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Sheikh Saeed	Sheikh Saeed	al-Qaeda	Afghanistan		At Large		20011003
		Al-Qaeda's senior leader in Afghanistan
Sheikh Saeed Siyam	Sheikh Saeed Siyam	Hamas	Israel-Palestine				20040214
Sheikh Saeed bin Zuair	Sheikh Saeed bin Zuair	Movement for Islamic Reform	Arabia				20030325

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Assad sweeps Aleppo, rebels offered ‘safe’ exit

2016-12-13

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Syria’s army seized a major district on Aleppo’s southeastern edges Monday, putting it in control of 98 percent of areas once held by rebels in the city, a monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said forces loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... seized the Sheikh Saeed district early Monday after fierce festivities ongoing since the previous afternoon. "The army is now in full control of Sheikh Saeed," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. "Syrian regime forces are now in control of 90 percent" of the one-time rebel areas in Aleppo’s east, he said. On Sunday Syrian rebels received a US-backed proposal to leave Aleppo along with civilians under safe passage guaranteed by Russia, rebel officials said as government forces closed in, but Moscow denied a deal had been reached. Three officials with turban groups in Aleppo told Rooters that a letter outlining the proposal had been received, offering an "honorable" departure for the rebels to a place of their choice. Rebel groups have yet to respond. But if fully accepted, the proposal would give Syrian President Bashir al-Assad and his military coalition of Russia, Iran and Shiite militias their greatest triumph in the civil war against the rebels who have fought for nearly six years to unseat him. However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... the sudden recapture by the ISIS of the ancient desert city of Palmyra on Sunday after a much-trumpeted army victory there in March has shown how difficult Assad may find it even after Aleppo to restore his rule across Syria. Asked whether they had been contacted by the United States and Russia over talks between the two powers in Geneva to find a way out of the crisis, one of the officials with rebel groups that are present in Aleppo said: "They sent us a letter, they are saying to safeguard the civilians ... you can leave in an honorable way to any place you choose and the Russians will pledge publicly that nobody will be harmed or stopped," said one of the officials. "We have yet to give a response." A second official said a document "is being proposed to the factions, the fundamental thing in it is the departure of the all the fighters in an honorable way". However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... Russia swiftly said it had not reached any agreement with the United States on a proposal to withdraw fighters from Aleppo and added that the Geneva talks were continuing.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syrian regulars capture new area in Aleppo

2016-12-02

[al-Manar] Syrian army took full control of the “youth housing” adjacent to scientific research center in the eastern neighborhoods of the city of Aleppo after clashes with armed groups, leaving a number of gunmen killed or injured. The army also responded to an attack by the armed groups on his stations off the power company in Sheikh Saeed south of Aleppo, and inflicted them casualties in material and personnel.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syrian forces continue operations in Aleppo

2016-11-30

[al-Manar] The Syrian army and allies continued on Tuesday their progress in the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo city in parallel with receiving the families who fled the terrorist-held towns towards the safe areas controlled by the governmental forces. The Syrian army also advanced in western Aleppo towards Sheikh Saeed neighborhood, controlling several buildings in Zahraa association front. Al-Manar correspondent reported that more than 10 thousand civilians went out of Aleppo eastern neighborhoods as UN humanitarian officers expressed their concern about the “terrible” conditions of the civilians who are still in the terrorist-held towns.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Russian, Syrian airstrikes hit several Syrian provinces

2016-10-14

Both the Syrian regime and Russia yesterday expanded their air campaign against areas controlled by the opposition, specifically in the city of Aleppo, the countrysides of Idlib and Homs and Ghouta, east of Damascus. Sources reported the death of dozens of people and said that dozens more were missing under the rubble. Activists said that 15 civilians were killed, including four children, and 15 others were wounded during air raids carried out by Russian warplanes that targeted the centre of a popular market in Aleppo’s Al-Firdous neighbourhood that is under the control of the opposition. Abu Mohammed Al-Shami, a nurse in a field hospital in Aleppo, told the news outlet Syria News Desk that Russian warplanes used two missiles during the raid on the market whilst hundreds of civilians were buying necessities. He added that the injured were rushed to a field hospital for treatment and that some of them were critically injured. Three people with head injuries were placed in intensive care and some people had limbs amputated. Al-Shami added that civil defence teams are still searching for missing people under the rubble and pointed out that the bombing led to the destruction of shops and residential buildings. The Syrian regime’s forces have been attacking the eastern neighbourhoods in Aleppo since the 22nd of September. Since then, clashes have been taking place in various areas including the Bustan Al-Basha and Al-Sheikh Saeed neighbourhoods in the south of the city. For its part, the news agency Shahba Press reported that the Al-Firdous neighbourhood was the target of several air raids carried out by the regime’s aircraft. Twelve people were killed, others were injured and buildings were damaged as a result. The agency also reported that the Kallaseh neighbourhood was the target of four Russian air raids and that this caused a lot of damage to buildings. These air raids come after a bloody day in which the number of those killed rose to 55 and many were injured during Russian raids on Aleppo and its countryside. In addition to this, government forces stationed in the towns Nubul and Al-Zahra targeted the towns of Hiyan and Biyanoon in the Aleppo countryside, which are controlled by the opposition, with 25 rockets, some of which were Elephant rockets. Houses and other buildings were destroyed according to reports by activists. Meanwhile, a woman and her two children were killed and more than 8 people were injured in the Idlib countryside yesterday after Russian warplanes targeted villages in the eastern Idlib countryside with thermobaric rockets. More from Al-Arabiya Russian jets resumed heavy bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Tuesday after several days of relative calm, a rebel official and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. Air strikes mostly hit the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood, Zakaria Malhifji of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim rebel group told Reuters. “There is renewed bombardment and it is heavy,” he said. The Observatory said the death toll from bombing in Bustan al-Qasr, Fardous and other neighborhoods rose to at least 25, with scores of wounded. At least 50 civilians were killed by strikes on the rebel-held part of the city and nearby villages controlled by insurgents, residents and rescue workers said. In Bustan al Qasr, residents said, the strikes hit a medical center and a children’s playground. The Syrian army, backed by Iranian-backed militias, also said it had consolidated its control of the al Jandoul traffic circle at a major road intersection on the northern outskirts of Aleppo. Moscow and Damascus reduced air raids in the northern city last week. The Syrian army said that was partly to allow civilians to leave opposition-held eastern neighborhoods. The Syrian government said rebels holed up in Aleppo can leave with their families if they lay down their arms. Insurgents denounced that offer as a deception. President Bashar al-Assad seeks the complete recapture of Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city before the 5 1/2-year war, which has been divided between government and opposition control for years. Assad’s Russian allies have meanwhile built up its forces in Syria after a brief ceasefire collapsed last month. Since Russia intervened in the war a year ago, the government’s side has gained the upper hand on numerous fronts, including Aleppo, where the opposition-held sector has been completely encircled for weeks. Insurgents have advanced elsewhere, including in Hama province further south, where they captured a series of towns and villages last month. But in recent days, government forces have regained some of that ground. In the southern city of Deraa, which is split between government and rebel control, insurgent shelling of a school killed at least five people, including children, on Tuesday, the Observatory and state media reported. Rebels denied they fired at the school. Residents reported the same death toll. Near the Turkish border, rebels backed by Turkey and a US-led coalition closed in on the ISIS-held village of Dabiq, the site of an apocalyptic prophesy central to the militant group’s ideology. Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel groups have been pushing south into ISIS’s territory in an operation backed by Turkey since Aug. 24, and have taken more villages near Dabiq in recent days. But hundreds of mines planted by the militants were delaying their progress, rebels said. The militants even retook the villages of Ihtimlat and Kafra only hours after the FSA fighters seized them, rebels said. “They planted along their front lines of defense hundreds of mines,” a rebel from the Failaq al Sham group said. Now the goal of FSA forces was to retake the town of Soran, an ISIS stronghold in the area, before moving on to Dabiq, he said.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syrian Air Force hunts down Islamist militants across the country

2016-08-21

[ALMASDARNEWS] A confidential military source has informed Al-Masdar News that a total of 46 jet sorties and 26 helicopter sorties were conducted in the past 24 hours, averaging an Arclight airstrike every 20 minutes. The air raids were carried out across five governorates; namely Aleppo, Idlib, Homs, Hama and Deir Ezzor. The Arclight airstrikes were roughly split 50/50 between rebel-held areas and ISIS territory. A convoy of armored vehicles were spotted and targeted by Syrian warplanes along the Saraqib-Aleppo road in Idlib province. The devastation was not immediately clear. However, a woman is only as old as she admits... the source confirmed to Al-Masdar News that 4 pickup trucks fitted with heavy machineguns were set alight by Arclight airstrikes in southern Aleppo, near the military colleges at the Sheikh Saeed district. According to Syrian intelligence, all four pickup trucks belonged to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, an Islamist group formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Furthermore, the Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) targeted a number of ISIS controlled villages in eastern Aleppo, specifically at Deir Hafer, Hamimah and Rasm al-Kama. This region has otherwise been relatively calm since the SAA liberated Kuweiris Airbase in late 2015.

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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Pakistani court gives 2 men life in jail over child abuse scandal

2016-04-19

[Iran Press TV] A court in Pakistain has handed down life sentences to two convicts involved in the country’s largest child abuse and extortion scandal. "Two convicts in the Kasur child abuse case have been handed life imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 rupees ($2,860) each by an anti-terrorism court of Lahore," said Sheikh Saeed Ahmed, the chief prosecutor of Punjab, on Monday. The scandal shocked Pakistain in August last year after it was revealed that for the past nine years, a local gang had been filming sexual exploitation of children below 14 years of age, all residents of Hussain Khanwala village in the Kasur district, southwest of Lahore. The 400 pornographic videos of at least 280 victims were circulated during the nine-year period for 50 rupees (40 US cents) each. In some cases, the videos were used to blackmail the children’s parents. The scandal gained national attention early in August after festivities broke out in the village between parents protesting against the police's failure to arrest those responsible. After the scandal surfaced, about 20 arrests were made and Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard 2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers 3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... vowed to "severely" punish the perpetrators. On March 11, the Pak Senate passed a bill that criminalized for the first time sexual assault against minors, child pornography and trafficking. Previously, only the acts of rape and sodomy were punishable by law.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syrian army regains key areas south Aleppo

2015-11-02

[ARA News] ALEPPO – Backed by Russian warplanes, Syrian regime forces on Sunday seized several strategic villages and towns south of Aleppo in northern Syria, subsequent to battles with al-Nusra Front (Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda) and other Islamic groups, military sources reported. Islamist rebel factions withdrew from major areas south of Aleppo after Russian fighter jets intensified aerial bombardment on their locations. Speaking to ARA News in Aleppo, rebel fighter Mustafa Suleiman said that the pro-regime forces were able Sunday to take control of key locations in southern Aleppo. “The regime’s army took over the villages of Hamidi, Dadin, and Kafr Haddad Mount after fierce clashes with the Nusra militants and the al-Sham Rebels group. The rebels have been forced to retreat under heavy airstrikes by Russian warplanes,” he said. This has enabled pro-Assad forces to gain control of al-Hader town as well, which holds strategic location on the highway connecting the Syrian capital Damascus to Aleppo. Suleiman pointed out that the Nusra Front and al-Sham Rebels were able to destroy a tank belonging to the regime’s army on the military front of Mount Azzan in Aleppo’s south. “The rebels have also destroyed a cannon caliber 57 on the military front of Khan Toman after hitting pro-Assad military vehicles with Tao missiles,” the source told ARA News. “Syrian rebels clashed with Assad’s forces on the outskirts of Khan Toman and Sheikh Saeed sub-districts in a bid to liberate them from the regime.” Over the past few weeks, pro-regime forces have been trying to break into the southern countryside of Aleppo, to secure more supply lines leading to the city.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syrian Army Targets al-Nusra in Daraa, Strikes ISIL in Homs

2015-08-30

[ALMANAR.LB] Units of the Syrian army on Saturday continued to tighten the noose around the Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... gunnies across the country through launching wide-scale military operations against their dens and positions, killing scores of them and destroying their arms and ammunition, state-run SANA news agency reported. In Daraa, an army unit targeted a terrorist group driving three vehicles equipped with machine guns in the surroundings of al-Sheikh Hussein and Khleif hills near the border between the provinces of Sweida and Daraa. A military source told SANA that one of the vehicles was damaged and a number of the group's members were killed or injured, while the rest managed to flee. Another army unit killed 10 gunnies and destroyed their weapons and ammunition as it targeted their positions in Bosra al-Sham city in the eastern countryside of Daraa province. Meanwhile, ...back at the argument, Jane reached into her purse for her .38... a number of al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front bad boyz were potted during army operations against their positions in separate areas in Daraa al-Balad neighborhood in the city of Daraa. In Sweida, the popular defense groups killed a number of gunnies in the villages of Radimat al-Liwa and Lahtha in the northern countryside of Sweida and seized their weapons and ammunition. A source in Sweida Province told SANA Saturday that the popular defense groups clashed with gunnies in Koa Hadar area between the two villages as they were attempting to infiltrate from al-Lajat area towards al-Abdias. The source added that the festivities resulted in the killing and injuring of a number of terrorist s, confiscating their weapons, including various kinds of weapons, rockets , mortar shells and RBJ, while the rest fled. In Homs, the army units destroyed vehicles of the so-called 'Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... group and killed a number of its operatives in the area surrounding Wadi al-Zakara in Tadmour countryside. Hama/Idleb The army air force raided the terrorist organizations' hideouts in the villages of Qarqour and north of Kaniset Nakhleh in Jisr al-Shughour in the countryside of Idleb province. A military source told SANA Saturday that a number of bad boyz were potted and their vehicles, equipped with machineguns and ammunition were destroyed during the army operations. The source added that the gunnies of the so-called Jaish al-Fateh organization were inflicted heavy losses in personnel and equipment, while their machinegun-equipped vehicles were destroyed in the army air strikes against their hideouts and positions in Ariha city in the southern countryside of the province. Meanwhile, ...back at the argument, Jane reached into her purse for her .38... a number of terrorists, mostly of al-Nusra Front, were killed and injured in the army raids against their gatherings in the villages of al-Teraa and al-Shwaiha in Abu al-Duhour area in the southeastern countryside of the province. The terrorist organizations admitted on their social media websites the killing of a number of their members, among them terrorist Radwan Hussein al-Ali. In Aleppo, many al-Nusra bad boyz were potted as the army targeted their gatherings and hideouts in Binyamin and Khan Touman villages in the southwestern countryside of Aleppo province. Movements and hideouts of gunnies were also targeted in the surroundings of the Scientific Research Center's building and in al-Mansoura village in the western countryside. Army operations continued in the southern and southeastern countryside of Aleppo, with the army units targeting gatherings of gunnies in al-Wudeihi village and to the west of al-Nairab Airport. An army unit destroyed terrorists' supply routes across The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... in Hreitan town in the northern countryside, leaving a number of them dead or maimed. The army also destroyed ISIL hideouts and vehicles in the vicinity of the Air Force Academy, located on the international road linking Aleppo with the northeastern Raqqa province. In Aleppo city, army units targeted positions in the neighborhoods of Bani Zaid, Karm al-Jabal and Tal al-Sheikh Saeed, killing many gunnies and destroyed a bulldozer they had been using for demolishing houses and digging tunnels. In Lattakia, a number of the terrorist organizations' members were killed; their vehicles were destroyed in army air force strikes against their hideouts at the surroundings of Kinsaba and Shalaf Castle in the northern countryside of the coastal province of Lattakia. In Rabe'a to the north-eastern countryside of Lattakia, a field source told SANA that 6 gunnies at least were killed in festivities erupted between a unit of the army and terrorist groups. Abdullah Omar, Mohanad Bikdash from the so-called "Liwa al-Asifah" terrorist organization in addition to Mohammad al-Jablawi were identified among the dead terrorists. Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis since March 2011. The violence fuelled by Takfiri groups has so far claimed the lives of over 230,000 people, according to reports. New figures show that over 76,000 people, including thousands of children, bit the dust in Syria last year. Over 3.8 million Syrians have left their country since the beginning of the crisis. According to reports, more than seven million Syrians have become internally displaced.

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India-Pakistan

Four TTP militants sentenced to death for Lahore prison attack

2015-02-26

[DAWN] An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday sentenced four Death Eaters to death for killing 10 prison staff during an attack in Lahore three years ago, officials said. The four men belonging to Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), a bad boy group with links to Al Qaeda, rubbed out the officers as they slept during a dawn raid on their hostel in July 2012. "The court has awarded death sentence to four Death Eaters for the 2012 attack on jail staff," special prosecutor Sheikh Saeed told AFP. A court official confirmed the sentences. The convicts were also fined Rs1.8 million each, he added. The four TTP bad boys, all in their 20s, confessed to carrying out the attack on the residential quarters for prison staff in the densely populated Lahore suburb of Ichra, Saeed said. After killing 10 during the dawn raid armed with Kalashnikov rifles and hand grenades, they then stormed another building where around 30 police prison officers were sleeping. About a year after the attack they were caught with Kalashnikov rifles and hand grenades at a bus stand in Lahore. Many were maimed as they fled into neighbouring houses in a bid to save themselves from the volley of bullets, Saeed added. The four men were incarcerated I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! about a year after the attack when they were caught with Kalashnikov rifles and hand grenades at a bus stand in Lahore.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria militants suffers heavy losses across Aleppo

2014-04-26

[Iran Press TV] Syrian army forces have managed to kill a number of foreign-backed turbans in operations across the northern province of Aleppo, Syrian national media report. An unspecified number of turbans were killed on Friday as army units targeted gunnies attempting to infiltrate into a school in the Old City of Aleppo, SANA reported. Elsewhere, army units killed and injured more turbans in the neighborhoods of al-Lairamoun, al-Jbeileh, al-Sheikh Saeed and al-Ameriyeh. Syrian troops inflicted heavy losses on krazed killer forces, targeting their positions in several locations, including the towns of Khan al-Assal, Manbij, Tell Rifaat, Manbej, Khan Touman, Huraytan, and Kafr Hamrah. Meanwhile in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, government forces targeted a group of turbans in al-Mrei'yeh village and its neighboring farms, a military official said. The army killed and maimed several of the group's members and destroyed their vehicles equipped with heavy machine guns. Since March 2011, Syria has been experiencing a deadly violence that is fueled by turbans reportedly sponsored by the Western powers and their regional allies - namely 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. Reports say more than 150,000 people have so far been killed and millions of others displaced because of the foreign-backed militancy. Earlier this month, Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... said the Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... war in his country has strongly shifted in favor of the government forces as they have made continuous gains in their battle against terrorists. The new army gains come as the violence-stricken country is preparing to hold an important presidential election on June 3

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Iraq

Militants kill 5 Iraq soldiers, Sunni protesters form 'army'

2013-04-28

[Al Ahram] Militants rubbed out five Iraqi soldiers in the Sunni Mohammedan stronghold province of Anbar on Saturday and protesters said they were forming an "army" after four days of unrest that raised fears of a return to widespread sectarian civil conflict. More than 170 people have been killed since Tuesday when security forces stormed a Sunni protest camp in the town of Hawija, triggering festivities that spread to other Sunni areas in western and northern areas. Sunnis have been demonstrating since December against the perceived marginalisation of their sect under Iraq's Shi'ite Mohammedan-led government. A curfew was imposed on the city of Ramadi in Anbar, a western province, on Saturday after forces of Evil killed five soldiers who authorities said were returning from holiday to their units. Protesters said they had been sent to attack them. Protests had eased recently, but the army raid earlier this week in Hawija, near the city of Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... 170 km (100 miles) north of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , reignited Sunni discontent and may have given fresh impetus to krazed killers. "In order to keep Anbar a safe place for the Sunnis, we decided to form an army called the Army of Pride and Dignity with 100 volunteers from each tribe to protect our province," said Sheikh Saeed Al-Lafi, a front man for the protesters. Lafi said police and members of the Iraqi army were welcome to join their ranks. Influential Sunni holy man Sheikh Abdul Malik Al-Saadi, who had previously taken a conciliatory stance and urged restraint, on Saturday congratulated the "honourable Iraqi mujahideen (holy warriors)" on the proclaimed creation of the regional army. At least four members of a government-backed Sunni "Sahwa" militia were killed when gunnies shot up a checkpoint in Awja, outside Tikrit. Police and forces of Evil battled in Baiji, a former bastion of Sunni jihadist al Qaeda, about 180 km (112 miles) north of Storied Baghdad. In the Abu Ghraib district of Storied Baghdad, four soldiers were killed early on Saturday in festivities with unidentified gunnies.

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Terror Networks

U.S. has decimated al Qaeda chiefs but must persist in fight:Panetta

2012-11-22

[Shabelle] U.S. forces have decimated al Qaeda's leadership and made gains against some of its affiliates, but the fight has shifted in new directions that will require persistent U.S. efforts to truly end the threat, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.... said on Tuesday. Panetta, in a speech to the Center for a New American Security, said while the United States had achieved progress against al Qaeda affiliates in Yemen and Somalia, associated groups had made inroads in Mali and Nigeria and were trying to gain a foothold in Libya. He said the United States had "decimated core al Qaeda," killing leaders like the late Osama bin Laden ... who walked in the Valley of the Shadow of Death and didn't make it out... , Sheikh Saeed al-Masri and Abu Yahya al-Libi. It also has made strides against affiliated groups like al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen and al-Shabaab ... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban... in Somalia, he said. "These gains are real, but it is important to point out that even with these gains, the threat from al Qaeda has not been eliminated," he said. "We have slowed the primary cancer, but we know that the cancer has metastasized to other parts of the global body." As a result of U.S. pressure, Panetta said, al Qaeda has become even more "widely distributed, loosely knit and geographically dispersed." "The fight against al Qaeda has taken a new direction -- one that demands that we be especially adaptable and resilient as we continue the fight," he said. Panetta said disrupting and ultimately defeating al Qaeda would remain a key priority even as U.S. forces draw down in Afghanistan over the next two years and renew their focus on the Asia-Pacific region as part of a new military strategy. He said the key to achieving "the end of al Qaeda" was to finish the job in Afghanistan in a way that ensured the group could never again establish safe havens there. Panetta said dealing with government corruption in Afghanistan and eliminating beturbanned goon safe havens in Pakistain were crucial to Afghan stability. "It will require continued commitment by the international community and the United States to help Afghan forces achieve it," he said, adding, "We have come too far and invested too much blood and treasure" not to finish the job. He said the United States also would have to keep the pressure on al Qaeda in Pakistain, Yemen and Somalia. It would also have to work to prevent the emergence of al Qaeda safe havens elsewhere in the world, using U.S. special operations forces in partnership with local forces, he said. "To truly end the threat from al Qaeda, military force aimed at killing our enemy alone will never be enough," Panetta added. "The United States must stay involved and invested through diplomacy, development, education and trade in those regions of the world where violent extremism has flourished." He said that included Afghanistan and Pakistain as well as countries in the Middle East and Africa.

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