[ShabelleMedia] Heavily armed al-Shabaab ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... fighters stormed an upscale hotel in Mogadishu, Somali capital on Thursday night.
The witnesses reported the attack started with a boom-mobile explosion at the gate and then button men made their way into the building.
The hotel is frequented by members of Somali Parliament, ministers, officials in the government and elite people due to its proximity to Villa Somalia.
The details from the hotel attack indicate that the button men are fighting inside the compound and shooting at everyone.
Initial reports say police officer and a journalist were maimed in the ongoing al-Shabaab attack on SYL hotel.
12/03/2024
[ShabelleMedia] The Somali government forces vacated three military bases in the central region of Mudug, a shocking move that may jeopardize years of security gains.
Somali military officials in the province who declined to be named said the National Army (SNA) soldiers have deserted Amara [Camaara], Ba’adweyn [Bacaadweyn] and Aad [Caad].
The withdrawal is stoking fear among the residents that the al-Qaida allied militant group, Al-Shabaab may take over the abandoned bases and will target who supported the SNA.
Security experts have warned that the move to abandon military bases may expose the Horn of Africa nation to Al-Shabaab threats.
Since the president of Somalia Hassan Sheikh declared a total war in 2022, SNA and local clan militia fighters recovered dozens of areas in Galmudug and HirShabelle from Al-Shabaab.
Last year, Somali government troops pulled out of the towns of Mesagaway, Run-nirgood, Eldher, El Bur, and some others after Al-Shabaab overrun bases in Osweyne village in the Galgadud region, killing dozens of soldiers, including commanders.
11/03/2024
[ShabelleMedia] The SNA forces with the help of the United States military have carried out a joint operation against the Al-Shabaab group in the Lower Shabelle region.
The operation targeted a place where members of Al-Shabaab were gathering, and three of the militants were killed, according to a statement issued by the Somali government.
“A planned operation struck militants who were organizing themselves in the Lower Shabelle region to carry out an attack. Three of them were killed and the plot was destroyed at the site,” the statement added.
However, the statement seen by Shabelle Medi Network did not disclose the location of the operation that killed the three members of the Al-Shabaab group.
The Somali government forces, which are receiving support from international friends, have recently increased their operations in the areas where Al-Shabaab militants are located.
10/03/2024
[ShabelleMedia] Explosives likely caused a huge fire that gutted a section of Mogadishu’s biggest market, Bakara, on Sunday, an official and witnesses in the Somali capital said.
The explosions, which started just before 5 a.m. local time, claimed the life of at least one person and destroyed several stores that sell electronics and an assortment of goods such as coffee, shoes, and clothes, authorities said.
Frequent fires have destroyed several main markets in Somalia, and the cause has largely been electrical faults. But officials in Mogadishu said they suspect that explosives detonated at the stores were the likely cause of the latest fire.
There has been no claim of responsibility, but officials say they suspect al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... gunnies were behind the attack. al-Shabaab has not yet officially commented on the Bakara market fire. For years, al-Shabaab has opposed store and street surveillance systems that can be used to identify members who facilitate attacks.
Al-Shabaab regularly carries out liquidations and attacks against government workers, installations, security personnel, and African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... forces who support the Somali government. For nearly 20 years, al-Shabaab has been fighting to overthrow the government and establish its own rule in accordance with its version of sharia, or Islamic law.
Businessman Hassan Abdi Ahmed, who was at a mosque in the market for morning prayers, said he heard the sound of four explosions before the fire started.
"I was there in Bakara market; one [explosion] occurred nearby, then we heard another, a third, and a fourth one," said Ahmed, who chairs the Bakara Market Chamber of Commerce.
"Three were far, they happened further inside the market when the fire started; one was nearby. That is being confirmed by everyone. It’s clear. It’s not a secret."
Mohammed Ahmed Diriye, the deputy mayor of Mogadishu for security and political affairs, said the government is investigating the cause but pointed out al-Shabaab is suspected.
"There are murderers called Khawarij who are against the stability of this country, who, when weakened, try whatever acts they can to disrupt," Diriye said while speaking to the media at Bakara market.
Khawarij, or deviants, is a term which the Somali government uses to refer to al-Shabaab.
Diriye said the person killed approached the explosives, which were left outside a store, mistaking them for trash.
Some traders and store owners anonymously told the media they had been receiving threatening phone calls from people claiming to be al-Shabaab krazed killers, who oppose the installation of surveillance cameras at the businesses.
The Somali security branches advised the businesses to install the cameras. Suspected al-Shabaab attackers previously targeted streetlights and CCTV cameras fitted to the main roads and junctions.
"They are fighting against the cameras because they don’t want to be seen," Diriye said.
"It will never stop; we will work on it. We want the people to be alert."
Last month, at least eight people were killed and 19 others injured after a series of bombings, which targeted a chain of shops that sell electronics at the same market. Authorities blamed al-Shabaab.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Yemeni Houthi rebel movement Ansar Allah attacked the Israeli-owned commercial ship Pacific 01 and a United States Navy destroyer in the Red Sea. This was reported by the military representative of the movement, Yahya Saria.
“The Yemeni Navy carried out an operation using several anti-ship missiles that targeted the Israeli ship Pacific 01 in the Red Sea. At the same time, the air force carried out an operation using several UAVs against an American destroyer in the Red Sea,” he said on Al Masirah TV channel.
Targetting is one thing. Actually hitting depends on Allah’s (or physics) agreeing.
As Regnum reported earlier, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saria said that militants attacked a commercial ship and several American destroyers in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
“The Yemeni Navy carried out two high-quality military operations, during which they attacked the US vessel Propel Fortune with anti-ship missiles in the Gulf of Aden,” he said.
Saria added that the Houthis also attacked several US Navy destroyers with 37 drones.
Prior to this, in January 2024, the United States announced the start of an operation against the Houthis in Yemen.
According to Western media, the US leadership initiated a military operation against the Yemeni Houthi movement Ansar Allah in the Red Sea for ideological reasons, and not for any other reasons. According to them, Biden needed to show that the United States should act as an “indispensable nation.”
However, against this background, the opposite opinion was voiced in the West. Some experts believed that the US military operation in the Red Sea could nullify all diplomatic efforts to resolve the civil war in Yemen and worsen the situation in the region.
Yemen's Houthis began attacks on Israeli-allied ships in late 2023 as a show of support for Gaza. At the same time, they stated that nothing threatens the ships of Russia and China in the Red Sea.
A merchant vessel reported it had been hit by a missile and sustained damage 76 nautical miles west of 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... ’s Hodeidah, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and the British security firm Ambrey say.
"The vessel has sustained some damage. The crew are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call," the UKMTO said in an advisory note.
Ambrey also reported that the ship, which it said was a tanker, was subject to a missile strike on the starboard side.
The Iran-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s have been attacking shipping, claiming it’s in support of the Paleostinians amid Israel’s war with Hamas ...the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... 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 an 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... .
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] A military court sentenced Malgobek resident Khavazh Derbichev to a long term in a colony, recognizing him as an accomplice in organizing the financing of a terrorist organization.
The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Malgobek resident Khavazh Derbichev to 15.5 years in prison, finding him guilty of aiding the organization of terrorist financing, Fortanga reported on the evening of March 14.
According to investigators, Khavazh Derbichev provided his friend Ilyas Kartoev with bank cards in his name. Part of the money (13.4 million rubles out of 29.9 million rubles collected) was used to finance the Islamic State terrorist organization banned in Russia.
Investigators believed that Derbichev received money from Kartoev for using the cards and knew that part of the funds was used to finance ISIS*.
In turn, Derbichev’s lawyer told the publication that his client did not know about Kartoev’s intentions. “There is no direct evidence that he committed an intentional crime in the criminal case,” the lawyer said.
Khavazh Derbichev’s father also told the publication in September 2023 that his son was innocent. According to him, Khavazh was a victim of deception and did not receive money for the bank cards he provided, the publication says.
Khavazh Derbichev was charged under Part 5 of Article 33, Part 4 of Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (assistance in organizing the financing of terrorism), as indicated in the case file on the court’s website. The case came to court on August 11, 2023, and the guilty verdict was returned on March 6, the case file states. The text of the verdict, as of 10.25 Moscow time on March 15, was not published in the case file.
[IsraelTimes] Event canceled over ’serious’ security concerns on last leg of tour, says organizer; gatherings in Teaneck, Montreal, Toronto drew criticism and protests but were not scrapped
A tour promoting real estate in Israel and West Bank settlements that has become a flashpoint for controversy and pro-Paleostinian protests canceled its final event in Brooklyn on Wednesday due to security concerns, an organizer said.
Gidon Katz, a producer of the My Home in Israel real estate events, said the hosts of the exhibition, which was due to take place at a synagogue in the Flatbush-Midwood area, called it off due to "serious threats." Katz said he disagreed with the decision and that community leaders "succumbed to terror."
"There’s nothing I could [do]," Katz told the New York Jewish Week. "It was not in my hands."
The synagogue where the event was set to be held, Khal Bnei Avrohom Yaakov, did not answer phone calls on Tuesday or Wednesday. Its "simcha hall" is frequently used for community events.
A coalition of pro-Paleostinian groups declared "victory" due to the event’s cancellation and called for a rally instead of the planned protest.
The Brooklyn event was to be the last stop on a tour that included exhibitions in heavily Jewish areas such as Teaneck, New Jersey, Montreal, Toronto, and Lawrence, New York.
The other events drew fierce criticism and protests but were not canceled.
Katz, who works for a public relations company in Israel, where he lives, said the real estate group has been doing the tour for 20 years. This year, following Hamas ...a regional Iranian catspaw,... ’s October 7 attack on Israel and during the ensuing war, the real estate events have become both more popular, Katz said, and more controversial.
In addition to drawing attendees interested in owning Israeli real estate while the country undergoes a crisis and antisemitism rises abroad, the events have also drawn activists who claim the exhibitions are hawking "stolen Paleostinian land" — a claim Katz denies.
"People feel that there’s a big problem here, so as much as there’s a problem in Israel, if really there’s trouble, it’s better to be all together, and they feel Israel’s their home," Katz said, referencing reports of rising antisemitism.
Some of the potential buyers, Katz said, are looking to Israel as a safe haven, while others want a vacation home or to be close to children. The war appeared to have gotten prospective buyers off the fence, he said. "What happened is the war expedited it and not the other way around," he said.
At the events, 35 vendors marketing 100 real estate projects staffed tables and made pitches to attendees to buy homes in Israeli locales popular with American immigrants colonists, providing information on topics such as mortgages and shipping property overseas. The developments are in population centers such as Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, as well as smaller cities with large Orthodox populations such as Beit Shemesh and Givat Shmuel.
Three West Bank settlements — Efrat, Neve Daniel and Maale Adumim — were also advertised on a flier promoting the events, although Katz said he was only aware of vendors active in Efrat.
Controversy over the initiative spread after Rich Siegel, who identified himself as a Jewish resident of Teaneck, spoke out against the stop in his town at a town council meeting in February. Siegel claimed the event was illegal, alleging that only Jews were allowed to attend, that the synagogue was running the event and that settlement homes were being sold.
The speech, in which Siegel claims the event "violates both domestic law and international law," went viral online and led to a protest of hundreds carrying signs that said "resistance until liberation" outside the Teaneck event.
Further protests, and pro-Israel counter-protests, took place at the tour’s other stops. At one protest in Toronto, a man who appeared to be a counter-protester against the Paleostinian groups was arrested for carrying a nail gun, Canadian media reported.
Katz disputed the protesters’ charges. He said the events were not restricted to Jews and that the synagogues were renting space, not co-hosting the events. Nor did the vendors directly sell homes at the events, he said. The Anti-Defamation League also issued a warning about the "inaccurate, divisive ...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled... and inflammatory rhetoric" surrounding the events.
Regarding the properties in settlements, Katz drew a distinction common among wide segments of Israelis. While the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... and nearly all countries consider settlements to be in contravention international law, many Israelis distinguish between built-up, suburban settlements close to the West Bank’s border with Israel, and less established outposts deeper in the West Bank, many of which are considered illegal under Israeli law as well. (Israelis on the far right support the outposts and call for their expansion.)
Efrat, Neve Daniel and Maale Adumim are relatively close to Jerusalem. They have been referred to in the past as "consensus" settlements that would almost certainly be annexed to Israel should a peace deal with the Paleostinians ever emerge. Katz also said the vast majority of homes on the tour were located within Israel’s recognized borders.
Ahead of the Brooklyn event, pro-Paleostinian groups issued condemnations and vowed to protest. The Council on American-Israeli Relations in New York, known as CAIR, advertised a demonstration, accusing the organizers of "land theft."
CAIR’s New York branch said dozens of activist groups from around the city were backing the protest as co-sponsors.
That’s our Antifa link.
Protest organizers called on followers to pressure public officials, including the attorney general’s office, to cancel the events, alleging they were illegal. The attorney general’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
In an Instagram post declaring victory, one of the pro-Paleostinian groups, called al-Awda, also laid claim to the land on which the homes stand — without distinction between the West Bank and Israel.
"The illegal real estate sale of stolen Paleostinian land in Flatbush, Brooklyn was CANCELLED!" it said. "We will continue to SHUT IT DOWN for PALESTINE and fight for our land until full liberation and return from the river to the sea."
[IsraelTimes] At least 22 people have drowned, including seven children, when a rubber boat carrying migrants colonists sank off The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... ’s northwest province of Canakkale, the local governor’s office says, adding that search and rescue efforts continued.
In a statement, the Canakkale governor’s office says that two people had been rescued by the coasties and two others had survived "by their own means" after the boat capsized.
It says a plane, two helicopters, and a total of 18 vessels from the coasties and other rescue authorities were involved in the search and rescue efforts, along with 502 personnel.
Footage from Kabatepe port showed a boat taking part in search and rescue operations returning to port with body bags on the deck. Health workers and security personnel could be seen carrying the body bags off the boat and onto ambulances waiting there.
Earlier, Canakkale Governor Ilhami Aktas told the state-run Anadolu news agency that the four rescued migrants colonists were admitted to hospital.
It is not immediately clear how many migrants colonists were on the boat, the governor told Anadolu.
[IsraelNationalNews] IDF releases exclusive footage of Palestinian Arab terrorists opening fire on Gazan civilians in South Zeytun in the Strip, an incident which Hamas blamed on Israel.
The IDF on Friday released exclusive footage of Palestinian Arab terrorists opening fire in the midst of Gazan civilians about an hour before a humanitarian aid convoy entered the area of South Zeytun in the Strip.
The Gazan “ministry of health”, which is controlled by Hamas, claimed on Thursday night that it was the IDF that opened fire on the Gazans, killing at least 21 people, but the IDF said those allegations were false.
A preliminary IDF investigation into the incident found that Gazan terrorists were, in fact, the ones who opened fire on the civilians waiting for the aid.
“About an hour before the entry of the aid convoy last night, Palestinian gunmen were seen opening fire in the midst of a crowd of Gazan civilians. We emphasize that there was no opening of fire by IDF forces at the aid convoy in Kuwait Square,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said on Friday.
“The IDF is continuing to examine the incident while making strenuous efforts to bring humanitarian aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip, while Hamas terrorists are harming the residents of Gaza and spreading lies with the purpose of blaming the State of Israel,” it added.
[Breitbart] Chief Warrant Officer Uri Moyal, 51, of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) died Thursday after shooting and killing the Palestinian terrorist who had stabbed him in the back while he stood in line in a café in a gas station in southern Israel.
Surveillance footage from the Aroma café at the Beit Kama junction shows the terrorist approaching Moyal and stabbing him. Another patron, in a striped shirt, tackles the terrorist, and Moyal — mortally wounded — manages to retrieve his service pistol from its holster, aim it, and fire at the terrorist, who falls as patrons flee the café.
Video at link. Teamwork works.
Israel’s Government Press Office added: “The Shin Bet identified the terrorist as Fadi Abu Latif (22), an Israeli resident of Rahat originally from Gaza. In the video, he can be seen stabbing the victim in the back: a 50-year-old [sic] soldier who in spite of being injured, succeeded in neutralizing the terrorist before he could injure more people. The soldier later on succumbed to his wounds. His bravery will forever be remembered.”
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says it uncovered a Hamas ...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... tunnel under a bell pepper field near the Hamad Town residential complex in southern 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 an 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... ’s Khan Younis.
In the 200-meter-long tunnel, the IDF says troops found weapons belonging to Hamas operatives. The underground passage was subsequently destroyed by combat engineers.
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 Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
...the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
