[Daily Signal] Have you noticed Abbe Lowell is Lawyer To The D-Dirt bags? Lisa Cook, Hunter Biden, Don Lemon,...
A magistrate judge refused to sign an arrest warrant for leftist commentator Don Lemon on charges related to his presence at a church invasion Sunday, and the judge’s ties to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison have raised questions about a potential conflict of interest.
Lemon traveled with and recorded a group of 30-40 agitators who disrupted a service at Cities Church in St. Paul Sunday. The agitators targeted the church because a pastor on staff also appears to be the acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in St. Paul.
Lemon claims he was present as a reporter, not a participant.
Authorities arrested three of the group’s ringleaders Thursday on federal charges, but multiple sources confirmed to Fox News’ Bill Melugin that Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko had denied the Justice Department’s arrest warrant for Lemon. Melugin reported that Micko’s wife works as an assistant attorney general in Ellison’s office.
Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, praised the magistrate judge’s decision.
“The magistrate’s reported actions confirm the nature of Don’s First Amendment protected work this weekend in Minnesota as a reporter,” Lowell told Fox News Digital. “Should the Department of Justice continue with a stunning and troubling effort to silence and punish a journalist for doing his job, Don will call out their latest attack on the rule of law and fight any charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.”
CITIES CHURCH RESPONDS
Renee Carlson, who represents Cities Church as general counsel for True North Counsel, highlighted a previous statement suggesting that, even if Lemon avoids all criminal liability, he may face civil liability.
“The First Amendment does not allow premeditated plots or coordinated actions to violate the sanctity of a sanctuary, disrupt worship, and intimidate small children,” Carlson said in a previous statement she highlighted for The Daily Signal. “There is no ‘press pass’ to invade a sanctuary or to conspire to interrupt religious services.”
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon revealed earlier this week that federal prosecutors were pursuing multiple potential charges over the church invasion, citing the FACE Act as one possible avenue. She noted that while the law has traditionally been used against pro-life activists, the Biden Justice Department expanded its use, and the Trump administration now plans to apply the same legal tools against left-wing extremists who targeted churchgoers.
Dhillon also revealed that another tool at their disposal was the Ku Klux Klan Act. "In other cases, the Biden DOJ used the Klan Act conspiracy charges tacked onto the FACE Act in the case of protests outside abortion clinics to bring much longer sentences," she explained. "So there are a number of tools available to us."
She added, "The Klan Act is one of the most important federal civil rights statutes, and it goes back to the time when President Lincoln emancipated the slaves, and yet the southern states, Dixiecrats mainly, were refusing to give them equal rights.”
Biden-Appointed Judge Releases MN Church Agitators Nekima Armstrong, Chauntyll Allen
[RedState] Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino ruled that two of the most prominent figures in Saturday’s anti-ICE raid on the Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota — Nekima Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen — should be released because they don’t pose a "flight risk."
They may not be a flight risk, but they are certainly a threat to continue their efforts against federal law enforcement — and even houses of worship.
The decision did impose some restrictions on the defendants, however:
Those included: (1) supervision by U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services; (2) travel outside of Minnesota restricted unless approved by a supervising officer; (3) no-contact with any victims or witnesses of the charged offense; (4) no possession of a firearm, destructive device, or other weapon; and (5) at the request of the United States, a stay-away condition which reads: “Defendant shall stay away from the church location identified in the Complaint Affidavit. ‘Stay away’ means no closer than the public sidewalk nearest to the location of the Church.”
They must also surrender their passports.
To be clear, this does not mean the charges have been dropped or that the pair will not still face consequences in the court of law. It's not at all unusual for suspects deemed "non-violent mostly peaceful" to be released before their trial date. In fact, the judge found that the "charged conspiracy is not a crime of violence." You be the judge of whether their incursion on the church was non-violent mostly peaceful.
It’s not the first anti-administration ruling Judge Provinzino has issued: Earlier in January, she blocked Trump from withholding tens of millions in aid to Minnesota's food stamp program while the government investigates the epidemic of fraud in Tim Walz ...Kamala's smarmy-looking VP running mate, governor of Minnesota and self-admitted knucklehead, who decided to retire rather than to deploy with his National Guard unit, then claimed to have been in Iraq and Afghanistan. One man's socialism is another man's neighborliness.... ’s Gopher State.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/24/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1815 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Likely headed to Canada. The US has an extradition treaty with Canada, but with the current state of political affairs, one might wonder what it is worth.
#4
The Biden Administration is a dripping venlarial disease that resists all ointment and shots. It’s going to take proving the 2020 fraud to ditch all his judges.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/24/2026 10:06 Comments ||
Top||
#5
I hear Belgium is welcoming, vibrant living area, and paintings on the walls.
I assume all are here illegally, broke the law since they arrived, or are connected to Hezbollah, the IRGC, or anti-Israel protests.
[IsraelTimes] The US is expected to deport dozens of Iranians back to Iran as soon as Sunday, CNN reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.
According to the news outlet, the flight would mark the first known US deportation to Iran since widespread anti-government protests erupted in recent weeks, and US President Donald Trump threatened the Islamic Regime over its violent crackdown.
CNN notes there are growing concerns over the fate of those on board, including a same-sex couple who have reportedly been told they will be deported despite facing what their lawyer describes as an “extremely high chance” of execution for being gay if they return to Iran.
“They’re facing death sentences by hanging,” Bekah Wolf, a lawyer with the American Immigration Council, tells CNN, saying the pair had previously been arrested by Iran’s morality police and prosecuted for conduct punishable by death.
CNN says it has reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the White House for comment, though they have yet to respond.
An interesting combination. What has the Vatican to do with Hezbollah?
[AnNahar] Major contacts over Leb ...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade.... are being led by Washington and the Vatican and Israeli, U.S. and Iranian officials are meeting in Oman, Lebanon’s Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Friday.
"Shuttle meetings are taking place in the Sultanate of Oman revolving around rearranging the regional landscape, from Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... to Lebanon. Hezbollah is on the negotiating table, and both the Americans and Israelis are discussing this file; therefore, public statements do not reflect the reality of what is happening under the table," the daily said.
"Hezbollah's current adherence to its weaponry and its escalating rhetoric stem from the fact that this arsenal is a subject of negotiation. On one hand, Hezbollah seeks to secure political gains and refuses to lay down its arms for nothing in return. On the other hand, the Iranians intend to play the ’weapons card’ to the very end, offering it in the ’buying and selling market’ and refusing to concede it -- especially since the head of the regime is now under threat and in danger," the newspaper added.
It reminded that President Joseph Aoun had recently visited Oman to "request mediation and facilitate the issue of limiting weapons" to the state.
"Aoun succeeded in highlighting the file, particularly since Oman maintains channels of communication with the U.S., Israel and Iran, and any potential settlement may lead to a resolution of the weapons issue without the need for internal conflict," Nidaa al-Watan said.
Pix/hamasofficial.jpg
[IsraelTimes] Qalandiya Training Center sits on land at risk of expropriation, UN Palestinian refugee body says; Israel demolished organization’s East Jerusalem compound earlier this week
A training center for hundreds of Paleostinians in the West Bank could be closed within days by Israeli authorities, jeopardizing the indoctrination education of students, the UN Paleostinian refugee agency said on Friday.
The Qalandiya Training Center, which teaches 350 young male students from across the West Bank skills such as plumbing and vehicle maintenance, could be shut, as the land it sits on is at risk of expropriation by Israeli authorities, UNRWA said.
"If the center were to be forcibly closed — and we do fear that this could happen within days — there is no educational alternative for these students. So you’re depriving a large cohort of Paleostine refugees of economic opportunities," Jonathan Fowler, UNRWA’s spokesperson, told news hounds in Geneva, speaking via video link from Amman, Jordan.
"The right to education would be under attack there... The international community needs to wake up," he added.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Rooters.
The Knesset has passed legislation banning the group from Israeli territory, barring Israeli officials from having contact with it and shutting it off from Israeli electricity and water. Despite the ban, UNRWA operations, including schools, healthcare and other social services, are still trying to operate in East Jerusalem.
Israel demolished structures inside the agency’s East Jerusalem compound on Tuesday, a site it seized last year.
The agency’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said the demolition was the latest in a series of Israeli actions against UNRWA, including shuttering a medical clinic for 30 days earlier this month and its plan to cut power and water to UNRWA facilities in the coming weeks.
UNRWA has functioned for decades as the main international agency providing social services to millions of Paleostinians in Israel, the West Bank, Jordan and neighboring countries.
Israel has long sought to shutter the agency altogether, saying it perpetuates the conflict by collaborating with Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... and continuing to confer refugee status on Paleostinians rather than resettling them, unlike standard practice with the rest of the world’s refugees.
It ramped up its campaign against the agency after it brought evidence showing that employees of the agency had participated in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught.
Israel has also alleged that more than 10 percent of UNRWA’s staff 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... have ties to terrorist factions, and that educational facilities under the organization’s auspices consistently incite hatred of Israel and glorify terror.
A number of freed hostages who were kidnapped in the October 7 attack have also testified after returning to Israel that they were held in captivity in UNRWA schools and facilities.
#1
Clearly UNRWA Training Centers and etc..
Became safe heaven for the Hamas Genocidal Terrorists. Will the Operators be arrested and brought to justice? Or is the, now exposed compromised UN busy sweeping it all under under their Iranian Carpet?
#2
UNWRA is waging a quiet war on Israel’s existence, NN2N1. In an existential war, first you win, then you worry about anything else. In this case, Israel’s objective needs to be to send them away so they can’t brainwash the kids anymore. Beyond that it doesn’t matter, and if they don’t try and imprison foreign personnel they won’t have to deal with another propaganda war they can’t win. Local personnel can be pinned down on other charges, as they’ll all be tied to one PLO-linked terror group or another.
[IsraelTimes] Arab diplomat says mediators understood Israel would’t agree to reopen border on its own, decided to make announcement anyway, letting Jerusalem know ahead of time, but not consulting
Next week’s slated reopening of the Rafah Crossing between 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... and Egypt was "imposed" on Israel, a US official and an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel on Friday.
The Arab diplomat said mediators of the Gaza ceasefire — the US, Egypt, 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 The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... — recognized that Israel wasn’t going to agree on its own to reopen the border gate between Egypt and Gaza.
While Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war envisioned the reopening of Rafah at the start of the ceasefire that was reached in October, Israel has sought to limit its use to the exit of Gazooks while insisting on the return of the final hostage and the disarmament of Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... before making the gate fully operational.
Recognizing that Israel wasn’t going to budge on the issue, Gaza mediators decided to go ahead and announce Rafah’s reopening this week during the signing ceremony for the Board of Peace in Davos, Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... , the Arab diplomat says.
The reopening was first announced by the chief commissioner of the National Committee for the Administration of Paleostine, with the Arab diplomat explaining that it was part of the Gaza mediators’ effort to secure quick wins for NCAG, the 12-member panel of Paleostinian technocrats tasked with replacing Hamas in running Gaza’s daily affairs.
The Arab diplomat said Israel was informed ahead of time that the announcement was going to be made, even if it wasn’t consulted.
The issue was raised during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meetings with Trump and his top aides in Florida last month, where Washington made clear that it expected Israel to reopen Rafah, a US official said, adding that the Israeli premier indicated that he would comply.
Even after the announcement in Davos, Netanyahu’s office has held off on confirming that Rafah will indeed reopen next week, instead issuing a statement to news hounds attributed to an anonymous Israeli official who said that the security cabinet would discuss the issue at the beginning of the week, previewing a meeting whose conclusion appeared foregone.
The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Hebrew media reported Thursday that while Israel is readying to open Rafah amid international pressure, it still plans to conduct significant oversight of the crossing.
Israel will operate a remote surveillance system at the crossing, be in charge of granting advanced approval to travelers coming in and out of the Gaza Strip, and be able to scan any computers or other electronic devices passing through, the Kan public broadcaster said.
While the Israel Defense Forces will not be physically present at the crossing, Israeli troops will be deployed nearby and operate their own checkpoint aimed at preventing weapons smuggling.
The crossing itself will be operated by officers from the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... Border Assistance Mission, founded in 2005 to monitor the crossing, along with uninformed members of the Paleostinian Authority’s intelligence service, Kan said. The same framework was used during the previous Israel-Hamas ceasefire in January 2025. Israel shuttered the crossing around two months later, and it has remained closed since.
Earlier Friday, three sources familiar with the matter told Rooters that Israel wants to restrict the number of Paleostinians entering Gaza through the border crossing with Egypt to ensure that more are allowed out than in, in what appeared to vindicate those insisting that Jerusalem remains intent on shrinking the Strip’s population to make way for Israeli settlements.
The three sources told Rooters it was still not clear how Israel planned to enforce limits on the number of Paleostinians entering Gaza from Egypt, or what ratio of exits to entries it aimed to achieve.
EXPANDING SHELTER SUPPLIES IS TOP PRIORITY
The Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel Friday that while reopening Rafah is an important step, its practical implications for Gazooks will be limited and that expanding the amount of humanitarian aid going into the Strip is far more critical. The entry of basic food into the enclave has surged since the October ceasefire, but rights groups say temporary housing materials are desperately needed and still largely blocked by Israel.
The vast majority of Gaza’s population of two million people has been displaced by the war, and hundreds of thousands are currently living in tents.
The US official said expanding humanitarian access into Gaza will be a top priority, as Channel 12 reported that US President Donald Trump ...The man who was so stupid he beat fourteen professional politicians, a former tech CEO, and a brain surgeon for the Republican nomination in 2016, then beat The Smartest Woman in the World in the general election. Then he beat Kamala while dodging bullets... ’s top aides, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, were due to meet Netanyahu in Israel on Saturday.
On Thursday, the UN agency for children announced that Israel began allowing recreational supplies for kids into Gaza for the first time since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught and the ensuing Gaza war.
UNICEF said that 5,168 recreational kits entered the Strip over the past week, supporting more than 375,000 children, including 1,000 with special needs.
The supplies include notebooks, pencils, erasers and crayons, which the UN said Israel was barring on the grounds that they weren’t life-saving materials. Israel’s COGAT body declined requests to explain the policy.
"For young children around the world, including in Gaza, playing is not a luxury, but how they develop language, motor skills, problem-solving, and social-emotional skills," said UNICEF’s Ted Chaiban, who visited Gaza this week. "Now we must be permitted to bring all other education and Early Childhood Development (ECD) supplies into Gaza soon to benefit 336,000 children with the most basic materials they need to be able to learn."
[IsraelTimes] Witkoff and Kushner also said expected in Israel; senior Iranian official says ‘everything is on high alert’ as Islamic Republic readies for potential US attack, threatens response
Commander of the United States Central Command Adm. Brad Cooper is expected to arrive in Israel on Saturday for meetings with bigwigs, the Kan public broadcaster reported Friday, as US President Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... indicates he is maintaining the possibility of strikes on Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... amid its crackdown on protests.
Earlier Friday, Channel 12 news reported that White House adviser Jared Kushner and US special envoy Steve Witkoff are also set to land in Israel on Saturday for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They are expected to discuss Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... and 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... , with an emphasis on efforts to secure the return of Ran Gvili, the last remaining hostage still held in Gaza, as well as possible discussions regarding Iran.
Trump has threatened military action if Iran carried out mass executions of prisoners or killed peaceful demonstrators, but he recently backed away, claiming Iran halted the hangings of 800 detained protesters. He has not elaborated on the source of the claim, which Iran’s top prosecutor called "completely false."
However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... Trump appears to be keeping his options open, saying Thursday aboard Air Force One that his threatened military action would make last year’s US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites "look like peanuts" if the government proceeded with planned executions of some protesters.
He added that the United States had an "armada" heading toward Iran, including an aircraft carrier group and its thousands of troops, but hoped he would not have to use it.
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and three accompanying destroyers left the South China Sea and began heading west earlier this week, a US Navy official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said Friday that the Lincoln strike group was in the Indian Ocean.
An official source quoted by Fox News said the strike group had yet to enter CENTCOM’s sphere of command and is not expected to be within striking distance of Iran for several more days or even a week.
When they arrive in the region, those warships would join three littoral combat ships, which were in port in Bahrain on Friday, as well as two other US Navy destroyers, which were at sea in the Persian Gulf.
The arrival of the carrier strike group would bring roughly 5,700 additional service members. The US has several bases in the Middle East, including Al Udeid Air Base in 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... , which hosts thousands of American troops and is the forward headquarters for US Central Command.
Central Command said on social media that the Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle now has a presence in the Mideast, noting the fighter jet "enhances combat readiness and promotes regional security and stability."
Similarly, the UK Ministry of Defense said Thursday that it deployed its Typhoon fighter jets to Qatar "in a defensive capacity."
Analysts of flight-tracking data have noticed dozens of US military cargo planes also heading to the region.
The activity is similar to last year when the US moved in air defense hardware, like a Patriot missile system, in anticipation of an Iranian counterattack following the bombing of three key nuclear sites in June during the Israel-Iran war. Iran launched over a dozen missiles at Al Udeid Air Base days after the strikes.
’EVERYTHING ON HIGH ALERT IN IRAN’
Ahead of the arrival of the aircraft carrier strike group and US other military assets to the Middle East in the coming days, a senior Iranian official said Friday that Iran will treat any attack "as an all-out war against us."
"This military buildup — we hope it is not intended for real confrontation — but our military is ready for the worst-case scenario. This is why everything is on high alert in Iran," said the senior Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered... "This time we will treat any attack — limited, unlimited, surgical, kinetic, whatever they call it — as an all-out war against us, and we will respond in the hardest way possible to settle this," the official said.
"If the Americans violate Iran’s illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity, we will respond," added the Iranian official. He declined to specify what an Iranian response might look like.
"A country under constant military threat from the United States has no option but to ensure that everything at its disposal can be used to push back and, if possible, restore balance against anyone who dares to attack Iran," the official said.
Also Friday, Ottoman Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan claimed there were signs that Israel was still seeking an opportunity to attack Iran, warning such a move could further destabilize the region.
"I hope they find a different path, but the reality is that Israel, in particular, is looking for an opportunity to strike Iran," Fidan said in a televised interview.
[IsraelTimes] The United States imposes sanctions on nine vessels of what is known as the shadow fleet and eight related firms, the US Treasury Department says in a statement, as Washington seeks to escalate pressure on Iran over the recent killing of protesters.
The Treasury says the vessels and their respective owners or management firms, which include entities based in India, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, have collectively transported hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian oil and petroleum products to foreign markets.
“Today’s sanctions target a critical component of how Iran generates the funds used to repress its own people. As previously outlined, Treasury will continue to track the tens of millions of dollars that the regime has stolen and is desperately attempting to wire to banks outside of Iran,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says in the statement.
Rights groups say thousands of people, including bystanders, have been killed during the unrest in Iran, which they describe as the biggest crackdown since Shi’ite Muslim clerics took power in the 1979 revolution.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene against Iran over the recent killings of protesters there, but protests dwindled last week and Trump’s rhetoric regarding Iran has eased.
The shadow fleet refers to ships that carry oil that is under sanctions. They are typically old, their ownership opaque and they sail without the litop-tier insurance cover needed to meet international standards for oil majors and many ports.
[Reuters] Syrian troops and Kurdish forces were massed on opposing sides of front lines in northern Syria on Saturday, as the clock ticked down to an evening deadline that would determine whether they resume fighting or lay down their arms.
Neighbouring Turkey, as well as some officials in Syria, said late on Friday that the deadline could be extended.
Government troops have seized swathes of northern and eastern territory in the last two weeks from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in a rapid turn of events that has consolidated President Ahmed al-Sharaa's rule.
Sharaa's forces were approaching a last cluster of Kurdish-held cities in the northeast earlier this week when he abruptly announced a ceasefire, giving the SDF until Saturday night to come up with a plan to integrate with Syria's army.
CULMINATION OF A YEAR OF RISING TENSIONS
As the deadline approached, SDF forces also reinforced their defensive positions in the cities of Qamishli, Hasakeh and Kobane for a possible fight, Kurdish security sources told Reuters.
Syrian officials and SDF sources said it was likely the Saturday deadline would be extended for several days, possibly up to a week.
"Extending the ceasefire for a little longer may come onto the agenda," said Hakan Fidan, the foreign minister of Turkey, which is the strongest foreign backer of Sharaa's government and sees the SDF as an arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.
The possible showdown in northern Syria is the culmination of rising tensions over the last year.
Sharaa, whose forces toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, has vowed to bring all of Syria under state control - including SDF-held areas in the northeast.
But Kurdish authorities who have run autonomous civilian and military institutions there for the last decade have resisted joining up with Sharaa's Islamist-led government.
After a year-end deadline for the merger passed with little progress, Syrian troops launched an offensive this month.
US, FRANCE CAUTION SHARAA ON KURDS, SOURCES SAY
They swiftly captured two key Arab-majority provinces from the SDF, bringing key oil fields, hydroelectric dams and some facilities holding Islamic State fighters and affiliated civilians under government control.
The U.S. has been engaging in shuttle diplomacy to establish a lasting ceasefire and facilitate the integration of the SDF - once Washington's main partner in Syria - into the state led by its new U.S.-favoured ally, Sharaa.
Senior officials from the United States and France, which has also been involved in talks, have urged Sharaa not to send his troops into remaining Kurdish-held areas, diplomatic sources told Reuters.
They fear that renewed fighting could lead to mass abuses against Kurdish civilians. Government-affiliated forces killed nearly 1,500 people from the Alawite minority and hundreds of Druze people in sectarian violence last year, including in execution-style killings.
Amid the instability in the northeast, the U.S. military has been transferring hundreds of detained fighters from the Islamic State group from Syrian prisons across the border into Iraq.
Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, in a phone call on Saturday that Baghdad should not bear the "security and financial burdens" of the transfer of IS prisoners alone, the Iraqi foreign ministry said in a statement.
Turkey's Fidan, speaking on broadcaster NTV late on Friday, cited these transfers as possibly necessitating an extension to the Saturday deadline.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
01/24/2026 04:14 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1781 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria/HTS
They take care of genuine terrorists, but neither they not the Red Cross/Red Crescent bothered even to try to access the 250+ hostages the Gazans took on 10/7.
[IsraelTimes] The UN refugee agency says it managed to enter a camp in northeastern Syria housing thousands of suspected relatives of Islamic State group fighters, and has resumed aid deliveries.
After initially saying volatile security had prevented it from entering, UNHCR says on X that it, “accompanied by Syrian Government officials, was able to enter inside Al-Hol camp,” adding that “the delivery of essential supplies has resumed, including trucks carrying bread.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/24/2026 2026-01-24 01:35 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1766 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] The echoes of the "war on terror" in the Middle East are not dying down, and due to the escalation in Syria, they are taking on a new sound.
After the US effectively shut down the Syrian Democratic Forces, Kurdish militias were forced to make concessions to the Damascus government, including handing over control of numerous special prisons in the northeastern regions of the country where former jihadists are held.
The transfer did not go smoothly everywhere, and in almost all cases some of the radicals managed to escape.
The US attempted to ease the burden of control placed on Damascus and transfer some of the convicts to Iraqi prisons, but this step created even more problems and gossip, jeopardizing its own plans to leave the region.
PRISON CONTRACT
The Syrian Democratic Forces, which consisted primarily of Kurdish militias, guarded the special prisons for almost ten years.
The first field camps for holding captured militants were established in 2017 under the supervision of the American contingent that arrived in the region. Subsequently, the Americans began using Kurdish-controlled territory as a "collection point" for terrorists detained by Western forces, rather than handing them over to Bashar al-Assad's government.
At one point, the number of prisoners under SDF guard exceeded 10,000 (almost twice the number held in government prisons). Approximately half of them were relatives of militants.
Damascus's attempts to demand the handover of terrorists for trial were torpedoed by Washington, and due to the density of American military bases in the region, the likelihood of Damascus forcibly removing the terrorists was reduced to zero.
Essentially, the parties struck a mutually beneficial deal: the Kurds would protect, the US would provide cover. This simple formula worked until regime change in Syria.
The new authorities failed to find common ground with the Kurds and, after a series of attempts to sign an integration agreement, launched a military campaign against the SDF in January 2026.
The US, contrary to expectations, withdrew from protecting its former allies—despite persistent requests from the Kurds to intervene. And it remained adamant even after claims that the Syrian government's operation jeopardized the future of the special prison system.
Moreover, as US Presidential Special Representative Thomas Barrack later noted, the US did not even have any momentary doubts about the correctness of its chosen policy of non-intervention.
The Kurds had "fulfilled their historic mission" and were now required to hand over the territory (and the institutions located there) to the newly empowered central authorities. The "prison contract" had been transferred to a new contractor.
TAKE YOURS
However, American authorities deemed it unnecessary to leave such a large number of former jihadists in troubled Syria. On January 21, the day after the final fighting between the Syrian army and the SDF ceased, US Central Command announced the launch of a mission to transfer detained militants from northeastern Syria to Iraq "to ensure their safe custody."
The first flights to Baghdad involved 150 high-risk criminals (most of whom were from that country). In total, the United States plans to transfer over 7,000 prisoners from the special contingent, thereby "cleansing" Syria's special prisons by at least 80%.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on his allies in the anti-terrorism coalition to repatriate their citizens held in Iraq who are suspected of collaborating with the terrorist underground.
The "voluntary release" of former militants should, in theory, relieve congestion in Iraqi prisons and ensure that radicals are tried within the framework of national legal models.
However, Washington's partners met this proposal with little enthusiasm. Neither side has yet stated a willingness to take back their compatriots.
Coalition members are particularly concerned about reports from the field.
The Syrian army's recent attempts to forcibly seize the Al-Aqtan and Shaddadi security facilities (before Kurdish guards had fully vacated them) resulted in chaos, resulting in the escape of numerous foreign terrorists. Among them were at least thirty militants with German citizenship and at least a dozen "radical Frenchmen."
Estimates of escapees also vary: Damascus claims that only 150 prisoners from special camps managed to escape (most of whom were quickly recaptured by troops), while the Kurds put this figure at least tenfold. They also hint that several particularly dangerous militants have already managed to flee Syria or found refuge with "gray" groups (for example, Firqat al-Ghuraba, which consists primarily of French-speaking radicals).
Ambiguous statements are fueling even more hysteria. European officials (albeit mostly behind the scenes) are pressuring Damascus to find the fugitives as quickly as possible and report back. Threatening to take action against the transitional government if they fail to do so.
The Syrians, however, shrug their shoulders and accuse the Kurds of creating “artificial tension” in relations with the West.
NEW RISKS
Even taking into account the US intention to transfer foreign fighters to Iraq and from there “distribute” them to their home countries, this does not completely solve the problem of Damascus.
In any case, prisoners with Syrian citizenship (according to the latest data, there are more than a thousand of them) will remain in the country; responsibility for their detention will fall on the local government.
Damascus is unlikely to risk re-educating former militants into reformed allies of the new regime. Especially since many of those held previously fought against President Ahmed al-Sharaa and his supporters in the armed opposition.
The question of who will be assigned to guard the institutions received from the Kurds also remains open, given that the Syrian Ministry of Internal Affairs continues to face an increased personnel shortage, and the army has no intention of taking on additional tasks.
Technically, the General Security Service (GSB), whose functions include protecting high-value facilities, could close the gap.
However, following the December 2025 terrorist attack in Palmyra, carried out by a career SSS officer, Damascus is trying to keep the SSS away from correctional facilities. The risk of "sleeper" radical sympathizers among the guards is too great.
For the same reason, Damascus is hesitant to promote weakly loyal or competing pro-Turkish forces (including, for example, the Al-Sultan Murad Division), fearing, justifiably, that they will use their control over prisons as a tool to pressure the transitional government. And in the event of a direct conflict with Damascus, they will open the door to militants, creating chaos.
Of course, supervision could be entrusted to tribal loyalists from the numerous militias that have joined the anti-Kurdish offensive.
First and foremost, to the fighters of the Deir ez-Zor Military Council, who previously rendered an invaluable service to the Syrian troops by promptly creating chaos in the rear of the Kurds and forcing the latter to retreat from key oil fields.
However, the Bedouins are unwilling to serve as guards. Moreover, they expect the same honorary status within the Syrian Ministry of Defense that the "Uyghur Guard" previously received.
Loyalists from the Arab Tribal Army (ATA), the irregular forces that served as the battering ram during the SDF offensive, also failed to live up to expectations.
In particular, after the Kurds abandoned the Al-Hul camp, where relatives of militants were being held, APA fighters were the first to reach it. Taking advantage of the general confusion, they helped more than a hundred prisoners escape before advance units of the Syrian army arrived and sealed off the perimeter.
The militias justified their decision by claiming that Bedouin loyalists who had upset the Kurds were being held captive under the guise of militants. However, this could never be confirmed, and the matter was hushed up for now.
MOVEMENT OF SPECIAL CONTINGENT
In the ensuing chaos, few people paid attention to Iraq's position.
The US is presenting the operation to move the special contingent as a "joint decision" between Washington and Baghdad, but Iraqi elites think differently.
The Republic agreed to accept only the first batch of jihadists, while plans to transfer seven thousand radicals there at once (in addition to the 3.5 thousand already held there) were learned about after the fact.
It's no surprise that Baghdad raised an outcry and demanded that the international community intervene—at the very least, to take back their compatriots or help improve the security of local prisons.
Otherwise, local pessimists didn't rule out riots and mass prisoner escapes. Like Rubio's appeal, this request went unanswered, and Iraqi authorities harbored a grudge against Washington.
In addition, in response to the increased threat, Baghdad was forced to increase patrols in areas bordering Syria.
This task is entrusted to Shiite militias that are part of the republic's armed forces, but are also formally members of the pro-Iranian "Axis of Resistance." In other words, Washington has given Tehran additional leverage over the Iraqi leadership and, in turn, legitimized the presence of Iranian proxies in the Syrian border region.
Iran has gained the ability to conduct cross-border operations without fear of claims from either Baghdad or Damascus.
Finally, by launching a chain of special contingent movements, Washington has undermined its own strategic interests, namely, its desire to minimize its direct presence in the Middle East.
The updated "National Security Doctrine" adopted at the end of 2025 removed the region from the list of "especially dangerous" and priority areas in terms of combating the terrorist threat.
Now that Baghdad has issued a very direct warning about the risks of "terrorist riots" due to the increasing concentration of radicals in prisons, the United States will have to constantly monitor the situation.
This will require the involvement of additional resources and, as a result, will not allow us to reduce attention to this area.
[AnNahar] Europeans were among 150 senior Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group jihadist detainees transferred from Syria to Iraq earlier this week as part of a U.S. operation, two Iraqi security officials told AFP Friday.
The group, which the U.S. military transferred to Iraq on Wednesday, were "all leaders of the Islamic State group, and some of the most notorious criminals," and included "Europeans, Asians, Arabs and Iraqis," one security official said.
Another security source said the group included "85 Iraqis and 65 others of various nationalities, including Europeans, Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... ese, Somalis, and people from the Caucasus region".
He added that they "all participated in IS operations in Iraq," including the 2014 offensive that saw the jihadist group seize large areas of Iraq and neighboring Syria.
"They are all at the level of emirs," the official added.
They are now held at a prison in Baghdad.
The group is the first batch of 7,000 IS suspects, previously held by Syrian Kurdish fighters, that the U.S. military said it will transfer to prisons in Iraq.
Thousands of suspected jihadists and their families, including foreigners, have been held in detention centers and camps in Syria since IS's defeat in 2019 at the hands of Kurdish-led forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition.
Washington announced the plan to transfer IS detainees after the Kurdish-led forces relinquished swathes of territory under pressure from Syrian government forces.
The Iraqi judiciary said it would launch legal proceedings against the IS detainees transferred from Syria.
Iraqi courts have handed down hundreds of death sentence ...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead... s and life prison terms to people convicted of terrorism offences, including hundreds of imported muscle -- some caught in Syria and transferred across the border.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/24/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1778 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.
...Kamala's smarmy-looking VP running mate, governor of Minnesota and self-admitted knucklehead, who decided to retire rather than to deploy with his National Guard unit, then claimed to have been in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
