[Garowe] The US military carried out an air strike Saturday against ISIS in the Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... region of Somalia, killing several ISIS operatives, Africa Command said.
In a statement, the European-based command said the latest raid was conducted in coordination with the Somali government and hit "multiple ISIS-Somalia targets."
The ISIS group’s Somalia operation is relatively small compared to the al-Qaeda-linked hard boyz al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... , but it has been gaining strength in Puntland.
"The Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... occurred southeast of Bosasso ...Puntland's major (maybe only) port, population about 250,000, most of them shady characters who hang around waterfront dives and carry knives and brass knuckles... , Puntland, in Northeastern Somalia," the AFRICOM statement said.
"AFRICOM’s initial assessment is that multiple ISIS-Somalia operatives were killed and no civilians were harmed," it said.
The latest strike follows a similar operation two days earlier that AFRICOM said complemented "a larger counter-terrorism initiative" underway in Somalia.
And it follows US strikes in February, which Puntland authorities said had killed "key figures" in ISIS, without giving further details.
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03/31/2025 2025-03-31 01:32 ||
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[IsraelTimes] The Iranian-backed Houthis say at least one person was killed in suspected US airstrikes struck around Yemen’s rebel-held capital overnight.
The full extent of the damage and possible casualties isn’t immediately clear.
The strikes around Sanaa, Yemen’s capital held by the Houthis since 2014, also wounded four others, the rebels say.
Their al-Masirah satellite news channel airs footage of broken glass littering homes after the concussive blast of the bombs, but continues not to show the targets of the attacks — suggesting the sites had a military or intelligence function.
[IsraelTimes] Iran-backed rebel group says it clashed with US aircraft carrier 3 times in past day, as round of airstrikes said to target rebel-held districts in western Yemen
A ballistic missile launched at Israel by the Iran-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... was successfully intercepted by air defenses Sunday morning, hours after the rebels claimed they had targeted an American aircraft carrier in the Red Sea.
The Israel Defense Forces said the missile aimed at Israel was shot down before crossing the country’s borders.
Sirens had sounded across central Israel, in several towns near Jerusalem, and in some West Bank settlements.
Medics said a 42-year-old woman was moderately injured when she fell from a significant height into a ditch at the side of the Route 1 highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem while seeking shelter during the alert.
She was taken to a hospital in Tel Aviv with injuries to her limbs and back, the Magen David Adom emergency service said.
It was at least the eighth Houthi attack on Israel since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip. All of the missiles fired since then have been intercepted without causing significant damage.
Earlier, in a statement Sunday morning, Houthi front man Yahya Saree said the group clashed with the USS Harry S. Truman three times in the preceding 24 hours, using missiles, drones, and naval forces. The Houthis vowed to keep "supporting the oppressed Paleostinian people until the aggression against Gaza is stopped."
The statement did not mention Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s reported some seven hours earlier by the Houthi-owned al-Masirah network. According to the network, at least four US airstrikes hit the Saada governate, in the country’s northwest, minutes before 1 a.m. Some 30 minutes later, the network reported three US airstrikes on the Bani Matar district, just west of the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, in the country’s west.
The network did not report on casualties or the extent of the damage. The US Central Command has not issued a statement on social media about either the statement or the reported airstrikes.
US airstrikes had pounded Yemen overnight between Friday and Saturday, reportedly killing at least one person as the US military acknowledged having bombed a major military site in the heart of Sanaa.
An News Agency that Dare Not be Named review has found the new American operation under US President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... appears more extensive than those under former president Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. The man who made Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter look competent, if only by comparison.... , as the US moves from solely targeting launch sites to firing at ranking personnel as well as dropping bombs in cities.
The attacks on shipping greatly raised the Houthis’ profile as they contended with economic problems and launched a crackdown targeting any dissent and aid workers at home amid Yemen’s decade-long stalemated war, which has torn apart the Arab world’s poorest nation.
The Houthis have begun threatening both Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... and the United Arab Emirates, two American allies in the region, over the US strikes. That’s even as the nations that have sought a separate peace with the Houthis have stayed out of the new US airstrike campaign.
The renewed airstrike campaign has become a source of controversy in domestic US politics after a journalist, inexplicably added to a chat group of Trump’s national security team, reported that top White House officials had used a commercial application to discuss a March 15 strike, two hours before it took place.
[HodhodYemenNews] Despite the continuous US aggression against Yemen, Yemeni Armed Forces fired a ballistic missile towards the Zionist entity and confronted the USS Harry Truman US aircraft carrier in the Red Sea.
The Yemeni Armed Forces Issued the following statements:
First Statement:
“With the help of Allah Almighty, our armed forces continue, for the third consecutive week, their responsible and effective response to the ongoing American aggression against our country where they clashed with hostile warships, foremost among them the American aircraft carrier “Truman”, in the Red Sea three times during the past 24 hours.
The confrontation and engagement operation was carried out by the Missile Force, the Drone Air Force, and the Naval Forces, using a number of cruise missiles and drones.
The Armed Forces salute their heroic fighters across all branches, formations, and weapons systems as they perform their religious, humanitarian, and moral duty in defense of a free, independent Yemen and in support of the oppressed Palestinian people. On their behalf, they extend every greeting to the leader, Sayyed Abdul-Malik Badr El-Din Al-Houthi (may Allah protect him), and to all our steadfast and struggling Yemeni people in various governorates and regions. Greetings are also extended to the heroic fighters in the Gaza Strip, to the free and proud Palestinian people, and to all the free people of our dear nation.
They affirm that, relying on Allah, they are continuing to develop their defensive operations and confront escalation with escalation, and will not retreat from supporting the oppressed Palestinian people until the aggression against Gaza ceases and the siege upon it is lifted.”
Second Statement:
“In support of the oppressed Palestinian people and in backing their noble and valiant resistance, the missile force has carried out a military operation targeting Ben Gurion Airport in the occupied Yaffa area, using a ballistic missile of the Thulfiqar type. The operation successfully achieved its objective, by the grace of Allah.
Through this operation, the Yemeni Armed Forces affirm the failure of the American aggression in preventing Yemen from continuing its support operations for the oppressed Palestinian people. The dozens of daily airstrikes will not deter the armed forces from fulfilling their religious, moral, and humanitarian duties. With the help of Allah, operations against the “Israeli” enemy will continue until the aggression on Gaza ceases and the siege is lifted.”
[IsraelTimes] Abu Dhabi yet to officially confirm ruling against those who kidnapped, murdered Rabbi Zvi Kogan in November last year; friend of victim calls decision ‘historic’
Three men accused of killing Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the United Arab Emirates last year have been sentenced to death, Israeli sources in the Gulf state told Hebrew-language media Sunday.
Definitely devout Moslems, possibly government of Iran proxies.
There was no official confirmation from the UAE.
Kogan’s friend, Tzvi Grinhaim, told Channel 12 news that the decision is "historic."
Kogan, a 28-year-old UAE-based rabbi with Israeli and Moldovan citizenship, went missing in Dubai in November 2024, and his body was found a few days later in the Emirati city of Al Ain, which borders Oman.
The UAE is holding three suspects over the murder — Olimpi Toirovich, Makhmudjon Abdurakhim and Azizbek Kamlovich — all of them Uzbek nationals who were arrested in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... In December, The Wall Street Journal reported that the killers had kidnapped Kogan and planned to take him to neighboring Oman. The report said the three suspects were driving the rabbi toward the border until their plan was somehow disrupted.
Kogan worked to expand Jewish life in the UAE following the historic Abraham Accords that forged diplomatic relations between Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi, including ensuring the wide availability of kosher food and opening the first Jewish education center in the country.
He was buried in November at Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives cemetery.
Kogan’s wife, Rivky, joined him at the posting after their wedding in 2022. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was murdered along with his wife in a terror attack at the Nariman Chabad House in Mumbai in 2008.
According to Kan, Israeli officials believed that Kogan’s killing was not necessarily carried out on behalf of Iran, but that it was a terror attack.
[IsraelTimes] An Iranian doctoral student at the University of Alabama was arrested by immigration agents at his apartment in the middle of the night, even though his lawyer says he was allowed to stay in the country and — unlike some students targeted for deportation — never participated in campus “anti-government protests.”
Alireza Doroudi, 32, was picked up because his visa was revoked in 2023, one of the few points of agreement between US officials and the student’s representatives.
David Rozas, a lawyer for Doroudi, says he doesn’t know why his client’s visa was revoked but that he could stay in the United States while he remained a student, a status that immigration attorneys say is somewhat common. WAS somewhat common.
“He has not been arrested for any crime, nor has he participated in any anti-government protests. He is legally present in the US, pursuing his American dream by working towards his doctorate in mechanical engineering,” Rozas says.
The Department of Homeland Security says that immigration officials acted on the State Department’s visa revocation.
“This individual posed significant national security concerns,” the department says. Officials decline to elaborate when asked why he is considered a threat. Rozas says he has not been informed of any allegations of security issues involving Doroudi.
Doroudi has an immigration hearing in early April, according to his attorney, who worries that Doroudi’s inability to attend school will result in his loss of student status. Publicly available Alabama court records show he was cited for speeding/reckless driving in November 2023, but no other legal entanglements.
There is no indication the University of Alabama student detained this week by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was involved in any pro-Palestinian protests or criminal activity.
However, the Department of Homeland Security told CBS42 on Thursday that Alireza Doroudi, a doctoral student from Iran studying mechanical engineering whose student visa was revoked, “posed significant national security concerns.”
DHS did not provide any specific information regarding what Doroudi may have done or was charged with. Efforts by AL.com to reach DHS have not been successful.
Douroudi attorney David Rozas told The Associated Press he was not aware of his client being involved in protests or criminal activity.
“With the words of his fiancé, he is a nerd. All he does is study and is literally trying to fulfill his dream, the American dream, of becoming a researcher and professor of mechanical engineering,” Rozas told AP.
Doroudi was being held at Pickens County Jail in Alabama for transport to an immigration facility in Jena, Louisiana. As of Thursday, Doroudi has not been formally charged with any crime, according to court records.
Doroudi’s only known offense while in America was for speeding in Tuscaloosa County two years ago.
A GoFundMe has been created by Doroudi’s apparent fiancé to assist with his legal expenses. As of Thursday night, more than $13,000 have been raised out of a $15,000 goal.
According to a student text chain obtained by the CW, Doroudi had come to the U.S. in January 2023 after receiving a student visa from the U.S. Embassy in Oman. However, his visa was allegedly revoked six months later.
There is no American embassy in Iran, so he could not have applied there. But was it legal for him as an Iranian to apply for a student visa in Oman?
“After receiving the revocation notice, Alireza immediately contacted ISSS (International Student and Scholar Services) at the University of Alabama,” the message stated. “ISSS replied with confidence, stating that his case was not unusual or problematic and that he could remain in the U.S. legally as long as he maintained his student status.”
The Pickens County Jail employee, who did not identify themselves, said that Doroudi was being held until ICE officers could pick him up, although no exact time was given on when Doroudi would be leaving.
Originally from Iran, Doroudi has been a student at UA since February 2023, according to his LinkedIn page. He previously received his master of science degree in welding engineering technology from Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran in 2018.
She was supposed to be planning her wedding, but now, Sama Bajgani is planning how she is going to get her fiancé out of jail.
Earlier this week, Alireza Doroudi, a University of Alabama doctoral student originally from Iran, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Oceanside students take filed trip to see ‘A Wonderworld World – The Louis Armstrong Musical’Oceanside students take filed trip to see ‘A Wonderworld World – The Louis Armstrong Musical’
He had been held at the Pickens County Jail, but as of Friday he was transferred to federal custody in Jena, La.
Bajgani said it was “traumatizing” to witness ICE officers take her fiancé out of their Tuscaloosa apartment at about 3 a.m. Tuesday.
“I’m sure it was traumatizing to everyone else [in the complex] too, because they could all hear the knocks and the sounds,” she said.
Public records from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement do not detail any specifics on why Doroudi was detained.
“ICE HSI made this arrest in accordance with the State Department’s revocation of Doroudi’s student visa. This individual posed significant national security concerns,” a DHS spokesperson said.
Doroudi’s attorney, David Rozas, said in a statement to AL.com he was unaware “of any allegations concerning significant national security issues.”
“He has not been arrested for any crime, nor has he participated in any anti-government protests,” the statement from Rozas said. “He is legally present in the U.S., pursuing his American dream by working towards his doctorate in mechanical engineering.”
Rozas added that Doroudi’s student visa was still active and that he was applying for permanent residency as a researcher.
The downtown apartment complex is home to many other migrant families. Many refused to speak on record but said they were shaken by the event.
The property manager for the apartments, who witnessed the arrest, declined to comment.
Bajgani has set up a GoFundMe to help with Doroudi’s legal expenses.
She shared that the couple had been planning to get married in two months, but now all of her focus is on ensuring Doroudi’s freedom.
“If something like this can happen to such a hardworking and harmless student – it makes us all wonder if it could happen to anyone,” Doroudi’s friend, Sam Saberi, told CBS 42.
“The entire international student community is confused and unsettled,” Saberi told the station.
The National Iranian American Council, an advocacy organization, issued a statement on March 27.
“We are deeply disturbed by the arrest of Alireza Doroudi, a doctoral student at the University of Alabama, by ICE agents,” it reads.
“At a minimum, ICE must make his whereabouts known and make clear if he has been charged with any crime. If not, he should be immediately released.”
The University of Alabama enrolled about 1,200 international students in the fall 2024 semester, according to a recent report, and 90 of those students were from Iran.
Across Alabama, about 9,000 international students were enrolled at different universities, according to the Alabama Council on Higher Education.
University of Alabama guidelines for international student orientation say that students may have an expired visa as long as they maintain their studies.
The school’s International Students and Scholars Service supports people on F-1 and J-1 visas.
AL.com contacted the ISSS office who directed comments to the university’s communications office.
The University of Alabama College Democrats issued the following statement.
“Donald Trump, [ICE Acting Director] Tom Homan and ICE have struck a cold vicious dagger through the heart of UA’s international community,” the organization wrote.
“As far as we know right now, ICE is yet to provide any justification for their actions, so we are not sure if this persecution is politically motivated as has been seen in other universities across the country.”
ICE agents may be in public spaces on university campuses. They typically need a warrant in order to enter private spaces, such as a home or residence hall.
[IsraelTimes] Police say 17-year-old Arab-Israeli had documents detailing explosives production in his possession at the time of his arrest
Police and Shin Bet agents said Sunday that they arrested a 17-year-old from the coastal Arab town of Jisr az-Zarqa earlier this month on suspicion that he had been planning a terror attack in Israel on behalf of ISIS.
The statement did not name the suspect, as he is a minor.
The agencies said in a joint statement that the youth had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... terror group several times in recent months, and had been plotting an attack in north-central Israel.
Security forces also discovered documents related to manufacturing explosives in his possession, the statement added.
The Haifa District Attorney’s Office filed an indictment against the suspect after police completed their investigation, and requested the extension of his detention until the end of court proceedings.
In recent months, several Arab Israelis have been arrested on suspicion of planning attacks after swearing allegiance to ISIS, including a 21-year-old resident of Taybeh named Kamel Nashef, who was arrested in March after he allegedly made contact with figures who identify with ISIS, beginning in the summer of 2024.
Nashef was also accused of tipping off terror operatives in the West Bank city of Tulkarem by sending them photos of Israeli troops on their way there as part of a large-scale counterterror operation there in recent months.
In January, police arrested four minors from the predominantly Arab Triangle region of Israel for planning attacks, including one who had intended to "carry out terrorist activity inspired by ISIS."
The minor reportedly consumed ISIS-related content online, attempted to make contact with a member and swore allegiance to the group, but later regretted it. Police say the minor also purchased a gun illegally, and later sold it.
In October, police and the Shin Bet said they had thwarted a plot by five Taybeh residents to carry out a car-bombing attack at Tel Aviv’s Azrieli Mall under the banner of the fanatical terror group that originated in Iraq and Syria.
Paleostinian assailants have also been recently accused of ISIS ties. Last month one of them, a terrorist from the West Bank’s Hebron who murdered three people and maimed others in a series of attacks in Jerusalem in recent years, was sentenced to three life sentences and another 40-year prison sentence.
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03/31/2025 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Israel says it is targeting Hamas infrastructure and senior officials in renewed fighting; Khan Younis hospital says fatalities include at least 9 children and 3 women
At least 16 people, including nine children and three women, were reported killed in Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on southern Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ’s Khan Younis on Sunday, the city’s Nasser Hospital said, as Paleostinians observed the first day of Eid al-Fitr, a usually joyous Moslem holiday that marks the end of the monthlong Ramadan fast.
Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... ’s civil defense agency claimed that a pre-dawn strike hit a house and a tent sheltering displaced people. Another three people were killed in a strike in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah late Saturday, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
WAFA, the Paleostinian Authority’s official news agency, also reported two people killed in a strike on a home in Jabalia, in the Strip’s north, and several people injured in a drone attack north of Rafah.
The Israeli Defense Forces did not provide any specific details on the strikes in question.
Since resuming operations in the Gaza Strip on March 18, the IDF has said it is targeting senior Hamas political officials and mid-level military commanders, along with the terror group’s infrastructure, including weapon depots and rocket launchers. Members of the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... and other terror groups have also been targeted.
The IDF has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and accuses Hamas of embedding itself in civilian infrastructure, including hospitals.
"It’s the Eid of sadness," Adel al-Shaer said after attending outdoor prayers in the central town of Deir al-Balah. "We lost our loved ones, our children, our lives and our futures. We lost our students, our schools and our institutions. We lost everything."
Breaking into tears, al-Shaer said 20 members of his extended family have been killed — including four young nephews just days ago — in Israeli strikes since the Gaza war was sparked on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led snuffies stormed southern Israel to kill around 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
Next time don’t let your rulers start a vicious, genocidal war against an enemy they can’t beat. Unfortunately for your dead relatives, the consequences for that are paid in blood and breath.
Israel reached a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas in January, but after the deal’s first phase expired, Israel halted the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza on March 2 and resumed military activity in Gaza on March 18.
Saed al-Kourd, a worshiper, told The Associated Press that “there is killing, displacement, hunger and a siege.”
“We go out to perform God’s rituals in order to make the children happy,” said Kourd. “But as for the joy of Eid? There is no Eid.”
War is Hell.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war sparked by the terror group’s October 7 massacre. The figure cannot be independently verified and does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the Hamas onslaught.
The strikes on Sunday came as Egyptian and Qatari mediators sought to renew the Israel-Hamas ceasefire with an offer that would reportedly see Hamas release five living hostages in exchange for a 50-day ceasefire. Hamas said Saturday that it had accepted a new proposal from Egypt and Qatar. Israel confirmed having received the offer, and said it had responded with its own proposal in coordination with the United States, another mediator in the talks.
Amid mass protests in Israel against the scuttling of the Hamas ceasefire-hostage deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a cabinet meeting Sunday that “military pressure is working,” and vowed to promote US President Donald Trump’s plan to displace all of Gaza’s residents and rebuild the Strip as a resort destination.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...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 
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
