in Yemen and all the Gulf countries, including mainly 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...
.

On Syria Sheikh Qassem said, "Unfortunately, the political solution is postponed by the US and the world powers in an attempt to change the battlefield balances.

"The battle in Qalamoun barrens is eminent and proves that the takfirs are unable to expand according to their plots," Sheikh Qassem stressed, "The battle will also protect the Lebanese villages."

Sheikh Qassem considered that Leb faces an open political crisis and all the political factions have to seek the solutions.
Posted by: Fred || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  "What is the difference between Saudi and ISIL?" his eminence wondered, noting that both of them kill the Arabs and the Muslim and do not fight the enemies.

"The Joos! Yer Supposed to be killing the Joos*!"


* And the infidels, but they'll willingly put their necks under our blades soon enough - at least their 'elites' will.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/06/2015 12:01 Comments || Top||

#2  No fighting on the Corona Holy Day of 'Cinco de Mayo'!
Posted by: borgboy || 05/06/2015 16:06 Comments || Top||


S.Nasrallah: Hezbollah Will Face & Defeat Terrorists in Qalamoun Barrens
[ALMANAR.LB] Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah asserted that the party will move to face the terrorist threat in Qalamoun barrens regardless of the Lebanese consensus which has never been available during the resistance's battles against the enemy.

"If we had waited for the national consensus to face the terrorists, the takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
groups would have reached many of the Lebanese areas," his eminence said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Hezbollah offensive in Qalamoun protects Assad, not Lebanon: Hariri
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri
Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too.
attacked Hezbollah Tuesday over its preparations for an anticipated large-scale battle in Syria's Qalamoun region against Nusra-led rebels, saying the fight is meant to protect the Syrian government, and not Leb.

"Media channels and some leaders in Leb have been ringing the bells for the Qalamoun hills battle, while the Syrian regime is silent," Hariri said in a statement released by his media office.

"It is as if someone is trying to say that the anticipated battle is a Lebanese one on Syrian land, always under the pretext of a preemptive war on terrorist groups."

Hariri said Hezbollah was "using the Lebanese borders" to wage a war that "only serves to protect the western wing of [President] Bashir al-Assad in light of the regime's recent military defeats in many Syrian areas."

In a series of questions directed to Hezbollah, Hariri wondered what the battle would have in repercussions on Leb.
Posted by: Fred || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Terror Networks
U.S. Targets IS Leaders with Multi-Million-Dollar Bounties
[AnNahar] The United States ratcheted up pressure on the leaders of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
jihadist group on Tuesday, adding four names to those targeted by multi-million-dollar bounties.

The IS group has seized a wide stretch of eastern Syria and northern Iraq and declared it a "caliphate," within which it has enslaved female captives, carried out sectarian massacres and murdered hostages.

Iraqi and Kurdish security forces are fighting back, supported by Iranian advisors and a U.S.-led air coalition, but IS is holding on in its heartland and allied groups have sprung up as far away as Libya and Nigeria.

Tuesday's statement from the State Department adds four names to the list of high-value U.S. targets sought by the "Rewards for Justice Program."

The krazed killer with the largest price -- $7 million (6.25 million euros) -- on his head is Abdel Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, who was designated a global terrorist for the purpose of U.S. Treasury sanctions in May last year.

The State Department alleged that he had been a deputy to the late leader of al-Qaeda's Iraqi faction, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and had traveled to Syria to join the IS group in 2012 after he was freed from an Iraqi jail.

The U.S. Treasury lists Qaduli as an Iraqi, born in either 1957 or 1959 in the city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
A Syrian krazed killer, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, whose birth name is Taha Sobhi Falaha and who is approximately 38 years old, is now subject to a five-million-dollar reward for information leading to his death or capture.

The statement describes him as an IS front man who has repeatedly called for attacks on the United States.

Tarkhan Batirashvili, better known under his Arabic nom de guerre as Omar al-Shishani, is also under a five-million-dollar reward.

The 29-year-old Georgian is accused of overseeing a prison outside the IS stronghold of Raqa where several foreign hostages were held.

There is a three-million-dollar bounty on the head of Tariq bin al-Tahar bin al-Falih al-Awni al-Harzi, a 33-year-old Tunisian.

He is accused of acting as an IS fundraiser in the Gulf states and later as a field commander in Syria and as head of a unit of jacket wallahs.

The Iraqi leader of the Islamic State group, His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us...
, was already the subject of a $10-million reward under the program.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/06/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
31[untagged]
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6Govt of Pakistan
5Hezbollah
3Houthis
2al-Nusra
2Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Govt of Syria
1Boko Haram
1Moro Islamic Liberation Front
1Govt of Iran
1Govt of Iraq
1al-Shabaab

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
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badanov
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2015-05-06
  Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq repel a major ISIS attack southeast of Fallujah
Tue 2015-05-05
  Troops Kill 28 Suspected Militants in Central Nigeria
Mon 2015-05-04
  3 Shot, 2 dead a '€˜Muhammad Art, Cartoon Contest' in Texas
Sun 2015-05-03
  40 Person Mob Assaults 2 Jews on Paris’ Boulevard Voltaire
Sat 2015-05-02
  Saudi Air Raids Kill Dozens of Yemenis
Fri 2015-05-01
  Largest Iraqi Refinery Under Seige
Thu 2015-04-30
   Iraqi forces make hard gains in rough Ramadi
Wed 2015-04-29
  Houthis, tribesmen battle in central Yemen, at least 15 dead
Tue 2015-04-28
  Saudi Arabia Arrests 93 Jihadists, Says Attacks Foiled
Mon 2015-04-27
  Isis Leader Baghdadi Is Reportedly 'Unable To Move' After A Spinal Injury
Sun 2015-04-26
  Mpls. Man Charged with Making Threats in Islamic State Group Case
Sat 2015-04-25
  Italy arrests suspected bin Laden bodyguards, Peshawar bombers
Fri 2015-04-24
  Italian police arrest 18 in AQ plot to attack Vatican
Thu 2015-04-23
  Adam Gadahn finally actually dead
Wed 2015-04-22
  IS “crucifies” family in Derna

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