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Today: 42 articles and 89 comments as of 9:40.
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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Second Muslim Convert Charged with London Soldier Murder
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Africa North
Tunisia Ministry Bans Rally by pro-Islamist Group
[An Nahar] Tunisia's interior ministry banned a rally in Tunis on Saturday by a controversial militia linked to the ruling Islamist Ennahda party but dozens flaunted the order and gathered anyway.

A branch of the League for the Protection of the Revolution in the capital's suburb of Kram had called for the rally to demand that a controversial bill on the "immunization" of the revolution be adopted quickly.

The LPR wants all figures with any links to former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, ousted in a 2011 uprising, to be isolated.

Despite the ban and the presence of police, dozens of LPR members gathered in central Tunis' Habib Bourghiba Avenue, epicenter of the uprising that toppled Ben Ali.

In announcing the ban, the interior ministry warned that the law would be enforced if it were broken, but police monitoring the gathering did not intervene.

The head of the LPR in Kram, Imed Dghij, was defiant.

"We will be here in this place every Saturday until our demands are satisfied," he said.

He also called for the removal of "foreign tutelage from Tunisia's illusory sovereignty."

Many civil society groups and the country's secular opposition see the LPR as a brutal pro-Islamist militia, accusing it of resorting to violence to intimidate its critics.

Ennahda and President Moncef Marzouki's center-left Congress for the Republic, who openly back the LPR, deny that it is a violent militia. It is made up of supporters of the government, Ennahda and the CPR.

Opposition parties, trade unions and even the Ettakatol party, part of the ruling coalition, have demanded the dissolution of the LPR, calling it the "armed wing" of the Islamist authorities.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Africa Subsaharan
Niamey Prison Attacked by 'Armed Group'
[An Nahar] An gang attacked the main prison in the Niger capital Niamey on Saturday, killing at least two guards, Justice Minister Marou Amadou said, less than a week after twin suicide kabooms claimed 20 lives in the west African country.

"The civilian prison of Niamey was attacked. We have confirmation of the death of two guards," Amadou told Agence La Belle France Presse, adding that the attack was carried out by "an gang that we have yet been unable to identify".

Amadou, who is also the government front man, could not elaborate on the situation on the ground.

A resident in the district reported shooting from the prison from early afternoon. "Everyone has locked themselves in," he said.

It was unclear whether Saturday's attack was linked to twin suicide kabooms on May 23, the first such attacks in Niger's history.

An attack on the Agadez army base left 18 soldiers and one civilian dead, while a near-simultaneous bombing at French group Areva's uranium mine killed one and injured 14.

Two jihadist groups -- Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and Signatories in Blood -- claimed the attacks, saying they were in retaliation for Niger's intervention in neighboring Mali.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Arabia
Yemen Air Raids Kill 7 'Qaida' Members
[An Nahar] Two air strikes that targeted two vehicles in south Yemen on Saturday killed seven suspected members of Al-Qaeda and maimed two more, a local official said.

The attacks by the Yemeni air force hit the vehicles on the outskirts of the town of Mahfad in Abyan
...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues...
province, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...

The official said Al-Qaeda-linked gunnies were seen evacuating the casualties and transferring them to a local medical center.

Al-Qaeda gunnies remain active in Mahfad, close to Zinjibar and Jaar, which they ruled for a year before being driven out by a government offensive mounted in May 2012.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Bangladesh
24 BNP, Jamaat men held in Noakhali
[Bangla Daily Star] Police tossed in the slammer
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
24 activists of BNP, its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
and the latter's student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir
... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh...
in Noakhali Friday night on charge of plotting sabotage.

The law enforcers conducted the drive in different parts of the district after receiving information that they were planning to carry out sabotage, reports our Noakhali correspondent quoting Zaidul Karim, officer-in-charge of Sudharam Model Police Station.

District Jamaat activists Golam Kuddus, a lecturer of Bulua Degree College, and Maulana Shamsuddin, an Imam of a local mosque in the town, were among the arrestees, he added.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Britain
Second Muslim Convert Charged with London Soldier Murder
[An Nahar] British counter-terrorism police on Saturday charged a second Mohammedan convert with murder over the brutal hacking to death of a soldier on a London street.

Michael Adebolajo, 28, has been charged with the murder of 25-year-old soldier Lee Rigby as well as the attempted murder of two coppers and possession of a firearm, London's Metropolitan Police said. He will appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Monday.

Adebolajo was one of two Mohammedan converts of Nigerian descent who were shot by police at the scene of the killing near Rigby's barracks in Woolwich, southeast London, on May 22.

He and the other suspect, 22-year-old Michael Adebowale, were taken to separate hospitals under armed guard.

Adebolajo was released from hospital on Friday and questioned for a day by counter-terrorism officers before being charged.

Adebowale was also charged with murder and possessing a firearm after leaving hospital on Tuesday.

Both suspects were raised by Christian Nigerian families in London.

The pair were filmed and photographed at the murder scene by witnesses, but legal restrictions prohibit the reporting of further details of the attack.

An inquest into Rigby's death heard that he was run over by a car before being attacked by two men armed with a cleaver and a knife, on a quiet suburban street in the middle of the afternoon.

Adebowale made his first court appearance on Thursday, speaking only to confirm his name and address before being taken back into custody. He is due to appear for a bail application at London's Old Bailey court on Monday, ahead of a pre-trial hearing on June 28.

Ten other people have been tossed in the slammer
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
in connection with the case, including two women who have been released without charge.

The murder is the first fatal Islamist attack in Britannia since jacket wallahs killed 52 people in the London transport network in 2005.

In La Belle France, a recent convert to Islam was charged on Friday with stabbing a soldier in a busy commercial complex last weekend.

Rigby's family have called for calm following a number of attacks on British mosques and a rise in anti-Mohammedan incidents since the shocking murder.

On Saturday, dozens of people were arrested in London as far-right activists, marching in Rigby's memory, faced off with anti-fascist demonstrators. Scotland Yard said 58 people from the Unite Against Fascism pressure group were arrested after they gathered to oppose a rally by the far-right British National Party (BNP) near the Houses of Parliament.

There were a couple of minor scuffles at the demonstration, with one BNP supporter suffering from a bleeding nose, but the groups were mainly restricted to trading chants as police separated them behind metal barricades.

The BNP had hoped to march in Woolwich but were banned from doing so by the police, fearing public disorder. Many of their protesters carried the British flag and some had signs saying "Hate Preachers Out".

"Britannia is a tinderbox waiting to explode," BNP leader Nick Griffin told Agence La Belle France Presse.

"We are here -- I hope -- starting a debate to point out the only way out, or the best way to get peace, is to disengage so there's a peace treaty between the West and Islam. We leave their lands -- we stop attacking them, we stop bombing their wedding parties -- and in turn, they leave ours. Then we can have peace."

He added: "We absolutely agree with what Lee Rigby's family said that nobody should use his death as an excuse or a reason to attack anybody else."

Anti-fascist demonstrators held up banners reading "Say no to Islamophobia".
...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do...

"They're trying to take advantage of the very sad murder of a young soldier," UAF chair Steve Hart told AFP. "We don't allow the BNP on the streets without opposition.

"In this city, London, the vast majority of the population supports multiculturalism. We're a multicultural city. We like it, we love it, it's the way we want to live."
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


The Grand Turk
Turkey protest: Anti-government clashes spread
[BBC.CO.UK] Police have clashed with protesters in the Turkish capital Ankara and in Istanbul, on the second day of unrest initially sparked by plans to build a shopping centre on a city park.

Thousands of people packed into Istanbul's Taksim Square, near the Gezi Park, after police pulled out. But the unrest then moved to the upmarket Besiktas district, where police fired tear gas and water cannon.

Officials said more than 90 protests had taken place across Turkey.

A total of 939 people had been jugged
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
, the Interior Ministry said, as demonstrations took place in towns and cities including Antalya, Izmir and Konya.

Dozens of injures have been reported.

These are the largest anti-government protests in Turkey for years.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said police had made "mistakes" in the force they have used, but has called for an end to the Istanbul protests. He said Taksim Square "cannot be an area where forces of Evil are running wild".

The protesters say Gezi Park in Istanbul is one of the few green spaces left in Istanbul, and that the government is ignoring their appeals for it be saved. Their protest began with a small number of people staging a sit-in in the park at the start of the week.

On Friday, festivities broke out as police fired tear gas to try to clear them out.

Correspondents say that the protest has spiralled into widespread anti-government unrest and anger over the perceived "Islamisation" of Turkey. The perception that police have been heavy-handed, a view adopted by many of the country's mainstream media, has also fuelled the unrest.

On Saturday, in a defiant speech to the exporters' union, Mr Erdogan said the plan to rebuild an Ottoman era military barracks on the Gezi Park site would go ahead as planned.

Referring to protesters fears that the site was destined to be a shopping centre, he said one "might be built on the ground floor or a city museum" but that this had not yet been decided.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  "sparked by plans to build a shopping centre on a city" sounds rather tame doesn't it.
Time for an Arab Spring I guess. Well they have all those freedom fighters there now.
Posted by: Dale || 06/02/2013 7:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Ottoman era military barracks

Methinks that's where the instigation lies.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/02/2013 10:59 Comments || Top||

#3  It's very lost on those searching for the glory days over there that, to an American, "ottoman" is something we put our feet up on while watching TV or reading the paper...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/02/2013 13:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Hmmm, Arab Spring comes to Turkey?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/02/2013 14:57 Comments || Top||

#5  "Arab Spring comes to Turkey?"

Probably.

Of course, "Arab Spring" really means "Sharia Winter." >:-(
Posted by: Barbara || 06/02/2013 18:46 Comments || Top||


Turkish Police Pull Out of Istanbul Square Occupied by Protesters
[An Nahar] Turkish police on Saturday began pulling out of Istanbul's iconic Taksim Square, the scene of a second day of violent festivities between protesters and police over a controversial development project.

Thousands of demonstrators flooded the site as police lifted the barricades around Taksim Excursion Park and began withdrawing from the square, an Agence La Belle France Presse news hound saw.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul called earlier for "common sense" to prevail as violent protests against the redevelopment of Istanbul's Taksim square reached a "worrisome level".

"We all need to be mature in order for the protests... which have reached a worrisome level, to calm down," Gul said in a statement released by his office, calling on the police to "act in proportion".

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan remained defiant in the face of the unrest, which has exposed growing discontent with what critics say is his government's increasingly conservative and authoritarian agenda.

He said there had been cases of "extreme" police action against demonstrators.

"It is true that there have been some mistakes, extremism in police response," Erdogan said after a second day of violent protests left dozens injured.

The interior ministry said in a statement that legal action would be taken against coppers acting "disproportionately."

On Saturday police fired tear gas at protesters gathering in Taksim Square, the epicenter of the demonstrations that have left dozens of people injured and have earned Turkey a rare rebuke from its ally Washington.

Protesters in turn hurled rocks and bottles at the police.

"We have become one fist," 33-year-old Ataman Bet, said as he swept the shattered glass and burnt plastic in front of his small coffee shop near Taksim.

"This has been everybody -- leftist, rightist, even supporters of Erdogan. People are angry, I am so proud of them" he said, calling the damages to his shop a "necessary sacrifice."

Erdogan remained defiant in the face of the demonstrations, among the largest against his government since it assumed power in 2002.

"I call on the protesters to stop their demonstrations immediately," he said. "Police were there yesterday, they'll be on duty today and also tomorrow because Taksim Square cannot be an area where Death Eaters are running wild."
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Home Front: WoT
NJ doctor stored bomb materials, illegal weapons at home
The good William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection is all over this one.
HACKENSACK, N.J. -- A northern New Jersey physician has been indicted on charges he caused the risk of widespread damage by stashing large amounts of bomb-making materials at his home.

Sixty-year-old Roberto Rivera of Ridgewood also faces weapons charges in the indictment recently handed up by a Bergen County grand jury. He remains jailed on $1 million bail. His lawyer has declined to comment.
Per LI, the good doctor was heavily involved in the Occupy movement and was interviewed by Bloomberg News on that point...
Rivera was arrested in November after authorities reported finding several weapons at his home, along with large amounts of chemicals that can be used in making explosives. Police went to the residence after receiving a report that potentially hazardous materials might be there. Prosecutors haven't said why Rivera had the items or what he planned to do with them.
No clue at all. We docs play with kabooms all the time...
The state temporarily suspended his medical license in January.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just trying to build a practice.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/02/2013 5:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Undoubtedly under surveillance by the FBI for the past 5-10 years.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/02/2013 7:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Should be locked up in a room with a Marshall University journalism professor to discuss the effectiveness of 'gun laws'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/02/2013 8:14 Comments || Top||

#4  I remember the Occupy support - at the time I thought: a near-60 yr old doctor supporting Occupy? WTF?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/02/2013 8:43 Comments || Top||

#5  ..trying to relive his youth? About the right age for the Kerry era anti-war sock puppets of Moscow pop culture leftism.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/02/2013 8:53 Comments || Top||

#6  They should check his Medicare billing records. Angry people like to cheat before they blow things up.
Posted by: Airandee || 06/02/2013 9:55 Comments || Top||

#7  Airandee, that's a corollary to the general rule that criminals generally don't violate the law just once and in just one way. Agreed: tear his life apart and see what's there.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/02/2013 10:48 Comments || Top||

#8  The more they dig the more they're going to find that he's a Tea Party mole. This is all a plot to make the poor innocent OWS and Muzzies look oppressed.

Just sayin' ya know?

is /sarc necessary?
Posted by: AlanC || 06/02/2013 11:02 Comments || Top||

#9  More details here from November 2012. It gets better:

Authorities found manuals in containers labeled "Anarchism" and "Revolution," as well as disguises in Roberto Rivera's home, according to the Attorney General.

Dr. Roberto Rivera, 60, was arrested Nov. 16 at a Union Street apartment after authorities claim to have found 2.5 liters of nitric acid in a basement freezer. Hydrogen peroxide, glycerin, sulfuric acid, calcium hypochlorite, and potassium perchlorate – all of which can be used to create bombs – were also found, authorities charged. Ten pounds of thermite used to detonate explosives, unlicensed high-powered firearms, trigger mechanisms and even disguises were also confiscated from the property...

Prosecutors have yet to offer a motive and have not disclosed if there were any targets.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/02/2013 11:14 Comments || Top||

#10  60 years old is 18 in 1971; fits the demographic.

I know one person, maybe even three, who would be best described as liberal missionaries who also practice medicine.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 06/02/2013 11:35 Comments || Top||

#11  Prosecutors have yet to offer a motive and have not disclosed if there were any targets.

Perhaps someday police procedures will include motives such as "He a f*cking twat" in their list of potential motives.
Posted by: badanov || 06/02/2013 11:36 Comments || Top||

#12  ^^ :)
Posted by: Shipman || 06/02/2013 16:43 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Police informer killed in Peshawar blast
Oh noooooo! Not Mahmoud the Weasel's Pakistani cousin!!
[Dawn] A police informer was killed in a roadside kaboom blast on the outskirts of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
on Friday.

An official of the Badbher cop shoppe said Najib of Lodhikhel Mohallah was critically injured after his cycle of violence hit an improvised bomb in Mashogagar village causing a blast. He said the motorcyclist died on the way to Lady Reading Hospital.

The official said the IED planted under a drainpipe exploded by remote control.

He said the blast's victim had strong links with police and worked as their informer.

The official said police searched the area for myrmidons after the blast, but to no avail.

He said the area was very close to Khyber Agency and the people traveled between them without restriction but after the blast, police were checking the people coming in from the tribal area. The official said unidentified myrmidons had been booked for the blast and efforts were underway for their arrest.

OUTLAWS HELD: Police have jugged
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
297 outlaws and seized unlicensed arms during the last three days in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
In a statement issued here, police said the arrests have been made during the ongoing crackdown on crime in the province.

They said the crackdown would continue until the targets were achieved.

The police said the people arrested during the last three days included 171 proclaimed offenders, 118 criminals and eight suspects, while among the seized arms were 55 kalashnikovs, seven kalakoves, 66 rifles or shotguns, 92 pistols, 6,878 cartridges and 14 chargers.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Girls school blown up
[Dawn] An bomb planted beside the building of government girls primary school in Miryan village went off with a bang, damaging two rooms. However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
no loss of life was reported

Meanwhile,
...back at the desert island, Bert was realizing to his horror that he'd had only one bottle for one message, and he'd forgotten to include a return address...
a low-intensity blast was occurred outside JUI-F leader Jafar Shah's house here on Friday. However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
no casualty was reported.

According to police, unknown myrmidons threw two hand grenades at the gate of the house of JUI leader Jafar Shah in the wee hours of Friday that went off with a bang. The gate and outer wall of the house were damaged.

Luckily, relatives of Jafar Shah were not present at the house when the blast occurred.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Brave lions of Islam...
Posted by: Raj || 06/02/2013 0:57 Comments || Top||

#2  A comment on gender studies?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/02/2013 5:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Miscreants found should be shipped off to Thailand for emergency SRS surgery before return.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/02/2013 8:10 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq Says It Broke Up Terrorist Group Planning Gas Attacks
The BBC version of the report is here.
[BUSINESSWEEK] Iraqi security forces broke up a terrorist group planning to use poison gas to attack targets inside the country, Iraq's defense ministry said.

The five-member cell was trying to make chemicals, including sarin nerve gas, which would also be used in attacks in neighboring countries, the ministry said yesterday in a statement on its website.

There has been an upsurge in violence in Iraq since the U.S. withdrew its last combat troops at the end of 2011, reflecting tensions between Sunni Musselmens and the country's Shiite-led government. Terrorists killed more than 1,000 civilians and security forces in the country in May, surpassing the 712 killed in April, which was the deadliest month since June 2008, the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
mission to Iraq said in a statement yesterday.

Iraq holds the world's fifth-biggest crude reserves, according to BP Plc statistics that include Canada's oil sands.

The terrorist cell planning to use poison gas received instructions on how to make it from al-Qaeda outside of Iraq, al-Mada Press reported, citing defense ministry front man General Mohamed al-Askari.

Al-Askari, speaking at a presser, said the group intended to put the gas in remotely controlled toy airplanes to attack Shiite Musselmen pilgrims visiting the holy shrine of Kadhimiya in Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
, according to al-Mada.

Group members said they also intended to smuggle the weapons to a neighboring country and to use them on targets in Europe and North America, al-Mada cited al-Askari as saying. Two chemical manufacturing sites were raided in Storied Baghdad and another unidentified province in the country, the ministry said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  cut n run didn't work did it, mr. obama?
but somehow you will blame this on Bush.
Posted by: Mikey Hunt || 06/02/2013 0:57 Comments || Top||

#2  As per FREEREPUBLIC, UPDATE = seems the Terr Group were allegedly planning attacks on the USA.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/02/2013 19:33 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Rockets from Syria hit Hezbollah stronghold
They may want to reorient some if the ones aimed at Israel toward a more immediate threat...
[USATODAY] Eighteen rockets and mortars rounds from Syria slammed into Leb on Saturday, the largest cross-border salvo to hit a Hezbollah stronghold since Syrian rebels threatened to retaliate for the Lebanese bully boy group's armed support of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...

The rockets targeted the Baalbek region, the latest sign that Syria's civil war is increasingly destabilizing Leb. On Friday, the Lebanese parliament decided to put off general elections, originally scheduled for June, by 17 months, blaming a deteriorating security situation in the country.

In Qatar, an influential Sunni Mohammedan holy man whose TV show is watched by millions across the region, fanned the sectarian flames ignited by the Syria conflict and urged Sunnis everywhere to join the fight against Assad.

"I call on Mohammedans everywhere to help their brothers be victorious," Yusuf al-Qaradawi
...crackpot Egyptian Islamist theologian. He is best known for his program Shariah and Life on Al Jazeera, with an estimated audience of 60 million kindred souls worldwide. He is also well-known for IslamOnline, which occasionally advocates things like slavery and thumping the old lady with a rod no thicker than an inch, and has published more than 120 books, including Islam: The Future Civilization. Joe has long had a prominent role within the intellectual leadership of the Moslem Brüderbund. Some of his views have been controversial in the West, though less so among the rubes of the Mysterious East, and he was refused entry to the United Kingdom in 2008. In 2004, 2,500 Muslim academics from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and from the Palestinian territories condemned Qaradawi, and accused him of giving Islam a bad name....
said in his Friday sermon in the Qatari capital of Doha. "If I had the ability I would go and fight with them."

"Everyone who has the ability and has training to kill ... is required to go," said al-Qaradawi, who is in his 80s. "We cannot ask our brothers to be killed while we watch."

He denounced Assad's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, as "more infidel than Christians and Jews" and Shiite Mohammedan Hezbollah as "the party of the devil."

He said there is no more common ground between Shiites and Sunnis, alleging that Shiite Iran -- a longtime Syria ally that has supplied the regime with cash and weapons -- is trying to "devour" Sunnis.

The Syrian conflict, now in its third year, has taken on dark sectarian overtones. It has escalated from a local uprising into a civil war and is not increasingly shifting into a proxy war.

Predominantly Sunni rebels backed by Sunni states 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...
, Qatar and Turkey are fighting against a regime that relies on support from Alawites, Shiites and Christians at home, and is aided by Iran and Hezbollah. The Syria conflict is also part of a wider battle between Saudi Arabia and Iran for regional influence.

Sunni fighters from Iraq and Leb have crossed into Syria to help those fighting Assad, while Shiites from Iraq have joined the battle on the regime's side.

Sectarian tensions rose sharply when Hezbollah stepped up its involvement in the war in mid-May by joining a regime offensive against the rebel-held Syrian town of Qusair, about 10 kilometers (six miles) from Leb. The town has since become one of the war's major military and political flashpoints, with international concern growing over civilians believed to be trapped there.

On Saturday, the International Committee of the Red Thingy and the United Nation's two brass hats dealing with human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
and humanitarian issues said they were alarmed by reports that thousands of civilians are trapped in Qusair and that hundreds of maimed people are in urgent need of medical care.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Looks like we will be able to just squeak by.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/02/2013 5:48 Comments || Top||


Regime, Rebels Bolster Forces for Qusayr Battle
[An Nahar] The Syrian army backed by Hizbullah fighters bolstered its positions in the embattled opposition stronghold of Qusayr on Saturday, as rebels prepared for a renewed assault, raising fears for trapped civilians.

The opposition Syrian National Coalition issued a statement saluting rebel fighters in the town, including new battalions that have arrived in recent days.

"There are ongoing festivities in northern Qusayr, and the opposition fighters are fighting with everything they've got," Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog, told Agence La Belle France Presse.

"Regime forces are reinforcing the sites that they have north of the city, including Dabaa airport and Jawadiya," he added.

The group said at least 15 tanks were massed at government-held points north of Qusayr, which is considered a key strategic prize by both the regime and the rebels. It sits on the route between the capital Damascus and the coast, and lies near the Lebanese border, providing a key rebel conduit for weapons and fighters.

The Syrian opposition said Friday that rebel reinforcements had reached the area.

The fight for the town, which began nearly two weeks ago, has raised fears about the safety of thousands of civilians still trapped inside.

Abdel Rahman, whose watchdog relies of a network of activists, doctors and lawyers on the ground, said around 1,000 maimed people were trapped inside the town.

"The medical situation is very bad," he said.

The Syrian National Coalition, the key opposition umbrella group, praised the rebel forces in the town.

"The heroes of the Free Syrian Army prove every day that they are worthy of the responsibility that the people have entrusted them with," the group said. "The people will continue their struggle to liberate their land, whatever it takes, and will force Hizbullah to withdraw its forces from all of Syria."

The party, a staunch ally of the Syrian regime, has dispatched fighters to help put down the uprising that began more than two years ago with peaceful protests against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...

Some members of Leb's Sunni community have also crossed into neighboring Syria to fight alongside the Sunni-led rebels forces, encouraged by local holy mans.

Despite an official policy of neutrality on the Syrian conflict, Leb has found itself increasingly embroiled in its neighbor's civil war.

The continued fighting has raised concerns about the prospects for a peace conference expected to convene in Geneva this month to seek a political solution to the conflict.

The Coalition reiterated on Saturday that "the immediate halt of military operations by regime forces, Hizbullah and Iran are the primary conditions for participation in the conference."

At least 114 people were killed throughout violence in Syria on Friday, including 45 rebels, 40 civilians and 29 government troops, the Observatory said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



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Sun 2013-06-02
  Second Muslim Convert Charged with London Soldier Murder
Sat 2013-06-01
  Turkey Finds Sarin Gas In Homes Of Suspected Syrian Islamists
Fri 2013-05-31
  Michigan Woman Dies In Syria, Fighting For Rebels
Thu 2013-05-30
  Pakistan: Wali ur-Rehman killed by US drone strike
Wed 2013-05-29
  French Police Arrest Suspect in Stabbing Attack on Soldier
Tue 2013-05-28
  NGO: At least 79 Hizbullah Fighters Killed in Qusayr
Mon 2013-05-27
  Rockets hit Hezbollah Beirut heartland
Sun 2013-05-26
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Sat 2013-05-25
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Fri 2013-05-24
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Wed 2013-05-22
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Tue 2013-05-21
  Nigeria Says It Has Retaken Five Islamist Strongholds
Mon 2013-05-20
  Syria: 20 Hezbollah Fighters Killed In Qusair
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