09/12/2024
[ShabelleMedia] A major operation was mounted after a driver attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) was Monday morning shot and killed by suspected al-Shabaab members in an attack in Lafey, Mandera County.
An unknown number of gunmen later grabbed his four-wheel drive car and escaped with it. Police said this was after they had dropped the body of the deceased from the car.
A passenger who was in the car was taken away by the gunmen, police said. The deceased was attached to the local police command. The area is near the Kenya-Somalia common border which is usually breached by the group.
Police said the gang crossed the border into Somalia. The body of the deceased was moved to a local mortuary. This is the latest such incident in the area amid operations by separate teams.
President William Ruto is scheduled to visit the neighboring Wajir County for a pastoralist meeting. This prompted more operations to tame any plans by the terrorists to attack locals.
Such operations have thwarted dozens of planned attacks in the area and inland. The area is under a multi-agency security operation and is near the Kenya-Somalia border.
The multi-agency operation seeks to flush out the militants from the hideout. This has seen a significant reduction in such incidents. The area has been facing an increase in terror-related attacks. This is among other things because of its proximity to the Somalia border.
The border areas of Mandera, Wajir, Lamu and Garissa too have faced similar attacks which have affected development at large. The government says they have acquired more resources to enhance operations in the border area against the terrorists.
The attacks have left many dead and displaced hence affecting development. The area is near the Kenya-Somalia border where the terrorists cross at will for attacks before retreating to their areas of control.
07/12/2024
[ShabelleMedia] A Chinese-owned fishing vessel with 18 crew members aboard was hijacked last week off the coast of northeastern Somalia, authorities confirmed on Friday. The ship is currently being held in the semi-autonomous state of 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... An official from Xaafuun district, where the vessel is being detained, revealed that the hijackers included the ship’s security guards, who reportedly joined forces with gunnies from the region.
Did they indeed…
The European Union ;font-family:courier,"Courier New","Courier 10 Pitch",serif;background:#FFFB99'>...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... ’s anti-piracy naval force, Eunavfor Atalanta, brought global attention to the incident on Thursday. In a statement, Eunavfor confirmed that local maritime authorities had notified them of the hijacking, adding that gunnies were in control of the vessel.
"Regarding the crewmembers, there are up to 18 people. None has been injured. After investigation, the event has been classified as armed robbery at sea," the statement read.
A local businessman familiar with the situation, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, shared additional details with The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
He explained that the vessel, one of 10 licensed to operate in Somali waters by the Puntland administration, had two security guards aboard at the time of the hijacking.
The ship was initially taken to Jiifle, in Godobjiraan district, and has since been moved multiple times. It is now believed to be located in Maraya, a coastal village under the jurisdiction of Eyl district.
04-12-2024
[Garowe] A senior Al-Shabaab operative was captured in Somalia, in a dramatic move that could lead to hints about the financiers of the militants who have been helping the group run its operations and logistics without many problems.
In an operation conducted within Buur Hakaba District of the Bay region in the Southwest, the government forces managed to capture Aliyow Isaaq Moalim who is believed to be the major financial operative within the militants in the country.
The operation was narrowed down to Buur-Helede village in the Bay region following a tip from members of the public who have been the target of extortion by the militants. He was caught issuing vehicle permits — a money-minting business by the Al-Shabaab.
Mohamed Hassan Adan alias Sandheere, the commander of the operation, said the move significantly weakens the al-Shabaab in the Bay region where the group has been terrorizing innocent civilians and security forces.
"Disrupting their financial network is a decisive step toward eradicating their influence," he said, emphasizing the broader implications of targeting the group's economic lifeline.
For sustainability, the group imposes taxes on business owners and travelers to finance its operations. A report by the United Nations indicates that the group can raise up to $130 million in a financial year from extortion mainly through Zakat.
[IsraelTimes] South African police are investigating reports of an explosive device that was found outside a Jewish community center in Cape Town on Friday morning.
On Friday, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies informed police that an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) was discovered outside the Jewish community offices around 10:30 a.m.
Following some confusion, local media subsequently reported that the news was false. However, that was mistaken, and the serious crimes division of South African police, known as the Hawks, is now investigating.
It’s South Africa, so probably even odds it’s violent criminals or jihadis.
[IsraelTimes] 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... ’s Iran-aligned 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 have targeted three supply ships and two American destroyers accompanying them in the Gulf of Aden, a military front man for the Houthis says.
That’s nice. Did they hit anything other than water?
CENTCOM Forces Defeat Houthi Attacks on U.S. Navy and U.S.-Flagged Ships in the Gulf of Aden.
U.S. Navy destroyers USS Stockdale (DDG 106) and USS O’Kane (DDG 77) successfully defeated a range of Houthi-launched weapons while transiting the Gulf of Aden, Dec. 9 – 10.
… The destroyers were escorting three U.S. owned, operated, and flagged merchant vessels. The reckless attacks resulted in no injuries and no damage to any vessels, civilians or U.S. Naval.
The destroyers successfully engaged and defeated multiple one-way attack uncrewed aerial systems (OWA UAS), and one anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM), ensuring the safety of the ships and their personnel, as well as civilian vessels and their crews. During a transit on Nov. 30 – Dec. 1, the destroyers successfully defeated an Iran-backed Houthi attack.
These actions reflect the ongoing commitment of CENTCOM forces to protect U.S. personnel, regional partners, and international shipping against attacks by Iran-backed Houthis.
07-12-2024
[Rudaw] European law enforcement agencies carried out two operations against suspected human smugglers this past week as they crack down on the networks moving people through deadly routes into European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... countries and the United Kingdom.
A Syrian national wanted by German authorities was arrested in the UK, British authorities said on Friday. He was suspected of moving large numbers of people from the Czech Republic into Germany and was arrested following a joint German-UK investigation.
He was found living in Leicester by officers from the National Extradition Unit, which is part of the UK’s National Crime Agency.
"People smuggling is an international crime and we are working closely with our counterparts in Germany and across Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... to target the individuals and networks involved,’’ said Tony Allen from the NCA's Joint International Crime Center.
Human trafficking is a top priority for European police as the number of deaths related to smuggling increases. Since 2022, the EU has adopted the EMPACT policy - the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats - which is the EUs main weapon against fighting serious and organized crime. Smuggling was down 30% in 2023 compared with 2022, according to Europol.
According to the EU Council, criminals who deal in human trafficking make almost 30 billion euros a year.
The UK is a popular destination. As of the start of December, 33,684 people had crossed the English Channel in small boats in 2024, according to the British defence ministry. This is an increase from the 29,437 who arrived within the whole year of 2023.
More than 50 people have died trying to cross the Channel in 2024, which is a record high since the International Organization for Migration (IOM) started tracking the deaths in 2014.
Kurds are major players in the smuggling networks. On Wednesday, German and French police targeted a Kurdish human trafficking ring suspected of smuggling migrants colonists over the English Channel.
The network of Iraqi and Syrian nationals of Kurdish origin is suspected of smuggling Middle Easters and East Africans from La Belle France to the United Kingdom using "non-EU certified low-quality inflatable boats" sourced from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... , according to Europol.
Police arrested 13 people - eight in Germany and five in La Belle France, including "one high value target," according to Europol.
Along with the arrests, 15 houses and 10 storage sites were searched, leading to the seizure of 70,000 euros in cash, gold valued at 5,000 euros, and over 40 electronic devices. Other seizures include 21 inflatable boats, 24 engines, 76 life vests, as well as over 600 inner tubes and air pumps.
UK authorities are working with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region to combat human smuggling.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/11/2024 00:00 ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] A resident of Chelyabinsk was found guilty of justifying terrorism and sentenced to six years in prison.
The Central District Military Court in Yekaterinburg found that the Chelyabinsk resident posted a comment on a social network "containing linguistic signs of justifying terrorist activity" under a news post about the attack on a church and synagogues in Derbent and Makhachkala, the court's press service reported.
That one was done for ISIS…
The man was found guilty of justifying terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and sentenced to six years of imprisonment in a general regime penal colony. He was also deprived of the right to administer websites and channels on social networks for two years. The convicted man and his defense attorney filed appeals, Kommersant writes, citing the court's press service.
#2
"Captain, why are [cough] Muslims in distant
Domains so insanely insistent
On going to jail?"
[blue muezzin's sad wail]
"When released they are ultra-resistant."
["Smash that demonic harmonica, boy!"]
[IsraelTimes] Australian PM denounces attack in Woollahra, which comes days after arson of Melbourne synagogue; Australian Jewish Association accuses government of ignoring warnings of violence
A car was set alight and two properties spray painted with anti-Israel messages in Sydney just days after an arson attack at a synagogue in Melbourne which is being investigated as terrorism, Australian authorities said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the latest attack, the second targeting the Jewish community in the Sydney suburb in three weeks, was an “outrage” and he would be briefed on it soon by a new antisemitism task force.
“This is an attack on people because they happen to be Jewish,” Albanese told ABC Radio.
“The idea that we take a conflict overseas and bring it here is something that is quite contrary to what Australia was built on … this is a hate crime, it’s as simple as that.”
Police said they were seeking two males believed to be in their late teens who were “disguised” and seen running from the scene in in the eastern suburb of Woollahra, an area with a large Jewish population.
The offenders burned the car they had been driving in the early hours, and spread graffiti over the burned car, another vehicle, two buildings and a footpath, New South Wales state police said.
Images on local media showed the misspelled phrase “Kill Israiel” sprayed in black on a white wall.
A contractor painted over the graffiti soon afterwards.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said the incident would be treated as “a wanton act of vandalism,” with offenders facing up to 10 years in jail.
“I don’t think there is any point in sugar coating it or trying to downplay it. This isn’t just a random act of destruction, this was specifically designed to incite hate,” Minns said at a media briefing.
[IsraelTimes] Assault rifle and knives found as police swoop in on two Lebanese-German brothers in Mannheim and a German-Turkish man from Hochtaunus
Three suspected Islamist forces of Evil have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of preparing a "serious act of violence," with an assault rifle and knives also seized, authorities said Tuesday.
Police swooped Sunday on the homes of two German-Lebanese brothers aged 15 and 20 in the city of Mannheim, and a 22-year-old German-Ottoman Turkish man from the Hochtaunus district of Hessen state.
That’s the very pretty, fairly expensive Taunus hills area west of Frankfurt am Main, where I lived when we were in Germany. Lots of international business and financial types.
The act that they were planning could have "endangered the state," local prosecutors and police said in a statement, without disclosing further details.
Germany has faced a string of attacks and plots by suspected Islamists in recent years and has been on high alert since Paleostinian terror group Hams led the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, setting off the ongoing war 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.
The brothers detained in Mannheim, who had a "strong religious ideology and profound sympathy" for 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.... (IS) group, had made concrete preparations for an attack, authorities said.
The assault rifle, along with ammunition, was found during a search of the 22-year-old German-Ottoman Turkish man’s home, they said. Several knives, a balaclava and mobile phones were also found during searches.
But officials stressed that "at no point was there any concrete danger to the public." The suspects are in pre-trial detention.
Roman Poseck, Hessen state interior minister, praised law enforcement officials for making the arrests in "good time, before any acts could be carried out."
"At the same time, it is once again clear that the security situation is tense," Poseck added.
Germany has in recent times seen a series of allegedly Islamist-motivated knife attacks. Three people were killed and eight maimed in a stabbing spree at a street festival in the western city of Solingen in August. Police arrested a Syrian suspect over the attack that was claimed by IS. In June, a policeman was killed in a knife attack in Mannheim, with an Afghan national held as the main suspect.
09-12-2024
[Rudaw] Two suspected Islamic State (ISIS) members and two police officers were killed during a raid near Anbar province’s Falluja district, Iraqi police announced on Monday.
Ahmed al-Mashhadani, media director of Anbar police told Rudaw that a unit of Iraq’s national security service raided a house in Falluja’s Amiriya subdistrict, where they found “two known ISIS members hiding”.
Clashes erupted between the police forces and the gunmen, Mashhadani said, resulting in the killing of two police officers, as well as the two ISIS suspects.
Rumors circulated on Iraqi social media that the two suspects broke out of prisons in Syria and crossed Iraqi borders into Anbar. Mashhadani denied the rumors, stating that the suspects were from the area and are "well known."
[IsraelTimes] Officers arrest suspected driver in parking lot after pursuit; police said to increasingly suspect earlier stabbing in Karmiel was also terror attack
A man was lightly injured Tuesday evening in a terror car-ramming attack, the Israel Police said.
Security camera footage published by the Ynet news site showed a car speeding up and then apparently hitting the 21-year-old victim off-screen.
The injured man was in good condition and was taken to Mayanei HaYeshua Medical Center in the city, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said in a statement.
Police said they arrested the suspected driver in a nearby underground parking lot after a pursuit by officers.
Hebrew media outlets said the suspect was from the Arab Israeli town of Zemer.
Police said the incident is under investigation, and that they increased their deployment in the area.
Separately, police were increasingly suspecting that an incident earlier Tuesday in which a man stabbed a police officer and a security guard in the northern city of Karmiel was a terror attack, according to several Hebrew media reports.
The incident had its roots on Saturday, when the assailant, from the Arab town of Nahf, was briefly arrested after a soldier complained that he had tried to reach for her firearm. In his questioning, the man said he had merely tried to move the weapon out of his way, not grab it.
On Tuesday, the same man arrived at the cop shoppe in Karmiel and was stopped at the entrance after giving insufficient answers as to why he was entering, saying he wanted to "speak with the cops," according to the Ynet news site.
He then brandished out a knife and attacked the cop — who didn’t require hospitalization — and the guard, who was maimed.
Police initially said the motive was criminal, but later said all possibilities, including terror, were being looked into.
Tuesday’s incidents came only days after an Israeli soldier was seriously maimed in the southern West Bank, when an assailant rammed his vehicle into the reservist at a junction outside the Al Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron, before fleeing the scene.
Later in the evening, the suspected rammer turned himself in to security forces, the IDF said.
Since Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... ’s October 7, 2023, massacre, 41 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another six members of the security forces were killed in festivities with terror operatives in the West Bank.
[IsraelTimes] Military say aircraft attacked terror operatives who participated in killing of Staff Sgt. Ido Zano, Staff Sgt. Barak Daniel Halpern and Sgt. Omri Cohen
The IDF said Tuesday morning that an airstrike in Gaza had killed 10 Hamas operatives who were involved in the deaths of three IDF soldiers the day before.
Staff Sgt. Ido Zano, Staff Sgt. Barak Daniel Halpern and Sgt. Omri Cohen were killed and 12 others were wounded in Jabalia when Hamas operatives launched anti-tank projectiles and opened fire at troops as they were getting ready to head out of the Strip for a furlough.
The troops were boarding a lightly armored truck used to transport troops when Hamas operatives launched anti-tank projectiles and opened fire at them.
The military said it was further investigating the incident, which came amid an IDF offensive against Hamas in the Strip’s far northern towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun launched in early September.
So far, the military estimates that it has killed at least 1,750 operatives during the recent operation, while another 1,300 have been detained, and around 90,000 civilians evacuated from the area. Thirty-four IDF soldiers have been killed so far in the operation.
The IDF published footage of the strike that killed the Hamas operatives involved in the deadly attack on the soldiers.
It said operations against terror infrastructure were continuing.
The war in Gaza erupted with Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 386. The toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission and a Defense Ministry civilian contractor.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 44,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
[IsraelTimes] COGAT, the Defense Ministry body which coordinates Israeli activity in Gaza and the West Bank, says that 201 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Strip yesterday.
In a statement, COGAT says that 55 of the trucks entered Gaza directly through Gate 96, entering the northern Strip near Kibbutz Be’eri. It also says that six tankers of cooking gas were also transferred into Gaza yesterday.
Israel has conquered Mt. Hermon, the highest mountain in Syria, its peak reaching 2,814m. Syria’s capital, Damascus, is only 40 km away, now within range of Israel’s artillery shells. Here’s why Israel took this mountain: 1/7 🧵 pic.twitter.com/XZdjeeU9RD
Nota bene: A certain John C. Williams is the president and chief executive officer of the New York Federal Reserve. Is he aware of this?
Posted by: 3dc ||
12/11/2024 13:59 ||
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Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Hezbollah was an Iranian proxy in Lebanon, Syria is bordered by Lebanon, pallets of NY Fed cash found in Assad Banks, billions released to Iran by Biden Admin....hmmm, there must be some whopping coincidences here, like the Epstein case, or ?
Perhaps someone has a clue?
#3
The US purchased something from these people. What was it ?
a. Military land basing lease agreements ?
b. Saddam's old Chemical weapons ?
c. Chemical research and destruction ?
d. Payments destined for third parties ?
#4
Besoeker third parties can buy currency and ship them elsewhere too. We will need the tracking for that QR code to see where it was shipped too from NY.
#8
Washington needs a lot of sunlight. The corrupticrats have had a stranglehold on D.C. for a long time. Ultimately, the American taxpayers are hosed. That is why there is all this talk of "blanket pardons."
[IsraelTimes] Tehran says it has brought home 4,000 Iranian citizens from Syria following the ouster of its ally Bashar al-Assad as rebels took over Damascus.
“Over the past three days, 4,000 Iranian citizens were returned to Iran,” Fatemeh Mohajerani, a spokeswoman for Iran’s government, says at a press conference in the capital.
[IsraelTimes] The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards says the Islamic Republic has not been weakened following the fall of its ally, Bashar al-Assad, in Syria, Iranian media reports.
“We have not been weakened and Iran’s power has not diminished,” Hossein Salami is quoted as telling members of parliament in a closed session. "No. No. We're fine. It's just a rash"
“The overthrow of the Zionist regime is not off the agenda,” Salami says in the session, which meets to discuss the latest developments in Syria.
Hassan Abdul-Ghani, a senior commander of the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — which leads the insurgent alliance, says that the rebel forces completely took control of Deir Ezzor.
A member HTS says in a recorded video that the group will soon conduct a thorough sweep of the city’s neighborhoods to secure the area, adding that the strategic nearby town of Boukamal has also fallen to opposition forces.
“We will advance toward Raqqa and Hasakah and other areas in eastern Syria,” the HTS fighters says.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces had only held the city for a few days. The SDF said it deployed to Deir Ezzor and west of the Euphrates River on Friday, replacing Syrian government forces. At the time, the SDF said its fighters were not in control of the Boukamal border crossing with Iraq, which Israel has struck numerous times over the years to thwart arms transfers to Iran-linked groups.
SDF issued general amnesty in Deir ez-Zor Saturday
07-12-2024
[Rudaw] The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Saturday issued a general amnesty in areas of Deir ez-Zor province that are newly under their control.
“As our forces advance into Deir Ezzor to secure the region in light of the evolving situation, we are declaring a general amnesty without exception in these areas,” SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi stated on X.
The SDF announced on Friday that they had deployed to areas previously held by the Syrian army in Deir ez-Zor. The army withdrew as it is facing a rapidly moving offensive by rebel forces in the north and west.
Basam Ishak, a representative of the SDF’s political wing in Washington, told Rudaw on Saturday that the Kurdish-led force is now in control of approximately 40 percent of Syrian territory. Ishak said the deployment into previously regime-held territory was necessary to avoid a “security vacuum.”
One of the security threats comes from a resurgent Islamic State (ISIS). Abdi told reporters on Friday that “there are increased activities of ISIS mercenaries in the Badia region, and the south, and east of Deir ez-Zor, and Raqqa. There are movements and they have taken control of some areas recently.”
He said that they are working with the United States-led global coalition to recapture these areas.
839 Kurdish families return to Afrin
07-12-2024
[Rudaw] According to the Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF), over 4,000 Kurds have returned home to Afrin from Shahba. However, Arabs from Latakia, Deir ez-Zor, Aleppo and other areas have settled in Kurdish homes on the Afrin border and refuse to leave.
Rawaj Haji, member of the board of directors and human resources at BCF told Rudaw on Saturday that they are welcoming displaced Kurds from Afrin who are returning from Shahba. He explained that besides providing food, they are overseeing their return to Afrin while registering their names to offer further aid later.
‘’839 families have returned, totaling 4,100 people.’’ Rawaj Haji told Rudaw
Haji clarified that ‘’There is no one in camps, and those who do not have a home of their own, are in the homes of their relatives,’’.
There are 6 districts and 366 villages along the border of Afrin, and since it was taken over by armed opposition groups, most of the residents of these areas have been displaced and are not ready to return home.
When last year's twin earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria, the BCF convoy was one of the first deliveries of aid to rebel-held northwest Syria.
Sheikhmous Ahmed, head of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) office for the displaced and refugees, told Rudaw English that the opposition militants have taken the 15,000 people to an unknown place. Most of these people hail from the Kurdish city of Afrin which was controlled by the same militia groups and Ankara in 2018.
International organizations have recorded numerous human rights violations in Afrin since 2018.
“Kurdish residents have borne the brunt of the abuses due to their perceived ties to Kurdish-led forces that control vast swathes of northeast Syria,” the Human Rights Watch said in February, referring to areas under the control of Ankara-backed groups, including Afrin.
On Tuesday, Ahmed told Rudaw English that about 100,000 people had left Shahba for Tabqa. He said on Thursday that the number has not increased, adding that the 15,000 people stuck in the area amount to 6,000 families.
200 Kurds remain Imprisoned in Afrin despite amnesty issued: Kurdish official
09-12-2024
[Rudaw] Despite a recent amnesty issued by the authorities in Afrin, around 200 Kurds remain in prisons, a Kurdish National Council (ENKS/KNC) official said on Monday, noting that over 2,000 families have returned to the Kurdish city since the start of the recent escalations in Syria.
As the Syrian rebels, led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), entered the capital Damascus, announcing the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime, the rebels released inmates of the country’s most notorious prisons. For its part, the Turkey-backed Syrian interim government that governs over Afrin issued a general amnesty.
“Nobody knows why the released prisoners were jailed in the first place, so we demanded to release any Kurd from Afrin and the surrounding areas, without any questioning,” Ahmed Hassan, the head of the ENKS local council told Rudaw.
Hassan noted that despite the general amnesty, some prisoners remain in the jails.
“We request that the prisons are emptied of prisoners. According to our information, around 200 Kurds have yet to be freed,” he said.
Hassan said that they have helped over 2,000 families from Aleppo, Shahba, and Tal Tamir to return to Afrin with the help of the Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF), since the start of the recent escalation in Syria.
Hassan said that many of the returning families found that their houses were occupied by Arab settlers, adding that “the returnees now live with their relatives that have a house in the area.”
The Arabs who have settled in Afrin are from the areas of Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Homs, and Deir ez-Zor, according to Hassan, who said that the settlers also desire returning to their homes.
“The Arabs also have their own homes and want to go back. When their return in phases begins, then the people of Afrin will go back to their houses,” Hassan said.
The ENKS official noted that they have no statistics on how many Arabs have returned to their hometowns and cities, but that ‘’the return has begun’’.
Hassan urged the people of Afrin, who have been displaced in Syria or sought refuge in Europe, to return home to “weaken the demographic change that had taken place.”
Many Kurdish families fled Afrin following the occupation of the city in 2018, after Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch, eliminating the Kurdish forces that once controlled the area.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A senior Syrian soldier who used to feed prisoners to his pet lion has reportedly been publicly executed by local rebels.
Talal Dakkak, a feared member of the Syrian Army's elite 25th Division - also known as the Tiger Forces - has been killed by local militia in the western city of Hama, according to media on the ground.
Videos posted to X on Tuesday claimed to show preparations being made for Dakkak's execution, although his death has not been officially verified.
It's said he was going to be killed in front of a crowd - a plan set for senior members of the Syrian Army by local rebel militia.
The brutal enforcer, also known as Abu Sakhr, was one of Syria's most notorious army leaders and powerful businessmen in Hama and at one point led a 1,500-strong militia of the Air Force Intelligence.
He gained notoriety after allegedly stealing a lion cub from a zoo and feeding it with the bodies of his prisoners, according to an article from The Syrian Observer in 2019.
Dakkak also reportedly filmed the cub demolishing a live horse before posting the footage on social media.
He is responsible for several other horrific criminal acts, including kidnapping, killing and organ trade the article adds. Dakkak was also reportedly involved in smuggling and selling unregistered vehicles and trading narcotics.
The former taxi driver is thought to be one of a number of senior army members to have been captured by the rebels after the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's longstanding regime.
A Syria war monitor said on Tuesday that Islamic State group jihadists killed 54 government soldiers who were fleeing as Islamist-led rebels pressed an offensive. ISIS jihadists captured 'personnel fleeing military service in the dessert... during the collapse of the regime' of president Bashar al-Assad and 'executed 54' of them in the Sukhna area in the Homs desert, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Syrian rebel groups capped off their lightning offensive against government forces this weekend when they seized the capital city Damascus, marking an end to al-Assad's longstanding regime. The president's last-ditch escape to Russia to avoid certain death at the hands of the rebels marked the end of some five decades of the al-Assad family's dynastic rule - and the end of a brutal 14-year civil war.
Syria's new interim leader Mohammed al-Bashir announced on Tuesday he was taking charge of the country as caretaker Prime Minister with the backing of the former rebels who toppled al-Assad three days ago. The rebel offensive was led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Sunni Islamist group that burst out of its stronghold in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib less than two weeks ago.
HTS has its roots in the jihadist al-Qaeda, but since its founding in 2017 has tried to reposition itself as a more moderate Syrian nationalist organisation. Its leader Ahmad al-Sharaa - better known by his nom-de-guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani (also written Jawlani or Julani) - insists that he will work to create a tolerant, civilised nation where religious and ethnic minorities can live peacefully.
[Rudaw] The Syrian National Army (SNA), an umbrella of opposition militia groups, has taken control of the northern city of Manbij from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a bigwig from the Kurdish administration in northeast Syria (Rojava) confirmed to Rudaw English on Tuesday.
The Ottoman Turkish-backed SNA has been attempting to take over the city for two weeks but it faced strong resistance from the SDF-affiliated Manbij Military Council.
Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... announced the "liberation" of the city from the SDF on Monday and Ottoman Turkish media published videos purportedly showing that the SNA fighters were inside the city.
The Rojava official told Rudaw English on the condition of anonymity that the forces of Evil are now in control of the strategic city that Kurds took from 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.... (ISIS) in 2016.
The SDF has recently published videos it said showed the resistance of their forces in the city, claiming that the two-week fighting inflicted a significant number of casualties among SNA ranks.
The US-backed force also said that The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... was supporting the forces of Evil from the air.
The SNA has said that their attempt to take Manbij is part of the code-named Operation Dawn of Freedom which was launched late last month in Tal Rifaat, forcing the SDF-linked fighters to withdraw from the town.
During his speech on Monday, Erdogan said that Ankara "has no eye on the territory of another country. The sole purpose of our cross-border operations is to protect our homeland and our citizens from terrorist attacks."
He added that they will also "not tolerate the emergence of new sources of terrorism beyond its borders."
Turkey considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - which has been involved in a decades-long war with Turkey.
In a presser on Friday, SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi stressed that SDF wants to resolve its problems with Ankara through a peaceful resolution to Syria’s war.
Responding a Rudaw question about the possibility of ending hostilities between Ankara and the SDF during a presser in Doha on Sunday, Ottoman Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said, "In short, no, unless they change themselves."
09-12-2024
[Rudaw] A Yazidi woman kidnapped by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Shingal in 2014 has been rescued from Syria's northwestern Idlib province and will soon be returned to the Kurdistan Region, Hussein Qaidi, head of the Office for Rescuing Abducted Yazidis,said on Monday.
“A few days ago, we received information that this girl was living in a specific place in a specific country. We did what was necessary to rescue her. Thank God, she is now in safe hands. Hopefully, necessary measures will be taken to return to the Kurdistan Region and reunite with her family soon,” Qaidi told Rudaw.
Rudaw has learned that the 29-year-old woman, whose identity the office is withholding for security reasons, was found in a house in the rebel-held Idlib province on Saturday.
The office is affiliated with the Kurdistan Region Presidency and was established in 2014 when ISIS swept through the Yazidi heartland of Shingal, committing genocide.
When ISIS swept through the Yazidi heartland of Shingal in August 2014, committing genocide, the group abducted 6,417 women and children who were forced into sexual slavery and labor.
He added that more than 2,000 Yazidis abducted by ISIS a decade ago remain missing.
Many have been rescued from al-Hol, the notorious camp that houses tens of thousands of ISIS families and supporters. Others have been found in areas of Syria controlled by rebels or Turkish-backed armed groups, and some have been located in third countries.
Kurdish security forces in northeast Syria (Rojava) last month announced they rescued a Yazidi man from the clutches of ISIS.
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.
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
...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",...
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
