Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Islamic Scientists Association	Islamic Scientists Association	Islamic Scientists Association	Iraq-Jordan				20040529	Link
al-Jamaa al-Islamiyya	al-Jamaa al-Islamiyya	Al-Nahda	Africa North				20060304	Link

Africa Horn

Two Men Found Guilty of Financing 2019 Al-Shabaab hotel Attack in Kenya

2025-05-24

[Garowe] A court in Kenya has found two men guilty of aiding an al-Shabaab

... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all ofwhich have enough problems without them...
attack in Kenya that left 21 people dead in 2019, with the Kahawa Law Courts linking them directly with the prime perpetrators following evidence tabled before the judge.

The two, Hussein Mohammed Abdille Ali and Mohammed Abdi Ali, who were earlier found to have a case to answer, appeared before Lady Justice Diana Kavedza, who found them guilty on all charges except one, of conspiring to commit a terrorist act contrary to the law.

According to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP), Hussein was found guilty of facilitating the gunnies through the payment of $6500 to one of the killers who died instantly after the attack.

"The court found that he had facilitated the attack by transferring a total of Ksh.. 836,900 (6500) via M-Pesa to Ali Salim Gichunge, also known as Farouk or Erick Kinyanjui Munyi — the dear departed attacker and a member of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group," stated the ODPP.

"These transactions occurred between October 14, 2018, and January 12, 2019, in the Soko Mbuzi area of Mandera County."

A total of 46 witnesses were presented by the prosecution, which played an integral role in securing convictions. The team wants sentences for each count to run consecutively rather than concurrently.

The court ordered the preparation of a probation report within 21 days, to be submitted by June 17, 2025. The matter was scheduled for a sentencing hearing on June 19, 2025. This is a major breakthrough in the fight against al-Shabaab.

In the recent hearing of the case, the first accused, Mire Abdulahi, previously entered a plea bargain with the prosecution and was duly convicted and sentenced. The court on January 21st found that the two suspects had a case to answer.

During the trial in January, Lady Justice Kavedza in her ruling said, "Having considered the evidence of 55 witnesses, including expert testimonies, and the material presented before me, I am satisfied that the prosecution has established a prima facie case against the two accused persons. I hereby place the second accused, Hussein Mohammed Abdile, and the third accused, Mohammed Abdi Ali, on their defence."

Shabelle Media adds:

Two Kenyan men charged with facilitating the 2019 attack on a luxury hotel complex that left 21 people dead were found guilty on Thursday and will be sentenced next month.

Judge Diana Kavedza, while sitting in a court in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, ruled that the prosecution had proved that Hussein Mohamed Abdille Ali and Mohamed Abdi Ali sent money and helped acquire fake identification documents for the militants who died during the DusitD2 hotel complex attack.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack,

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran-backed Palestinian terror groups said to leave Syria under pressure from Sharaa

2025-05-24

[IsraelTimes] Flight of pro-Assad factions comes amid Trump’s demand that the new regime crack down on Palestinian terrorism as a condition for sanctions relief

Leaders of Iran-backed Paleostinian terror groups in Syria close to former president Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
have left the country under pressure from the regime of Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the ouster of the Iran-backed strongman in December, Paleostinian sources said Friday.

The armed factions’ flight comes amid a White House demand that Sharaa crack down on Paleostinian terror groups as a condition for the removal of Washington’s sanctions on Damascus. There have also been unconfirmed reports that Syria’s new regime has held indirect talks with Israel on potential normalization between the two countries, despite Israeli leaders’ deep suspicion of Sharaa due to his jihadi past.

The crackdown did not appear to affect the Syrian presence of 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...
-based Hamas
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
, which is also backed by Iran, nor that of Fatah, the secularist faction that dominates the West Bank-based Paleostinian Authority.

The leader of one Iran-backed Paleostinian group, who left Syria after Assad’s overthrow, said on condition of anonymity that "most of the Paleostinian factional leadership that received support from Tehran has left Damascus" to countries including Leb
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel...
. Another faction leader still in Damascus confirmed the development.

The first faction leader said "the factions have fully handed over weapons in their headquarters or with their cadres" to the authorities, who also received "lists of names of faction members possessing individual weapons" and demanded that those arms be handed over.

A third Paleostinian faction source in Damascus said that after Assad’s overthrow, "we gathered our members’ weapons ourselves and handed them over, but we have kept individual light weapons for protection... with the [authorities’] authorization."

In Yarmouk, a Paleostinian refugee camp in the Damascus suburbs that was devastated during Syria’s civil war, factional banners usually displayed at the entrance were gone and party buildings were closed and unguarded, AFP photographers said. Factional premises elsewhere in Damascus also appeared closed.

Many Paleostinians fled to Syria in 1948 following the creation of Israel, and from the mid-1960s Syria began hosting the leadership of armed Paleostinian factions. Iran-backed Paleostinian groups enjoyed considerable freedom of movement under Assad.

Washington, which designates some of the factions as terrorist organizations, last week announced it was lifting sanctions on Syria. The White House had earlier said the new Syrian regime would have to comply with demands, including suppressing terrorism and preventing "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 its proxies from exploiting Syrian territory."

According to the White House, during a meeting in Saudi Arabia

...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
last week, US President Donald Trump
...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party...
gave Sharaa a list of demands that included deporting "Paleostinian terrorists."

The Iran-backed Paleostinian factions in Syria, along with other terror groups from Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
, are part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance®, which is openly committed to Israel’s destruction. Some Axis members fought alongside Assad’s forces when civil war erupted in Syria in 2011.

In neighboring Lebanon, a government official told AFP that the disarmament of Paleostinian camps, where factions usually handle security, would begin next month based on an accord with visiting Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
, who also met with Sharaa in Damascus last month.

’UNWELCOME’
The Iran-backed Paleostinian groups in Syria "did not receive any official request from the authorities to leave Syrian territory" but instead faced restrictions, the first faction leader told AFP.

Some factions "were de facto prohibited from operating," or their members were arrested, he said, adding that the new authorities have seized property from "private homes, offices, vehicles and military training camps in the Damascus countryside and other provinces."

Syrian authorities did not immediately provide a comment to AFP when asked about the matter.

Earlier this month, officials from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine-General Command (PFLP-GC) said Syrian authorities briefly detained factional chief Talal Naji.

In April, Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
said Syrian official Khaled Khaled and organizing committee member Yasser al-Zafri were tossed into the calaboose "without explanation." A source from the group told AFP on Friday that they were still detained.

The second Paleostinian faction leader, from a group that has remained in Damascus with limited representation, said there was "no cooperation between most of the Paleostinian factions and the new Syrian administration."

"The response to our contact is mostly cold or delayed. We feel like unwelcome guests, though they don’t say that clearly," he added, also requesting anonymity.

A Hamas official in Gaza told AFP that it had "channels of communication with our brothers in Syria."

Hamas has minimal representation in Syria, having left the country after the civil war there began. Hamas’s ties with the Assad regime had deteriorated amid the terror group’s support for opposition demands.

Yarmouk camp resident Marwan Mnawar, a retiree, said that "nobody knows what happened to the factional leadership," adding that "people just want to live, they are exhausted" by the conflict and factional infighting.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israel targeted Muhammad Sinwar in rare moment when he had no hostages around him — report

2025-05-24

[IsraelTimes] TV report says Hamas chief made mistake of meeting with top commanders without his usual protective ‘hostage belt’; when Israel was sure no captives were present, it bombed

The strike that targeted and possibly eliminated Hamas
Hamas

..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
leader Muhammad Sinwar 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...
earlier this month was made possible when the terror chief made the rare mistake of moving without a defensive "hostage belt" protecting him, according to a Friday report.

Channel 12 aired new details on the massive strike on Sinwar and other top Hamas officials in a Khan Younis tunnel on May 13 that is currently believed to have killed Sinwar, the de facto commander of Hamas in Gaza, following Israel’s killing of his brother Yahya last October.

The network said Muhammad Sinwar was almost always surrounded by hostages throughout the war, as Hamas leaders realized this was a strong deterrent against Israeli liquidation attempts. And indeed, Channel 12 said Israeli intelligence had long tracked Sinwar but repeatedly ruled out potential strikes on him when presented with the opportunity due to fears there were hostages in his vicinity.

"No risks are taken if there’s even a one percent chance that hostages are in the area," a security source told the network.

The report said Sinwar became even more careful following the death of his brother in a firefight with Israeli forces, and that only a very small number of people knew his location at any time, echoing a report Thursday in the Wall Street Journal.

However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all...
for unknown reasons, Sinwar decided on May 13 to meet with the commander of the Rafah Brigade in Hamas’s military wing, Mohammad Shabana, as well as other senior commanders, without his usual escort of hostages.

The Wall Street Journal quoted Hamas and Arab officials who said the meeting of tap-ranking Hamas figures was convened to discuss their approach to talks on a ceasefire and hostage release deal, among other matters.

Presented with this opportunity, the Israeli Air Force immediately began preparing for a strike, the report said, though top officers expected it would likely be called off due to fears of harming hostages.

However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all...
when ironclad intelligence arrived that no hostages were present, the IAF was given the green light, jets were scrambled, and the bombing went ahead.

The strikes targeted an underground command compound below the European Hospital. The Hamas-run health ministry reported 16 dead and over 70 maimed in the strike, though there was no immediate word if Sinwar was among the casualties.

The IDF later bombed the area several more times, in an apparent attempt to prevent anyone from approaching the tunnel and aiding the terror operatives.

According to the officials cited by the Wall Street Journal, Hamas recovered Sinwar’s body a day after the strike and temporarily buried it in another tunnel, with the intention of moving his remains to a more suitable grave once the fighting ceases.

Saudi channel al-Hadath reported that Sinwar’s body was was recovered along with the remains of 10 of his aides. Hamas has not confirmed this.

Israel has also not confirmed that Sinwar was killed, but Defense Minister Israel Katz said that "according to all the indications Muhammad Sinwar was eliminated."

Following the killing of Hamas’s top military commander, Muhammad Deif, last July, Muhammad Sinwar took charge of the terror group’s military wing. Later, after Sinwar’s older brother Yahya was killed by IDF troops, he became the de facto leader of the terror group in the Strip.

Israeli officials have described Muhammad Sinwar as obstinate concerning negotiations for the release of hostages, and an obstacle to reaching a ceasefire deal.

The younger Sinwar was also wanted for terrorist actions against Israel and has been active in Hamas for decades.

He was locked away
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
by Israel in the 1990s for nine months and spent an additional three years in a Paleostinian Authority prison in Ramallah, from which he escaped in 2000. In 2006, Sinwar was part of the Hamas cell that kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. He also previously commanded Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade.

Most of Hamas’s leadership has been eliminated by Israel during the ongoing war, which was sparked when the terror group stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.

On Thursday, Paleostinian media reported that Zakaria Sinwar, brother of Yahya and Muhammad Sinwar, succumbed to wounds sustained in an Israeli ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
...KABOOM!...
on Saturday night.

Zakaria, a lecturer at the Islamic University in Gaza, was initially said to have been killed in the strike, but media reports later said he had been critically injured.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Hezbollah seeks boost in Lebanon vote as disarmament calls grow

2025-05-24

[IsraelTimes] Though the terror group was badly weakened by the war with Israel, popular support among Lebanese Shi’ites remains strong

Amid the rubble left by Israeli bombardment of south Leb
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
, campaign posters urge support for Hezbollah in elections on Saturday as the group aims to show it retains political clout despite the pounding it took in last year’s war.

For Hezbollah, the local vote is more important than ever, coinciding with mounting calls for its disarmament and continued Israeli ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s, and as many of its Shi’ite Moslem constituents still suffer the repercussions of the conflict.

Three rounds of voting already held this month have gone well for the Iran-backed terror group. In the south, many races won’t be contested, handing Hezbollah and its allies early wins.

"We will vote with blood," said Ali Tabaja, 21, indicating loyalty to Hezbollah. He’ll be voting in the city of Nabatieh rather than his village of Adaisseh because it has been destroyed.

"It’s a desert," he said.

The south’s rubble-strewn landscape reflects the devastating impact of the war, which began when Hezbollah began launching regular attacks on Israel in October 2023 in support of Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
following the latter terror group’s devastating attack on southern Israel.

After nearly a year of war, Israel launched a major offensive against the organization. Hezbollah emerged as a shadow of its former self, with its leaders and thousands of its fighters killed, its influence over the Lebanese state greatly diminished, and its Lebanese opponents gaining sway.

In a measure of how far the tables have turned, the new government has declared it aims to establish a state monopoly on arms, meaning Hezbollah should disarm.

Against this backdrop, the election results so far indicate "the war didn’t achieve the objective of downgrading Hezbollah’s popularity in the community," said Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center, a think tank. "On the contrary, many Shia now feel their fate is tied to Hezbollah’s fate.

Hezbollah’s election performance "really matters," Hage Ali added. "It shows they still represent the great majority of Shi’ites and underlines the reality that any attempt by other Lebanese to disarm them by force would risk being seen as a move against the community and jeopardize civil peace."

Hezbollah’s arms have long been a source of division in Lebanon, sparking a brief civil conflict in 2008. Critics say Hezbollah has unilaterally involved Lebanon in wider Middle East conflicts.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has called for dialogue with Hezbollah over a national defense strategy, implying discussion of its weaponry, but talks have yet to begin.

Wednesday saw the Lebanese and Paleostinian Authority presidents agree that Paleostinian factions won’t use Lebanon as a launchpad for any attacks against Israel, and to remove weapons that aren’t under the authority of the Lebanese state.

Foreign Minister Youssef Raji, a Hezbollah opponent, has said that Lebanon has been told there will be no reconstruction aid from foreign donors until the state establishes a monopoly on arms.

Hezbollah, in turn, has put the onus on the government over reconstruction and accuses it of failing to take steps on that front, despite promises that the government is committed to it.

A US State Department spokesperson said that while Washington was engaged in supporting sustainable reconstruction in Lebanon, "this cannot happen without Hezbollah laying down their arms."

"We have also made clear that transparency and economic reform are the only path to greater investment and economic recovery for the country," the spokesperson said in response to a Rooters query.

Hezbollah claims its weapons are now gone from the south, but links any discussion of its remaining arsenal to Israel’s withdrawal from five positions it still holds, and an end to Israeli strikes.

Israel says Hezbollah still has combat infrastructure, including rocket launchers in the south, calling this "blatant violations of understandings between Israel and Lebanon." It says the five positions are necessary to defend northern Israel from the threat of Hezbollah, which had planned an October 7-style attack on northern communities.

A French diplomatic source said reconstruction would not materialize if Israel continues striking and the Lebanese government does not act fast enough on disarmament.

Donors also want Beirut to enact economic reforms.

Hashem Haidar, head of the government’s Council for the South, said the state lacks the funds to rebuild, but cited progress in rubble removal. Lebanon needs $11 billion for reconstruction and recovery, the World Bank estimates.

In Nabatieh, a pile of rubble marks the spot where 71-year-old Khalil Tarhini’s store once stood. It was one of dozens destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Nabatieh’s central market.

He has received no compensation and sees little point in voting. Expressing a sense of abandonment, he said: "The state did not stand by us."

The situation was very different in 2006, after a previous Hezbollah-Israel war. Aid flowed 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 ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and Gulf Arab states.

Hezbollah says it has aided 400,000 people, paying for rent, furniture, and renovations. But the funds at its disposal appear well short of 2006, recipients say.

Hezbollah says state authorities have obstructed funds arriving from Iran, though Tehran is also more financially strapped than two decades ago due to tougher US sanctions and the reimposition of a "maximum pressure" policy by Washington.

As for Gulf states, their spending on Lebanon dried up as Hezbollah became embroiled in regional conflicts and, echoing the US, they declared it a terrorist group in 2016. Saudi Arabia

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

After 5th round of nuclear talks, Iran says discussions with US ‘complicated’

2025-05-24

[IsraelTimes] Oman’s FM says ‘some but not conclusive progress’ made in negotiations

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday that Tehran’s discussions with the United States over its nuclear program were "complicated," as the fifth round of talks concluded in Rome.

"The negotiations are too complicated to be resolved in two or three meetings," said Araghchi, who leads the Iranian negotiating team in the talks mediated by Oman.

Araghchi said there was potential for progress in nuclear negotiations after Oman made several proposals.

Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said "some but not conclusive progress" was made. "We hope to clarify the remaining issues in the coming days to allow us to proceed toward the common goal of reaching a sustainable and honorable agreement."

The talks, which began in April, are the highest-level contact between the foes since the United States quit a landmark 2015 nuclear accord during President Donald Trump
...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party...
’s first term.

Since returning to office, Trump has revived his "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran, backing talks but warning of military action if diplomacy fails.

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...
wants a new deal that would ease the sanctions, which have battered its economy.

The fourth round of talks, in the Omani capital Muscat, ended with a public spat over enrichment. Witkoff said Washington "could not authorize even one percent" enrichment — a position Tehran called a red line, citing its rights under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Ahead of Friday’s talks, Araghchi said "fundamental differences" remained with the United States, while adding that Tehran was open to its nuclear sites undergoing more inspections.

"We will not have an agreement at all" if the United States wants to prevent Iran from enriching uranium, he said.

The talks came ahead of a June meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the October expiry of the 2015 accord.

The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aimed to allay Western suspicions that Iran was seeking a nuclear weapons capability, an ambition that Tehran has denied, while enriching uranium to levels that have no civilian application.

In return for curbs on its nuclear program, Iran had received relief from international sanctions. But the accord was torpedoed in 2018 when Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States and reimposed sanctions. Iran responded by ramping up its nuclear activities.

It is now enriching uranium to 60 percent — far above the deal’s 3.67 percent cap but below, though close to, the 90 percent level needed for a nuclear warhead.

Analysts in Tehran said Iran was unlikely to back down.

"It’s quite simple; if the US expects Iran to halt nuclear enrichment, then there can’t be a deal," said Mohammad Marandi, a political scientist who was once an adviser on the nuclear issue.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran says the country’s nuclear industry employs 17,000 people, similar to other countries where uranium is enriched for civilian use.

"The Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea, Brazil and Japan enrich without possessing nuclear weapons," its front man Behrouz Kamalvandi said.

Iran’s enmity with Israel, whose main backer is the United States, has been a constant backdrop to the talks.

In a letter to the United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
, Araghchi wrote: "We believe that in the event of any attack on the nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republic'>Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran by the Zionist regime, the US government will also be involved and bear legal responsibility."

The warning came after CNN
...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for...
, citing unnamed US officials, reported Israel was making preparations to carry out such a strike.

The White House said Trump had a "productive discussion" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday about Iran and the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington.

Friday’s talks took place before an IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna in June, during which Iran’s nuclear activities will be reviewed.

The 2015 deal provides for the possibility of UN sanctions being reimposed through a mechanism called "snapback" if Iran fails to fulfil its commitments.

The agreement’s three European parties — Britannia, La Belle France and Germany — have warned they will trigger the mechanism if the continent’s security is threatened.

Araghchi said such a move would have "consequences — not only the end of Europe’s role in the agreement, but also an escalation of tensions that could become irreversible."

Mosssd
Mosssd

...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end...
chief David Barnea and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer met US negotiator Steve Witkoff in Rome on Friday on the talks’ sidelines.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn they could pursue a nuclear weapon if the nation is threatened.

"Iran almost certainly is not producing nuclear weapons, but Iran has undertaken activities in recent years that better position it to produce them, if it chooses to do so," a new report from the US Defense Intelligence Agency said.

"These actions reduce the time required to produce sufficient weapons-grade uranium for a first nuclear device to probably less than one week."

However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds...
it likely still would take Iran months to make a working bomb, experts say.

Asked about the negotiations, US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said "we believe that we are going to succeed" in the talks and in Washington’s push for no enrichment.

"The Iranians are at that table, so they also understand what our position is, and they continue to go," Bruce said Thursday.

One idea floated so far that might allow Iran to stop enrichment within the country but maintain a supply of uranium could be a consortium in the Mideast backed by regional countries and the US.

There are also multiple countries offering low-enriched uranium that can be used for peaceful purposes by countries.

However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds...
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has maintained that enrichment must continue within the country’s borders, and a similar fuel-swap proposal failed to gain traction in negotiations in 2010.

Link

Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Demolition of the mosque in Leninaul brings the issue of the Aukhovsky district to the forefront

2025-05-24

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The Chechen mosque in Leninaul was demolished in violation of the order of the Mufti of Dagestan, the issue will be resolved with the participation of theologians from the republics of the North Caucasus Federal District, stated the Mufti of Chechnya Salakh Mezhiyev, announcing a discussion of the restoration of the Aukhovsky District.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot", in Leninaul, Kazbekovsky District, Dagestan, despite agreements with the authorities, a Chechen mosque built in the 19th century was demolished, village residents stated in a video message. The plot of land in Leninaul, where, according to representatives of the Chechen community, the 19th century mosque was located, was sold at auction to a representative of the Avar community, who transferred it for the construction of a mosque.

The authorities did not find any documents in the archives about the ownership of this plot of land by the Chechens, the administration of the Kazbekovsky District stated. The Muftiate and the Council of Chechens of Dagestan agreed to resolve the issue of demolishing the mosque in Leninaul according to Sharia law. Islamic scholars called the demand to build a mosque on the site of the demolished one not a norm of Islam, but simply a local tradition.

There are many unclear points in the story of the demolition of the mosque in Leninaul, but the decision to demolish it was hasty and provoked interethnic tensions, commentators pointed out, drawing attention to the lack of reaction to the statement of the Chechen Accidents by the Chechen authorities.

The Mufti of Chechnya, head of the Coordination Center of Muslims of the North Caucasus (CCMC) Salakh Mezhiev, stated that those who demolished the mosque in Leninaul disobeyed the Mufti of Dagestan.

"Before this happened, on May 6, we sent our delegation, our representatives to the Mufti of Dagestan. They reported that such a question was at issue, to which the Mufti of Dagestan quite rightly, clearly and distinctly said that this was unacceptable," he said in a video published on the KCMSC Telegram channel.

But the mosque was demolished. "The people who did this disobeyed, first of all, the Mufti of Dagestan. After that, we sent our delegation again, and the Mufti of Dagestan, of course, expressed his dissatisfaction with what happened. We agreed that after the Hajj we would sit down and discuss this at the level of theologians," the publication from May 23 says.

He noted that the Dagestani side had called for this investigation. Therefore, this incident will be resolved according to Islamic norms with the participation of theologians from other republics of the North Caucasus.

This has been a sore point for many years. Upon returning from exile after Stalin's repressions, Chechens are unable to move into their homes

"There will be two questions. Firstly, to what extent does the demolition of the mosque comply with the norms of Islam, what happened, and what should we do next. The second question is a sore point for many years. Upon returning from exile after Stalin's repressions, Chechens cannot move into their homes. As the chairman of the Coordination Center of Muslims of the North Caucasus Federal District, I would like to note that this trial will not only be between theologians of Dagestan and Chechnya. Other theologians from all spiritual administrations of the North Caucasus will also be present there," the mufti emphasized.

The Aukhovsky district, where the Chechens-Akkintsy lived compactly, was liquidated in 1944 after Stalin's deportation of the Chechens and Ingush. In the northwestern part of the district's territory, the Novolaksky District was formed, this part was populated by Laks from the mountainous part of Dagestan, and the southeastern part of the district was transferred to the neighboring Kazbekovsky District together with the villages of Yurt-Aukh and Aktash-Aukh and populated by Avars from the neighboring village. Thirteen years later, in 1957, the Akkin Chechens, like the rest of the deported Vainakh peoples, were allowed to return to their historical homeland.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Katz Offers a Fight: Swinger Spies Tried to Kill Israeli Hawk

2025-05-24

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Leonid Tsukanov

[REGNUM] Spy scandals in Israel have reached a new level: Israel Katz, the head of the Israeli Defense Ministry and one of the close associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is in the crosshairs of Iranian intelligence.

The Israelis have uncovered an assassination attempt on Katz and are certain that its goal was to disrupt the operation to destroy the Iranian nuclear arsenal.

However, the desire to emphasize the “Iranian trace” in the spy story rather suggests the opposite: Tel Aviv is desperately looking for a reason to disrupt negotiations between Tehran and Washington, and at the same time justify its own operations against Iran.

CONSPIRATORIAL FRIENDS
The main defendant in the case is considered to be Roy Mizrahi, a 24-year-old computer science student at the Technion, one of the oldest and leading engineering schools in the country.

Mizrahi is known to have fallen into a honey trap and was recruited by Iranian operatives through the Haifa swingers' community he belonged to.

Moreover, by the time of the meeting with the Iranians, the suspect had accumulated a lot of debt due to his passion for card games, which gave Tehran's special services another lever of influence. The young programmer found himself firmly entangled in a spy network.

At first, he was entrusted with simple tasks: distributing propaganda materials and collecting information about the mood of Israeli youth. However, a little later they decided to use his computer engineer skills to his advantage.

On the orders of the Iranians, Mizrahi installed a live camera near the Haifa port and gave access to it to his handlers. According to some reports, he also participated in organizing small DDoS attacks on city institutions several times.

A few weeks later, when the new agent's loyalty was no longer in doubt, Mizrahi helped the Iranians expand their spy network by recruiting his friend Almog Atias.

He worked as a driver-forwarder and was known as a gambling addict, and therefore needed money. To "deepen the acquaintance" the Iranians gave him a "starting allowance" of $300.

At that time, Iranian intelligence apparently decided to entrust a promising agent with a truly big task.

OPERATION HAWK
The plotters were ordered to eliminate Israeli cabinet member Israel Katz. Since becoming defense minister in the fall of 2024, he has become one of the most ardent "hawks" in the coalition government and a lobbyist for a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear infrastructure. His elimination was entirely in Tehran's national security interests.

A few days after learning about the plan, the newly formed team was transferred to the south of the country, to the community of Kfar Ahim, where Katz lived permanently. There they were supposed to install a surveillance camera, ensuring constant monitoring of the minister's home. However, the appearance of a police patrol ruined their plans.

Fearing surveillance, the conspirators destroyed the camera and switched to a backup plan: an attack on the ministerial motorcade. For this purpose, a rifle and a pistol with silencers were purchased on the black market, as well as several homemade bombs.

Also, according to testimony, the accused tried to bribe the driver and security guard of the Minister of Defense in order to take his car away from crowded streets and eliminate strong resistance during the assassination attempt.

The plan was to eliminate Katz on the eve of the country's Independence Day (from April 30 to May 1), turning the assassination attempt into a political manifesto and "revenge for the bloody operation" in the Gaza Strip.

However, as further investigation showed, neither Mizrahi nor Atias shared the idea of Palestinian independence and voiced this version during interrogations only in the hope of creating international publicity.

Be that as it may, they failed to carry out their plan: a few days before the alleged assassination attempt, both were arrested.

The Israeli intelligence services did not make a fuss and preferred to first look for other leads in the Iranian network. Especially since the agents who were arrested began to give each other up, telling about caches of money, ammunition and special equipment.

Subsequently, in the wake of the “Mizrahi-Atias affair,” several more investigations with a “Persian flair” were initiated, but Israeli operatives were never able to generalize them and discover a single spy network.

OCTOPUS HEAD
The Minister of Defense, by all appearances, took the news of the assassination attempt philosophically. His statements, made after the arrest of the conspirators (who were not yet officially known at the time), not only did not become more restrained, but, on the contrary, acquired a more militant tone.

Among other things, Katz declared a vendetta against the leaders of the Yemeni Houthis and promised to destroy the leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah. He used the news of the foiled plot, announced by counterintelligence, as a basis for attacks on Iran.

In particular, he called Tehran “the head of a terrorist octopus” and reaffirmed his commitment to “preventing at any cost” the Iranians from acquiring nuclear weapons.

It is noteworthy that the Israeli minister announced his readiness to fight on the eve of a new round of Iranian-American negotiations on peaceful nuclear energy.

Katz and his entourage have been pressing the White House for months to give the green light to an air operation against the opponent's nuclear facilities before the window of opportunity due to Iran's weakened air defenses closes completely.

Washington is slow and trying to keep interaction with Tehran on a diplomatic track. As a gesture of goodwill, the United States even withdrew some of the strategic bombers from the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean that were transferred there in March 2025, and also agreed to a ceasefire with the Yemeni Houthis.

The easing of tensions between Washington and Tehran is weakening Tel Aviv's pressure. That is why Israeli military hawks led by Katz are desperately trying to use the "Mizrahi-Atias affair" as an argument to justify further confrontation.

EASTERN HINTS
The wave of criticism provoked by this spy story, at first glance, passed by the Iranians. Tehran had not reacted too violently to scandals with agents attributed to it before, and after the number of those arrested in spy cases exceeded fifteen, it began to essentially ignore the accusations of Tel Aviv.

At the same time, Katz’s speech with promises to respond to Tehran’s actions at any cost received a comprehensive response.

Official releases appeared (within a few hours of each other) on the websites of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, parliament and government; comments were given by high-ranking officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and intelligence officials.

True, none of the agencies focused on the “Mizrahi-Atias affair,” limiting criticism to the inadmissibility of threats to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

The Iranian position was summed up by the country's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. In one of his appeals to believers, he dressed up criticism of Israel in a religious story, emphasizing that "the one who constantly deceives will eventually become a victim of deception."

Thus, he pointed out that in the event of aggression against Iran, it would be too naive for Tel Aviv to count on unconditional military support from the United States. Especially in light of Donald Trump’s desire to “castle” in the Middle East and focus on supporting Arabian allies rather than Israel.

In general, the Iranian side made it clear to its opponents that Tel Aviv's speculations around spy stories do not frighten them and that Tehran is prepared to take a hit. In contrast, the Iranians put forward their own question: is Israel ready to face them one-on-one if something happens?

And, apparently, official Tel Aviv does not yet have a clear answer to it.

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Europe

France to build supermax prison to isolate drug lords and Islamists in Amazon

2025-05-24

[RFI.FR] La Belle France plans to build a maximum-security prison wing for narcos and radicalised Islamists near a former penal colony in its overseas department of French Guiana, sparking outcry among residents and local officials.
Kids! Kids! Devil's Island is coming back!
The wing will form part of a $450 million prison announced in 2017, which is expected to be completed by 2028 and hold 500 inmates.

The prison is to be built in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, a town bordering Suriname that once received prisoners shipped by Napoleon III in the 1800s, some of whom were sent to the notorious Devil's Island off the coast of French Guiana.

French Justice Minister G rald Darmanin announced plans to build the high-security wing during an official visit to French Guiana on Saturday, saying: "I have decided to establish La Belle France's third high-security prison in Guiana."

DRUG TRAFFICKING
Darmanin was quoted by French weekly newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche as saying that the prison also aims to keep suspected narcos from having any contact with their criminal networks.

French prison attack probe shifts from terrorism to narco gangs

''We are seeing more and more drug trafficking networks,'' he told news hounds. "My strategy is simple — hit organised crime at all levels. Here in Guiana, at the start of the drug trafficking route. In mainland La Belle France, by neutralising the network leaders. And all the way to consumers. This prison will be a safeguard in the war against narcotrafficking."

Darmanin, who forged a reputation for a tough stance on drugs in his previous role as interior minister, added that the prison's location "will serve to permanently isolate the heads of drug trafficking networks" since "they will no longer be able to contact their criminal networks".

He also said in a Facebook post that 15 of the wing's 60 spaces would be reserved for Islamic murderous Moslems.

French media, quoting the Justice ministry, reported that people from French Guiana and French Caribbean territories would be sent in priority to the new prison.

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Europe

At least 12 injured in knife attack at Hamburg train station: emergency services

2025-05-24

[GEO.TV] A knife attack at the main station in the German city of Hamburg left at least 12 people injured with some of them in a life-threatening condition, local emergency services said.

"According to initial information, a person injured several people with a knife at the main train station," Hamburg police said in a post on X.

"The suspect was apprehended by the responding forces."

A front man for the Hamburg fire department told AFP that 12 people had been injured in the attack.

Among them were "six people with life-threatening injuries", the front man said.

Some of the victims were being treated in trains, according to the German daily Bild.

Germany has been rocked by a series of ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful attacks in recent months.

On Sunday, four people were maimed in a stabbing at a bar in the city of Bielefeld.

The investigation into the attack had been handed over to federal prosecutors after the suspect in the attack told the coppers who arrested him that he had murderous Moslem beliefs.

The Times of Israel adds:

German police on Friday said they had arrested a woman after at least 17 people were maimed in a knife attack at the main station in the northern city of Hamburg.

Some of the victims sustained life-threatening injuries in the stabbing, which took place in the middle of the city’s evening rush hour, emergency services said.

The suspect, a 39-year-old German woman,

…which does not tell us whether she was Moslem, nuts, or both…

was arrested at the scene by law enforcement, a Hamburg police front man said said.

Officers "approached her, and the woman allowed herself to be arrested without resistance," Florian Abbenseth told journalists in comments carried by public broadcaster ARD.

"We have no evidence so far that the woman may had a political motive," Abbenseth said.

"Rather, we have information based on which we now want to investigate whether she may have been experiencing a psychological emergency."

The suspect was thought to have "acted alone," Hamburg police said in a post on X.

Four of them had suffered life-threatening injuries, the front man said, revising down an initial figure.

A previous statement by the fire department said six people were in a life-threatening condition.

Among the 17 victims were six severely injured people and seven people with light injuries, the front man for the fire department said.

The attack was reported by German media to have taken place just after 6:00 p.m. local time on one of the platforms in front of a standing train.

The suspect was thought to have turned "against passengers" at the station, a spokeswoman for the Hanover federal police directorate, which also covers Hamburg, told AFP.

Courtesy of Skidmark, more from Breitbart:

Twelve people are injured and three of them are in “mortal danger” after a mass stabbing at Germany’s Hamburg Central railway station.

Update 2100 — Four are in critical condition

A clearer picture of today’s mass stabbing in Germany is developing, with Die Welt reporting the number of known injured has risen to four in critical condition. A further six are seriously injured and seven more suffering light wounds. 17 in all were injured.

The attack is the second mass stabbing in Germany in a matter of days. As previously reported, a stabbing in the early hours of Sunday morning in Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, allegedly by a Syrian migrant was days later classified as a possible terror attack after Islamist literature was found on the attacker and at his home. As well as using a knife, the man is alleged to have wielded a spear and a bottle of petrol.

More from Breitbart about the Bielefeld attack:

A Syrian migrant, identified 35-year-old as Mahmoud Mhemed, was arrested on Monday by police on attempted murder charges in relation to a mass stabbing in Bielefeld in North Rhine-Westphalia. Five people were injured, and four of them seriously: the German Justice minister revealed they “barely escaped with their lives”.

The bar where the attack took place said in a social media post that one of those “critically injured” men had been a member of the public who had bravely fought the knifeman to end the attack. They said: “Had it not been for him, things would probably have been even worse”.

Now the investigation into that attack has been taken over by the Federal Prosecutor on suspicion of a religious terrorism motive. Per a report by Germany’s Die Welt, they believe they have found evidence for Islamism, that the suspect had an interest in the Islamic State, and had been in contact with a known Islamist fundamentalist.

It is stated the attack, which took place at a bar in the city, saw football fans attacked by a man wielding a knife and a home made spear, being a knife tied to a pole. A group of patrons fought back, causing the suspect to flee. As previously reported, the man dropped a bag containing “multiple knives, a liquid that smelled of gasoline, and personal documents indicating Syrian nationality”.

Zeit states a spokesman for the Federal Prosecutor, which has specialist counter-terror investigators and takes suspected terror cases over from local non-specialised prosecutors, who said the mass stabbing is being treated as an attack on Germany’s liberal democratic order and that at the time of the suspect’s arrest “a document was found on him that suggests the crime may have been religiously motivated.”

Further, images concerning Hezbollah and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are said to have been found at the suspect’s apartment.

Suspect Mhemed entered Europe through the territory of Turkey and was granted temporary refugee status by the German Migration Office in 2023. Earlier reports that he had no police record have been superseded, Focus reports, noting he had previously been investigated for “politically motivated crime” .

He was arrested on Monday after leading police on a 100 mile chase through Germany, taking several trains and other public transport from Bielefeld to Essen and to other towns beyond, finally being found in an apartment of a relative in Heiligenhaus.

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Europe

French Report Warns Of Islamist / Muslim Brotherhood 'Entryism' As Risk To National Cohesion

2025-05-23

[BBC] Islamists are infiltrating France's republican institutions and are a threat to national cohesion, according to a report presented to President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday.

It’s only been going on for two generations, but still — congratulations on noticing.

The report, drawn up by two senior civil servants, claims to find evidence for a policy of "entryism" by the Muslim Brotherhood into public bodies like schools and local government.

The French do like their philosophical jargon.

After a meeting of his security cabinet, Macron asked the government to come up with "new proposals" by early next month in light of the seriousness of the report's conclusions.

Secularism is a core tenet of France's national identity.

According to an Élysée official speaking off the record, there is a "new phenomenon - entryism - which is different from separatism".

While separatism implied Muslims living in a parallel society in France, "entryism means getting involved in republican infrastructure… in order to change it from the inside. It requires dissimulation… and it works from the bottom up," the official said.

In a copy of the report published in Le Figaro newspaper, the authors identified the Federation of Muslims in France (FMF)

…is that a name variant for the Muslims of France (Musulmans de France) or, like here, does France have a number branches of the Muslim Brotherhood in France?

as the main French emanation of the historic Muslim Brotherhood, which was founded 100 years ago to promote a return to core Islamic values.

…one of those core values is the conquest of the non-Muslim world (Dar al Harb) for Islam. Though the Brotherhooders are modern enough to prefer infiltration and colonization and the soft jihad of the law to the hard jihad of the sword until they’ve establish governance of the new territory.

They said the FMF controlled 139 places of worship in France, with a further 68 affiliated – in all around 7% of the total. The organisation also ran some 280 associations, in sports, education, charity and other fields, as well as 21 schools.

In accordance with the MB tradition — seduce ‘em with charity and lifestyle stuff, making religion secondary for the targets.

The aim of the movement was to set up "ecosystems at local level" to "structure the lives of Muslims from birth till death".

"[The movement's] officials, who are hardened activists, enter into a relationship with the local authority… Social norms – the veil, beards, dress, fasting - are gradually imposed as the ecosystem solidifies," the authors write.

"What happens is that religious practice become stricter, with a high level of girls wearing the abaya (long robe) and a massive and visible increase in the number of young girls wearing Islamic headscarves. Some are as young as five or six."

The Federation angrily rejected "any allegation that associates us with a foreign political programme, or with a strategy of 'entryism'".

"Confusing Islam with political Islamism and radicality is not only dangerous, but counter-productive for the Republic itself," the FMF said. "Behind these unfounded accusations there is a plan to stigmatise Islam and Muslims."

Yeah, yeah.

The report has been seized on by proponents of a strict enforcement of France's secular laws, which are meant to exclude all religion from public life.

Interior minister Bruno Retailleau, who on Sunday was elected leader of the conservative Les Républicains party, warned on Tuesday of "below-the-radar Islamism trying to infiltrate institutions, whose ultimate aim is to tip the whole of French society under sharia law".

Municipal elections are due in France next year, and Retailleau - who has won a reputation as a hardliner - has said he is concerned about the possibility of Islamic lists of candidates.

Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon warned that "Islamophobia has crossed a line", accusing the president's security cabinet of adopting the "delusional theories" of both Retailleau and far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen.

The report's authors, who visited 10 different regions of France and four other European countries, concluded that the Muslim Brotherhood was losing influence in the Middle East and North Africa, and so was targeting Europe, backed by money from Turkey and Qatar.

"Having given a Western look to the ideology in order to implant themselves in Europe, (the Muslim Brotherhood) tries to lay down the roots of a Middle Eastern tradition while concealing a subversive fundamentalism," they wrote.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Jihadists Launch Deadly Attack On Russian Airbase On Syria's Coast

2025-05-24

(ZeroHedge] In another clear indicator of just how drastically everything has changed in Syria in the wake of Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December last year, a militant group attempted to storm Russia's Hmeimim air base on Syria’s coast on Wednesday. Already the future of the base is uncertain, but Russia has still been maintaining it - given also Hmeimim is Moscow's only airbase on the Mediterranean.

"Militants attacked a Russian air base in Syria, killing two soldiers, a Syrian government official and a local activist said Wednesday," according to The Associated Press. Russian statements, which offered little detail, did not indicate if the slain were Russian soldiers or possibly foreign nationals who were contractors.

At least two militants were killed during their assault on the airbase. They are being widely reported as foreign Islamist fighters affiliated with the new Syrian government's military under President Sharaa (Jolani).

The Jolani/HTS government has tried to distance itself from the attack, as it is still seeking diplomatic normalization with Russia and a reset in relations:

The government official said the two militants who were killed were foreign nationals who had worked as military trainers at a naval college that was training members of the new government’s military. He said they had acted on their own in attacking the base and were not officially affiliated with any faction.

Damascus has on Thursday deployed additional forces in an effort to stabilize the security situation in villages near the airbase.

"The city of Jableh and the villages surrounding the Russian Hmeimim air base in the Jableh countryside are witnessing a security alert. Heavy deployment of public security forces has been observed in the villages of Al-Sharashir and Al-Qubaisa, both close to the base," the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says.

SOHR had further described "clashes in which medium and heavy machine guns were used, coinciding with the sounding of alarm sirens inside the base" - when the incident unfolded.

One regional outlet has said Russian soldiers were killed, and that it was Uzbek terrorists behind the assault:

According to a report by the Erem outlet, the 20 May attack resulted in the killing of three Russian soldiers and the injury of at least six others. The report says the attack was carried out by an Uzbek-led faction, which afterwards began to mobilize in the village of Al-Sharashir, just two kilometers from the base.

Erem also said the Uzbek armed group, responsible for past atrocities including the killing of children, have displaced and intimidated scores of residents and have seized homes in in the nearby town.

#BREAKING | Islamist militants reportedly affiliated with ruling HTS attacked Russia’s Khmeimim Air Base in Syria around 4–5 AM. Russian forces returned fire, reportedly killing four militants. https://t.co/UQGcfjWqt0 pic.twitter.com/JorasQW3My
— The Global Eye (@TGEThGlobalEye) May 21, 2025

This coastal area near Latakia has for months seen attacks and massacres conducted by Islamic militant factions against the minority Alawite community of Syria. Christians and Druze have also been targeted.

Thousands of Alawites have been reported killed, and while the Jolani government has formally condemned the killings, eyewitnesses have consistently said the attacks had the involvement of HTS (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham) fighters, which remains the ruling faction in Damascus.

During the height of the sectarian killings, Alawite families sought refuge at Hmeimim air base in large numbers. Many thousands have been camped out on the base tarmac, with at times Russian troops seen handing out food and water and necessities of survival.

Back in March, Alawites expressed their distrust of HTS provided "security"...

HTS AlQaeda reps try to convince Syrian Alawi refugees to leave the Russian Hmeimim air base and go home. "Trust us now, mistakes happen, things got out of control". pic.twitter.com/JIpzSHpAB0

— tim anderson (@timand2037) March 18, 2025

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this week expressed particular concern about the chaotic situation in Syria, where he said extremist militant groups are carrying out "real ethnic cleansing and mass killings based on ethnic and sectarian identity". He blasted what he called the West’s "stunning" indifference to mass killings acts of terrorism.

The strong comments followed in the wake of President Trump meeting with Syria's Sharaa while in Saudi Arabia earlier this month. This stunned even some Washington officials, given that Sharaa/Jolani has long been a US-designated terrorist. Trump has said he wants to give Syria a fresh start, and also announced the US will drop sanctions.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week told a Senate hearing that Syria could collapse within just weeks; however, he didn't acknowledge in the testimony that it was the CIA's Operation Timber Sycamore which served to weaken and destabilize the country in the first place.

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Good Morning

2025-05-23

Sparks fly between Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Dem Rep. Watson Coleman: 'You should feel shameful'

Friday 05/23/2025

Report: Hamas and Islamist leaders to leave Lebanon for Qatar and Turkey

1960s-hairstyles-1

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Immigration expert warns Chinese illegal
aliens using Canadian city as gateway to US

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