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Europe
Albania expels Iranian diplomats over foiled plot to attack Israelis — report
2018-12-20
[IsraelTimes] Tirana says expulsion was for ’violating their diplomatic status’; unconfirmed TV report claims pair were linked to foiled plan to attack 2016 soccer match against Israel

Albania said it has expelled two Iranian diplomats for alleged illegal activities that threaten the country’s security, reportedly related to a plot to attack an Israeli soccer match.

A front man from the Foreign Ministry told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named on Wednesday that the two diplomats were expelled for "violating their diplomatic status."

The front man said the move followed talks with other countries, including Israel.

Private Top Channel television said the Iranians are suspected of illegal activities related to a World Cup qualification soccer match between Albania and Israel two years ago.

About 20 people were tossed in the slammer
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
 in Albania and Kosovo following that match, which was threatened with an alleged terrorist attack.

Albanian officials would not confirm that report.

The planned attack in November 2016 was said to have been coordinated by two Albanians in Syria fighting with the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 group.

The World Cup qualifier was originally due to take place in the northern town of Shkodra. The match eventually took place in Elbasan, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the Albanian capital Tirana, under a massive security presence.

It’s unclear what connection Iran, which is traditionally seen as an enemy of the Islamic State, may have had to the attack plot.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials.

In May, a Kosovo court sentenced eight Albanians to jail over the foiled attack and fined another. Police found bombs, weapons, electronic equipment, and bad boy religious literature at their homes.

In August 2017, the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria said it had killed a plotter of the thwarted soccer game attack.

Lavdrim Muhaxheri
...emir of the ethnic Albanian cohort of ISIS in Syria, he and several henchmen shook hands with an American missile with the usual dire results. But before that he kept busy organizing jihad attacks back home and seducing the impressionable to join the ISIS team, whether in the flesh or in spirit...
was killed in a June 7 Arclight airstrike near Mayadin, which is close to Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, coalition front man Colonel Ryan Dillon said at the time.

Albania is also home to more than 2,000 members of the Iranian exile opposition group Mujahedin el-Khalk, which moved from Iraq.

Kosovo, a predominantly ethnic Albanian and Moslem country, has been confronted with hundreds of its citizens waging jihad in Syria and Iraq.

It has subsequently strengthened legislation and attempted to root out radical Islamist networks.
Deutsche Welle adds:
Albania has been at loggerheads with Iran since it took in about 3,000 members of the banned Iranian opposition group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (People's Mujahedin of Iran), known as MEK.

The Gay Paree-based MEK seeks to overthrow Iran's theocratic government and is widely disliked inside the country, where it is labeled a terrorist organization. The Iranian government blamed the group for stirring up unrest earlier this month.

Formerly listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
 and the United States, the MEK has also been accused of carrying out covert operations on behalf of Israel and the United States. Iran has been linked to the liquidation of multiple dissidents, mostly Kurds and MEK members, throughout Europe.
Link


Europe
Two in Kosovo plead guilty to plotting attack on Israeli soccer match
2017-12-22
[IsraelTimes] Pair were among nine charged in Islamic State-directed plan to target World Cup qualifier in Albania

Two men in Kosovo pleaded guilty Wednesday to planning attacks against Israelis during a soccer match in Albania last year.

Kenan Plakaj and Besart Peci were part of a group of 19 men detained in a series of arrests in Kosovo and neighboring Albania and Macedonia ahead of a World Cup qualifier in November 2016, which was originally due to take place in the northern town of Shkodra. Nine people were eventually charged.

The prosecutor claimed some of those nabbed
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
 had made contact with Lavdrim Muhaxheri,
..the self-declared commander of Albanians in Syria and Iraq, who had his fingers in a great many jihadi pies until he met his missile this past June...
a former Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 commander in Syria who has since reportedly been killed, Rooters reported.

Plakaj pleaded guilty to making explosives, after half a kilo of materiel for bomb-making was found at his home, according to the report.
He was the one who made the fertilizer/fuel oil bomb. Another of the group made about a quarter kilo of TATP.
Sentences for the two were not announced.

In June, four people were charged with planning to "carry out a terrorist attack against soccer players and fans from Israel who were coming to Albania for the match in November," Kosovo’s prosecution office said in a blurb at the time.

The match eventually took place in Elbasan, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the Albanian capital Tirana, under a massive security presence.

Kosovo, a predominantly ethnic Albanian and Moslem country, has been confronted with more than 300 of its citizens waging jihad in Syria and Iraq.

It has subsequently strengthened legislation and attempted to root out radical Islamist networks.
Link


Terror Networks
US air raids take out multiple named ISIS commanders, foreign fighters
2017-08-06
[ALMASDARNEWS] The US-led coalition continues to strike ISIS-held areas across Syria and Iraq, not only looking to propel its allies on the ground but also aiming at systematically eliminating the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 leadership.

On July 24, a US Arclight airstrike killed the jihadist war chief Abd al-Ghafur near the border city of al-Bukamal in southern Deir Ezzor. His companion, nicknamed Abu Hammam, and three other ISIS members were also neutralized on July 16 in a nearby area, an official statement by the coalition claimed.

The statement suggested that Abd al-Ghafur and Abu Hammam were responsible for managing and directing terror abroad, encouraging ISIS sympathisers to conduct attacks on European and American soil, even supplying them with explosives obtained on the black market.

On July 13, Abu Futtum ‐ a well known bomb specialist and explosive manufacturer for the Islamic State ‐ was taken out by an Arclight airstrike near Mayadin city, anchored on the Euphrates River. Five other high-ranking ISIS fighters, including Razim Kastrati and Orhan Ramadani, were killed three days later in the same region.

Additionally, imported muscle were targeted by seemingly pinpoint US Arclight airstrikes; Lavdrim Muhaxheri was killed by a coalition Arclight airstrike on June 7 in the same area. Muhaxheri was an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo, and a self-proclaimed leader of ISIS imported muscle from Kosovo. Four of his followers, one of whom was identified as Jetmir Ismaili, were killed in a separate air raid a couple weeks later.

In the same time, dozens of civilians are killed by US Arclight airstrikes, mostly in Raqqa city, on a daily basis with collateral damage surging since Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
 took office earlier this year.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
ISIS Big Turbans die in airstrikes near Deir ez-Zor
2017-08-04
[ARA News] Coalition airstrikes continue to target and kill ISIS leaders and foreign fighters in Syria to support Coalition partner forces and degrade ISIS’ ability to inspire, resource and direct terror attacks around the world, the US-led coalition said in a statement today.

Most recently, the Coalition targeted and killed ISIS leaders involved in directing external operations as well as bomb making directed at regional and Western targets.

Coalition forces killed Abd al-Ghafur, a Syria-based ISIS external operations official, and one associate in an airstrike July 24 near Albu Kamal, Syria. His assistant, Abu Hammam, and three other ISIS members were killed by a Coalition airstrike on July 16 near Deir ez-Zor, in eastern Syria.

Abd Al-Ghafur and Abu Hammam were responsible for managing and directing external operations attacks and participated in attack plotting against the Middle East and Western targets, the coalition said. Their removal deprives ISIS of well-connected members with links to trans-regional terror support networks.

Abu Futtum, an ISIS explosives specialist, and one associate were killed in an airstrike July 13 near Mayadin, Syria. As a bomb maker, Futtum was a part of ISIS’ network that instructs and incites others to take the same destructive actions, encouraging lone wolf attacks across the globe using homemade explosives.

The Coalition also targeted ISIS foreign fighters from southeast Europe operating in Syria as ISIS recruiters, facilitators and attack plotters, responsible for multiple atrocities within Syria.

Lavdrim Muhaxheri was killed by a Coalition airstrike June 7, 2017, near Mayadin, Syria. Muhaxheri was an ethnic Albanian from Kacanc, Kosovo, and a self-proclaimed leader of ISIS foreign fighters from Kosovo.

He was known as the most prominent and radical ethnic Albanian fighter in Syria and was directly responsible for inciting jihadist ideology within European communities and encouraging foreign fighters to travel to ISIS-controlled territory. He was also responsible for planning numerous terrorist attacks, including the failed plot to bomb the 2016 Israel-Albania soccer match in Albania.

“Furthermore, we can confirm the deaths of four senior ISIS associates of Muhaxheri. Jetmir Ismaili, an ISIS external terror attack planner, was killed by a Coalition airstrike in Raqqah, Syria, in late June. Ismaili had key connections with ISIS external terror attack planners in Europe and Syria, and personally planned and coordinated external ISIS terror attacks,” the coalition said on Thursday.

“Razim Kastrati, an ISIS external terror attack coordinator, was killed along with five other ISIS fighters by a Coalition airstrike on June 16 near Mayadin, Syria. Kastrati moved and trained foreign fighters from southeast Europe to Syria and was involved in plotting external attacks,” the coalition added.

Irfan Hafiqi, a fellow ethnic Albanian and deputy to Muhaxheri, was killed by a Coalition airstrike on June 7 near Qayira, Syria. Haqifi was involved in plotting terror attacks abroad, and was responsible for recruiting ISIS fighters from Southeast Europe and facilitating their movements to Syria.

Orhan Ramadani, was killed by a Coalition airstrike on May 21 near Mayadin, Syria. Ramadani was responsible for actively planning external terror attacks from Syria.

“ISIS poses a global threat because of its commitment to plot, direct and incite terror attacks, and its ability to recruit, move, and finance the terrorists who commit those attacks. The Coalition will continue to target and kill ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria until ISIS is removed from the region and no longer pose a threat to national homelands around the world,” the coalition concluded.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Terrorist who plotted attack on Israel soccer game killed in Syria
2017-08-04
[IsraelTimes] IS figure Lavdrim Muhaxheri hatched plan to target Israeli-Albanian World Cup qualifier last November

The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 group in Syria has killed a plotter of the thwarted terror attack at last year’s Israel-Albania soccer match in Albania, a US official said Thursday.

Lavdrim Muhaxheri was killed in a June 7 Arclight airstrike near Mayadin, which is close to Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, coalition front man Colonel Ryan Dillon said.

"He was an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo and a self-proclaimed leader of ISIS imported muscle from Kosovo," he said.

Albanian authorities have charged four people over allegedly plotting to attack the World Cup qualifier in Albania last November. The game had been due to take place in the northern town of Shkodra but was eventually held in Elbasan, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the Albanian capital Tirana, under a massive security presence.

Dillon said Muhaxheri was "the most prominent and radical ethnic Albanian fighter" in Syria who was responsible for inciting jihadist ideology in Europe and encouraging imported muscle to travel to IS-controlled territory.

"He was also responsible for planning numerous terrorist attacks, to include the failed plot to bomb the 2016 Israel-Albania soccer match in Albania," Dillon told news hounds in a video call from Baghdad.

Kosovo, a predominantly ethnic Albanian and Moslem country, has been confronted with more than 300 of its citizens waging jihad in Syria and Iraq. It has subsequently strengthened legislation and attempted to root out radical Islamist networks.

Dillon said eight other "colleagues" of Muhaxheri had also been killed.
Link


Europe
Kosovo charges 4 over terror plot at Israeli soccer game
2017-06-15
[IsraelTimes] Suspects accused of planning IS-inspired attacks against visiting Israel team, fans during 2016 World Cup qualifier in Albania.

Kosovo charged four men Wednesday with plotting terror attacks against Israeli soccer players and fans during a World Cup qualifier in Albania last year, which had to be moved for security reasons.

The men were among about 20 detained in a series of arrests in Kosovo and neighboring Albania and Macedonia ahead of the game in November, which was originally due to take place in the northern town of Shkodra.

The four are accused of planning to "carry out a terrorist attack against footballers and fans from Israel who were coming to Albania for the match in November," Kosovo’s prosecution office said in a blurb.

It said they further aimed to "destabilize and destroy the fundamental political, constitutional, economic and social structures of Balkan states and then create their own Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
The match eventually took place in Elbasan, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the Albanian capital Tirana, under a massive security presence.

The prosecutors said two other suspects were charged with plotting terrorist attacks against local and international officials in Kosovo, while another was charged over fighting with jihadists in the Middle East.

Another pair were charged with collecting weapons and illegally producing an explosive.

Kosovo, a predominantly ethnic Albanian and Moslem country, has been confronted with more than 300 of its citizens waging jihad in Syria and Iraq. It has subsequently strengthened legislation and attempted to root out radical Islamist networks.
Another Times of Israel article adds:
The nine men were allegedly receiving instructions from Lavdrim Muhaxheri, an IS commander believed killed in Syria.

According to Reuters:

One of the defendants had kept in his basement 283 grams of self-made triacetone triperoxide (TATP) explosives. The same explosive was used in attacks in Paris and Brussels and was found in a series of foiled bombings in Europe since 2007.

Another defendant had produced half a kilo of explosives at his house from ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO), it said.
Link


Europe
Albanian ISIS 'commander' from Kosovo killed
2017-06-09
[RFE/RL] The self-proclaimed commander of Albanians fighting with the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq has been killed there, the leader of the Muslim community in his hometown of Kacanik said.

Florim Neziraj said that Lavdrim Muhaxheri's brother had informed him of Muhaxheri's death earlier in the day. He said family members told him that Muhaxheri was killed by an air strike in Syria and asked him to notify the Islamic community of his death.

Muhaxheri, an IS fighter who has declared himself as the "commander of Albanians in Syria and Iraq," is notorious in Kosovo for a video posted on the Internet in 2014 showing him beheading a man in Iraq. Another video showed him killing a person with a rocket-propelled grenade.

In November, officials in Kosovo said they had arrested 19 people on suspicion of having links to the Islamic State and planning to carry out terrorist attacks. Police said the suspects had received orders from Muhaxheri.

Muhaxheri's death was announced over mosque speakers in Kacanik, in keeping with tradition when someone from the community dies. This decision caused criticism in Kosovo. But Neziraj said, "We are serving every citizen and the mosque belongs to everyone."
Link


Europe
Foreign-Funded Islamist Networks Active in EU Applicant States
2017-01-07
[Breitbart] The Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
-based Centre for Security Studies (CSS) has published a report, focusing on the "Dynamics of Radicalization and Violent Extremism in Kosovo", which claims that "foreign-funded turban networks" are active in states applying to join the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
 (EU).

The report, originally authored for the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), claims that Macedonia, an official Candidate Country for the bloc, is subject to "long-term and targeted radicalization, recruitment, and mobilization efforts", alongside neighbouring Kosovo.

Author Adrian Shtuni describes how more than a thousand fanatics have travelled to Syria and Iraq from the two countries, as well as from Albania, Bosnia, and other Balkan states.

Albania, which was made a Candidate Country in 2014, imprisoned three holy mans who had been recruiting jihadi fighters last April, and a terror plot aimed at the visiting Israeli football team was barely foiled in November after Israeli security services raised the alarm.

Bosnia’s membership application was accepted by the EU last September, following an agreement to allow visa-free travel between the fractious republic and the Schengen Area in 2010.

The bloc signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with Bosnia in 2015 and deploys "considerable resources" there via its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), but the German news outlet Der Spiegel reported last April that "in some remote villages, the black flag of IS is flown".

The Ministry of Security in Bosnia has denied the existence of such "Sharia villages", but Der Spiegel claims the public prosecutor responsible for terrorism investigations has conceded "that there are places in the northern part of the country where up to forty Islamist families live in accordance with Sharia law".

Similar reports have described the country as a "recruitment hotbed" for Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
, furnishing the terror group with hundreds of soldiers, and munitions used in attacks on a Jewish supermarket and the offices of Charlie Hebdo
...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
 in Gay Paree have been traced back to it.

Kosovo has provided Islamic State with more imported muscle than any other European country, per capita, including the notorious Lavdrim Muhaxheri (pictured above), who has appeared on social media beheading one hostage and executing another with a rocket-propelled grenade.

This is despite an expensive and extensive EU rule-of-law mission in the breakaway state. This mission has itself been mired in controversy, with a UK whistleblower accusing it of corruption and bribe-taking.
Link


Europe
Europe migrant colonist briefs
2016-12-30
Three migrants die in traffic accident in Serbia's south: Police

[AlAhram] Three Afghan migrants died and another 11, including six children were injured in a traffic accident in southern Serbia on Thursday when a passenger car crammed with people swerved off the road and hit a safety barrier, the interior ministry said. The driver, a suspected smuggler, fled the scene, while all the injured were transported to the hospital in the nearby city of Nis, 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of Belgrade, the ministry said in a statement.

Serbia was a focal point for migrants last year, when hundreds of thousands fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East and Asia travelled up through the Balkans to reach wealthy Western Europe. Although that route was closed off in March, Serbian authorities estimate a further 110,000 migrants have passed through the country, many using smugglers to travel across Serbia and cross its barbed-wire border with Hungary.

On Monday, Serbian authorities arrested three men on suspicion of people trafficking after 77 migrants were found hidden in cargo vehicles.

According to the UN refugee agency, around 7,000 migrants are stranded in camps in Serbia.

Child migrants return to Calais hoping to cross to Britain in new year

[Ynet] As the new year approaches, child migrants who left Calais after their "Jungle" camp was demolished are again gathering in the northern French town hoping to reach Britain, migrants and charity workers said.

Last month, France moved more than 1,600 child migrants from the site which had been razed by bulldozers to reception centres across the country after a row with Britain over who should take care of them. But some children have returned to Calais, just 21 miles (33 km) from Britain, after learning they would not be allowed to enter the UK under a change to immigration law which permits the country to take in vulnerable unaccompanied child refugees.

Last Friday, dozens of child migrants launched a legal challenge against the British government seeking a written explanation of why it ruled that it was not in the children's "best interests" to be resettled in the UK, their lawyers said.
First, give each "child" a physical to establish actual age, while also collecting photos, fingerprints, DNA, copying their papers, and cloning their phones. Deport any who are not actual children back to their countries of origin immediately. Any remaining actual children can then be evaluated for suitability.
Nearly 20,000 migrants turned away at Germany's borders, 55,000 more chose to leave

[DeutscheWelle] So far this year around 55,000 migrants voluntarily left Germany to return to their country of origin, the largest number in 16 years, the daily "Süddeutsche Zeitung" reported. The number is nearly double the estimated 25,000 forced deportations carried out so far this year. Most of the migrants came from the western Balkans, with around 15,000 people returning to Albania up to November. That was followed by another 5,000 migrants each from Serbia, Kosovo and Iraq. The figures are based on internal documents from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).

People from the Balkans have little chance of receiving permanent residency rights in Germany. By voluntarily repatriating, they avoid forced deportation and a permanent ban on reentering Germany, and may also be eligible for monetary support.

German police have denied entry at land borders, ports and airports to 19,720 people between January and November 2016. That compares to 8,913 entry denials in all of 2015. A large portion of those stopped at the border came from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Nigeria, according to the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" newspaper. But the number of migrants stopped at the border is deceptive as the border controls were implemented only with Austria, meaning migrants may have entered using alternative routes. Nearly 75 percent of border denials were at the Austrian-German border.

Many asylum-seekers and migrants have arrived in Germany without ID documents, either because they don't have them or they purposefully destroyed them knowing it would slow down deportation. Now the CSU is calling for restricting entry to people without ID documents. Whoever arrives at the border without a passport or other ID documents should be "held at the border and stay in transit centers until their identity is clarified," the CSU's Bavarian state lawmakers proposed in a policy paper.

Bavarian lawmakers aim to turn refugee boats back to Africa

[DeutscheWelle] As security and refugee debates heat up in Germany ahead of federal elections in 2017, politicians in the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), are looking to propose a drastic shift in how Germany, and Europe, handle migrant arrivals, according to a new position paper set to be unveiled next week.

The CSU will hold a party convention next week and are set to call for tens of thousands of migrants intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea to be sent back to North Africa, according to an internal policy paper obtained by the "Rheinische Post" newspaper.

Some 181,000 migrants from the Middle East and Africa have been registered in Italy in 2016 after braving the central Mediterranean route, which has claimed some 5,000 lives this year. Many migrants are intercepted by rescue boats and European navies before being brought to the EU.

The CSU's plan would call for expanding cooperation with North African countries and convincing them to take back migrants. "This is the only way to put pressure on organized criminals in the Mediterranean," the policy paper said.

In addition, the CSU is advocating limitations on family reunification for certain classes of asylum seekers beyond 2018. Germany had tightened asylum laws earlier this year by - among other things - suspending family reunification for asylum seekers granted so-called "subsidiary protection" for two years.

Crimes against refugee centers in Germany down slightly in 2016

[DeutscheWelle] Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said up until December 27, out of the 921 reported offenses against refugee homes, 857 of them had a suspected far-right background. That compares to a total of 1,031 offenses in 2015, 923 of which were suspected of having a far-right background.

Investigators said most of the crimes were for damage to property including graffiti. But more than 150 cases involved violence against migrants.
The figures revealed 66 arson attacks, down by almost a third on 2015, and four explosions, the number of which had halved compared to last year.

The number of migrants arriving in Germany has fallen significantly since its peak in 2015. Around 305,000 had registered for asylum in Germany by the end of November, compared to 890,000 last year, according to German government figures.

From Breitbart:
Police Ban German Far-Right New Year’s Eve Protest in Cologne
29 Dec 2016
Police in Cologne have banned the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) from holding a demonstration at the Cologne cathedral square on New Year’s Eve over safety concerns.

Italy Says Another 900 Migrants Picked up in Mediterranean
And so the asinine activity continues, virtue signallng all the way to Armageddon.
29 Dec 2016
Another 900 migrants have been rescued from stricken boats off Libya, Italy’s coastguard said Wednesday, three days before the end of what is already a record year for arrivals at the country’s southern ports.

Nearly Half of Young Tunisians Considering Move to Europe
28 Dec 2016
More than 45 per cent of young Tunisians want to migrate illegally to Europe according to a new study, and an estimated 35,000 have already done so in the last few years.

Number of Syrian Migrants in Germany Could DOUBLE Due to Family Reunification
28 Dec 2016
The vice president of the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, fears that the number of Syrian migrants will double due to family reunification laws alone.

Merkel is punished for her open door refugee policy as backing for German chancellor's party crumbles amid surge in support for the far-right
28/12/16
[DailyMail] With 434,019 members at the end of last month Angela Merkel's CDU party has now slipped behind Germany's social democrats.
And more from the Daily Mail:
Disguised as refugees and able to cross borders without being identified: ISIS general who blew up a hostage with a rocket and decapitated another prisoner is 'back in Europe with 400 soldiers' after fleeing Syria
29/12/16
Kosovan Lavdrim Muhaxheri and his men are among thousands who have fled Syria after ISIS suffered devastating losses in war-torn Syria, according to sources in Italian intelligence. Many of the fighters are feared to have disguised themselves as refugees in order to get into Europe, according to information leaked from the spying agency.

Spanish ISIS widows arrested while trying to return to Europe from Syria after their barbaric husbands were killed
29/12/16
Spanish national Asia Ahmed Mohamed, 26, and Fatima Akil Laghmich (pictured), 21, were arrested by Turkish authorities as they tried to enter the country from Syria.
Link


Europe
Kosovo arrests 19 in Islamic State plot to attack Israel soccer match
2016-11-17
[IsraelTimes] Suspects planned ’synchronized’ attacks in Kosovo, Albania, police say, adding that weapons, ammunition and a drone seized in sweep.

Kosovo Police on Wednesday said they had incarcerated
You have the right to remain silent...
 19 people they suspected of being involved in an Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 plot to carry out terror attacks in Kosovo and neighboring Albania, including an assault during a football match between Albania and Israel this past weekend.

Police said the arrests were made over the past 10 days and that the suspects had planned "synchronized terror attacks," without going into further detail.

"They were planning to commit terrorist attacks in Kosovo and also [an attack] against [the] Israeli football team and their fans during the Albania-Israel match," Kosovo police said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that weapons, explosives, ammunition and a drone were seized during the sweep.

The police said the suspects were communicating and receiving orders from an Islamic State member, Lavdrim Muhaxheri, the self-declared "commander of Albanians in Syria and Iraq."

Last week, a Kosovo court ordered seven of the suspects detained for a month while the investigation continued. The seven belonged to one network that notably planned to attack a stadium in the northern Albanian town of Shkodra during the country’s 2018 World Cup qualifier against Israel last Saturday, according to media reports.

Police said at the time that they were plotting "terrorist attacks" with their counterparts from Albania and Macedonia against the same targets in the two countries.

According to local media reports, the network in Kosovo consists of around 30 members and is a branch of a wider group in Albania and Macedonia, of which some remained on the lam.

The Israel-Albania match was held in the central town of Elbasan for amid tight security on Saturday. Israel won 3-0 and moved into third place with nine points in its soccer World Cup qualifying Group G.

Earlier last week, Israel said the Islamic State group had been planning attacks in the Balkans and specifically warned its citizens not to attend the match.
Link


Europe
Kosovo holds ISIS suspects over plot to attack Israel soccer match, commander sought
2016-11-12
[Ynet] Kosovo-born Lavdrim Muhaxheri named as the ISIS-affiliated terrorist commander who planned a multi-pronged attack that also would also have attacked Israelis competing in Albania soccer game.

Lavdrim Muhaxheri, known by his nom de guerre Abu Abdullah al Kosovo, is the ISIS leader behind the terrorist organization that sought to attack Israeli players at the World Cup qualifying soccer game in Albania on Saturday.

In recent years, he has been active in Syria and Iraq with different terrorist organizations, and he recently has been planning a series of attacks in the Balkans.

Israel's Counter Terrorism Bureau issued a travel warning on Tuesday urging Israelis not to attend a World Cup qualifying game in the city of Elbasan in Albania on Saturday after four ISIS-affiliated suspects were tossed in the calaboose
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
 in the country who were allegedly targeting the game.

Four Moslem suspects were arrested last week in the city of Shkodër, which was the original host city of the Israel-Albania World Cup qualifying game. According to Albanian security forces, the four suspects were arrested following a tip from the Israeli Mossad.

Intelligence researcher Ronen Solomon from the Intellitimes blog traced the terrorist infrastructure that, according to him, is headed by Muhaxheri, a Kosovo citizen who went to Syria for the first time in 2012 after having earlier served in NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
 in Afghanistan. There he joined Jabhat al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
, al-Qaeda's branch in Syria.

A year later, he returned to Kosovo, where he joined the activities of the local Islamist community and began recruiting myrmidons. Later, like many others, he left al-Nusra and joined ISIS. There, according to assessments, he is a commander of Albanian fighters. Many hundreds of fighters have come to ISIS from the Balkans.

This week, Kosovo prosecutors revealed that security forces arrested seven persons on Friday on suspicion of planning to carry out terrorist attacks on Balkan soil on instructions from Syria. Prosecutors also claimed that the suspects, who were arrested in three different cities, had connections in neighboring countries that include Albania and Macedonia.

What is common amongst all seven is their connection to Muhaxheri. "During September and October, he gave them instructions for the attacks," the prosecution claimed.

They added that the attacks were supposed to be carried out in the Balkans but were to start in Kosovo. "They wanted to create a foothold in the region for ISIS, and one of them had already spent some time fighting for the organization in Syria."

Solomon's investigation revealed that in October 2013, Muhaxheri was documented for the first time in ISIS operations and appeared in their videos, including beheading ones. In one video, he is filmed saying, "We will conquer Jerusalem, Jews."

In August 2014, his name was added to Interpol's wanted list, and since then he has been wanted for terrorist acts and belonging to the organization. In 2015, he was seen in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, and his current location is unknown.

It seems that the arrest of the four members of the Albanian organization took place at the height of their planning, according to assessments, for an operation that was to be carried out simultaneously in different locations in the Balkans.

According to the investigation, another major player in the organization is a local radical holy man who is also under arrest. He has made videos that he posted to YouTube and Facebook accounts in Albanian that are identified with ISIS.
Link


Europe
Kosovo says detained Islamic State suspects planned attacks in Balkans
2016-11-07
[AlAhram] Kosovo's state prosecutor has said seven Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 group suspects detained last week were planning attacks in the Balkans and were receiving instructions from turbans in Syria.

Anti-terror police locked away
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
 seven men in three different towns on Friday and the group was subsequently locked away
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
 for 30 days pending further investigation by the court of first instance in Pristina.

The seven men had contacts in neighbouring countries such as Macedonia and Albania, and other suspects from the group still remain on the lam, a document from the state prosecutor seen by Rooters showed.

Kosovo has not seen any bully boy attacks on its home turf, but at least 200 people have been detained or investigated for alleged Islamic State-related offences.

Around 300 Kosovars have gone to fight with the group in Syria and Iraq.

According to the prosecution, the seven men were in contact with an Islamic State member, the self-declared "commander of Albanians in Syria and Iraq", Lavdrim Muhaxheri, during September and October this year when he gave them instructions on attacks.

"They have prepared terrorist attacks on the territory of the Balkans, but first in Kosovo. They have planned to attack different buildings including security institutions," the prosecution said.

The men wanted to create a regional offshoot of Islamic State, and one had already spent time fighting alongside the group in Syria, the document said.
Link



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