Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2023 00:36 ||
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#1
Thank you, Fred and others.
May y'all's 2023 be as close to normal again, as still possible.
BTW: I am somewhat ashamed for the younger Southern generation down here.
What waste of Ammo, when homemade black power is so easy and inexpensive to make and use. I guess homemade fireworks, is a dying skill that many have failed to pass down.
2022 has been a year full of disappointments for most with several regional conflicts raging, multiple humanitarian crises, historic population displacements, and the disappointing situation that continues in Afghanistan. Here at the Afghan Digest our sincerest hope is that 2023 will bring about a better situation for all those who are struggling and that those ‘leaders’ who have seemingly been touched by madness will find their humanity once again.
Happy New Year to all.
LAST 24 HOURS
DRONES OVER NORTHERN AFGHANISTAN? – In remarks made after the NRF suffered a defeat in Andarab by Ahmad Massoud, the Resistance leader claimed that drones had been used before and during the fighting. He said the drones had been provided by foreign intelligence services who were also providing additional tactical intelligence to the Taliban. The specific countries were not named and no confirmation of drones being used in the Andarab fighting has been supplied.
FORMER PRESIDENT KARZAI ASKS PAKISTAN TO RESPECT THE RIGHTS OF AFGHAN REFUGEES – After several international news reports broke a story about the treatment of Afghan refugees in Sindh Province, many leaders and international organizations have pressed Pakistan to release those being held in prisons around Karachi. Former President Karzai added his voice to mix in a plea to respect their human rights. Apparently, Pakistan officials were not expecting such a significant outcry over the situation.
INTERNATIONAL AID MONEY BEING MISUSED, US THINK TANK SAYS – Speculation about how foreign aid funds are being used in Afghanistan since the Taliban took power has run rampant. Several watchdog organizations have suggested the funds seldom reach the programs they are intended to support. On Friday, the US journal, Foreign Policy, released a report detailing the extent of the corruption. If the information in the report is true, it illustrates a massive failure in oversight on the part of the international community and the US in particular. The report says the overwhelming bulk of the misappropriated money is used to ‘pay off’ Taliban supporters in predominantly Pashtun communities.
TALIBAN SAYS THAT SOME INTERNATIONAL NGO’S AND UN AGENCIES AGREE TO HIJAB MANDATE – The Minister for Refugees and Repatriation has said that some NGOs and UN agencies will now tell their employees that they must wear the Hijab if they intend to work in Afghanistan. The dress code has been a point of contention between the Taliban and foreign workers for some time. While the Minister did not elaborate on which NGOs and UN bodies had agreed to the requirement, he seemed to be confident that others would follow suit. Nothing was said about the issue of women aid workers resuming their duties in the country.
NEXT 24 HOURS
SECURITY FORCES ON HIGH ALERT FOR NEW YEAR – It is not clear if the Taliban has raised the security posture in response to a possible threat or is simply taking the precautionary measure of putting the security forces at an elevated security footing. Regardless, locals have reported an increased presence at checkpoints, especially in the diplomatic neighborhood in Kabul.
PAKISTAN REFUGEE POLICIES – Many are watching to see how Pakistan’s police react today with regard to Afghan refugees in the country. Several conflicting statements have been made over the past three months which have Afghan refugees in the country on edge. Many fear arrests and deportations may take place as the 31 December amnesty period expired. Several international human rights groups are monitoring the situation closely.
[ShabelleMedia] Jubaland state of Somalia said its troops killed several al-Shabaab ...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... members were killed in the Lower Juba region during a counter-attack.
Lieutenant general Ismail Sahardid Keydsane confirmed that the regional troops repulsed an attack against a military base in Baarka, which lies near the coastal town of Kismayo ...a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia, at the extreme southern end of the country (always assuming Somalia can be called a country). It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region.... Jubaland is preparing for an offensive against al-Shabaab, to joint massive operations in Somalia which President Hassan Sheikh said is the final to liberate the whole country.
Fog o’war. Slightly different details than the two slightly different reports we had yesterday stacked together here.
[An Nahar] Three Egyptian coppers were killed and four others, including a police officer, maimed in an attack in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia, security and medical sources said.
Two cars approached a checkpoint in a residential neighborhood of the city and two armed assailants shot up the coppers, the security source said.
The coppers responded, killing one of the assailants while the other fled.
The source said the attack was likely a "terrorist act", describing it as the first of its kind in nearly three years in mainland Egypt, which has largely been spared the deadly insurgency in the Sinai peninsula.
Medical sources confirmed the casualty toll from the attack, for which there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
In the past few years, attacks against security forces have been concentrated in the restive Sinai, where jihadists affiliated with 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 continue to operate.
Eleven soldiers were killed on May 7 in an attack in western Sinai.
Days later, another five soldiers and seven jihadists died when the army was attacked in the peninsula.
Egypt has been battling the insurgency that intensified after the army ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in 2013.
In February 2018, security forces launched a wide-reaching campaign seeking to root out members of jihadist groups in the Sinai and elsewhere.
More than 1,000 jihadists were reported to have been killed by the military during the campaign, though figures are difficult to verify amid a media blackout in the peninsula.
In May 2019, an attack near Egypt's Giza pyramids injured 17 people, many of them foreign tourists.
And in August of that year, 20 people were killed when a car laden with explosives crashed into two other vehicles in Cairo.
Ismailia is one of the key cities overlooking Egypt's Suez Canal, a vital waterway between Asia and Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... that sees about 10 percent of the world's maritime trade.
The canal is a major source of foreign currency for Egypt, which is struggling with a declining currency and rising inflation
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2023 00:36 ||
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#1
The canal is a major source of foreign currency for Egypt, which is struggling with a declining currency and rising inflation
So they're like the US, except they have a canal and we don't. So they have a better chance than we do.
#2
As I think has been pointed out before, passage through the canal, at least for navy ships, by treaty, is a total exercise in corruption. You are forced to embark what seemed like a small village of “line handlers.” For safety reasons, those dudes are not used for line handling. On the ship I was on the goal was to keep them external to the skin of the ship and under guard watchful eye to keep them from stealing stuff. They were surely tribal beneficiaries required to kick some back. I am sure there are more levels of bribes and shakedowns that I didn’t see. In the end, there can’t be much canal money actually making it into the coffers of the Egyptian government for politicians to misappropriate.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/01/2023 21:47 Comments ||
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[HODHODYEMENNEWS] A citizen was killed on Friday by unidentified gunmen in Abyan province, which is controlled by the UAE-backed militias.
Local sources stated that the gunmen were on a civil car and opened fire on a citizen in Amsarah area near the coast city of Shoqra, without revealing the victim identity.
The sources added that the gunmen were able to flee toward the Shoqra road, amid an insecurity that prevailed in the districts of the province since the UAE-backed militias controlled it.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS] During the early hours of Friday, gunmen loyal to Saudi Arabia imposed their control over many military points and locations belonging to the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC)’s militia in the coastal strip leading to the city of Aden, west of Lahj province.
According to media sources, the gunmen of Al-Subaiha tribes, reinforced by the forces of the so-called Shield of the Nation , (Dera Al-Watan) factions funded by Saudi Arabia, clashed with the STC’s “Security Belt” militia on the coastal road in the areas of Madhariba and Ras Al-Ara districts, near Bab al-Mandab Strait, and forced them to leave their military positions.
The sources pointed out that Al-Subaiha tribesmen took control of a number of points belonging to the “STC” militia and seized a number of military vehicles and equipment, indicating that Saudi directives ruled to hand over those areas to the forces supervised by Tariq Affash.
The sources stated that Saudi Arabia took advantage of the hostility between Al-Subaiha tribesmen and the STC’s leaders of due to repeated violations against the tribes of Al-Subaiha and fueled it by creating a military force from Al-Subaiha, and presenting them to the arena as a parallel force and against the people of Dhalea.
The sources confirmed that the recruitment of Al-Subaiha tribesmen and their funding from Saudi Arabia is a military step to besiege the STC from the northwestern side of the city of Aden, and in the same context worked to finance military brigades from the sons of Abyan to tighten their control over the eastern gate of Aden.
This comes after the Saudi-led coalition handover of Al-Anad base to “Dera Al-Watan Forces”, which are supervised by “Tariq Affash” and funded by Saudi Arabia. They were trained during the past months on the west coast.
The Saudi Ministry of Defense summoned about 17 tribal sheikhs from Al-Subaiha to Riyadh last month, and entrusted them with the task of expelling the STC militia from Madhariba and Ras Al-Ara districts, west of Lahj province.
It is not clear to me why the ship exploded, and therefore whether this story is relevant to us here at Rantburg. Any guidance on this question would be gratefully appreciated — I would dearly love to to move up from apprentice analyst to journeyman someday. ;-)
[AlAhram] An Egyptian engineer, Mohammed Qassem, was killed in a kaboom on a fat merchantman off the coast of Turkiye last week, and procedures for repatriating his body are underway, Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The Panama-flagged multi-fat merchantman Beata Alfa had 17 crew members onboard, including 14 Egyptians, when it went kaboom! in the Black Sea on Tuesday 20 December.
Ottoman Turkish authorities have not disclosed the causes of the blast.
All 14 Egyptians were maimed and the captain, Hisham Thabet, who is also Egyptian, remains missing and may have drowned, according to Ottoman Turkish local reports.
Qassem, a naval engineer, died from burns suffered during the blast, a report cited Mohammed El-Rawy, the Secretary-General of the Egyptian Marine Officers Union, as saying on Wednesday.
The union, he said, is coordinating with relevant authorities to repatriate Qassem’s body and is also coordinating with the company owning the ship to ensure that his family gets the proper compensation.
Search is still underway for the missing captain, the Ministry of Foreign affairs said.
Four of the injured have left the hospital after recovering, the ministry noted, adding that the other injured Egyptian citizens are expected to stay in hospital for a longer period.
According to the ministry, the Egyptian Embassy in Ankara continues to contact the shipping agent to make sure that the injured citizens receive their financial dues and that the agent bears the cost of treatment until they recover.
The ministry added that it is following up closely on the condition of the injured and is coordinating with various Egyptian ministries and relevant authorities on the issue.
[NY Post] Known Jihadi to the FBI. Too busy covering for Hunter or coordinating with Social Tech?
Overwhelmed by Sudden Jihad Syndrome, poor lad. He is normally very peaceful indeed, especially when playing with his beloved machete.
A rookie NYPD police officer on his first day on the job was attacked with a machete on New Year’s Eve just blocks Times Square — and police are probing whether the suspect is a recently radicalized Islamic extremist, according to police sources.
The officer — who graduated Friday and was assigned to a Staten Island precinct but was working the New Year’s Eve detail for the night — was stationed at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue when the machete-wielding madman approached him and two other officers around 9:30 p.m., NYPD sources told The Post.
The alleged Islamic extremist who attacked multiple NYPD officers with a machete near has been identified as 19-year-old Trevor Bickford, multiple law enforcement sources said Sunday.
The post was outside the area attendees were being screened for weapons, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference early Sunday.
The rookie cop was slashed in the head, prompting another cop to shoot the suspect, The rookie cop, identified by Mayor Eric Adams as Paul, was struck on the head, prompting another cop to shoot the suspect, striking him in the shoulder, the sources said. Paul suffered a large laceration and skull fracture, Sewell said.
One of the other cops, an eight-year veteran, was also struck on the head with the weapon and suffered a laceration.
The attack was "unprovoked," Adams said at the press conference.
The suspect, a 19-year-old later identified by law enforcement sources as Trevor Bickford, was arrested and taken to Bellevue Hospital. Senior law enforcement officials told The Post that cops are investigating whether he is a recently radicalized Islamic extremist, based on online postings. Fox News just said he was "Known to the FBI"
Both wounded officers were also taken to Bellevue Hospital and are expected to recover. Both Sewell and Adams stressed there is no "active threat" to the community.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/01/2023 09:49 ||
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The alleged Islamic extremist who attacked multiple NYPD officers with a machete near the New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square has been identified as 19-year-old Trevor Bickford — who was already on an FBI watchlist, multiple law enforcement sources said Sunday.
Bickford, from Wells, Maine, is believed to have become a radicalized Muslim in recent years and surfaced on the federal agency’s terrorism “Guardian Watchlist,” even planning to travel to Afghanistan to fight alongside Islamic militants, sources told The Post.
He traveled to New York alone on an Amtrak train and packed camping gear, a diary and a last will and testament before he allegedly pulled off the New Year’s Eve machete attacks, the sources said.
Charges were pending against Bickford Sunday morning. He remained hospitalized at Bellevue, cops said.
A preliminary search by investigators turned up no criminal record for Bickford, police sources said.
But police sources said the FBI in Boston has an open case on him and he is on something called a guardian list because of his radicalization. Bickford’s aunt notified authorities because he apparently made statements to her indicating a desire to go fight in Afghanistan, police sources said.
Sources said it is unclear when Bickford allegedly became radicalized but said he visited a mosque near his home.
Published reports reveal that Bickford appeared to be a typical American teenager before he allegedly became radicalized in the years after sources said his father died of an overdose in 2018.
According to the Portland Press Herald, he made the honor roll as a freshman at Wells High School and was a member of the championship Wells High School Warriors football team.
In 2020, he was among the students earning awards in art, in Bickford’s case for his work in jewelry, Seacoastonline reported at the time.
Sources said it is unclear when Bickford allegedly became radicalized but said he visited a mosque near his home.
Good work on the article, Frank G, and Skidmark, as always, your supplementary link is incredibly useful — lots of solid information there.... and photos, of course. I’ve moved this to Page 1: Home Front: WoT. I s’pose we should be grateful this is the only such story today, instead of a wave of them — even the jihadis must be still recovering from shut-down mode, not thinking about taking advantage of reduced police numbers in the Democrat-run cities.
The 19-year-old alleged Islamic extremist suspected of attacking NYPD cops with a machete on New Year’s Eve penned a disturbing manifesto that urged his family to “please repent to Allah and accept Islam,” police sources told The Post.
Trevor Bickford — a Maine resident who arrived in the Big Apple just days before the attack — carried the handwritten note in his backpack, along with a collection of religious material and $200 while staying at the Bowery Mission in Manhattan, the sources said.
“To my family — specifically, mother — I’m sorry for not having been a good enough son,” the note read, according to a police source.
“I fear greatly that you will not repent to Allah,” it said. “And therefore I hold hope in my heart that a piece of you believes so that you may be taken out to the hellfire.
“To [my brother] Travis. Of anyone I’ve known who I have felt is closest to faith — it’s you,” he allegedly wrote. “Of anyone I’ve ever wanted to accept Islam with me — it’s you. Please repent to Allah and accept Islam. I fear for you.
Bickford’s radical shift put him on the FBI radar, and sources said his name surfaced on an FBI “Guardian Watchlist” before he hopped an Amtrak train and traveled to New York, arriving on Dec. 29, according to sources.
Around 10 p.m. on Saturday he allegedly attacked cops working the Times Square detail, including a rookie on his first assignment, police said.
It is unclear how long Bickford had been staying at the Bowery Mission, but police sources said investigators found a sheath for the machete, a variety of other knives, and a collection of religious material.
#11
It’s sounding more like everyone is on the watch list. Also there is an active investigation on everyone so that they can’t answer any questions. It was the same with the Stasi. When everyone is under surveillance, proactivity is an impossiblility.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/01/2023 18:43 Comments ||
Top||
#12
/\ They HAVE to say they are doing something. The extent of the 'something' is what is not revealed.
[KhaamaPress] Pak Police arrested scores of Afghan refugees in Rawalpindi on Friday night accused of carrying weapons and military equipment.
During a unique operation in Rawalpindi, the Pak police have detained many Afghan migrants colonists being accused of carrying military equipment according to unconfirmed sources.
This comes as the detention of Afghan migrants colonists across Pakistain has significantly increased over the last couple of weeks, in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , in particular, prompting widespread condemnations on national and international levels.
In a recent incident, over 200 Afghan women and underage children have been locked up at the Central Jail Karachi for nearly two months now. While it is reported that they were arrested because of their alleged "illegal" stay in Pakistain, some human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... activist muppets revealed that these women and kiddies were considered a security ’threat’ by the local police.
The deteriorating security situation in Pakistain and growing tensions between the Taliban ...Arabic for students... government and Islamabad over the border issue have further complicated matters for Afghan refugees. The unexplained incarceration of Afghans is not a new development in Pakistain. However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... their frequency has increased significantly since the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul. Even women and kiddies are facing inhumane conditions in prisons, facing rape threats, with no justice in sight. While local human rights bodies in Pakistain like National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) have been highlighting issues of Afghan refugees, the provincial governments and security agencies are simply ignoring their pleas.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats Chumbaloni was staring into a hole that was just .45 inch in diameter and was less than three feet from his heavily sweating face ... United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Pakistain has raised grave concerns regarding the inhuman conditions of Afghan men, women, and children in prisons in Pakistain. UNHCR has urged Pak police to respect basic human rights and stop detaining Afghan refugees, however, the situation for Afghan nationals worsens with each passing day.
Amir Khan, Dy Chairman of United Jihad Council, based in Pakistan but originally from Liver village of Anantnag, had encroached upon 3 Marlas public land on gun point, which was removed today morning: officials pic.twitter.com/eWPvyGSJJX
British raj standard marla[edit]
The marla is a traditional unit of area that is used in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The marla was standardized under British raj to be equal to the square rod, or 272.25 square feet, 30.25 square yards, or 25.2929 square metres. As such, it was exactly one 160th of an acre.
Differing marla measurements standards in India and Pakistan[edit]
The definition of marla varies between India and Pakistan. In India, the unit was standardized to 25 square yards. Its use in India is in decline, with the guz, square meter, acre and hectare being the more commonly used units. Bangladesh uses the same definition of marla as in India. In most of Pakistan, it is still equal to the British defined 30.25 sq yards, The old British definition of marla is often referred to as a "big marla" in India.
#3
I salute Amir Khan for his patience. You have to point your gun for a long time build that house at gun point. Contractors never show up on time. That is a lot of gun pointing.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/01/2023 12:58 Comments ||
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[IsraelTimes] Army says suspects returned to Syria after questioning; in similar incident Wednesday, troops nab man on eastern side of fence, built inside Israeli territory
Two people were arrested by Israeli troops after crossing into Israeli territory from Syria, the military said Friday. The incident occurred on Thursday and the two were taken in for questioning by soldiers, then subsequently returned to Syria, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The IDF said the pair were arrested on the eastern side of the border fence — which is built in Israeli territory — in the Golan Heights. Troops were conducting routine operations in the area, according to the army.
In a similar incident on Wednesday, troops detained another individual who crossed into Israeli territory from Syria. The suspect was taken for medical evaluation at a hospital before being questioned by the Shin Bet security agency. He was not harmed during the arrest and was taken for "general tests" at the hospital, a military source said.
It is unclear why in both cases the army waited more than 24 hours to publish the incidents.
Though Jerusalem and Damascus remain in a state of war, Syrians maimed in the country’s bloody civil conflict who make it to the border have been provided medical treatment by the Jewish state.
Mahmoud the Weasel’s cousins in Quneitra doing the local version of phoning in a Crossfire tip to Sergeant Siddique?
[Rudaw] Thousands of Kurdish protesters and mourners shouted death to the dictator in the town of Javanrud in western Iran ...The nation is 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... on Saturday as security forces tried to prevent them from visiting a cemetery and fired on them, wounding several.
Videos showed dozens of riot coppers seizing the hills around the cemetery where those killed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its militia Basij were buried. The guards used live ammunition on November 21 against unarmed protesters shooting at least seven dead and dozens others maimed.
Hengaw human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. organization said that at least eight mourners were maimed in the town on Saturday after the IRGC and other security forces opened fire on protesters. Videos showed tear gas being fired at the protesters including women as protesters lined up the street.
Since the beginning of the protest sparked by the killing of Zhina (Mahsa) Amini by the morality police in Tehran on September 16, at least 508 known protesters and bystanders have been killed including 69 children by the security forces, according to the US based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
A video obtained by Rudaw showed dozens of protesters in the town center chanting "death to Khamenei" referring to the Iran supreme leader Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini... , the ultimate decision-maker who is in charge of the IRGC - responsible for the massacre in the town on November 21.
On Saturday lunch time, both Hengaw and Kurdistan Human Rights Network said that a protester by the name of Burhan Elyasi was killed by the security forces during the gathering which turned violent mostly peaceful after the security forces opened fire on protesters.
[An Nahar] Leb ...an Iranian colony 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 dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of 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... 's navy and U.N. peacekeepers on Saturday rescued more than 200 migrants colonists from a boat sinking in the Mediterranean Sea hours after it left northern Lebanon's coast, the military said in a statement. Two migrants colonists were killed in the incident.
The army statement said the vessel was carrying people "who were trying to illegally leave Lebanon's territorial waters." It said three Lebanese navy boats and one from the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, rescued 232 migrants colonists.
Reports from the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... -- Lebanon's second largest and most impoverished -- said Lebanese, Syrian and Paleostinian men, women and kiddies were on the boat that left northern Lebanon after midnight Friday. Residents of Tripoli who are in contact with survivors said the dead were a Syrian woman and a Syrian child.
UNIFIL said in a statement that the Maritime Task Force is assisting the Lebanese navy in search and rescue operations in the sea between Beirut and Tripoli "where a boat in distress with a large number of people on board was found. Our Indonesian and Greek ships are on the scene."
"We will continue to provide assistance," UNIFIL said.
Lebanese security forces have been working to prevent migrants colonists from heading to Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... at a time when the small nation is in the grips of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history.
A crowded boat capsized on Sept. 21 off the coast of Tartus, Syria, just over a day after departing Lebanon. At least 94 people were killed, among them at least 24 children. Twenty people survived and some remain missing.
It was one of the deadliest ship sinkings in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in recent years, as more and more Lebanese, Syrians and Paleostinians try to flee cash-strapped Lebanon to Europe to find jobs and stability.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says risky sea migration attempts from Lebanon over the past year have surged by 73%.
Lebanon's economic meltdown that began in October 2019, has left three-quarters of the country's 6 million people, including a million Syrian refugees, living in poverty.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2023 00:21 ||
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Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Saturday the arrest of 32 militants of Islamic State Organization (ISIS) during the third day of Operation “Al-Jazeera Thunderbolt” in areas in northeast Syria.
The SDF Media Center said in a statement the operation was expanded to pursue ISIS sleeper cells in Tel Brak in the countryside of Hasakah, after information about “suspicious movements by terrorist cells,” trying to flee the region.
The statement added that three of the arrested militants, who launched a surveillance mission for the ISIS cells, were wanted.
The SDF forces arrested three militants who tried to flee after locals expelled them, and also arrested six others, “who were involved in harboring ISIS cells and supplying them logistically,” the statement read.
Moreover, the SDF also seized “unauthorized military and semi-military uniforms used for camouflage” during security inspection.
Based on preliminary investigation with ISIS sleeper cells, the SDF revealed that ISIS militants tried to exploit Tel Hamis and Tel Brak “to maintain lines of external support from areas outside the Autonomous Administration of NE Syria.”
On Friday, the SDF announced the arrest of 52 ISIS agents in the second day of the operation.
On Dec. 29, SDF announced on Thursday launching Operation “Al-Jazeera Thunderbolt” in the countryside of both Hasakah and Qamishli, northeast Syria, to pursue sleeper cells of ISIS.
On Friday, nine Syrian soldiers were killed and more than seven were wounded in an armed attack on posts of Syrian government forces in east of Homs, central Syria.
A government military source told North Press that unidentified gunmen riding 4WD cars attacked with machineguns three posts of the 18th Division on the outskirts of the city of Palmyra, taking advantage of foggy weather.
The attack killed nine soldiers and wounded at least seven others and caused major damage in the posts, the source added.
It noted that the attackers’ chants indicated they might have been ISIS militants.
On Friday, ten workers of the government were killed in a rocket attack on three buses in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, eastern Syria.
[IsraelTimes] Opposition-affiliated media says Mehdi Bahman convicted of ’espionage’ after speaking to Channel 13 earlier in the year, denouncing regime, calling for normalization with Israel
Iran ...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979... has sentenced a dissident author to death on "espionage" charges after he gave an interview earlier in the year to an Israeli television channel, opposition-affiliated media reported Thursday.
Iran International said that Mehdi Bahman was arrested in October after speaking with Channel 13.
The report said a Revolutionary Court had passed the sentence. In recent days at least 11 people have been sentenced to death for their role in protests and more than 100 face the death penalty , according to opposition groups.
While Bahman was arrested after the outbreak of protests, his interview with Channel 13 was given in April 2022 after he approached an Israeli woman to have one of his books translated into Hebrew.
In the interview, Bahman criticized the regime in Tehran and the imposition of Islamic law and called for normalization between Israel and Iran.
He told Channel 13 that he was not afraid of being arrested for talking to an Israeli channel.
Iran International said Bahman was an author and an illustrator who worked towards religious coexistence. In recent years he had worked with dissident Shia holy man Masoumi Tehrani to create artworks containing symbols from various religions and had given them as gifts to leaders of the minority Jewish, Christian, Zoroastrian, Sunni Islam, Mandaean Sabian, and Baha’i faiths in Iran.
The report said Tehrani was also arrested shortly after Bahman. There was no word on his fate.
Several other opposition-affiliated media outlets also reported the arrest. But there was no official confirmation of the sentence from Iranian officials or state media.
Iran accuses Iran International, a Persian-language satellite news channel once majority-owned by a Saudi national, of stoking recent nationwide protests that have escalated into deadly violence.
Iran International, for its part, describes itself as an "independent news organization providing uncensored, accurate and unbiased news to a Farsi-speaking viewership within and outside Iran." It says it has "no affiliation or association" with any political group or any organization.
Protests have gripped Iran since the September 16 death in jug of Iranian-Kurdish Mahsa Amini, 22, after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country’s strict dress code for women.
Iran has sought to crack down on the demonstrations and deter protests by imposing harsh punishments, including the death penalty, with some public executions taking place.
At least 100 Iranians arrested in more than 100 days of nationwide protests face charges punishable by death, Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) said earlier this week.
In a report Tuesday, IHR identified 100 detainees who face potential capital punishment, including at least 11 already sentenced to death.
Five detainees on the IHR list are women.
The report said many of them have limited access to legal representation.
"By issuing death sentence ...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead... s and executing some of them, they (the authorities) want to make people go home," said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
"It has some effect," he told AFP, but "what we’ve observed in general is more anger against the authorities."
"Their strategy of spreading fear through executions has failed."
In an updated corpse count issued Tuesday, IHR said 476 protesters have been killed so far.
Iran’s top security body in early December gave a toll of more than 200 people killed, including security officers.
At least 14,000 people have been arrested since the nationwide unrest began, the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... said last month.
Majidreza Rahnavard, 23, was hanged in public from a crane on December 12 after being sentenced by a court in Mashhad for killing two members of the security forces with a knife.
Four days earlier, Mohsen Shekari, also 23, had been executed for wounding a member of the security forces.
The judiciary has said that nine others have been handed death sentences over the protests, of whom two have been allowed retrials.
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.
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...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
...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 
...Arabic for 
...The nation is noted for 
...an Iranian colony 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 dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of 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...
...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...
