Sadly, Tigray started it because they were sitting on top of the pyramid inky a few years before, and they decided they didn’t need to accept that they’d lost the last election.
[BBC] Hyenas scavenging on the corpses of villagers, cities and towns hit in air strikes, elderly men and young women conscripted into armies - these are the horrific accounts emerging from a war that has left tens, if not hundreds, of thousands dead in Ethiopia's historic region of Tigray.
The region was once a tourist attraction, with visitors drawn to its rock-hewn churches, Muslim shrines and ancient scripts in the Ge'ez language.
Now Tigray is the site of a vicious war, as the Ethiopian and Eritrean armies on the one side, and the army of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) on the other, fight for control in a region that has long been seen as the key to power in Ethiopia - or what was historically part of Abyssinia.
It has been under a blockade for 17 months - with no banking, telephone or internet services - and no media access.
Over the last two years, the fortunes of the two sides have constantly changed on the battlefield, with:
Ethiopian and Eritrean forces capturing the Tigray capital, Mekelle, in November 2020 after the TPLF was accused of launching a rebellion
The Tigrayans launching a counter-offensive in the neighbouring Amhara and Afar regions, bringing them close to the federal capital, Addis Ababa, about a year later
The Ethiopian and Eritrean forces regaining territory in Tigray - including the key city of Shire - in the latest round of fighting, raising the prospect of them trying to capture Mekelle once more.
"There are at least 500,000 Eritrean and Ethiopian federal troops in active combat, plus 200,000 from the Tigrayan side," said Alex de Waal, the executive director of the US-based World Peace Foundation.
He added that after more than 50 days of non-stop fighting, this week the Tigrayan defence lines around Shire could no longer hold out because of a lack of ammunition.
"It's a big setback for the Tigrayans. It leaves civilians exposed to massacre, rape and starvation," Prof De Waal said, though the Ethiopian government has promised aid and the restoration of services in Shire and other areas under its control.
Shire reflects the humanitarian crisis in Tigray, with an aid worker saying that around 600,000 civilians were taking refuge in the city and its surrounding areas after earlier fleeing war-hit areas.
"More than 120,000 were out in the open, sleeping under trees and bushes," he told the BBC, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Almost all humanitarian workers withdrew from Shire last week after it came under ferocious bombardment from Ethiopian forces.
Thousands of residents are also fleeing Shire amid fears that they could be subjected to atrocities - similar to those in other areas that fell under the control of Ethiopian and Eritrean troops.
"Four witnesses reported that in the village of Shimblina in September, 46 people were rounded up and summarily executed. Other villagers found their bodies lying mixed with domestic animals, which had also been killed," the aid worker said.
"Hyenas had eaten a few of the bodies, and they could be identified only by the remains of their clothing. The witnesses said they had no time to bury the bodies, and the hyenas must have finished them by now," he added.
What made the atrocity stand out, he said, was the fact that most of the victims came from the small Kunama ethnic group, which has not been involved in the conflict.
"Both sides are losing soldiers, and when they come into a village they take out their anger on locals," the aid worker added.
Tigrayan forces faced similar accusations - including of rape, extra-judicial killings and looting - during their advances into Amhara and Afar, before being pushed back into Tigray. The region has a population of around seven million, a small number in a country with a population of more than 100 million.
OLD-FASHIONED WARFARE
Apart from atrocities, all the armies have been accused of forcibly recruiting civilians to fight, and of using the "human wave" tactic to gain ground.
"People are drafted into the armies and, after only a few weeks of training, they are sent in large numbers through mined areas towards the trenches of the enemy," said UK-based Horn of Africa analyst Abdurahman Sayed.
"The enemy opens fire and kills many of them, but they keep coming in waves until the enemy runs of ammunition and they occupy their trenches.
"It is the old way of warfare. It was first used by the king of Abyssinia to defeat the Italian invaders in the 1890s. Despite their superior firepower, the Italians were overwhelmed by the sheer number of people who confronted them."
Mr Abdurahman said that this tactic leads to massive casualties, with his estimate being that between 700,000 and 800,000 people have already lost their lives in almost two years of fighting.
"This is the most brutal war in the history of Ethiopia," he added.
Though US-based Horn of Africa analyst Faisal Roble disputed that the Tigrayans used human wave attacks, his estimate of the death toll was not very different.
"In the first two phases of the war, around 500,000 died in combat, and 100,000 have probably died in this third phase," he said.
Mr Roble added that the Tigrayan army was well trained, with "the heart" to fight, but the Ethiopian army had two advantages: numbers and airpower.
"A general who is now an ambassador said they could enlist one million young men every year, and they have fighter jets and Turkish drones that have proved very effective. The Tigrayans have no air force."
The command of the Ethiopian air force had moved to Eritrea's capital Asmara, he explained, from where fighter jets were taking off as the city was much closer to Tigray than their usual base in Bishoftu in central Ethiopia.
"The drones are still leaving from Bishoftu," Mr Roble said.
SETTLING OLD SCORES
Eritrea intervened in the conflict as the TPLF is its sworn enemy. The TPLF dominated a coalition government in Ethiopia until current Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed rose to power in 2018.
Under the TPLF, Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war which claimed the lives of about 80,000 people. An international tribunal later ruled that Ethiopia should hand over territory to Eritrea, but the TPLF-controlled government failed to do so.
Eritrea regained the territory soon after the latest war started in November 2020, and its critics say that President Isaias Afwerki is determined to help Mr Abiy finish off the TPLF so that it does not threaten his nation again.
"Eritrea's concern is that the TPLF wants to either regain power in Ethiopia, or its wants a satellite government in Asmara that will give it access to the Red Sea because Tigray is a landlocked, impoverished region," Mr Abdurahman said.
As the war in Tigray escalated in recent weeks, Eritrea's government intensified its military mobilisation and hunted down draft dodgers across the country, multiple sources in Eritrea told the BBC.
In one instance in September, Eritrean troops raided a church in the southern town of Akrur, detaining a priest, young worshippers and choir members who had not heeded the military call-up, the sources said.
Prof De Waal said the call-up showed that Mr Isaias was "not taking any chances", but he has not deployed conscripts to Tigray in large numbers.
"Eritrea has units in Tigray, but most of the fighting is being done by Ethiopian forces. What Isaias is doing is running the war because he believes he can show Abiy how to win, but the Tigrayans will fight, even if it means with knives and stones because it is a matter of life and death for them," he said.
TALKS UNLIKELY
According to Mr Abdurahman, the war is being fought on four to six fronts, with tens of thousands of Ethiopian and Eritrean troops stationed near the Tigray town of Adigrat.
"They are ready to launch an attack on Adigrat, and Mekelle," he said.
Sources on the battlefront told the BBC that the two armies were already advancing from Shire towards the historic city of Aksum, as well as Adwa and Adigrat, in an operation that has seen them move from west to east.
While foreign powers have been urging the two sides to resolve the conflict peacefully, Mr Abdurahman said this was unlikely to happen.
"Historically, the ruling classes of Abyssinia, and now Ethiopia, always fought their way to power. The powerful becomes the king of kings until someone else emerges. There is no tradition of resolving matters peacefully. It is a zero-sum game," he said.
Prof De Waal said that the international community needed to act urgently to impose a ceasefire.
"Otherwise there is the risk of a genocide, and mass starvation," he said, pointing to research in August from a Belgian-led academic team that calculated total civilian deaths during the war in Tigray - caused by the fighting, famine and lack of health care - stood at between 385,000 and 600,000.
"Harvesting is supposed to start now, but the Eritrean-led armies are turning Tigray into a wasteland."
[ShabelleMedia] al-Shabaab ...... the personification of Somali state failure... lost small but strategic villages in southern Somalia to the country’s national army during a military operation on Tuesday.
MP Osman Hadole, an ex-military officer played role in the offensive that led to the capture of Jameo Misra, Maqdis, Bardhere, Gashanle, Tugaarey, Jameo Mubarak, and others.
The villages taken by the army are all located on the eastern outskirts of Bal’ad town within the Middle Shabelle region, which lies about 30 kilometers north of Mogadishu.
The residents confirmed that the army forces moved into the villages without resistance from al-Shabaab bully boyz who made a surprise withdrawal ahead of the capture.
Somali troops are making territorial gains in central Somalia against al-Shabaab as the government aims to take control of entire regions that remained under the group’s control.
[Garowe] The US Department of Treasury has designated six al-Shabaab ...... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all of which have enough problems without them... financiers in the latest crackdown, with the targeted individuals believed to be holding various ranking roles within the terror group, adding that they act as "interlocutors" between the group and local companies in Somalia.
This network, the department noted, has engaged in weapons procurement, financial facilitation, and recruitment activities for al-Shabaab. In addition to being leaders within al-Shabaab, these controllers have had direct contact with other previously designated al-Shabaab officials.
"Treasury is focused on identifying and disrupting al-Shabaab’sillicit networks operating in Eastern Africa," said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. "We will continue to take action against the weapons smuggling and fundraising activities of al-Shabaab and other-Qa’idaaffiliates."
Al-Shabaab pledged allegiance to al-Qa’ida in 2009 and officially became an al-Qa’ida affiliate in 2012. The group maintains strong connections to al-Qa’ida’s big shots and coordinates its publication of propaganda with al-Qa’ida. al-Qa’ida leadership has publicly praised al-Shabaab attacks in Somalia and Kenya in recent years.
Investigations by the US indicated that the group, which controls large swathes of rural central and southern Somalia, has been raising up to $100 million annually and it is believed that the terror group finances affiliates across the world.
Part of the money is raised through extortion of local businesses and individuals, collections of fees on goods, as well as the facilitation of illicit trades. The group’s revenue has also supported al-Shabaab’s capacity, capabilities, leadership, and attacks on Somali citizens.
The designated leaders include Abdullahi Jerri who as late as 2021, is believed to have smuggled weapons for al-Shabaab. Jeeri is al-Shabaab’s head of weapons procurement and has acquired weapons for al-Shabaab from both local markets and foreign suppliers, primarily in 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... Jeeri, the department said, has served as an interlocutor between al-Shabaab and local businesses and has collected payments levied by the group. Jeeri is one of the serving members of the terrorist group’s leadership body, the Shura Council. He has also commanded a unit of al-Shabaab fighters and has overseen the consolidation of weapons and vehicles from various groups for al-Shabaab.
Khalif Adale is believed to have served as al-Shabaab’s finance leader for collecting money from non-governmental organizations [NGOs] and has reported directly to al-Shabaab’s emir Ahmed Diriye, who was designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist [SDGT] pursuant to E.O.13224 in 2015.
Adale was part of al-Shabaab leader Mahad Karate’s team within the al-Shabaab organizational structure and maintained communication with Karate. The U.S. Department of State designated Karate as an SDGT on April 10, 2015, the statement read.
Also designated is Hassan Afgooye who the department is offering $5 million for information on his whereabouts. Afgooye oversees a complex financial network, whose activities range from involvement in sham charities and fundraising to racketeering and kidnapping in support of al-Shabaab. Afgooye is considered critical to al-Shabaab’s continuing operations.
As of early 2021, Afgooye was a bigwig in al-Shabaab’s Finance Department under Mahad Karate. Afgooye previously served as al-Shabaab’s Chief of Finance. He has continued to serve in an influential leadership position in al-Shabaab’s Finance Department and was involved with al-Shabaab’s overseas financial transactions.
Abdikarim Hussein Gagaale who has served as a deputy within al-Shabaab’s Finance Department under Mahad Karate is also on the blacklist.
Gagaale is being designated pursuant to E.O.13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to, or in support of, al-Shabaab.
Others sanctioned by the department include Abdi Samad who has been in close contact with the al-Shabaab Senior Leadership Council and Abdirahman Nurey who is an interlocutor between al-Shabaab and the local private sector.
According to the US, those designated will have all property and interests in property and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by them, individually, or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC.
Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC or otherwise exempt, it stated, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within the United States [including transactions transiting the United States] that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons.
Furthermore, engaging in certain transactions with the individuals designated entails the risk of secondary sanctions pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended. Pursuant to this authority, OFAC can prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintenance in the United States, it added.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed the sanctions on more than a dozen individuals from Somalia 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... who are involved in al-Shabab’s financing operations which in turn use those funds to assist in weapons procurement and recruitment activities.
One member is accused of using digital currency to launder money for the group.
Along with the Treasury sanctions, the State Department on Monday designated five al-Shabab leaders for diplomatic penalties.
“Five stiff notes on the special stiff notepaper coming up as ordered, boss!”
[ShabelleMedia] Three United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... peacekeepers were killed and three others seriously injured when their vehicle hit an improvised bomb in northern Mali on Monday, a U.N. spokesperson said.
Islamist holy warriors, some with links to al-Qaeda and Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... , have been waging an insurgency in northern Mali for the last decade.
The peacekeepers were on a mine search and detection patrol in the northern commune of Tessalit,
...near the Algerian border...
in Kidal region, when they were hit, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told news hounds.
"We send our deepest condolences to the families of the peacekeepers, to our colleagues in the mission and we wish a speedy recovery to those who were maimed," Dujarric said.
MINUSMA — the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali — currently has about 12,000 military personnel deployed in the country.
At least 174 peacekeepers have been killed in hostile acts in Mali since the start of the mission in 2013, making it the deadliest U.N. peacekeeping mission in the world.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/19/2022 00:00 ||
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#1
I think this is northeast enough to be Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) territory — the rest of northern Mali being Al Qaeda in the Magreb (AQIM) /JNIM territory — but after searching the internet I’ve managed to thoroughly confuse myself. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
#2
It is confusing isn't it. My guess would be JNIM since they're the ones blew up UN convoys for being 'invading forces' earlier too. Better equipped than the IGS, the JNIM have been hitting military posts, depots, all through Mali. I think it's about getting control of where the gold deposits are. Just my two rupees.
#3
Bless you, Dron. I do my best, but I’ve never had the kind of mind that naturally thinks in terms of connection webs, territory maps, and endless, cascading details.
GAZA, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Saudi authorities released a senior official of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas after over three years in detention, an official of the Islamist faction said.
Ezzat El-Reshiq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said in a statement the official, Mohammad Al-Khodary, 83, whom Saudi authorities detained in 2019 along with dozens of others, was on board a plane heading to Jordan.
"I spoke to him and he is in good spirit. He hopes and he prays that the rest of his detained brothers be freed," said Reshiq.
There was no immediate reply from Saudi officials on a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas was formed in the 1980s as an offshoot of the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood but has more recently stressed its basis as a Palestinian liberation movement, in part to defuse Egyptian enmity and draw support from wealthy Arab states.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have cracked down against the Brotherhood, which they view as a threat to their systems of rule.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS] A court in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... has sentenced a 51-year-old Tunisian doctor residing in Saudi Arabia to 15 years in prison for her interaction with a Twitter post that supports Hezbollah.
The brother of the Tunisian doctor, who resides in Saudi Arabia, said that she had been sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of insulting the ruling system there and transgressing the regime through social networking sites.
In an interview with al-Jawharah FM, He added that his sister had been working in Saudi Arabia since 2008 and had been arrested in 2020, accused of interacting with a Twitter post that supported Hezbollah.
He explained that contacts with her were cut off, adding that the investigations continued with her for a whole year, then she was sentenced to two years in prison and 8 months, suspended for one year, before the verdict was appealed by the lawyer appointed by the Saudi authorities and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
He confirmed that they contacted the Tunisian Consulate several times to help them, but to no avail, calling on the President of the Republic and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene.
Earlier, the Independent reported that hundreds of UK professors and students have urged the government to take "urgent action" to free a student and women’s rights activist from prison in Saudi Arabia.
Salma al-Shehab was sentenced to 34 years behind bars last month for having a Twitter account and for sharing posts from activists.
In the same regard, the European-Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR)) has revealed that a court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced activist Nasser al-Mubarak to 16 years in prison for sharing a post on Twitter.
It is worth noting that the Saudi authorities have arrested many local Imams since Mohammed Bin Salman became Crown Prince and the country’s de facto ruler, including Salman al-Awda, Ali al-Omari and Awad al-Qarni.
The Saudi Criminal Court issued a 45-year prison sentence for 50-year-old Saudi citizen Noura al-Qahtani, after convicting her of a number of alleged crimes. These included using the internet and social media to "spread lies" about the Kingdom and its leaders.
In recent months, a Saudi appeals court sentenced mother of two Salma al-Shehab, a doctoral student at the University of Leeds, to 34 years in prison, because of her Twitter account. She was arrested and convicted when she returned to Saudi Arabia for a holiday.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/19/2022 00:00 ||
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[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] A citizen was killed in front of his wife by a gunman’s bullets in al-Shamayatin district, which is controlled by Islah Party Death Eaters, south of Taiz province, local sources reported on Tuesday.
The sources said that the citizen Ali Sultan Abdullah Munasar al-Azazi, 65, was killed by an unknown gunman on Monday, in the village of al-Najd Hajfat, in al-Azaiz area.
Al-Azazi was killed in front of his wife, who was collecting weeds from a farm near him, which caused her great shock, the sources added.
The sources attributed the death of the citizen to the corruption of the local and security authorities as a result of their manipulation of citizens’ issues and the delay in resolving disputes between citizens.
[IsraelTimes] Suspects accused of handling cash from supporters of US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen; fearing clampdown on critics, opposition parties seek suspension of new fake news law
Ottoman Turkish authorities announced the arrests of more than 500 people on Tuesday who are suspected of links with a preacher accused of having plotted a failed coup in 2016.
Ottoman Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said just over 700 arrest warrants had been issued, with 543 people detained. They are suspected of having collected or redistributed money sent from abroad by supporters of US-based preacher Fethullah Gülen
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/19/2022 04:20 ||
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[Rudaw] The United States on Monday sentenced a Canadian man to 20 years in prison, after admitting to providing material support to members of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) in Syria, and assisting travel for several individuals to the war-torn country where they joined the bully boy group.
Abdullahi Ahmed Abdullahi,
...one of the San Diego ISIS cell that conspired with Douglas McCain and others in the United States and Canada to provide support to forces of Evil in Syria. Mr. McCain, an American convert to Islam, died fighting for ISIS in Aleppo in 2014...
37, a former San Diego, Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, resident was accused of encouraging and financially aiding the travel of six North American nationals, including an 18-year-old cousin, to Syria, for the purpose of joining ISIS, according to a statement from the US justice department.
He was arrested by Canadian authorities in 2017, and extradited to San Diego in 2019 "to face the material support charges in the indictment," the statement added.
The Canadian national pleaded guilty to all charges in December 2021, also admitting to have wired money to ISIS intermediaries in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... , and having personally committed armed robbery in Edmonton, Canada in January 2014 to raise funds to support the bully boy group’s activities in Syria.
US federal court sentenced Abdullahi to 20 years in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release.
#Lafarge company pleads guilty in a US federal court to funding millions of dollars to #ISIS and al-Nusra Front in #Syria in order to keep its plant operable in the war-torn country. https://t.co/2bUQIacgeb
A French company, specialized in making concrete, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to making payments in millions of dollars to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) in order to keep a cement plant operating in Syria.
LaFarge SA agreed to pay $778 million in fines and forfeiture to resolve a US federal criminal charge related to the French company’s payments, which took place from August 2013 to October 2014, to ISIS and 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 .. ... Front (now Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... , HTS) in Syria.
"We deeply regret that this conduct occurred and have worked with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve this matter," LaFarge said in a statement.
US prosecutors said that Lafarge paid the two terrorist groups, through intermediaries, the equivalent of approximately $5.92 million.
The French company, which became part of the multinational Swiss-listed company Holcim in 2015, said that people responsible for this have been separated from the company since 2017.
LaFarge became the first company pleading guilty in the US on charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization. "Never before has a corporation been charged with providing material support and resources to foreign terrorist organizations," said US Attorney Breon Peace in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/19/2022 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
Never before has a corporation been charged with providing material support and resources to foreign terrorist caught, and we weren't expecting to be either. But merde!
#2
The French company, which became part of the multinational Swiss-listed company Holcim in 2015, said that people responsible for this have been separated from the company since 2017. "Those responsible for such perfidy have been sacked. Also, those responsible for the sacking have also been sacked".
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/19/2022 10:09 Comments ||
Top||
#3
$778 million in fines
Lafarge paid the two terrorist groups...approximately $5.92 million.
At first glimpse, the punishment doesn't fit the crime. Must be a payoff in there, or it's metric.
[Rudaw] One of the main smugglers involved in the death of dozens of people in the English Channel last November was detained on Tuesday by police in the Kurdistan Region following months-long investigations.
A dinghy carrying approximately 34 people, the majority of whom were Kurds, drowned in the early hours of November 24, 2021 after setting off from the French coast towards Britannia. Police found the bodies of 28 people floating in the Channel. Two survived and four others remain missing.
Rudaw spoke to both survivors at the time who described harrowing moments after their dinghy experienced problems. The migrants colonists called the British and French police repeatedly but their pleas were ignored according to the survivors.
A source who witnessed the arrest on Tuesday morning in the town of Ranya named the smuggler as Bashdar and described him as a top human smuggler involved in the English Channel tragedy. The source who is familiar with the investigation said that following the tragic incident, a manhunt was launched by the British, French, and Kurdish police for the smugglers, believed to be around five individuals from the Kurdistan Region.
The lawyer representing the families of the victims confirmed that one of the smugglers has been detained but declined to name him.
"Today, the Raparin police directorate... was able to arrest one of the suspects in one of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s institutions... while conducting a legal procedure," Ranj Barznji, a lawyer of the families, told news hounds on Tuesday from Hajiawa.
Zana Mamand, whose brother Twana is assumed to have drowned in the dinghy and whose body is yet to be found, spoke to news hounds from Hajiawa, saying that the families of the victims have filed complaints against the smugglers and the governments of UK and La Belle France and have legal teams representing them in both countries.
"The governments of La Belle France and UK have opened a case and began investigating. They have asked the KRG to form a committee, and the committee visited Gay Paree on September 26... On November 18, 2022 the first court session will be held there. The investigations have been concluded and the case has been taken to court."
Mamand also expressed his gratitude to the institution of the KRG for their support in seeking justice, adding that the families urge the authorities not to release the suspect under any circumstances.
Shortly after the tragedy, French police arrested 15 people suspected of being involved, but five were released without charges. In June, one suspect was charged in La Belle France with manslaughter and people-trafficking, AFP reported.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/19/2022 03:39 ||
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[Shafaq News] al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces-PMF) fighters managed demolished an ISIS safehouse in the desert of western al-Anbar governorate, an official statement said on Monday.
According to the statement, a force from the PMF's 57th brigade launched a search campaign in the Om Hajar area of the western desert.
"During the operation, the fighters found a safehouse from the remnants of the terrorist ISIS group. The safehouse was demolished by the force on duty," the statement concluded.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/19/2022 00:06 ||
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[Shafaq News] Counter-Terrorism Group Kurdistan (CTG) announced that two members of the Kurdistan Workers Party were killed and another was injured in a Ottoman Turkish attack that targeted Sinjar earlier today.
The Group said in a statement that at 20:20 local time, Ottoman Turkish aircraft targeted a vehicle carrying PKK fighters.
Earlier today, a security source reported that an aerial bombardment targeted a vehicle in Sinjar district, Nineveh.
The source told Shafaq News agency that the attack targeted al-Shuhada neighborhood.
An explosive vehicle targeted a local security force in Shingal, affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), late Tuesday, injuring four people, including civilians, reported PKK media.
Rojnews, a media outlet affiliated to the PKK, reported that an explosive vehicle passed a checkpoint controlled by the Iraqi army, entering Shingal in mid-Tuesday. Yazidkhan Asayesh chased the vehicle but it went kaboom! when the PKK-affiliated force found and approached it.
Two members of the Kurdish force and two civilians were maimed in the incident. They were transported to Shingal and djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... hospitals, according to the outlet.
Erbil-based Kurdish counterterrorism forces said it was a "Ottoman Turkish" drone attack, adding that two PKK fighters were killed and another was injured.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/19/2022 00:06 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Asra Panahi beaten by security forces during raid of her high school in Ardabil; women and girls have been at forefront of Iranian protest movement following death of Mahsa Amini
A teenage girl was reportedly killed last week after Iranian regime security forces entered her school, demanding students sing a pro-regime song praising Lord High Potentate and Supreme Leader of All He Surveys Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini... and violent mostly peacefully beating any that refused to do so.
The Thursday incident left multiple girls from the Shahed Girls High School in Ardabil hospitalized, including Asra Panahi, 16, who later succumbed to her injuries, the Guardian reported Tuesday.
Iranian schoolgirls across the country have been filmed in viral videos showing them publicly removing their legally mandated hijabs, or Islamic headscarves, and chanting anti-regime slogans, prompting security forces to crack down on schools and universities, sometimes with deadly consequences.
Videos have also showed security forces firing tear gas into schools and ushering arrested students into waiting cars.
Iran’s teachers’ union labeled the raids "brutal and inhumane" in a statement posted on Sunday, and called for the resignation of the education minister, Yusef Nouri.
The protest movement was triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in August following her arrest by the morality police, for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly. The Iranian regime denies the claims.
A man claiming to be Panahi’s uncle reportedly told state-controlled TV his niece had not died as a result of any beating, but rather from a congenital heart condition instead.
Panahi’s death has reportedly triggered a fresh wave of protests, with one anonymous student telling The Guardian, "I haven’t been allowed to go to the school because my parents fear for my life. But what has it changed? The regime continues to kill and arrest schoolgirls."
"What good am I if I simply sit outraged at home? Myself and fellow students across Iran ...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... have decided to stand in protest on the streets this week. I’ll do it even if I have to now hide it from my parents," Naznin, 16, said.
The report quoted another protester, referred to as Nergis, who said, "I don’t have a single relative in Ardabil, but with this brutal crackdown on our sisters, who were just 16 years old, they’ve awakened the whole nation."
Nergis cited the deaths of 17-year-old Nika Shahkarami and 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh, two other schoolgirls killed by security forces in the past weeks, as adding fuel to the already powerful nationwide protest movement.
"We never knew we were so united — across the Baloch regions as well as the Kurdish regions. The world has heard about Nika, Sarina and Asra, but there are so many other nameless children who we know nothing about," she said.
"It’s not just Asra’s death, the Islamic Theocratic Republic has been killing our people for 40 years, but our voices weren’t heard. Let the world know this is no longer a protest — we are calling for a revolution. Now that you’re all listening to our voices, we will not stop."
Following US complaints, #HTS withdraws from #Syria’s #Afrin, but maintains its presence there by keeping its security forces and allied factions of the Turkish-backed #SNA. #Turkeyhttps://t.co/hhOCffVhni
Military columns of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... (HTS) withdrew on Tuesday from areas in Afrin city and its countryside towards Idlib, while maintaining its security forces there.
On Thursday, the HTS took full control of the city of Afrin, north of Aleppo, following the withdrawal of Third Legion, an armed bloc of the Ottoman Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), from the city toward Azaz city.
A military source close to the SNA’s Hayat Thaeroon for Liberation told North Press, "The HTS’ security forces have prohibited raising the organization’s flag over security and military institutions and official departments. They also replaced the existing ones with the banners of the factions of al-Amshat, Hamza Division [which are allies to the HTS] and the Interim government [of the Syrian opposition]."
"A military column — including about 60 military vehicles, accompanied by trucks carrying tanks, vehicles, two rocket launchers and field artillery — withdrew and headed towards Idlib through al-Ghazawiya area," the source said.
He added, "These measures were taken after the comments made by the US embassy in Damascus on the organization’s expansion in northwestern Syria."
On Tuesday morning, the US Embassy in Damascus called for immediate withdrawal of HTS from Afrin, north of Aleppo. "We are alarmed by the recent incursion of HTS, a designated terrorist organization, into northern Aleppo," the Embassy said.
"The HTS’ security forces raised the banners of Hamza, al-Amshat and Ahrar al-Sham ...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014... to hide their presence, to avoid any possible American intervention," the source stated.
According to what a source from the Interim government’s Directorate of Education in Afrin told North Press, "All educational institutions in Afrin have been suspended until further notice."
The HTS’ flag was also removed from the Wali’s (governor) building, the Education Directorate, the Health and Security buildings and Afrin Prison, in addition to the court and other governmental and security institutions, eyewitnesses informed North Press.
The HTS also prevented its bad boys, at checkpoints and security patrols, from placing the organization’s banner, in order to convince public opinion that the SNA’s al-Amshat and Hamza factions are the ones who control Afrin.
On Tuesday, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that 58 individuals, mostly bad boys, were killed in a week-long fighting between SNA factions and HTS in north of Aleppo.
On Monday evening, the festivities between both sides came to a halt after the Ottoman Turkish intelligence intervened and ordered the HTS to hand over the security and military outposts in Kafr Janneh and Qatmah villages to the SNA’s Hayat Thaeroon for Liberation, which remained neutral during the recent festivities, an exclusive source told North Press.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/19/2022 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (al-Nusra)
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...... the personification of Somali state failure...
...... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all of which have enough problems without them...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
...The word 
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
