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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Naim Kassem, Nasrallah’s former deputy, admitted Hezbollah’s military distress by calling for an ‘unconditional’ ceasefire; Israel demands Hezbollah disarm and pull back beyond the Litani River
2024-10-09
[PUBLISH.TWITTER] Yesterday he “unconditionally” demanded Israel put down weapons first. Now he is separating from Gaza’s war…

Israel’s response is just like UNSC Resolution 1701, that ended the 2006 Lebanon War. The one that Hassan Nasrallah swore Hezbollah would respect, back in the day. Sadly, he can’t swear again to respect it now.

That’s one message. See here for a different one. And then there is pressure from Iran, according to the Times of Israel:
According to a Channel 12 report on Tuesday citing unnamed sources in Beirut, Iran is pushing Hezbollah to seek out a ceasefire deal in order to "cut its losses" after a long list of brass hats in the group have been killed in recent weeks.

Visiting Beirut on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran backs efforts for a ceasefire in Leb
 on the condition it would be backed by Hezbollah and be simultaneous with a ceasefire in the Gazoo Strip.

US State Department front man Matthew Miller said Tuesday that Qassem’s public backing of ceasefire efforts shows that Hezbollah is "on the back foot and is getting battered," leading the group to "change their tune."
Related:
UNSC Resolution 1701: 2011-12-05 Lebanon files UN complaint over Israel's rocket response
UNSC Resolution 1701: 2009-06-21 Eight convicted in UNIFIL conspiracy
UNSC Resolution 1701: 2007-11-10 'Israel and US sharing intel on Iran'
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Suspected Israeli airstrikes Sunday hit aid trucks, military sites in Syria: Monitor
2024-10-08
Now we know what the Israelis went after at that Iranian factory building in this story from yesterday. What odds the trucks were carrying weapons for Hizbollah instead of the listed aid supplies?
[Rudaw] A suspected Israeli Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
 on Sunday struck aid trucks loaded with foods and supplies bound for refugees from Leb
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the 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 Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
 in Syria’s central Homs province, injuring three people, a war monitor reported.

"Israeli airstrikes attacked three trucks loaded with food and medical supplies at an Iranian car factory in Hasba’a industrial area in southern Homs, injuring three members of the relief teams," the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The convoy was "coming from Iraq to deliver humanitarian aid to the Lebanese affected by the Israeli airstrikes," according to SOHR.

The Iraqi Red Islamic Thingy Society told Rudaw on Saturday that it has been providing humanitarian aid to Lebanon, including tons of food, blankets, and medicine, through air and ground since the latest conflict began two weeks ago.

SOHR, which relies on a network of local sources, reported that 150 trucks entered Syria from Iraq on Friday through the al-Bukamal - al-Qaam border crossing.

On Friday, the Damascus-Beirut road was put out of service following Israeli airstrikes on both sides of the Syria-Lebaon border.

The UN Refugee Agency in an update on Thursday described the crossing as "the primary entry point for most of the Syrian and Lebanese families crossing into Syria."

This comes amid a recent escalation of Israeli operations in Lebanon targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

According to data compiled by SOHR, about 200 Syrian nationals were killed as a result of Israeli airstrikes in Syria and Lebanon in September.

Since the conflict began, 1.2 million people, nearly a quarter of the Lebanese population, have been displaced, Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Wednesday.

The United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
 on Monday, citing Lebanese officials, reported that more than 1,600 people have been killed and 8,000 maimed in Lebanon by Israeli bombardments since October 2023.

Israeli strikes target ‘military sites’ in central Syria Sunday: State media

[Rudaw] A number of Israeli airstrikes on Sunday targeted “several military sites” in central Syria, causing material damage, state media reported, as regional tensions intensify against the backdrop of the Israel-Gaza war.

“At around 8:05 pm today, the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of northern Lebanon, targeting a number of military sites in the central region,” Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported, citing a military source. SANA said the strikes caused material damage.

Israel has recently intensified its strikes on Syria, targeting warehouses of the Syrian army and Iran-backed militia positions across the country.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reported that the strikes targeted three Syrian army sites in the central Homs and Hama provinces.
Related:
Homs province: 2024-09-29 Two Israeli airstrikes Friday kill 5 Syrian soldiers, one near Damascus province village, the second at Homs border crossing
Homs province: 2024-08-20 Russian pilot prevents collision with F/A-18 bomber in Syria
Homs province: 2024-08-10 Suspected Israeli strike targets Syria's Homs
Related:
Bukamal: 2024-09-30 US military base in Syria attacked with rockets and drones; US responds by killing 15 Iranian catspaws dead, dead, dead
Bukamal: 2024-08-03 Two pro-Iran fighters killed in Deir ez-Zor countryside: Monitor
Bukamal: 2024-07-30 Two pro-Iran fighters killed by ISIS in Deir ez-Zor countryside: Monitor
Related:
Hama province: 2024-09-10 Israeli strikes on Syria kill at least 14, says state media
Hama province: 2024-09-05 ISIS kills three regime forces in Syrian desert: Monitor
Hama province: 2024-06-15 ISIS kills 19 regime soldiers in Syria Wednesday amid combing operation, 2 more toes up Tuesday
Link


Good Morning
2024-09-26



Secretary of State Antony Blinken becomes
third Biden official to be held in contempt of Congress
Thursday 09/26/2024

Diana Rigg 641
Home Front: WoT
Iran video about hunting Trump		Bangladesh
Islamists have started fighting against
each other in the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka.
Britain
Two men jailed for raping three young girls		Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Drone from Iraq hits Eilat port,
causing damage and lightly injuring two
Israel-Palestine-Jordan
US stopped Israel from launching Hezbollah
war in October based on false alarm %u2013 report 		Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Israeli strikes Wednesday in Leb: Lebanese health ministry reports 72 killed, 392 wounded, IAF struck 280 Hizbollah targets
China test-fires ICBM for first time in decades

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hizbullah loses parliamentary majority, Oct. 17 secures 16 seats
2022-05-18
[AnNahar] Lebanon Hezbollahstan
...In 2020 Hezbollah blew up a considerable portion of Beirut and many of its inhabitants when its ammonium nitrate facility exploded. They blamed it on... somebody else. It wasn't them though. Trust them on that. And it ain't never coming to trial...
's Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
 and its allies lost their parliamentary majority, official results showed Tuesday, while independents achieved a surprise breakthrough.

Full results announced by the interior ministry two days after the election revealed that no bloc will control the 128-seat assembly, a deadlock observers fear could usher in a tense period of political jostling.

The polls, the first since Lebanon was ravaged by its worst ever economic crisis and a cataclysmic explosion at Beirut port in 2020, were seen as a prerequisite for a crucial IMF bailout.

The Hizbollah-led coalition won 61 seats in the 128-member legislature, a drop of 10 members since the last vote was held four years ago. They fell short of the 65 needed to retain a majority following Sunday's polls. The loss was largely due to setbacks suffered by the group’s political partners, and was not expected to weaken the group’s domination of Lebanese politics. All 13 Hizbullah candidates who ran got elected.

Their strongest opponents in parliament will be led by the Christian Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
 party of former warlord Samir Geagea
...Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005...
, that raked in several new seats on the back of a virulent anti-Hizbullah campaign.

New reformist faces who entered the legislative race on the values of a 2019 anti-establishment uprising made a stronger showing that many had predicted.

17 candidates who backed the 2019 protest movement won seats. At least twelve of them will sit in parliament for the first time.

Together with independents and other non-aligned MPs who have sometimes supported the now-defunct protest movement's demands, they could find themselves in a kingmaking position.

They could obtain the support of MP Osama Saad, who supported the protests, and new MP Abdul Rahman al-Bizri.

That was a major achievement considering they went into the vote fragmented and facing intimidation and threats by entrenched mainstream parties. Their showing sends a strong message to ruling class politicians who have held on to their seats despite an economic meltdown that has impoverished the country and triggered the biggest wave of emigration since the 1975-90 civil war.

One of the most notable victories notched up by independents was the election in the third South district of Elias Jradeh and Firas Hamdan for seats that Hizbullah and its allies had not lost in three decades.

Another major satisfaction for those described in Lebanon as the "thawra" (revolution, in Arabic) candidates, was the defeat of several reviled MPs loyal to the Syrian government of Bashir al-Assad.

Hizbullah weapons: Will polls make radical changes
[AnNahar] The main issue that would polarize the new parliament elected on Sunday is Hizbullah's right to keep an arsenal that is described as equivalent to or better than the state's.

Some see it as a historical right and the best defense for the small Mediterranean country while others consider Hizbullah's weapons to be the root of all of Lebanon's ills.

“They forgot the political system, economic system, corruption, the war in Syria and its effects on Lebanon and they forgot the American sanctions,” Hibullah's MP Hussein Haj Hassan said.

Sami Nader, an analyst with the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, said that Hizbullah had suffered symbolic losses but was skeptical the polls could yield radical changes.

"Hizbullah and the Iranian axis took a blow but will this pave way for change in Lebanon? I have doubts," he told AFP.

The formation of a government, the election of parliament's speaker and the presidential election could all be very contentious and lead to protracted political crises.

Speaker Nabih Berri has held his job since 1992.

President Michel Aoun, the world's third oldest head of state, had long planned for his son-in-law Jebran Bassil to take over but the Lebanese Forces' surge in the polls could disrupt that scenario.

Disarming Hizbullah has dominated political campaigns among almost all of the group’s opponents, while Hizbullah supporters consider the group defended Lebanon against Israel and against attacks by the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-linked militants over the years.

Related: Final results: Interior Ministry announces all 128 MPs
Link


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Hizbollah to fight with Russia in Ukraine as they have a Jewish President and a Muslim Woman VP.
2022-03-12
[Twitter]
DeNAZIfication:
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
No Govt. Solution as Miqati-Hizbullah Tensions Deepen Crisis
2022-01-06
[An Nahar] Amid the latest rapid developments in the country, the efforts to resolve the standoff over Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar seem to have ceased, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Wednesday.

"There will be neither a solution nor a (Cabinet) session, and the focus is now on other issues," a senior political source told the daily.

"The latest tensions between Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
 will be an addition reason to deepen the crisis, although Hizbullah has told the relevant parties that it is not inclined to complicate things," the source added.

COMMENTS 5
Thumbmarcus 8 hours ago03
and he named his government: "Together For Rescue"!

Reply
Thumbthepatriot 7 hours ago01
This is why the French insisted for a non partisan Cabinet.
Hariri tried I guess.
But this power thirsty vampire was ready to compromise.
Months of negotiations, speculations, tractations, for that!
At the end of the day, it is always the duo or their poxies who block, paralyse, and command, and the good people of Lebanon keep on electing those thugs! Learn ya chabeb, learn...

ReplyReport
Missingarturo 6 hours ago01
Everyone knows that Nasrallah will not allow an investigation into the blast because the facts will direct blame to Hezbollah. Either the other parties will accept Hezbollah's position or Hezbollah will set up a government without them. Hezbollah is a dictator with military superiority over the LAF, so there's not much to discuss.

Reply
Missingsingldad 5 hours ago01
same shit
different day

Reply
Missingeasygoing 4 hours ago00
But, what is the solution to get rid of Hizbollah then? Civil war? International intervention? There is no future for Lebanon while this cave people are around..
Link


Down Under
Inside the 'AN0M' bust: How fake encrypted app sting saw 4,000 cops sweep through the underworld arresting more than 100 and seizing trove of 3.77 tonnes of drugs, $45 million in cash, guns and GODFATHER memorabilia
2021-06-08
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Huge AFP bust has seen 4,000 cops storm Australia's underworld overnight

  • In the nation's biggest ever police bust, 224 people have been arrested

  • Cops used world-leading tech to bust criminals' encrypted message systems

  • But Mail can reveal mission was almost compromised by a tech geek blogger

  • Ninja Warrior star Sopiea Kong was arrested after 154g of meth was seized

  • Bachelorette star Samuel Minkin was charged with possession of cannabis

  • Former Bandito bikie
    ...bikies are motorcycle gangs, Middle Eastern lads, primarily Lebanese. There are Sunni bikie gangs, Shiite bikie gangs, and even one called Soldiers of Islam. Along with the usual, they’re fond of stolen rocket launchers and molesting women on Australian beaches. In 2019 new linkages were revealed between Australia’s narco-jihadis and the Hispano-American drug routes that have been connected to Hizbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp. ...
    Benjamin Joseph Thornton was arrested and denied bail

  • Police charged 224 alleged offenders and shut down six clandestine laboratories
Former Bandito bikie Benjamin Joseph Thornton, 31, was arrested after police seized two mobile phones and a small quantity of cocaine. He was denied bail and will reappear in court next week.

The bust exposed new details about how one of Australia's most wanted fugitives gave police extensive access to the world's criminal underworld.

Drug kingpin and Comancheros bikie associate Hakan Ayik has spent the last decade on the run from Australian authorities after fleeing the country in 2010.

Now living in Turkey, he was tricked into distributing messages to his criminal associates around the world via encrypted communications app AN0M, unaware it was being run by FBI special agents.

Three years ago, Australia Federal Police identified Ayik as a key influencer to successfully distribute the encrypted AN0M devices due to his high status in the criminal underworld.

Then known as Joseph Hakan Ayik, the Sydney bikie associate and gym junkie fled Australia in 2010 to avoid arrest over a $230 million heroin importation.

Ayik, subbed one of the world's most prolific drug-smuggling masterminds, was later detained in Cyprus but then escaped and fled to Turkey, where he has created a new life.

He invested his proceeds of crime in hotel and resort developments while living a lavish lifestyle that extended to flashy cars and private yachts.

His Dutch wife, hair transplant business owner Fleur Messelink publicly flaunted the couple's elaborate lifestyle on Instagram until this week.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said the alleged syndicate included 'some of the most dangerous criminals to Australia'.

'We allege they are members of outlaw motorcycle gangs, Australian Mafia, Asian crime syndicates and serious and organised crime groups,' he told reporters on Tuesday.

'We allege they've been trafficking illicit drugs into Australia at an industrial scale.

'Sadly, criminal gangs are targeting Australia because it is one of the most profitable countries in the world to sell drugs, and for three years, this operation has been overt.'

Mr Kershaw said detectives have arrested the alleged 'King makers' behind the alleged crimes, prevented mass shootings in suburbs and 'frustrated serious and organised crime by seizing their ill-gotten wealth'.

'And these figures are likely to increase over the coming days. Collectively, these alleged offenders are facing jail terms that could run into hundreds of years and some of the charges they are facing carry life imprisonment,' he said.
Related:
Bikie: 2019-08-10 New Zealand Police Arrest 2 British Men in Huge Meth Bust
Bikie: 2019-06-26 Australia announces record 1.8 TON seizure of crystal meth shipped from Thailand
Bikie: 2019-06-07 Australia meth bust: shipment of speakers used to hide largest onshore seizure
Link


India-Pakistan
‘Count the days’: Death threat against Israeli envoy left at site of India blast
2021-02-01
[IsraelTimes] Letter addressed to ambassador says he is under constant observation, cites slain Iranian commander, nuclear scientist, is signed by ’Indian Hezbollah’.

A letter found close to the scene of a blast outside the Israeli embassy in New Delhi last week was a death threat to the ambassador that warned he was being constantly being watched and could be attacked at any time, Channel 13 news reported Sunday.

The handwritten note, in English, but riddled with grammatical and spelling errors, was addressed to Israel’s ambassador, Ron Malka, and referred to him as a "terrorist of the terrorist nation."

It claimed to be from the "India Hizbollah," a group that is not previously known, according to the report, which included a photo of the letter. Lebanese Hezbollah is an Iran-backed terror organization that is sworn to Israel’s destruction.

"This is just a trailer presented to you, that how we can observe you," even when "eating your pie," the letter began.

Warning that Malka is in their crosshairs, the letter said "you cannot stop anyway no matter how hard you would pick, we can end your life anytime anywhere."

It said that while the attackers want to destroy Malka "we don’t want [to] flow the blood of innocent people around you."

Declaring that all "participants and partners" of Israeli "terrorist ideology will be no more in existence" the letter warned: "now get ready for a big and better Dire Revenge for our heroes."

It then listed "deaders" Qassem Soleimani
 — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander who was killed in a January 2020 United States dronezap, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a top Iraqi militia commander who was killed along with Soleimani, and Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the architect of Iran’s nuclear program, killed in a November 2020 attack Tehran has blamed on Israel.

"All that is left is for you to count the days," the note ended.

The investigation is focusing on India students who studied in 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 Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and are now suspected of operating in India under Iranian orders, the report said.

A police statement described the Friday explosion as caused by a "very low-intensity improvised device" that blew out the windows on three nearby cars and said a preliminary investigation "suggests a mischievous attempt to create a sensation."
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Leb: Quantity of Dangerously Stored Fuel Seized in Tariq al-Jedideh
2020-10-20
Some of this kind of thing, of course, is the usual inshallah storage. But some of it will turn out to belong to Hizbollah and other jihadi groups with various affiliations, and those removals will make the entire country safer... for a while at least.
[AnNahar] A large quantity of fuel posing risk to public safety was seized Monday in the Beirut neighborhood of Tariq al-Jedideh, ten days after a gasoline tank explosion in the same area killed three people, injured over 50 and caused massive damage.

In a statement, Beirut Municipality said the quantity was seized after Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud called on all citizens residing or working in Beirut to report any flammable material stored in underground or lower floors of residential buildings.

Abboud had also tasked the Beirut Fire Brigade, Beirut’s municipal guards and a specialized department at Beirut Municipality with inspecting such warehouses and reporting any threat to public safety.

In Monday’s raid, 1,185 liters of gasoline and three barrels of kerosene were seized in an underground book depot in a Tariq al-Jedideh building opposite to the Makassed General Hospital.

"The aforementioned depot does not enjoy the least requirements of public safety and during inspection it turned out that its portable fire extinguishers were expired," the statement said.

"At the request of Governor Abboud, Fire Brigade and Beirut Guard crews confiscated the barrels and moved them to a safe location, averting a possible disaster among residential buildings and neighborhoods," the statement added.
Related:
Tariq al-Jedideh: 2018-11-28 Roads Blocked in Protest at Wahhab's Anti-Hariri Remarks
Tariq al-Jedideh: 2017-06-07 Mashnouq Confirms IS Plot to Blow Up Dahieh Restaurant Foiled
Tariq al-Jedideh: 2014-07-06 Security Raids in Search for Terrorists Continue, But Discreetly
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hezbollah has been creating ‘electronic armies’ since 2012 — report
2020-08-03
[IsraelTimes] The Hezbollah terror group has trained thousands of students in "electronic warfare," including the propagation of fake news, since 2012, according to The Telegraph.

It reports: "A Telegraph investigation can today reveal that Hizbollah has trained thousands of Iran-backed social media activists, helping create so-called ’electronic armies’ across the region. This newspaper can disclose that since at least 2012, Hizbollah has been flying individuals into Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
 for courses teaching participants how to digitally manipulate photographs, manage large numbers of fake social media accounts, make videos, avoid Facebook’s censorship, and effectively spread disinformation online.

"Students have come from Iraq, Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
, Bahrain, and Syria, according to interviewees that spoke to The Telegraph on the condition of anonymity."
Link


Iraq
US carrying out retaliatory strikes in #Iraq in response to a rocket attack on Wednesday that killed two US troops and a British service member
2020-03-13
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
The Times of Israel adds this follow up to yesterday evening’s breaking post on the counterattack.
British army also takes part in strikes on Kataeb Hezbollah weapons facility day after missiles fired at base kill 3 troops.

The US launched Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s Thursday in Iraq, targeting the Iranian-backed Shia militia members believed responsible for the rocket attack that killed and maimed American and British troops at a base north of Baghdad, the Pentagon said..

US officials said multiple strikes by US fighter jets hit five locations and mainly targeted Kataeb Hezbollah
...also spelt Kata’ib Hizbollah and Kataib Hezbollah just in the past few days...
weapons facilities inside Iraq. A Defense Department statement said the strikes targeted five weapons storage facilities "to significantly degrade their ability to conduct future attacks."

US officials said the locations of the strikes were largely around the Baghdad region. One US official said there were two strikes at Jurf al-Sakher, one in Karbala, one at al-Musayib, and one at Arab Nawar Ahmad. The official said the US expected casualties would be lower than 50, and said the main effort was to hit the weapons.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because some details about the operations had not yet been made public.

An official with the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Units told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that two Iraqi federal police personnel were killed in Jurf al-Sakher. An Iraqi military statement said the aerial "aggression" occurred at 1:15 a.m. in the areas of Jurf al-Sakher, al-Musayib, Najaf and Alexandria on the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Units, emergency regiments and commandos of the 9th division of the Iraqi army.

The strikes marked a rapid escalation in tensions with Tehran and its proxy groups in Iraq, just two months after 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 Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
carried out a massive ballistic missile attack against American troops at a base in Iraq. They came just hours after top US defense leaders threatened retaliation for the Wednesday rocket attack, making clear that they knew who did it and that the attackers would be held accountable.

"The United States will not tolerate attacks against our people, our interests, or our allies," Defense Secretary Mark Esper said. "As we have demonstrated in recent months, we will take any action necessary to protect our forces in Iraq and the region."

The Pentagon statement said the facilities hit in the precision strikes were used to store weapons used to target the US and coalition forces. It called the counterattack "defensive, proportional and in direct response to the threat" posed by the Iranian-backed Shia militia groups.

Esper told news hounds at the Pentagon earlier Thursday that President Donald Trump
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
 had given him the authority to take whatever action he deemed necessary.
Related:
Kataeb Hezbollah: 2020-01-03 Satellite photos show results of US airstrikes last Sunday on Iran-backed Iraqi militia
Kataeb Hezbollah: 2020-01-02 'You can't do a damn thing!' Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei hits back at Donald Trump after the president threatened to make him pay a 'big price' for US embassy attack
Kataeb Hezbollah: 2020-01-01 M-22 Ospreys Deliver US Marines to US Embassy Baghdad
Related:
Kataib Hezbollah: 2020-03-11 Rocket attack in Iraq kills two Americans and a British citizen
Kataib Hezbollah: 2020-02-14 Rocket attack hits northern Iraq base hosting US troops
Kataib Hezbollah: 2020-02-14 Two rockets targeted a military base in #Kirkuk which hosts #US troops, no casualties reported
Link


Iraq
Killing Soleimani Was The Right Move, And Shows Precisely Why It's Time To Leave Iraq
2020-01-06
[The Federalist] President Donald Trump’s order to kill Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad was the right call. At the same time, that he had to make this call, how he had to make it, and the mortal danger to American assets it presents, illustrate exactly why U.S. forces should not spend a day longer in Iraq than necessary to end our long-dwindling interests.

Iran needed to learn a hard, swift lesson. For four decades, it has ratcheted global temperatures up and down with a close eye on America’s reaction. Kidnapping, terror, extortion, sabotage, and blockades have all been used since the Islamic Republic’s inception in 1979. On Thursday, the U.S. president made Iran understand what should have always been understood: Orchestrating an attack on a U.S. embassy is a line no country shall cross.

For more than 30 years, from 1988 until Jan. 3, 2020, Soleimani had been the Michael Jordan of Iranian black-ops, leading his elite al-Quds fighting force to wage and plot unconventional warfare from neighboring countries to Washington, D.C., killing at least 500 U.S. servicemen along his merry way. He seemingly moved about the Middle East with impunity, even making time for a jaunt to Moscow shortly after President Barack Obama granted him run of the region with the ill-fated Iran Deal.

The ticket to his final destination took him from Lebanon, where he coordinated his pet Hizbollah, to Baghdad International Airport, where, roughly 15 miles from the U.S. embassy he’d ordered besieged that week, his trip came to an abrupt end.

Some say as illustrious career as his ought to end with a gold watch or silver plate; instead, it ended a smear on the road. His dead friends, including the leader of the Shia militia whose killing of an American contractor had launched this whole fracas, had driven out to meet his plane. No doubt they felt safer from U.S. retaliation close to their Iranian overlord. In the meantime, Soleimani’s family will have to take heart he was with those friends‐ that, and the low priority Islam places on an open casket.
Oh, SNAP!
When the Romans ruled the world, it was called Pax Romana ‐ Roman Peace ‐ and it held. Two thousand years ago, when St. Paul was ordered scourged, he asked a Roman centurion, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?" The soldiers "immediately let go of him; and the commander also was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had put him in chains."
Link



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