[IsraelTimes] 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... ’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...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 legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. 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 They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s say they mounted six attacks on ships with drones and missiles in the last 72 hours in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, as well as targeting Eilat.
The Houthis attacked the Maersk Saratoga, APL bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit ... ruled by Democrats since 1962. A city whose Golden Age included the Purple Gang... , Huang Pu and Pretty Lady after identifying them as either US or British, according to a statement from the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea.
Sarea adds that the group also attacked two US destroyers in the Red Sea as well as Eilat.
It was not immediately clear which, if any, of the targets were struck by the drones or missiles. Eilat was last attacked on Thursday, according to Israeli authorities, but has not been struck.
An article remarkably spare of the details we care about: who, from where, who he is connected to…
[IsraelTimes] Police say suspect has ’extensive connections’ with jihadists across globe, accuse him of offering ’training and instruction in terrorism’ along with propagandizing
Spanish police said Tuesday they had arrested a man on suspicion of carrying out "intensive efforts to encourage terrorism" and who had extensive ties with an international network of jihadists.
The suspect was arrested in Barcelona on suspicion of links to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group, with a Guardia Civil police statement saying he had "extensive connections" with other group members in Asia, Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... and North America.
Police began investigating him last year after noticing he was "using encrypted instant messaging platforms to express support for IS" and engaging in an "intense propaganda effort to encourage terrorism."
Through his online profiles, he spread and translated "a great deal of jihadist content about terrorist activities in different contexts and about materials for making explosives," it said.
The suspect followed "strict security measures" in all his communications, using "tools that let him operate anonymously" online, and was in touch with other jihadist sympathizers abroad to "offer training and instruction in terrorism."
Investigators also found he was using cryptocurrencies, saying they "did not rule out his involvement in funding terror activities."
The suspect was brought before a Spanish court on March 19 and remanded in jug, with police in Canada and Sweden also arresting several of his contacts, the statement said.
"Propaganda efforts by terrorist groups using the internet and social media are key to keeping up the terror pressure in the West," it said, referring to online propaganda as "one of the main strengths of different jihadist organizations."
The police operation was carried out with the collaboration of Spain’s CNI intelligence agency, Sweden’s SAPO intelligence service, La Belle France’s domestic intelligence agency DGSI and the European policing agency EUROPOL.
[Rudaw] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... ’s defense ministry announced on Thursday it targeted alleged Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) positions in the mountainous areas of the Kurdistan Region.
The ministry announced on X that it had targeted a total of 39 alleged PKK positions consisting of "shelters, hideouts and caves" in the Zap, Metina, Gara, Khakurk, and Qandils areas on March 19 and March 20.
The announcement comes two days after the Ottoman Turkish defense ministry stated that PKK fighters attacked its forces in the Kurdistan Region, killing one soldier and injuring four others.
On Saturday the PKK announced that its fighters attacked Ottoman Turkish army positions in the Kurdistan Region, killing two soldiers and injuring three others.
According to the ministry, the targeted positions harbored high-ranking PKK operatives.
The PKK announced on Wednesday that it had downed 15 drones since February 2023, the latest drone being shot down on March 1. The group also noted that it has acquired new missile systems to shoot down Ottoman Turkish drones, without providing details on the type and quantity of the acquisition.
[Rudaw] Suspected Ottoman Turkish artillery hit two villages in Duhok province’s Amedi area late on Friday, causing fear among villagers, locals told Rudaw.
The bombs struck Sargali and Barchi villages, which are both located in areas known for frequent festivities between the Ottoman Turkish army and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
"The shelling is carried out by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... ," Sherwan Sargali from Sargali told Rudaw.
Shelling of both villages has been going on for two days and has scared residents, he added.
Seven shells struck Barchi village on Friday, resident Lazgin Barchi told Rudaw. The holy man said they do not know who carried out the shelling.
Turkey has recently upped its efforts to curb the PKK threat on its border with the Kurdistan Region. Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... said earlier this month that Ankara is close to completing a zone that will "permanently resolve" security issues along the border.
He called on everyone in the region to respect Ankara’s security strategy or "be the cause of the tensions that will arise."
Earlier this month, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yasar Guler, and head of its intelligence agency (MIT) Ibrahim Kalin visited Baghdad for a second round of high-level security talks. The first round was held in Ankara in December.
A day after the meeting, The Iraqi National Security Council announced it was banning the PKK from operating in the country, claiming that the group poses a threat to Baghdad and Turkey.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says troops raided a Paleostinian town in the West Bank overnight after shots were fired at a nearby settlement late last night, causing slight damage to a home.
The IDF says troops captured a handgun and ammunition in Beit Ummar, from which authorities suspect shots were fired toward the settlement of Karmei Tzur.
In the nearby town of Beit Fajjar, another two handguns were seized, and bombs were destroyed, the IDF says.
The army says 14 wanted Paleostinians were arrested during overnight raids across the West Bank and handed over to the Shin Bet for further questioning.
During a "brigade-level raid" in the northern West Bank’s Balata camp, adjacent to Nablus, the IDF says a soldier shot up a suspect who allegedly attempted to snatch his gun. The suspect’s condition was not immediately known.
Official Paleostinian news outlet WAFA says the man was shot in the foot, citing the Red Islamic Thingy. According to WAFA, some 25 Paleostinians were arrested during the overnight raids.
Troops in Balata also located and destroyed bombs, the IDF says.
The IDF says no troops were hurt in the overnight operations.
Since October 7, troops have arrested some 3,600 wanted Paleostinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,600 affiliated with Hamas ...the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... , according to the IDF.
The IDF seems to be finding plenty to occupy itself with while ostensibly waiting to go after Rafah.
[IsraelTimes] Israeli Air Force fighter jets stepped up air attacks in Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... over the past day, hitting more than 60 targets across the Strip, largely in support of forces maneuvering on the ground, the Israel Defense Forces says.
The targets included attack tunnels and buildings where button men were gathered, according to the IDF. The number of strikes is higher than it has been in recent weeks.
The IDF says it also struck targets in an area from which three rockets were fired at the southern city of Sderot last night.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shootout, Butch shot Black Bart's other gun out of his other hand...... the IDF’s operation against Hamas ...the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital continues, with the military saying troops killed several button men and captured weapons over the past day.
The raid at Shifa, which began early March 18, is being carried out by the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit, the 401st Armored Brigade, and Nahal Infantry Brigade.
The IDF says many more Hamas operatives were killed during operations over the past day in southern Gaza’s al-Qarara and the al-Amal neighborhood of Khan Younis, where troops of the Commando Brigade and Paratroopers Brigade also captured caches of weapons.
The 7th Armored Brigade, also operating in the Khan Younis area, raided several buildings used by Hamas, and in the process captured weapons, destroyed infrastructure, and killed operatives, the IDF says.
Nahal troops operating in central Gaza killed several more Hamas operatives over the past day, including by calling in Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s against cells spotted near them, the IDF says.
[IsraelTimes] Israel targets sites belonging to IRGC units involved in attempts to smuggle advanced arms to West Bank terrorists; Quds Force officer named among the dead
The Israeli Air Force carried out Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in the predawn hours of Tuesday morning in eastern Syria, targeting Iranian assets and operatives involved in a recent plot to smuggle advanced arms to West Bank terrorists, The Times of Israel has learned.
More than 15 people were reportedly killed in the strikes in the Deir Ezzor and al-Bukamal areas, close to Syria’s border with Iraq.
The strikes targeted assets belonging to Iran’s Unit 4000, the Special Operations Division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Intelligence Organization, and the special operations unit of the IRGC’s Quds Force in Syria, known as Unit 18840, according to Israeli defense sources.
On Monday, the Shin Bet announced that it had foiled attempts by the two Iranian units to smuggle advanced weapons to West Bank Paleostinian terrorists.
The strikes overnight were a response to the smuggling attempts and targeted assets related to the Iranian plot, the defense sources said. Israel was aware that several Iranian or Iran-linked operatives were killed in the strikes.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, previously accused of inflating tolls and false reporting, claimed 15 people, most of them pro-Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... fighters including an IRGC official, were killed in the strikes. The Observatory said that an IRGC adviser, "his two Iranian security escorts, two Syrian fighters" and five other combatants belonging to pro-Iran groups were killed in a villa in Deir Ezzor city.
The Observatory also said that a few hours earlier, an Iranian cargo plane flew from Damascus to the eastern city of Deir Ezzor carrying technical equipment and IRGC soldiers.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported the attack was "carried out by the Zionist regime," its term for Israel. It identified the dead officer as Behrouz Vahedi, saying he belonged to the Quds Force.
The World Health Organization said one of its staff members was killed in the airstrike, naming him as Emad Shehab, an engineer in Deir Ezzor. Shehab worked as WHO’s focal point for water, sanitation and hygiene in the city.
The Observatory said the villa "served as a communications center" in the area, reporting that the building was destroyed and its Syrian owner, a civilian, was also killed.
Four other fighters were killed in a separate strike in the town of al-Bukamal on the Iraqi border, said the Britannia-based Observatory, which claims to have a network of sources inside Syria.
It said in total nine of the dead in the strikes were Iraqi nationals.
Syria’s state-run SANA broadcaster, meanwhile, said the strikes killed seven Syrian soldiers and one civilian.
Citing a military source, SANA claimed the strikes were carried out by the United States. A US defense official told AFP the United States "did not conduct any airstrikes" overnight.
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[IsraelTimes] Heavy damage caused to winery in Avivim; IDF says ‘no harm to capabilities’ in strike on Mount Meron air traffic control base; Israeli response marks northernmost strike amid war
The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday said it carried out Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on Hezbollah sites deep in Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... , after the terror group targeted a sensitive air traffic control base in northern Israel and a winery in a border community, causing damage in the latter attack. The Israeli airstrike, near the northeastern town of Zboud, which is more than 110 kilometers from Israel’s border, marked the deepest strike in Lebanon amid the Israel-Hamas ...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... war.
The IDF said the strike, in response to the Hezbollah attack on the Mount Meron air traffic control base earlier in the day, targeted "a military compound used by Hezbollah’s aerial unit" near Zboud in the Baalbek District. The compound included several buildings and a landing pad for drones, the IDF said.
The IDF also said it struck a building and other infrastructure used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Ayta ash-Shab and Kafr Kila, and an observation post in Maroun al-Ras.
According to the IDF, several projectiles, apparently anti-tank missiles, were fired from Lebanon at the Meron base earlier Tuesday. The strike caused no injuries and "no harm to the unit’s capabilities," the IDF said.
Hezbollah has attacked Mount Meron, which is located some eight kilometers (5 miles) from the Lebanon border, several times amid the ongoing war, launching large barrages of rockets at the mountain, as well as missiles at the military base that sits atop it.
Hezbollah also fired three anti-tank missiles at the northern community of Avivim, hitting a structure at a vineyard and causing a fire, according to the IDF and fire services. The terror group claimed to have targeted buildings used by Israeli forces.
There were no reports of injuries in the attack, but heavy damage was caused to the winery, local authorities said and footage showed. Sirens did not sound in the largely evacuated community.mThe owner of the winery told the Ynet news site that it was the fourth time his business had been hit by projectiles fired from Lebanon.
The IDF said it shelled the launch sites used in the two attacks with artillery.
After the IDF’s strikes in Baalbek, Hezbollah fired a barrage of around 50 rockets at northern Israel, claiming to target an army base in the Golan Heights. The IDF said the Iron Dome air defense system intercepted some of the rockets with the remaining striking open areas. There were no reports of injuries.
In response to the barrage, the IDF said it carried out another strike against Hezbollah in northeastern Lebanon’s Baalbek. The Israeli fighter jets targeted another "military compound used by Hezbollah’s aerial unit," which included a launchpad for drones and several buildings, according to the IDF.
In additional strikes Tuesday, the IDF said fighter jets struck a Hezbollah weapons depot in Hanine and another site in Beit Yahoun.
Overnight, the IDF said two rockets were fired from Lebanon toward the northern border communities of Shlomi and Betzet, where sirens sounded at 12:50 a.m. Footage showed damage to a home in Betzet as a result of one of the rockets. Another video showed damage to an agricultural area, with the Walla news site reporting that high-tension electricity cables were severed as a result of the attack.
Hezbollah claimed the attack.
The IDF said fighter jets carried out airstrikes on buildings used by Hezbollah in Tayr Harfa and Dhayra in southern Lebanon during the night, as well as attacking the source of the overnight rocket fire.
[[Rudaw] Five people were killed in an Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) attack on pro-regime militia and civilians gathering truffles in Syria’s Raqqa province this weekend, a war monitor reported.
"The bodies of three members of the National Defense Forces [NDF] militia were found, killed in an ISIS attack on truffle hunters" in regime-controlled desert areas of Raqqa province on Thursday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britannia-based war monitor.
On Saturday, the monitor said the corpse count had risen to five - three NDF fighters and two civilians. Three others remain missing.
The NDF is a pro-government militia that has fought alongside Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war.
Hundreds of poverty-stricken Syrians venture into the desert between February and April each year in search of truffles, despite repeated warnings from authorities.
The desert is known to be a hideout of jihadists and contains landmines, making it a high-risk area to search for the delicacy. However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... it is known for producing some of the highest quality truffles in the world that can fetch up to $25 per kilogram in a country where the average monthly wage is only around $18.
Last week, a landmine left behind by ISIS killed at least 16 truffle hunters in Raqqa.
Earlier in March, at least 14 civilians and four NDF fighters were killed in an attack carried out by ISIS button men in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province.
Days prior, at least five people were killed in an ISIS ambush while truffle hunting in central Homs province.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
...the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
...the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
...
...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
