[Commander Salamander] We owe HM3 Maxton W. Soviak, USN, the thousands who died the two decades before he did, and their families the truth. The uncomfortable, blunt, clear truth. Frankness. Directness. The respect that comes with honesty, honesty to the man who was in diapers when the first US forces crossed into Afghanistan, and with 12 others wound up as one of the last to die there during our retreat.
We’re still not coming to terms with our defeat.
Fear, shame, and humility—these are strong gods of a superior military. With each passing year, this becomes clearer and clearer to me. As all three were drained from our military, we increasingly relied on the weak gods of false-bravery (wearing combat utilities for daily use in CONUS) and easy-honor (NORK levels of awards and badges) that always lead to arrogance. With arrogance comes eventual defeat.
Fear and the desire to not bring shame on yourself, your family, your service, and your nation bring humility. Humility stops you from thinking you have all the answers.
...and so we come to the issue of the Afghanistan war again. I have a little shorthand that will allow me to move along on to the subject of the day. It is something I will remind everyone of who refuses to speak clearly and directly on the topic of our national disgrace.
The Afghan army and government the Soviet Union left behind lasted over 3 years.
The Afghan army and government the USA left behind lasted barely 1 month.
The old Cold Warrior in me doesn’t like to say that the Soviets were better than we were, but at least in Afghanistan, they were.
I didn’t think that my re-post on August, 17th was going to be my last Afghanistan quote for awhile; I knew I would revisit it. It is that time of the year.
I am still about where I was three years ago. For new readers, let me give you the executive summary from the above post.
from 1989 to 1992 the anti govt forces were badly divided and there was a lot of fighting between factions (and this eventually led to the Taliban takeover); in addition the Soviets supplied a lot of firepower to the Najibullah govt, at least thru mid 1991
In 2022, the Taliban were unified and already controlled most of Afghanistan at the time of the US withdrawal.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/02/2025 13:55 Comments ||
Top||
#3
meant 2021 in last sentence
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/02/2025 13:57 Comments ||
Top||
#4
In 2022, the Taliban were unified and already controlled most of Afghanistan at the time of the US withdrawal
the USA along with many other nations provided weapons and training to the military and civilian improvements in education, infrastructure and welfare to the country in general
and it was all a waste
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/02/2025 15:35 Comments ||
Top||
#6
In 2025, the Taliban Reds were unified and already controlled most of Afghanistan Europe at the time of the US withdrawal
Coming to a theater near you. I'd say that was a hundred years of wasted effort.
#7
There was a mass fatality attack on the CONUS on the scale of Pearl Harbor.
As a result the US went to war. NATO for the first time invoking Article 5 and went to war.
No one in the West even discussed the political framework of this war.
Who are we? What do we want? Who is the enemy? What are the Afghans; are they friends or foes or neutrals?
All of these questions could not even be officially asked because that would have ignited a debate that would have hurt feelings.
The "war" settled down into a two decades long farce of paying danegeld to a passive aggressive "ally", importing alien tyranny into the West and paying an exorbitant price of money and blood.
Then the farce ended.
The war ended in a shameful defeat.
The precedent had been established that a massive attack on Western interests is a winning move, not a deadly mistake.
[IsraelTimes] The Iran-backed Houthi terror group said Monday that it had fired a missile at an Israeli-owned tanker in the Red Sea, days after the prime minister of Yemen’s rebel government and several other ministers were killed in an IDF strike on the capital Sanaa.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed responsibility for the launch in a prerecorded message aired on al-Masirah, a Houthi-controlled satellite news channel. He alleged the vessel, the Liberian-flagged Scarlet Ray, had ties to Israel.
The ship’s owners, Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping, could not be immediately reached. However, the maritime security firm Ambrey described the ship as fitting the Houthis’ “target profile, as the vessel is publicly Israeli owned.”
Eastern Pacific is a company that is ultimately controlled by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer. Eastern Pacific previously has been targeted in suspected Iranian attacks.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which monitors Mideast shipping, said the attack missed its target.
UKMTO said the ship’s crew “witnessed a splash in close proximity to their vessel from an unknown projectile and heard a loud bang. All crew are safe and the vessel continues on its voyage.”
The Houthis — whose slogan calls for “Death to America, Death to Israel, [and] a Curse on the Jews” — began attacking Israel and maritime traffic in November 2023, a month after the October 7 Hamas massacre in southern Israel. From November 2023 to December 2024, the Houthis targeted more than 100 ships with missiles and drones over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. In their campaign so far, the Houthis have sank four vessels and killed at least eight mariners.
Monday’s attempted missile attack came days after Israel’s strike on Thursday that killed the Houthis’ prime minister, Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi, along with other officials.
[IsraelTimes] Yemen’s Houthi rebels hold a funeral for their prime minister and 11 other senior officials killed in an Israeli air strike that decimated its political cabinet.
Twelve coffins draped in flags are displayed at Sanaa’s Al-Shaab mosque, as masked gunmen patrol the area and thousands of mourners flooded in.
Tiny turnout for them — the Houthis usually manage huge, photogenic crowds. They must be afraid of an IDF follow up.
Houthi prime minister Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi, nine ministers, and two cabinet officials were killed as they attended a government meeting in the Sanaa area on Thursday. Good time for a low-level overflight
The Houthis, part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” of anti-Israeli groups, vowed to step up their attacks on Israel following Thursday’s killings.
Mourners chanted the Houthi slogan “God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam”, as Mohammed Miftah, now de facto head of the Iran-aligned government in Sanaa, vowed revenge as well as an internal security crackdown against spies.
“We are facing the strongest intelligence empire in the world, the one that targeted the government – the whole Zionist entity (comprising) the US administration, the Zionist entity, the Zionist Arabs and the spies inside Yemen,” Miftah told the crowd of mourners at the Al Saleh mosque.
Miftah became the acting head of the Houthis’ government on Saturday following the death of al-Rahwi. Al-Rahwi was largely a figurehead and not part of the inner circle of power.
Miftah had previously been his deputy.
The fate of the Houthis’ powerful defense minister, Mohamed al-Atifi, who runs the Missiles Brigades Group, remains unclear as he has not made an appearance since the attack.
The Iran-backed terror group on Sunday vowed to intensify its attacks on Israel after the killing of Rahawi, the most senior Houthi official known to have died since the group began attacking Israel and maritime traffic in November 2023.
Balance is much better than hate, though not as good as a simple welcome.
[IsraelTimes] Two Israeli women greeted with jeers and applause from crowd after they disclose where they’re from; ‘we couldn’t and didn’t want to lie,’ says one of them afterward
Two women called onstage during a Coldplay concert Sunday night were met with boos from some of in the crowd, followed by an uneasy response from the British band’s lead singer, after they disclosed their Israeli identity.
Frontman Chris Martin invited the two, named Avia and Tal, to come onstage during the British band’s performance at Wembley Stadium in London.
He asked the women where they were from, to which they replied, "Israel." They were met with a mixed response of both jeers and applause from the audience, while Martin appeared ill at ease at the piano.
"Okay, well listen — I’m very grateful that you’re here as humans, and I am treating you as equal humans on earth, regardless of where you come from or don’t come from," said the singer.
"Although it’s controversial maybe, I also want to welcome people in the audience from Paleostine because... out of the belief that we’re all equal humans," he added, and was met with cheers from the crowd.
"Thank you for being here, I’m very happy to see you, look at your beautiful green eyes," he told one of the women.
In an interview with the Kan public broadcaster after the fact, one of the two women confessed to having doubts about going up and revealing her Israeli identity to the large crowd.
"There was a split second that we considered saying we are from Malta, and then I said ’Israeli,’" she said in the interview. "We couldn’t and didn’t want to lie. It was a bit scary that 90,000 people know we are from here, but we said it."
Since the start of the war in 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... , sparked by Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... ’s October 7, 2023, massacre, Coldplay’s performances — especially those in Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... — have at times become charged with discourse surrounding the conflict.
At a July performance this year, Martin pointed out an Israeli flag raised in the audience, and added that he had seen a Paleostinian flag in the crowd at a concert the day prior.
"Yesterday, we had a beautiful Paleostinian flag, today we have an Israeli flag. So we welcome all people. Thank you, my brothers and sisters. It makes me happy that both groups can come," he was filmed saying earlier this summer.
Personnel is policy. And good managers hire good people; bad managers hire worse people. We know what Sir Keir is.
[IsraelTimes] British Prime Minister Keir Starmer appoints Minouche Shafik, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England and the ex-president of Columbia University, as his chief economic adviser.
Shafik resigned last year as Columbia University president after the New York campus became an epicenter of unrest following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Her resignation came after sustained criticism of how she handled pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests that convulsed the Ivy League school for months following October 7.
Shafik was the Bank of England’s deputy governor for markets and banking between August 2014 and February 2017, before leaving midway through her term to become vice chancellor of the London School of Economics.
In 2023, she became president of New York’s Columbia University, but quit after little more than a year when the university’s handling of months of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel student protests drew criticism from both sides.
Earlier in her career, Shafik was the top civil servant in Britain’s foreign aid ministry and subsequently deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund, where she oversaw the IMF’s work in Europe and the Middle East during the euro zone debt crisis and the Arab Spring.
“This role and the additional expertise will support the government to go further and faster in driving economic growth and raising living standards for all,” Starmer’s office says.
[IsraelTimes] Luxembourg takes over European Union task of okaying prospectus for Diaspora bond program, used to help finance war, as Irish ramp up anti-Israel protests.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Kamran Gasanov
[REGNUM] Relations between Turkey and Israel, which have been in a crisis since October 2023, sometimes reaching the level of hostility and almost direct military conflict, have reached a new level of tension. Louder, yes. Different? Not really. As the head of the Turkish branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, however unofficial the connection, President Recep Tayip Erdogan — wannabe first sultan of the neo-Ottoman empire — has long desired the defeat and absorption of that uppity Jewish state. The fact that Turkey is unable to ride the train to that station is terribly frustrating for the poor man.
Each IDF operation in Gaza is assessed by Ankara as a continuation of the "genocide of the Palestinian people",
…heckuva genocide when the population still keeps increasing due to a higher birth rate than claimed deaths at IDF hands…
and when describing the Israeli prime minister, Turkish politicians compete with each other in choosing bright epithets. First place among world leaders and, probably, within Turkey in this sport can rightfully be taken by Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“The Hitler of our time,” “the butcher of Gaza,” “fascists,” “Islamophobes,” “terrorist,” “occupier” – this is how he calls Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his cabinet.
The response is no less caustic: "snake", "a man from the Muslim Brotherhood" (banned in Russia), "will repeat the fate of Saddam Hussein". The most harmless "compliment" was given by the head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry Gideon Saar, who called the leader of the northern neighbor "a sultan with imperial ambitions".
Personal insults from both sides are common, but concrete actions are far more serious blows.
We are talking about decisions made last year. Nothing new is happening.
Since the war in Gaza, Turkey has been restricting economic relations with Israel. In April, the republic's Minister of Commerce, Omer Bolat, boasted that his country was the first to impose an embargo on him. In November 2024, Erdogan announced the severance of diplomatic relations.
Tel Aviv was not embarrassed by this behavior. The IDF did not stop bombing Gaza. Moreover, the Israelis began to behave defiantly in Syria, where after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad the Turkish leader felt like the rightful master. Israeli aircraft struck not only Turkish bases, but also the presidential palace in Damascus.
Then in May, Turkey banned Netanyahu from flying Air Force One, and he was unable to visit Baku, where he was rumored to have met with Erdogan, under the pretext of the escalating situation in Gaza. A series of meetings between Israeli and Turkish security officials in the Azerbaijani capital, initiated by Donald Trump, failed to normalize bilateral relations.
In the June war between Israel and Iran, the Turks sided with Tehran, and the Israelis' plans to launch a new large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip further exacerbated the situation.
In the last days of August it seemed that things couldn’t get any worse.
Yes, all relations have been severed, Turkey constantly threatens with an “Islamic army,” tries to consolidate Muslim countries along the OIC line, and Tel Aviv does not renounce aggression against Syria, whether under the pretext of protecting the Alawites and Druze or stopping the Turkish military machine there, but the parties refrain from a head-on clash.
However, recently Netanyahu managed to reach an even deeper bottom in the escalation with Ankara.
In an interview with American-Armenian podcaster Patrick Bet-David, the prime minister first said that the Knesset had allegedly recognized the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide (although the Israeli parliament has not passed such a law). And then, when asked why no Israeli prime minister has done so yet, he replied: “I just did. There you go.”
It is clear that the Knesset is unlikely to achieve immediate consensus on this issue; previous attempts, such as in 2011 and 2018, failed. However, Netanyahu’s statement is still far-reaching.
For the Turkish authorities, the question of interpreting the events of 1915 is of fundamental importance. Perhaps even more fundamental than the topic of the current massacres of Palestinians in Gaza.
The current president associates his rule with the Ottoman Empire and considers himself the heir not of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, but of the sultans. Any statement by a foreign representative on the topic of Armenians is perceived by him as a personal insult. Not to mention the prestige of Turkey, its integrity and finances.
The poor darlings. Their widdle feelings is hurted.
Potential recognition of the “Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire” could oblige Ankara to pay multi-billion dollar compensation to Armenians,
Oh? Who by?
and discussions about the creation of “Western Armenia” would receive legal justification.
The response was to “shift the blame” and sever all relations with Israel.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that what "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to do is nothing more than an attempt to cover up his own genocide," referring to the killing of more than 60,000 Gazans.
Compare to the approximately 1,000,000 Armenians murdered by the Turks, back in the day, whose cousins are still found in Syria, Jordan, and 100,000 in Glendale, California.
As for the breakup, there has been unfounded speculation.
A number of journalists and media outlets wrote about Turkey's decision in the present tense. But in fact, Fidan said the following: "Turkey has stopped all trade with Israel, does not allow Turkish ships to enter Israeli ports and has closed its airspace to Israeli aircraft." We are talking about decisions made last year. Nothing new is happening.
Formally, Türkiye has cut both political and economic ties with Israel. The only difference is that after Netanyahu's words, the prospects for potential normalization through the Baku meetings are becoming more obscure.
Erdogan is unlikely to send a delegation to third countries to engage in dialogue with his opponent in order to improve ties in the near future. Such meetings will become even less likely in light of the fact that the IDF may move to more decisive steps to destroy Hamas and Palestinian statehood.
When talking about breaking ties, we should not forget that there have been and will be exceptions.
Observers note that the flight ban does not apply to private Israeli airliners flying through Turkish airspace, which is confirmed by the well-known monitoring site Flightradar.
As for trade, despite the announcement of a complete embargo, $400 million worth of exports from Turkey to Israel did take place in the first half of 2025, according to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. A large share of this amount probably comes from Azerbaijani oil, which Erdogan is forced to turn a blind eye to in order not to offend his allies in Baku.
Recognizing the tragic events of the First World War as genocide will poison the already strained Turkish-Israeli relations, will aggravate the crisis, but will hardly become some kind of casus belli for more serious actions.
The systemic problems in relations between the two countries remain the same, and they are linked to regional geopolitics.
Israel does not want to allow Turkey to strengthen its position in the border countries of Syria and Palestine. Erdogan’s partnership with Trump, as well as the Gulf monarchies, Egypt and Iran in the framework of Islamic solidarity with the Palestinians is perceived by Tel Aviv as a threat.
On the other hand, Israel’s expansion in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, support for Kurdish separatism, and the complete curtailment of Iran’s influence with US support could turn it into “Greater Israel” (with which Netanyahu recently associated himself) and damage Ankara’s influence in the Middle East.
Based on the experience of past crises, it can be assumed that under the current status quo, Israel and Turkey will balance on the brink of war, but will not risk direct conflict for objective reasons. Turkey is the second army in NATO with a population of 80 million, and Israel is a de facto nuclear power with the support of the United States.
[IsraelTimes] Letter signed by foreign ministers from Tehran, Moscow and Beijing claims push by UK, France and Germany to reimpose measures lifted under 2015 deal an abuse of UN Security Council.
A generation from now the current anti-Israel hysteria will be a case study in mob behaviour. And those now leading the baying mob will deny they had anything to do with it, just as so many former Nazis did.
[IsraelTimes] Researcher Sara Brown charges International Association of Genocide Scholars with lack of transparency; group says vote was held in accordance with bylaws and standard procedure
A member of the International Association for Genocide Scholars said on Monday that the group pushed through a resolution accusing Israel of genocide without holding a debate, as is its standard practice.
The association disputed the account of the resolution, saying the vote had been held in accordance with its standard procedures and bylaws.
Sara Brown, a genocide scholar, said she has been a member of the association for more than 10 years and was on the association’s advisory board for two, four-year terms. Brown also serves as the American Jewish Committee’s regional director in San Diego.
She said the association typically discusses controversial resolutions in a virtual town hall that allows members to discuss the measures. For the Israel resolution, the association’s leadership declined to hold a discussion, she said.
"The content of the resolution and the way it was forced through speak to an embarrassing absence of professionalism," she said. Among her qualms with the resolution are that it cites organizations that have reinterpreted the definition of genocide so that it applies to Israel, such as Amnesty International. The group also cited UN special investigator for the Paleostinians La Belle Francesca Albanese, who has a history of antisemitism and holy warrior rhetoric, such as denying Israel’s right to self defense.
Emails shared with The Times of Israel showed that the association’s leadership in late July said there would be a town hall discussion to discuss the Israel resolution, but backtracked days later, citing a vote by the association’s executive board.
The association also did not allow dissenting opinions to be published on its list serve, saying the list serve was not a forum for such discussions, and declined to release the names of the members who drafted the resolution, the emails showed.
Brown said only 129 association members voted on the resolution out of an estimated membership of around 500. The association’s membership was informed ahead of time about the vote, but many chose not to weigh in, likely because they did not feel qualified to address the issue, Brown said.
"That favors those activists who are seeking to advance a false narrative about Israel," Brown said. "It wasn’t rushed, it was just forced through without the usual transparency."
She added that there are few qualifications to become a member of the association. The association had been mostly made up of scholars, but now includes figures like activists and artists, Brown said.
She said that the expanded membership can be a strength by bringing in a diversity of viewpoints, but also "opens the door for something like this to happen."
"The appearance is that this was a unanimous vote on behalf of the entirety of the association. It was not, and they refused to have a transparent, critical discussion," Brown said. "The leadership, in my opinion, had an agenda."
The public, she said, is "going to see, ’Genocide experts agree.’ No, we don’t, and we were deliberately silenced."
Emily Sample, the association’s communications officer, rejected Brown’s account of the process.
Town hall discussions are not required by the association’s bylaws and have not happened for all resolutions, Sample said, adding that open discussions on the association’s list serve were too unwieldy to moderate and there were few requests from members for an open discussion about the resolution against Israel over its war with Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... in 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... "We felt, and the authors of the resolution felt that there was sufficient contextual information for all of the scholars in the community to make their own informed decision before the vote," she said. "The space for discussion is through articles and other publications."
Sample said the proportion of voting members — below 30% — was "pretty standard" and "represents a much larger percentage of the organization that did support this."
The vote adhered to the association’s bylaws, which require a 20% quorum for a resolution, and, among that voting group, two-thirds support to pass, she said. The resolution passed with 86% support.
She confirmed that the association was open to non-scholars such as policymakers and civil society members who are interested in genocide, but said that, "We are not accepting large swaths of activists who are anti-Israel."
[IsraelTimes] A Gaza-bound flotilla carrying humanitarian aid and pro-Palestinian activists including environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg departs Barcelona again, several hours after winds forced it to return to the Spanish port, according to AFP journalists at the scene.
Around 20 vessels left the Spanish city yesterday aiming to “open a humanitaria corridor and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people,” during the Israel-Hamas war, said the Global Sumud Flotilla — sumud being the Arabic term for “resilience.”
If I didn’t misplace the decimal, that’s two square kilometers — which doesn’t sound nearly as impressive.
littered with mines and unwent kaboom! ordnance have been cleared across the Kurdistan Region over the past seven months, a local official said on Monday, adding landmines have claimed the lives of ten people during the same time period.
"Our efforts are ongoing to clear the entirety of landmine-contaminated areas of the Kurdistan Region," Jabar Mustafa, head of the Kurdistan Region's Mine Actions Agency (IKMAA), told Rudaw, adding that "two million square meters of land have been cleared of mines over the past seven months."
Iraq and the Kurdistan Region continue to grapple with the legacy of landmines and unwent kaboom! ordnance left behind by decades of conflict, including the Iran-Iraq War, the 1991 Gulf War, the 2003 US-led invasion, and 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.... ’s (ISIS) brutal reign over large parts of the country’s north and west between 2014 and 2017.
Mustafa said landmines have killed ten and maimed another 16 over the past seven months.
Mines remain a significant threat to the people of the Kurdistan Region. In previous years, approximately 14,000 people have died or been injured due to mines, according to Mustafa.
According to Mustafa, three million square meters of land were cleared of mines in 2024, and two million square meters in 2023.
"We predict we will be able to clear more lands of mines compared with last year and two years ago, as we have ramped up our full efforts," he explained.
More recent conflicts, specifically between The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) along the Kurdistan Region’s borders, have also left behind explosive remnants, with some minefields located just a few hundred meters from villages.
The Iraqi Directorate for Mine Action (DMA) and IKMAA have been cooperating under a memorandum of understanding signed in 2024, outlining their mutual technical support until 2028.
[IsraelTimes] Four days after UN officials, including special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, said Israel won’t provide information on detainees, military says accusations ‘entirely unfounded’
The Israel Defense Forces on Monday rejected allegations by a group of United Nations experts of “enforced disappearances” of Palestinians at aid distribution sites in Gaza, saying the military lawfully detains individuals who approach aid compounds after hours or in ways that endanger its forces.
“The claim of the forced disappearance of Gaza residents in aid compounds is baseless and entirely unfounded,” the military said in a statement, released days after UN rights experts voiced alarm at reports of such incidents at distribution sites run by the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Seven UN rights experts said in a joint statement on Thursday that they had received reports that several individuals, including one child, had been “forcibly disappeared” after going to GHF aid sites in southern Gaza, and that the IDF was reportedly “directly involved in the enforced disappearances of people seeking aid.”
Did anyone check the reports? Specifically their home tents or nearby Hamas prison tunnels? What about the fancy restaurants on the Gaza shoreline that tweet videos of their famous fancy coffee drinks and even more famous pastries?
The IDF Spokesperson’s Office responded that it “permits the [GHF] to operate independently and distribute aid to Gaza residents, and operates near the distribution zones to allow the distribution to take place alongside the IDF’s continued operational activity in the Strip.”
Within its activity, “suspects who arrive at the compound during hours when it is closed and approach the forces in a way that endangers them are detained and brought in for further questioning,” the military said.
“If the initial field questioning raises suspicion that a detainee has engaged in activity against our forces, the suspect is transferred for further interrogation in Israel,” it continued.
“Detainees for whom there is no justification for detention are released in the Gaza Strip, while those for whom grounds exist for continued detention, in accordance with the law, are brought before a judge and are entitled to legal representation as provided by law,” it said.
“When minors are involved, this is taken into account, and they are treated with the required sensitivity and in accordance with the law,” the IDF added.
The GHF said in response to the UN experts’ statement that there was “no evidence” of enforced disappearances at its aid sites. “We operate in a war zone where serious allegations exist against all parties operating outside our sites,” it noted.
UN SAID ISRAEL ‘REFUSING TO PROVIDE INFORMATION’ ON DETAINEES
Are you a relative or a legal representative? If not, go away.
The UN statement Thursday charged that the IDF was “directly involved in the enforced disappearances of people seeking aid.”
It was signed by the five members of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, along with Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on rights in the Palestinian territories, and her counterpart on the right to food, Michael Fakhri.
Israel’s military was “refusing to provide information on the fate and whereabouts of persons they have deprived of their liberty,” in violation of international law, the statement alleged. “The failure to acknowledge deprivation of liberty by state agents and refusal to acknowledge detention constitute an enforced disappearance.”
Albanese is an outspoken critic of Israel who has been accused of antisemitic and pro-terror rhetoric. An Italian national, she regularly accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza and has said that the October 7, 2023, massacre, torture, rapes and abductions carried out by Hamas in southern Israel must be put in a “context of decades of oppression imposed on the Palestinians.”
[IsraelTimes] Leaked document says bungled aid distribution helped Hamas mount PR campaign during Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ from May to August; IDF feared unprepared for Gaza City takeover.
#2
The way the Israel Times reports it, it sounds like the generals don’t want to do it Bibi's way. Possibly I am misinterpreting, and it’s merely that the editors don’t want them to do it Bibi’s way.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF will start its gradual call-up of 60,000 reservists tomorrow. The troops will be deployed to fronts across the country, as the IDF moves more active and reservist troops to Gaza ahead of a planned operation to conquer Gaza City.
The majority — around 40,000-50,000 — would be ordered to show up for duty on September 2, the IDF said last month. Another wave is slated to take place in November-December, and a third wave in February-March 2026.
The number of reservists being called up is in addition to tens of thousands of reservists who are currently already serving in the reserves.
The IDF said it was also extending reserve duty for some 20,000 reservists who are currently on duty by another 30-40 days. This would bring the total number of reservists at a given time during the offensive to around 130,000.
#1
IDF Reservist: 'We are going out to put an end to evil' He vividly recalls the horrors of the October 7th massacre: "I was there, at the Supernova Festival, at Be’eri. We were among the first to enter what can only be described as hell. We fought terrorists face to face. They weren’t in uniform—they wore jeans and T-shirts. They looked like ordinary people, but their eyes were filled with pure evil. They came to kill, to slaughter."
When asked about his motivation, Hagai said, "In those moments, there’s no room for hesitation. Politics, the news—they disappear. All you see is what you're fighting for. This isn't just a military battle; it’s a fight for our very soul, our existence. For us, this is a sacred mission."
Hardening Israeli communities against another attempted 10/7.
[IsraelTimes] National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir announces the addition of five additional cities and local councils to the list of localities whose residents are eligible for a private firearms license. In a statement, the ultranationalist politician states that residents of Kiryat Gat, Kiryat Malachi, Gan Yavne, the Megiddo Regional Council and Tel Mond — some some 100,000 people — will now be eligible for such a permit.
“The reform we are leading has already saved many lives and has proven itself in the field. It is designed to enable law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their communities,” says far-right lawmaker Ben Gvir.
In a statement, Ben Gvir’s office says that the decision was made in light of an “increase in security incidents across the country” and came after “professional and thorough staff work” by police and the National Security Ministry. Since the beginning of Ben Gvir’s efforts to increase gun ownership, the government has issued around 230,000 new firearms licenses, it says, calling on people to “check your eligibility” because “a gun in the right hands saves lives.”
Israelis have submitted over 403,000 requests for firearms licenses since October 7, 2023, over half of which have been conditionally granted, the National Security Ministry informed the Knesset National Security Committee in June.
Requests for gun permits surged following Hamas’s massive attack on southern Israel. Last March, Ben Gvir celebrated the approval of 100,000 new gun licenses since October 7, claiming that putting more weapons on the streets has made Israel safer. Women’s groups have decried the rising number of guns in Israeli homes, saying it poses a risk to victims of domestic violence.
In the wake of October 7, the National Security Ministry also granted temporary authority to Ben Gvir’s personal staff appointees, Knesset employees, and others to approve gun license applications. Several were subsequently investigated by police on suspicion that the ministry inappropriately issued firearms permits.
Last November, the High Court of Justice said that licenses were issued “seemingly without authority.”
🚨 BREAKING @ShuratHaDin is taking legal action against Thundberg and Co for deliberately tossing mobile phones into the sea - a direct violation of the international MARPOL convention on marine pollution.
[IsraelTimes] The UN nuclear watchdog has found traces of uranium in Syria in its investigation into a building Israel destroyed in 2007 that the agency has long believed was probably an undeclared nuclear reactor, it says in a report to member states.
The government of now-deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad said the Deir Ezzor site that included the building was a conventional military base.
That’s the Al Kibar site, which Israel destroyed on 6 September 2007 in an operation called alternately Operation Outside the Box and Operation Orchard
The International Atomic Energy Agency concluded in 2011 the building was “very likely” to have been a reactor built in secret that Damascus should have declared to it.
The agency has been trying since then to come to a definitive conclusion, and under a renewed push last year it was able to take environmental samples at three unnamed locations “that were allegedly functionally related” to Deir Ezzor, it says in the confidential report seen by Reuters.
The agency found “a significant number of natural uranium particles in samples taken at one of the three locations. The analysis of these particles indicated that the uranium is of anthropogenic origin, ie that it was produced as a result of chemical processing,” the report says.
The term “natural” indicates the uranium was not enriched. The report doesn’t come to a conclusion as to what the traces found mean.
“The current Syrian authorities indicated that they had no information that might explain the presence of such uranium particles,” the report says, adding that the Islamist-led government had granted the IAEA access to the site concerned again in June this year to take more environmental samples.
The report says the IAEA is still planning to visit Deir Ezzor and will evaluate the results of the environmental samples taken at the other site.
“Once this process has been completed and the results evaluated, there will be an opportunity to clarify and resolve the outstanding safeguards issues related to Syria’s past nuclear activities and to bring the matter to a close,” it says.
#2
To be fair, the current Syrian conquerors had nothing to do with the Assad family venture into nuclear bomb making, and had not been allowed anywhere near it. The Assad joint project with North Korea and the Mad Mullahs ran into Israeli objections a decade after Saddam Hussein had tried the same thing on his own with the same result — the remnants of which were buried under the Iraqi head scientist’s personal rose garden, as I recall, to await a golden era when those Jewish nosy parkers were no longer able to interfere. Sadly, President George W. Bush interfered first, so it is no longer even a dream in Iraq.
[Rudaw] The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) late Sunday denied as "entirely fabricated" the Syrian army’s accusations of festivities between the two forces in northern Syria’s Aleppo province, saying the festivities were internal infighting between Damascus-affiliated forces over influence.
The Syrian army on Sunday claimed that it "confronted a group of SDF members who attempted to infiltrate an army position in the village of Tal Maaz, eastern Aleppo, and fell into a well-planned ambush," according to the state-run SANA news agency.
An army source accused the SDF of targeting the village "in an attempt to withdraw their members" who allegedly were caught in the ambush.
But the Kurdish-led force "categorically" denied the reports, saying "what actually occurred was nothing more than recurring internal disputes over influence among certain factions affiliated with the Damascus government itself."
"We affirm that these claims are entirely fabricated and constitute mere media disinformation. Our forces have neither launched any attack nor engaged in any festivities in recent days," it added.
Backed by the United States, the SDF functions as the de facto military force in the Kurdish-majority northeast Syria (Rojava). It remains a key partner of the US-led global coalition against 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).
The latest statement comes amid ongoing mutual accusations between the SDF and the Damascus government, with each side blaming the other for recent attacks on their respective positions.
In late August, five SDF members were maimed in an attack purportedly carried out by Damascus-affiliated groups in the eastern Deir ez-Zor province. The Kurdish-led force at the time held the Syrian interim government "directly responsible" for the assault.
Earlier that month, the Kurdish-led internal security forces (Asayish), affiliated with the SDF, reported that two of their members were maimed when a "suicide drone" launched by the Syrian interim government struck a security checkpoint in northern Aleppo.
On March 10, SDF chief Mazloum Abdi and Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa signed a landmark agreement to integrate "all civil and military institutions" in northeast Syria (Rojava) under the administration of the Syrian state and to enforce a "ceasefire across all Syrian territory."
However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... the two sides remain at odds over the interpretation of the term integration. While the SDF seeks to join the Syrian forces as a unified bloc, Damascus prefers to individually absorb and assimilate Kurdish fighters into the Syrian army.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/02/2025 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1760 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria/HTS
[Rudaw] The Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria (Rojava) announced on Sunday that it handed over a Brazilian woman and a child - identified as family of 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) members - to a diplomatic delegation from Brazil’s embassy in Damascus.
In a statement, the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) said that a Brazilian delegation headed by Brasilia’s Charge d’Affaires Joao Zanini met with Fanar al-Kait, co-chair of DAANES’s foreign relations department, and Lana Hussein, representative of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), among others.
Of note, the YPJ is a core component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which serves as the de facto military force in Rojava.
During the meeting, "a woman and a child from the families of ISIS were handed over to the Federative Republic of Brazil under an official document signed between both sides, within the framework of humanitarian cooperation," the statement said.
The Brazilian delegation reportedly expressed "deep gratitude for the coordination and support provided" by the DAANES and the SDF. Charge d’Affaires Zanini was cited as saying, "We appreciate the care that ensured the safety and health of our citizens until their return."
The US-backed SDF played a critical role in the territorial defeat of ISIS in Syria in 2019.
The Kurdish-led forces are also responsible for securing the Roj and al-Hol camps in Rojava’s Hasaka province. The two notorious camps house tens of thousands of individuals with suspected links to ISIS.
Although the meeting took place last week, it was only made public on Sunday.
Brazilian authorities had announced the arrival of Karina Ayalin Raiol Barbosa and her 7-year-old son in Brazil last Wednesday. Barbosa had spent about 9 years in areas controlled by ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
The pair were transferred from Rojava to Damascus, then to Doha, Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... , and finally to Sao Paulo where she was reportedly interrogated upon arrival.
This marks the second repatriation operation facilitated by the DAANES and the SDF in recent weeks.
In mid-August, the United States announced that it assisted Tanzania in returning one woman and three children from the Roj camp only weeks before, also expressing gratitude to the Kurdish-led forces in the repatriation.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/02/2025 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1754 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
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.
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
...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 
...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 
...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 
