Posts Tagged middle east

B52s To Start Bombing ISIS

From AirForce Times:

The deployment marks the first time the Air Force will use the Cold War-era warplanes — from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana — in the counter-ISIS fight in Iraq and Syria. The service did not disclose the exact number of bombers it deployed.

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Palestinian TV Teaches Kids To Kill

Propaganda

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Even As Russians Withdraw, Their Legacy in Syria Remains

Even As Russians Withdraw, Their Legacy in Syria Remains is republished with permission of Stratfor.”

Analysis

As the departure of Russian forces from Syria announced March 14 continues, evidence of construction at Russia’s main air base in the country demonstrates Moscow’s intention to maintain a military presence there. Imagery dated March 17 acquired by Stratfor of the Bassel al Assad air base in Latakia province and the naval base at Tartus highlights the ongoing Russian drawdown of its forces in Syria that Moscow contends will be largely completed by March 20.

The imagery shows that as of noon local time March 17, more than a quarter of the Russian air group at Bassel al Assad air base had departed Syria. Three Su-34 combat aircraft and a Tu-154 transport plane were the first to leave March 15, followed a day later by all 12 Su-25 ground attack aircraft and a number of Il-76 transport planes. The transport planes carried the mechanics, aircrew and equipment that serviced the combat aircraft. The Russians have indicated that a number of Su-24 aircraft departed March 17, but the imagery indicates that the Su-24 group was still largely in place. It is possible that those Su-24s departed after the imagery was taken. Read the rest of this entry »

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Victim Removes Knife From Neck And Kills Attacker

From The Times of Israel:

An Israeli man who was stabbed multiple times Tuesday afternoon in a terror attack in Petah Tikva managed to remove the knife from his neck and use it to stab and neutralize his attacker, aided by the store owner, police said.

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Teen Stabbed In Israel Still Determined To Join IDF

From The Times Of Israel:

The teen, who left his ultra-Orthodox family in Brooklyn for Israel just over a month ago, told the Ynet news website he hopes to enlist in the IDF’s top commando unit, Sayeret Matkal.

“I was stabbed, but I’ll still enlist in the army and give it my all,” he said. “I’m not afraid of anything.”

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Burka Wearing British Special Forces Surprise ISIS

From Sunday Express:

Fearless special forces troops donned the full-length Islamic dress to sneak undetected through the terrorists’ de facto capital Raqqa and take down the terrorist commander.

The eight-man SAS squad also eliminated several jihadi fighters after lifting up their burkas and opening fire on the stunned militants, who had no time to hide from the hail of bullets.

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Getting to the Root of France’s Muslim Dilemma

Getting to the Root of France’s Muslim Dilemma is republished with permission of Stratfor.”

Analysis

By Joe Parson

The jihadist attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo signified the beginning of a new period of insecurity for France. Since those shots rang out a little over a year ago, France has been beset by threats, false alarms and more successful attacks. The latest of these, of course, took place in Paris itself, triggering the first nationwide state of emergency since 1961. Having been away for most of 2015, when I arrived back for the holidays I found the country had somehow changed. Disembarking at Charles Gaulle airport’s oldest terminal, whimsically known as le Camembert for its roundness, I found the same futuristic, grimy moving walkways and familiar odor of the Paris metro. Much was the same, but then I noticed that the usual airport security was gone, replaced by military personnel patrolling with automatic rifles.

France’s security alert system, Plan Vigipirate, was developed in the late 1970s, updated once in the mid-1990s and twice more in the early 2000s. It reached its highest level of alert (scarlet) after the March 2012 Toulouse and Montauban attacks. In January 2015, however, authorities created a new, higher level to reflect the perceived current danger. As I traveled through Paris and the rest of the country I saw these security measures in action on the city’s metro and on the country’s high-speed train, the Train à Grande Vitesse. Security checks have become much more common, and this has led to some delays. False alarms triggered by such things as suspicious packets of cookies on a Nantes tram or forgotten luggage have stopped trains across the country. Over the New Year holiday, the center of Paris was cordoned off and people were individually screened before being allowed to continue on foot. Even the Christmas market in Strasbourg, far from Paris, was blocked off to automobile traffic, and identification checks were mandatory.

French police officers stand guard during a Jan. 1 New Year’s parade along Paris’ Champs-Elysees. (JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

Read the rest of this entry »

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Poet Sentenced To Death In Saudi Arabia

From The Guardian:

A Palestinian poet and leading member of Saudi Arabia’s nascent contemporary art scene has been sentenced to death for renouncing Islam.

A Saudi court on Tuesday ordered the execution of Ashraf Fayadh, who has curated art shows in Jeddah and at the Venice Biennale. The poet, who said he did not have legal representation, was given 30 days to appeal against the ruling.

Fayadh, 35, a key member of the British-Saudi art organisation Edge of Arabia, was originally sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes by the general court in Abha, a city in the south-west of the ultraconservative kingdom, in May 2014.

 

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Russian Pilots Killed After Ejecting From Plane

From The Daily Mail:

Two Russian pilots were shot dead by Syrian rebels as they parachuted from their burning warplane, it has been claimed.

And a third was killed during a mission to rescue the pair as another rebel group shot a helicopter with an anti-tank missile.

Disturbing footage shows a dead pilot covered in blood, on the ground as anti-government fighters gather chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ – Arabic for ‘God is great’.

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Turkey Shoots Down Russian Jet

From Sky News:

A Turkish official said two Russian planes approached the Turkish border and were warned before one of them was shot down, adding their information shows Turkish airspace was repeatedly violated.

 The downing of the jet is the first time a NATO member’s armed forces have shot down a Russian or Soviet military aircraft since the 1950s.

 

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Rep. Tulsi Gabbard(D) Criticizes Obama On Syrian Policy

Tulsi Gabbard on Real Time
https://youtu.be/yaGKCKPuEEY

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Condi Rice and Bob Gates on U.S., Russia Relations

From The Washington Post:

One can hear the disbelief in capitals from Washington to London to Berlin to Ankara and beyond. How can Vladimir Putin, with a sinking economy and a second-rate military, continually dictate the course of geopolitical events? Whether it’s in Ukraine or Syria, the Russian president seems always to have the upper hand.

The fact is that Putin is playing a weak hand extraordinarily well because he knows exactly what he wants to do. He is not stabilizing the situation according to our definition of stability. He is defending Russia’s interests by keeping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power. This is not about the Islamic State. Any insurgent group that opposes Russian interests is a terrorist organization to Moscow. We saw this behavior in Ukraine, and now we’re seeing it even more aggressively — with bombing runs and cruise missile strikes — in Syria.

 

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Americans and Other Foreigners Fighting ISIS

From New York Times Magazine:

I found a 26-year-old American civilian named Clay Lawton standing alone, just outside the village. Square-jawed, with large eyes and bright teeth, he was a volunteer freedom fighter with the local militia. ‘‘I’m from Rhode Island,’’ he said. ‘‘You know it? Most people confuse it with Staten Island or Long Island.’’

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American Vets Fighting With Kurds Against ISIS

From VeteransToday:

The men are part of an unusual fringe of American veterans joining the war against Islamic State. They go, even as their president and Pentagon leaders strive to keep U.S. forces out of the ground war.

Mr. Windorski and Mr. Lane, 29, joined other Westerners going into combat alongside the Kurdish fighters who have proved to be one of the most effective forces confronting Islamic State. They met fighters from America and England, Greece and Australia, Israel and Iran.

 

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Unit of Kurdish Women Take Fight to ISIS

From The Daily Mail:

Xate Shingali, 30, who performed traditional Yazidi folklore music all over northern Iraq, was granted special permission to form the unit by the Kurdish President.

She formed the brigade on July 2 and has since recruited 123 female fighters aged between 17 – the minimum age required to join – and 30.

Speaking from the Sharya refugee camp, just outside Dohuk, Xate said the male Kurdish fighters are training them to use AK47s.

She added: ‘We have had only basic training and we need more… But we are ready to fight ISIS anytime.’

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