Hi there, !
Today Sat 09/01/2018 Fri 08/31/2018 Thu 08/30/2018 Wed 08/29/2018 Tue 08/28/2018 Mon 08/27/2018 Sun 08/26/2018 Archives
Rantburg
531688 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 71 articles and 212 comments as of 10:58.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Syrian Army foils ISIL breakout attempt in east Sweida
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
6 20:46 Glenmore [1] 
3 13:51 Raj [2] 
0 [2] 
5 13:52 trailing wife [] 
0 [1] 
1 12:50 Skidmark [] 
0 [] 
2 12:51 Skidmark [1] 
0 [] 
1 12:53 Skidmark [] 
2 15:26 M. Murcek [] 
2 12:59 Skidmark [] 
0 [] 
0 [1] 
0 [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
0 [1]
0 [1]
0 []
7 12:29 trailing wife []
4 08:10 Bright Pebbles []
1 12:46 Skidmark [2]
0 [1]
0 [1]
0 []
0 [1]
0 [1]
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
Page 3: Non-WoT
9 20:07 Frank G [1]
1 15:23 Frank G [1]
0 []
3 15:24 Raj []
1 15:24 Seeking Cure For Ignorance []
5 14:45 Frank G [2]
2 12:03 Thing From Snowy Mountain [2]
7 17:44 Ebbavirt Clunk4147 []
3 18:03 Iblis [1]
8 18:08 Iblis [3]
2 13:16 Skidmark []
2 17:29 Thing From Snowy Mountain []
2 07:34 Frank G [1]
0 [2]
2 10:55 Procopius2k []
1 13:21 Skidmark [1]
3 13:22 Skidmark [1]
6 16:33 Skidmark [2]
0 []
5 21:09 Cromoper Gromoger4851 [1]
1 17:37 Cheaderhead []
3 03:21 newc []
0 [1]
1 07:53 Procopius2k [3]
11 17:35 rjschwarz [1]
Page 4: Opinion
1 14:01 g(r)omgoru []
4 23:33 Elmomoque Lumumba3794 []
14 21:24 3dc [1]
5 17:57 Iblis [1]
6 21:49 Zenobia Floger6220 []
2 16:23 mossomo []
4 13:55 trailing wife [1]
2 15:16 Dale []
3 06:03 Besoeker []
5 13:02 Abu Uluque [2]
Page 6: Politix
11 22:20 Whiskey Mike [1]
9 19:18 charger []
7 21:48 Rob Crawford [1]
2 14:05 g(r)omgoru []
9 23:17 USN, Ret. []
16 17:59 charger []
Arabia
Arab Coalition in Yemen says UN report referred to legal team
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] "Have your lawyer talk to my lawyer!"
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Mattis: Supporting the Arab Coalition in Yemen is the right thing to do
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Trump administration has reviewed the US’s support for the Arab Coalition in Yemen, and has "determined that it is the right thing to do", US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said at a Pentagon briefing on Tuesday.

"We reviewed the support for the Arab Coalition when we came into office, we determined that it was the right thing to do to support them in the defense of their own countries but also to restore the rightful government there," Mattis said.

Mattis added that the US’s aim 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 to keep the "human cost at an absolute minimum", and that this is where they engage with the coalition.

"In Yemen, as a general statement, we stay out of the war ourselves, and we are focused on defeating ISIS and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000...
, that’s where we conduct operations," Mattis said.

He added that the US aims to get the Yemen issue to the "UN-brokered table as quickly as possible".

Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  "and killing Iranian puppets is kinda fun, so... there's that, as well"
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2018 7:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Airstrike as they gather to 'collate'.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/29/2018 12:51 Comments || Top||


UAE, Saudi Arabia, Houthis may have committed war crimes in Yemen: UN experts
[DAWN] All sides in Yemen's bloody conflict may have committed war crimes, UN Sherlocks said on Tuesday, highlighting deadly air strikes, rampant sexual violence, and the recruitment of young children as soldiers.

In their first report, a team of UN-mandated Sherlocks said they had "reasonable grounds to believe that the parties to the armed conflict 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...
have committed a substantial number of violations of international humanitarian law."

Many of these violations may amount to "war crimes", the report said, pointing to widespread arbitrary detention, rape, torture and the recruitment of children as young as eight to take part in hostilities.

Kamel Jendoubi, who heads the UN's so-called Group of Independent Eminent International and Regional Experts, said the Sherlocks had identified a number of alleged perpetrators.
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  As soon as Obama gets hauled before the ICC in the Hague to answer for his war crimes, get back to me. Until then STFU.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 08/29/2018 8:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Muzzizm is an ongoing crime against humanity. Muzzing during a time of war is just spoiled whipped cream on a road apple.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/29/2018 15:26 Comments || Top||


Europe
Erdogan statue vandalised after being erected in Wiesbaden
A photo of the cartoonish thing can be seen at the link, complete with Islamist finger pointing.
[AlMasdar] A four-meter statue of Ottoman Turkish President 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...
was erected in Wiesbaden, on Monday, before being discovered vandalised on Tuesday morning.

The action, which some residents have described as a "provocation" belongs to the ’Wiesbaden Biennale’ art festival, which currently takes place under the motto ’Bad News.’
To be fair, the presence of the statue itself is a provocation, for those with eyes to see.
The statue was seen all morning guarded by police, to ensure that the statue didn’t cause trouble, according to local media.

"In my opinion, the idea is good within the framework of a thinking process, but an Erdogan statue based on his political features is not that good. But I think it makes people think and discuss, and that’s a good thing", said one resident.

"I was very surprised this morning, I think it’s again so typical Biennial, I think it’s very great, because I like such provocations," added another one.

The art festival did not want to comment on the action so far. The Wiesbaden Biennale runs from August 23 until September 9.
Update from the Times of Israel at 12:40 EDT: the thing was removed by firemen shortly after midnight, after drawn blades were seen among disputants nearby.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Used Microsoft Edge to find a photo of the vandalized statute. Looks like the vandals spoke English, "F*** You" spray painted on front of statue.
Posted by: brujotejano || 08/29/2018 10:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Erdogan Erection ends prematurely?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/29/2018 13:09 Comments || Top||

#3  "Hey, Beavis - pull my finger!"
Posted by: Raj || 08/29/2018 13:51 Comments || Top||


Salvini and Orban ready anti-migrant fight ahead of EU elections
[JOURNALDUCAMEROUN] Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Italia’s hardline Interior Minister Matteo Salvini launched Tuesday an anti-migration manifesto aiming at next year’s European parliament elections, and countering their opposing camp led by the French president.

"There are currently two camps in Europe
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
and one is headed by (Emmanuel) Macron," Orban said at a presser after holding talks with Salvini in Milan.

"He is at the head of the political forces supporting immigration. On the other hand, we want to stop illegal immigration."

EU countries are expected to go to the polls in May, and Salvini has aligned himself with the right-wing "Visegrad" countries: the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria and Hungary.

Salvini’s meeting with Orban came shortly after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s more low-key summit with his Czech counterpart Andrej Babis, which also focused on migration.

"At the heart of the talks between the two prime ministers was a safer and fairer Europe as a common objective to work towards ... beginning with the key issues for European citizens: the fight against illegal migration, growth and work, and socio-economic stability," a government statement said.

’NO BACKWARDS STEPS’
Salvini has repeatedly shot barbs at the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
over immigration, accusing the bloc of having abandoned Italia as it struggles to deal with the hundreds of thousands of migrants colonists who have arrived on its shores since 2013.

His antagonistic stance has drawn support from key figures of Europe’s hard-right including Marine Le Pen and Orban, who confirmed Italian media reports that he called Salvini "my hero and fellow traveller".

Salvini, who is also co-deputy prime minister and leader of the nationalist League party, has taken pot shots at "globalists" like billionaire Hungarian philanthropist George Soros
...either Ernst Stavro Blofeld or Auric Goldfinger come true...
‐ one of Orban’s targets ‐ and Macron.

The French president has sharply criticised countries who refuse to cooperate on migration saying those who benefit from the EU but "claim national self-interest when it comes to the issue of migrants colonists" should have sanctions imposed on them.

Tuesday’s meeting in Milan came just days after Italia’s latest standoff with Brussels over immigration, which led to scores of migrants colonists being held on a coastguard boat moored in Sicily for days until a relocation deal was struck enabling them to disembark on Sunday.

Salvini said he would continue to refuse NGO ships with migrants colonists access to Italian ports, and brushed off an investigation into "abduction" launched against him by prosecutors in Sicily.

"They won’t make me take one step backwards," he said.

Orban told news hounds that he would not allow migrants colonists to enter Hungary, and insisted that help should be "taken to where people are in trouble, rather than bring trouble to us".

"We need a new European Commission that is committed to defence of Europe’s borders," he said.

Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


The Grand Turk
Germany not considering financial aid for Turkey
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Germany is not considering providing The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund....
with a financial lifeline to help it overcome a crisis sparked by a fast falling lira, a government official told Rooters on Tuesday.

"Our position has not changed," the official said, pointing to a government statement on Aug. 20 that financial aid to Turkey was not a question for Germany at the moment.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that the German government was considering providing emergency financial assistance to its ally in the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
military alliance.

The Ottoman Turkish lira weakened on Tuesday as investors gauged the government’s efforts to manage its rift with the United States, which has imposed trade sanctions on Turkey.

The dispute with the United States over an American evangelical Christian pastor detained in Turkey on terrorism charges has accelerated losses in the lira, which is down about 38 percent against the dollar this year.

The Ottoman Turkish and German governments are also trying to mend ties strained by Turkey’s detention of German citizens and German criticism of President Tayyip Erdogan’s security crackdown after a failed coup in 2016.

Erdogan pays a state visit to Germany next month, another sign that the two countries want to patch up relations.

A second German official told Rooters: "You can’t do much from outside but to stress that Turkey must reform itself."

Investors are worried about the direction of monetary policy under Erdogan. The president, a self-described "enemy of interest rates", has repeatedly put public pressure on the central bank and also picked his son-in-law as finance minister.

Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  that financial aid to Turkey was not a question for Germany at the moment.

Moments come and go. This is a non-denial denial.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 08/29/2018 5:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Because they've already decided?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/29/2018 5:25 Comments || Top||

#3  "We're busy. Come back in 2019?"
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2018 7:39 Comments || Top||

#4  The threat of sanctions is working.
They could offer Turks low interest loans on BMWs.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/29/2018 12:49 Comments || Top||

#5  What about the money they were paying Turkey to keep all those refugees migrants colonists from crossing into Europe? I've lost track -- are they still paying?
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2018 13:52 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Qureshi raises issue of blasphemous contest with Dutch counterpart, asks OIC to convene session
[DAWN] Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Wormtongue Qureshi on Tuesday said he has raised the issue of the blasphemous cartoon caricature competition with the Dutch foreign minister and also called upon the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to summon an urgent session for adopting a unanimous position in response to the planned Dutch blasphemous event.
This the most important problem they're facing.
Addressing a presser in the federal capital, the foreign minister said he had talked to his Dutch counterpart and reminded him that the abominable act of the Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders to hold a competition of blasphemous caricatures was provoking, which had hurt the sentiments of Moslems across the world. Such acts would spread hatred and intolerance.

Qureshi said the government was fully cognizant of the sentiments of the nation and the Moslem Ummah and had raised the issue at different levels, in the parliament, at the Foreign Office, before the UN human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
commission and the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
.

"Everyone is in agreement on this issue. There is no such thing as 'the opposition' or 'treasury benches' when it comes to this issue as it is part of our faith," the minister said.

"It is promising that our minority senators from the Christian and Hindu communities also presented their views on Pakistain's stance and chose to share their opinion with us," the foreign minister said, stressing that "there is complete unanimity over this issue".

Qureshi said there are two developments which took place after the meeting, that he wanted to share with the media.

"As soon as the resolution was passed unanimously yesterday, acting on the wishes of the House and the Senate, the first thing I did was to write letters to the six foreign ministers of the OIC and put forth Pakistain's stance and make them aware of how perturbed we are over the issue," Qureshi said.

Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  See Brezhnev Doctrine and Finlandization.

This time the victims aren't victims because they're weak but because they're suicidal masochists.

The Dutch should PNG the pak ambassador and suspend diplomatic relations with Pakistan at the ambassadorial level in response to this blatant and unapologetic disrespect for Dutch sovereignty and not so veiled threats of violence.

But they won't.

See 'masochism.'

Nuts!
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 08/29/2018 8:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Once again Idolatry raises it's ugly head.
Muhammad cartoon contest: Hundreds expected to march in Pakistan against Netherlands competition
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/29/2018 12:59 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
UN Court Has No Jurisdiction in Iran Sanctions Case, US Says
[AnNahar] The United States told UN judges Tuesday they had no jurisdiction to rule on Tehran's demand for them to order the suspension of debilitating nuclear-related sanctions against Iran.

Iran has argued that US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
breached a 1955 treaty with his decision to reimpose the sanctions after withdrawing from a multilateral nuclear accord.

But US State Department lawyer Jennifer Newstead told the court in The Hague that it "lacks prima facie jurisdiction to hear Iran's claims".

But Newstead argued that the United States had the right to protect its national security and other interests.

The treaty "cannot therefore provide a basis for this court's jurisdiction" in the case, she said.

The United States and several other world powers lifted sanctions on Iran under a 2015 accord after years of diplomacy. In return, Tehran made commitments not to seek to build nuclear weapons.

Trump said the 2015 accord did not do enough to curb the threat from Iran. He pulled out of the accord in May and began reimposing sanctions this month.

In the first day of hearings at the ICJ on Monday, Iran's lawyers said the sanctions were threatening the welfare of its citizens and disrupting tens of billions of dollars' worth of business deals.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Iraq
More conflict in Shingal? Abadi orders 55 Arab families to return
[Rudaw] A Yezidi commander warned of a possible conflict between Yezidis and 55 Arab families who have just returned to Shingal, following an order from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to allow their return.

"A number of officials from Iraqi Army had visited us and asked for the return of these Arabs, and we told them that if they return there will be social issues between Yezidis and them. But today 55 families ‐ escorted by a large number of Iraqi forces ‐ returned to Gulat village in western Snune, near Sharafaddin," said Qasim Shasho, a Peshmerga commander in Shingal on Wednesday.

Shingal’s cities, towns and villages ‐ largely destroyed during the ISIS conflict ‐ are highly militarized with various forces including those loyal to Iraq, Shiite paramilitias, the Kurdistan Regional Government and those like the Shingal Protection Units (YBS) who are backed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

"It was the population of these villages who kidnapped our women and the Yezidis will not tolerate their return, resulting in a social issue," said Shasho.

These families and some Arab families had fled when Peshmerga liberated their villages from ISIS in 2015. These families are accused by some locals of supporting ISIS in their atrocities against Yezidis.

Abadi’s decree also allows hundreds of families to return to other disputed areas such as Rabi'a and Zummar, according to Khudeda Juke, a Yezidi commander in Hashd al-Shaabi who heads the Snune district.

"These families have returned without informing us, but a few days ago Haider al-Abadi ordered the return of Arabs of Shingal, Rabi’a and Zummar to their places," said Juke.

He also warned against the return of these families, warning ’the creation of social issues" but also says that "Now the decision has been made, no matter if Yezidis like it or not. They will finally return."

Hundreds of thousands of Yezidis are displaced in the Kurdistan Region. Thousands have sought asylum abroad. Shingal, a disputed are claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil, is difficult for the KRG to reach following the federal takeover of northern Shingal in October 2017.

Large-scale stabilization, reconstruction, and return has not occurred more than five years after ISIS bully boyz swept across the border from Syria, and then killed, kidnapped and raped thousands of Yezidis who were considered non-believers and devil worshipers per ISIS doctrine.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


150 displaced families repatriated in Kirkuk: Governor
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) ‐ As many as 150 displaced families returned back to their liberated areas in Hawija district coming from the Daquq camp, the Kirkuk governor was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Speaking to AlSumaria News website, Rakan al-Jubouri said "150 displaced families have returned back to Hawija district in Kirkuk. They were displaced at the Daquq camp, 30 kilometers south of the city of Kirkuk."

Al-Jubouri called on the repatriated families to "cooperate with security forces to boost Iraq’s security and help them in their efforts to restore stability in the liberated areas."
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel developing missiles to hit anywhere in Mideast
[DAWN] Israel is working on a new missile system capable of hitting targets anywhere in the Middle East, Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Monday.

State-owned arms manufacturer Israel Military Industries (IMI) would deliver "within a few years" an advanced integrated system "allowing precise hits by remote launching", he said in a statement.

Lieberman added that the contract with IMI was budgeted at "hundreds of millions of shekels". The Israeli shekel is currently trading at 3.63 to the US dollar.

"The project for setting up a precision rocket and missile system is underway," Lieberman said in the statement.

"Part of it is already in production and part is in the final phases of research and development."

"We are acquiring and developing precision fire systems that will allow... the Israel Defence Forces to cover within a few years every point in the region." Israel is considered the leading military power in the Middle East and believed to be the only country in the region to possess nuclear weapons.

Foreign military experts say it has several batteries of its Jericho ballistic missile, capable of delivering nuclear warheads.

IMI said in 2004 that it had produced a cruise missile, the Delilah, with a range of 250 kilometres.

Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  within a few years

Everybody else has SCUDs now.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/29/2018 12:53 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian gov’t allegedly holds secret meeting with US security officials: Al-Akhbar
[AlMasdar] Syria turned down an offer from the US to withdraw their forces from Al Tanf, a US base in the southeast and the East Euphrates zone in exchange for three concessions from the Syrian government, according to a report from Lebanese daily Al Akhbar.

Officials of "several US intelligence and security agencies" reportedly landed in a private UAE plane at Damascus International Airport in late June. They then took off in a convoy towards the center of Damascus for a meeting with the head of Syria’s national security office, Major General Ali Mamlouk.

The meeting reportedly lasted for four hours. The sides discussed multiple aspects of the seven-year war in the country before the Americans made their offer: a withdrawal of its troops from Al Tanf and the East Euphrates on three conditions, including a complete Iranian withdrawal, a share in Syria’s oil spoils, and intelligence on terrorists.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2018 00:37 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  More brilliance from the State Department. What a pack of morons. Why don't we recruit a bunch of used car salesmen to go do our diplomacy? They'd get better deals than these ivy league idiots.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 08/29/2018 7:50 Comments || Top||

#2 
"I find the report almost entirely credible," former UK Ambassador to Syria Peter Ford told Sputnik News.
I find Ford's speculations to be almost entirely incredible.
Posted by: Hupusing Claitch6798 || 08/29/2018 8:54 Comments || Top||

#3  a withdrawal of its troops from Al Tanf and the East Euphrates on three conditions, including a complete Iranian withdrawal, a share in Syria’s oil spoils, and intelligence on terrorists.

Cough*Bullshit*Cough
Posted by: Bubba Throlugum5581 || 08/29/2018 9:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Note that Sputnik News is a Russian outlet. Despite being much more sensible than all their neighbours, they still are emotionally connected to the source of all things Communist.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2018 15:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Everybody knows where Brennan has been the last couple of weeks? See - Obama shadow government
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/29/2018 16:58 Comments || Top||

#6  If they're secret meetings how come they aren't secret?
Posted by: Glenmore || 08/29/2018 20:46 Comments || Top||


Iran says advisers will stay in Syria
[IsraelTimes] Iran’s military attache to Damascus tells Iranian media that the country’s military advisers would remain in Syria under a defense agreement signed this week.

"The continued presence of Iran’s advisers in Syria is one of the areas covered in the defensive-technical agreement between Tehran and Damascus," says Brigadier-General Abolghasem Alinejad, according to the Fars and Tabnak news agencies.

It was announced on Monday that an agreement on security cooperation had been signed during a visit by Iran’s Defence Minister Amar Hatami.

"Support for Syria’s territorial integrity and the independence of Syrian illusory sovereignty were also emphasized in the agreement," Alinejad says.

Tehran has provided steady political, financial, and military backing to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...
as he has crushed a seven-year uprising.

In an interview Monday night with the Beirut-based al-Mayadeen television channel, Hatami said the agreement included the rehabilitation of Syria’s defense industry.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Saudi Arabia says Iran unable to close Strait of Hormuz
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Saudi Energy Ministry adviser Ibrahim al-Muhanna said on Tuesday that Iran is unable to completely, or partially, close the Strait of Hormuz or Bab al-Mandeb.

He said if Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, the UN Security Council is likely to authorize military action, according to statements reported by Rooters news agency.

He added that current sanctions on Iran are unlikely to stop.

On Monday, the head of the navy of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Alireza Tangsiri, said that Iran had full control of both the Arabian Gulf itself and the Strait of Hormuz that leads into it, Rooters reported.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded Monday night: "The Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait is an international waterway. The United States will continue to work with our partners to ensure freedom of navigation and free flow of commerce in international waterways."
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Can't close it, water keeps getting in the way.
Soon to be the Pond of Hormuz.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/29/2018 12:50 Comments || Top||


Thousands of Syrians start returning to Daraya: State media, Moscow wants a million
[AlAhram] Thousands of Syrians began returning to Daraya on Tuesday, state media said, for the first time since government forces clawed back the Damascus suburb from rebels two years ago.

The town was one of the major centres of the uprising against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
and suffered massive damage during the fighting, forcing most of its people to leave.

Assad's military and its allies regained control of Daraya after years of bitter siege and bombing. Many who did not want to live under state rule left along with rebel fighters under a surrender deal in August 2016.

Civilians and fighters who feared state rule were bussed out to turban territory in the north, while others - who most likely are those now returning to the town - were displaced to government territory around the capital.

Displaced people were returning after Daraya was "purged of remnants of the gunnies and the main services were reinstated", state TV said.

State news agency SANA showed pictures of crowds gathering under large government flags and photos of Assad. Behind them, rows of buildings, their windows blown out, appeared pitted with shellholes and showed heavy damage from fighting.

Damascus has described local agreements - accept state rule or leave - as a "workable model to bring security and peace" after more than seven years of war. It says it seeks to restore territory from forces of Evil so Syrians can return to their hometowns

The opposition to Assad however says the deals amount to a policy of forced displacement that aims to shore up his rule.

The United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
aid chief, Stephen O'Brien, voiced "extreme concern" over the Daraya evacuation at the time it went ahead. But since then several such withdrawal deals have been struck helping the government recapture major cities across Syria.

The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people since 2011 and made nearly 11 million Syrians homeless.

Hundreds of thousands of people have poured into Syria's northwest corner, the last remaining turban stronghold, forced to abandon their homes elsewhere in the country.

Another 1 million refugees can return to Syria: Moscow

[Rudaw] Russian reconstruction efforts have made it possible for a million Syrian refugees to return from camps in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund....
, Jordan, and Leb, according to Moscow’s defence minister.

"Since 2015, when towns and villages gradually started to be freed, more than one million people have returned home," Sergei Shoigu said in comments reported by Russian news agencies, according to AFP.

"Now every opportunity has been created for the return of roughly one million (more) refugees," he told journalists.

"Huge infrastructure reconstruction work is ongoing, the rebuilding of transport routes and security points so that Syria can begin accepting refugees."

Russia intervened in Syria’s civil war in 2015 in support of Bashir al-Assad. Its military support proved to be a game-changer, helping regime forces retake almost every part of the country from ISIS and opposition groups.

Idlib remains the last province in rebel hands. The Kurdish provinces of northern Syria and parts of oil-rich Deir ez-Zor meanwhile are held by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). ISIS remnants maintain desert holdouts near the Iraqi border. Turkey controls pockets of territory along its border, including the Kurdish canton of Afrin, and outposts in Idlib.

Almost half of Syria’s pre-war population has been displaced, provoking the biggest refugee crisis since World War II. More than 350,000 people have been killed since the 2011 uprising.

The UN has warned nations hosting Syrian refugees not to force them to return against their will, fearing the volatile security situation could leave them vulnerable to attack or repression.

In exchange for its military assistance, Russia has been able to establish a significant naval presence on Syria’s Mediterranean coast.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



Who's in the News
35[untagged]
8Commies
4Govt of Syria
3Houthis
3Islamic State
3Govt of Pakistan
3Govt of Iran
2Sublime Porte
2Taliban
2Govt of Iraq
1Hamas
1Arab Spring
1al-Nusra
1Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters
1Moslem Colonists
1Palestinian Authority

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
Wed 2018-08-29
  Syrian Army foils ISIL breakout attempt in east Sweida
Tue 2018-08-28
  Idlib: Nusra arrest 20 ISIS turbans, Gov’t closes key crossing
Mon 2018-08-27
  Elite Army units moving to Idlib for major assault
Sun 2018-08-26
  John McCain dies at 81
Sat 2018-08-25
  Syrian Army launches powerful assault in northern Hama
Fri 2018-08-24
  Arab coalition thwarts Houthi boat bomb targeting commercial ships off Yemen
Thu 2018-08-23
  Syrian Army cuts all supply lines to ISIL’s last stronghold in southern Syria
Wed 2018-08-22
  ‘IS militants’ launch attacks in Chechnya; five killed
Tue 2018-08-21
  U.S. Rejects Turkey's Offer to Release Ransom Pastor, Report Says
Mon 2018-08-20
  ‘Allahu Akbar!': Knife-Man Shot Dead After Attacking Spanish Police
Sun 2018-08-19
  Yemeni army inflicts heavy casualties on Houthi militants in Taiz
Sat 2018-08-18
  HTS executes 6 people accused of being ISIS members in Idlib
Fri 2018-08-17
  American Couple Dies Tragically While Biking Through ISIS Territory Trying to Prove Evil Does Not Exist
Thu 2018-08-16
  ISIS Killer Caught in Sacramento
Wed 2018-08-15
  101st Airborne, US Special Forces Called Into Ghazni Battle

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.
44.221.87.114
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (15)    Non-WoT (25)    Opinion (10)    (0)    Politix (6)