Series: State Of The City reports
Subtitle: First NATO vs Russia act of war since 1990s and the Cold War
Program Type: Weekly Program
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Summary:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-25/meet-man-who-funds-isis-bilal -erdogan-son-turkeys-president https://politicsthisweek.wordpress.com/2015/11/27/bcfms-weekly-politic s-show-presented-by-tony-gosling-13/
Credits: investigative reports: NATO country Turkey downs Russian SU-24 supersonic bomber. First NATO vs Russia act of war since 1990s and the Cold War. Interview with John Banks - former paratrooper, special operations and counter-intelligence colonel in South Africa: Russian SU24 shot down by Turkey – first time since cold war; oil trafficking – Turkmen militants working with Turkish government; Paris terror attacks – 5 targets hit but supposedly there were only 7 attackers – media anomalies - top of ISIS product of USA, Saudi Arabia and Israel; should we attack Syria?; will Bosphorus be shut down to Russians – cutting off Black Sea ports; Russian bombing of oil convoys; Bilal Erdogan, son of Turkish President, profiteering from oil taken out of Syria – MIT facilitating ISIS; PKK and the Kurds; who's fighting who? Complicated; Paris -signs of a false flag attack; Assads' brothers helped CIA take weapons into Iraq; Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein and dictators; Golan Heights occupied territory by Israel – oil and gas deposits being illegally exploited, pipeline through Syria; clip John Pilger on Russia Today's 'Going Underground' this week, RT – Roland Dumas's statement that UK initiated the uprising in Syria; media propaganda; what are the solutions? State of Emergency in Crimea – Pylons bombed. Interview with Bruce Gagnon from Space for Peace www.space4peace.org and Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, about how US is trying to dominate space: missile defence shield; satellites able to control and keep an eye on things; anti-satellite weapons; cyber warfare; Yugoslavia – US shut down air defence systems by cyberwarfare; Cuban Missile Crisis; George Freedman from Stratfor – taking down Moscow and Beijing – fight for resources – natural gas; balkanising of Russia; NATO breaking promises to Russia. Drone pilots whistleblowers – their money frozen.
Vijay Prashad is the George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College. He is the author of sixteen books, including The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South (Verso, 2013), Arab Spring, Libyan Winter (AK, 2012), (co-edited with Paul Amar) Dispatches from the Arab Spring (2013), and No Free Left: The Futures of Indian Communism (Leftward Press, 2015). Vijay's latest book is Letters to Palestine: Writers Respond to War and Occupation. Vijay is the chief editor at Leftward Press, and writes regularly for The Hindu, Frontline, Jadaliyya, Counterpunch, Himal and Bol.
Transcript
PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to the Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay.
Thirty thousand barrels of oil a day. $19 million a month. That's apparently the revenues that are flowing to the Islamic State. Its oil exports flowing through Turkey. And now and investigative report accuses Israel of being one of the principal middlemen for Islamic State oil. Now joining us to talk about how all this works, and how it can work given supposedly the bombing campaigns that are going on, is Vijay Prashad. Vijay joins us from Northampton, Massachusetts. He's the George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History, professor of international studies at Trinity College. His latest book is Letters to Palestine: Writers Respond to War and Occupation. Thanks for joining us again, Vijay.
VIJAY PRASHAD: Pleasure.
JAY: So first of all, what do we know about how the oil gets out? It seems a little bizarre to me that such industrial-scale exports can take place without all the various countries that are supposedly attacking IS being able to stop this.
PRASHAD: Well, first I should say that there are a number of reports and studies that have been conducted. The Financial Times has done some reporting. Al-Araby Al-Jadeed has done a major study on the I think 26th of November, which they called Raqqa's Rockefeller. The Russian government has released their own paper on what they claim is going on between the ISIS territory, Turkey, and Israel. I did a report called ISIS Oil. So there's a number of people who have been looking at the phenomena of ISIS oil and how it's both being taken out of the ground and where it's going, how ISIS is able to make money.
The story is rooted actually in phenomena that predate ISIS. In other words, there are oil fields in northern Iraq in the Kurdish autonomous region where for many years the Iraqi regional government of Kurdistan has been in some kind of competition with the government in Baghdad, the central government. And oil has been siphoned out of these northern fields, these Kurdish fields, into, onto big trucks, smuggled into Turkey. And then they've gone out through [sehan] port, through Malta, often to Israel.
So this is a rather old network that has at least been going for 15 years or so. When ISIS took control of these fields about 18 months ago, they simply used the same networks, smuggling networks. They organized it, they've created in Mosul a, you know, an institution called Office of Resources, which controls things that were as far afield as oil smuggling to soft drink distribution. They do a variety of things, this Office of Resources.
As far as the oil is concerned, they've, as I said, utilized the old smuggling rings that had been used by the Kurdish regional government, so that oil travels across the border into Turkey. There is some preliminary refining that happens, because Turkey at least in this respect seems to be rather particular that you can only bring crude oil into Turkey if you have a license from the Iraqi government. If the oil is partly refined, then it can cross without that license. So there's crude refining of the oil. Bribes are paid at the border. And the trucks cross over and dispatch their crudely refined order onto trucks of another smuggling network. So the first set of trucks will return, essentially, to Mosul and to the oil fields in Iraq, and some of them in [inaud.] in eastern Syria.
Inside Turkey, the al-Araby al-Jadeed report skims this over, but here the story is quite fascinating. Because you know, yes, indeed, al-Araby al-Jadeed shows that there is a influential middleman. They call him Uncle Fareed. Fareed had, you know, he has various names, who at least takes charge of some of the trucking networks. But once the oil comes into mainstream Turkey, particularly in the three ports, one in which is [sehan] port, which is run by the Turkish government, there is a mysterious company called BMZ which takes control. And it turns out that BMZ has a familiar name as one of its owners. And that's the third child of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his name is Bilal Erdogan.
And Bilal Erdogan is one of the owners of BMZ. BMZ recently bought two major oil tankers. Why would they be buying oil tankers unless the flow of oil had increased in recent months? And they, through [sehan], take the oil out to Malta, where it is, again, ship, put onto a different ship, and it goes to Israel. From where it is either consumed in Israel, or it's laundered or sold out to European markets. To that's basically how the oil flows.
What we don't quite know yet, and I think what requires some investigation, is how the finance works. You know, how the payments are taking place. The banking networks that are involved, et cetera. But most of the money as far as the Islamic State is concerned, up to the border with Turkey, is done in cash. So there the question of banks don't apply. That's essentially, you know, how the oil travels.
JAY: Now, Vijay, in the--. In the Araby piece they quote an oil official, a European oil industry official, who says that without Israel IS wouldn't be able to send its oil to Europe. That Israel's playing a critical link in the exports of IS oil. And then if that's true it means Israel is playing a critical link in funding IS.
PRASHAD: Well, you see, again this goes back to the networks that pre-date the Islamic State, or ISIS. Israel has indeed played a role recycling or laundering oil from, illegal oil, that has come out of the Kurdish regional government for, you know, ten, fifteen years. I mean, that is how Erbil, the northern capital, has been able to get revenues by itself. And that has been one of the real tension, reasons for tension, between the Kurds in the north in Erbil and the government in Baghdad.
So Israel has indeed been laundering illegal oil from northern Iraq. They seem to not care. They are agnostic, it seems to me, whether that oil is being sold to them by the Kurdish regional government, which is pro-American, or by ISIS, which apparently America is against. In either case, the Israelis seem quite happy to launder that oil and provide, therefore, the group, whether it's ISIS or the Kurdish government, finances.
So yes, it is absolutely true that the relationship between Malta and Israel is of the essence here. Malta and Israel are joint partners in exploring for oil fields. Some of this is contested with the government of Lebanon, because their waterways are ill-defined. You know, these are two countries still at war. So Malta is a partner with Israel in much of the oil dealings. And yes, it's perfectly reasonable to say that without Israel's laundering ISIS oil would not be able to benefit ISIS.
JAY: Now, it's certainly the--if journalists can figure out these routes the CIA must be able to figure out--obviously you would think Israel's Mossad. I mean, this can't all be happening without everybody knowing. And if in fact they're trying to close down IS, you'd think they'd closed down the primary source of their revenue. I mean, why wouldn't the Israeli state step in, unless--it can't just be about the money they're making out of the oil.
PRASHAD: Well, Jeremy Corbyn asked this very question during the parliamentary debate in the United Kingdom over whether to bomb Syria. He said, you know, what about the oil revenues? Why aren't we looking into that? This is what the Russians said when they provided their brief, saying Turkey is a party to the trans-shipment of oil from ISIS territory, and why aren't they stopping this?
You know, at some level you imagine that this is something that concerns deeply people in, you know, the White House, et cetera, perhaps the CIA. That they understand--they know that this is true, because much of this is open-source reporting. You know, this isn't, these are not secret documents. This has not relied on, you know, WikiLeaks-type leaks coming from a government. This is, you know, relied-upon old fashioned reporting, where for instance, disgruntled Kurdish oil ministry officials have talked openly with reporters about how they believe that in Kurdistan the oil has been leaking across the border into Turkey. There are people inside Turkey who have talked quite openly, but I think with a great sense of trepidation given the crackdown on press freedom. But they've talked quite openly about the role of various Turkish companies in the trans-shipment. And in the side of Malta, there have always been very leaky, you know, corporate people there who speak openly about what's going on.
I mean, what you have to understand is that there is a political series of contradictions involved here, and not merely whether the evidence is good or bad. You know, the United States has a contradictory relationship with Turkey. They are unable to push Turkey to even close their border, to stop attacking the Kurdish militias, which the U.S. government say are one of the few forces capable of fighting IS on the ground.
These are political contradictions. I think within these institutions the U.S. government, perhaps the Israeli government, there is some debate going on about why they haven't responded to something that is so obvious as trucks driving through the Turkish landscape, taking IS oil to Israel.
JAY: Now, you made a point in your article that the Americans have done very little bombing of these oil trucks. They kind of picked it up after the Russians started bombing oil trucks. How do you explain the Americans allowing this kind of flow of funds into IS?
PRASHAD: Well, I asked somebody in the State Department this. And you know, she's not a spokesperson, not possible for her to speak on the record. But she basically said something that I found very unbelievable, which is that it's taken them time to perfect their targeting. They didn't want to hit civilians, they don't believe that the truck drivers should be targeted, that they themselves aren't, you know, a party to IS. They are merely driving trucks. So they had to finesse their operations.
Well, this sounded a little far-fetched to me. The United States has not been known, you know, as a humanitarian bomber when it's bombed other logistical convoys in Afghanistan or elsewhere. So this seemed a little odd to me. Yes, it--of course, it appears directly that the American bombing, the few bombings now of oil convoys have followed the ration bombings of the oil convoys. But you know, I just want to say that even the bombings of the oil convoys, it will have a dent on ISIS's Office of Resources. But the vast bulk of ISIS funding comes from confiscations, extortion, and taxation. And that is not going to be affected by aerial bombardment. So whether they bomb the trucks or not, ISIS funding is not going to be completely depleted.
What this attack at the ISIS oil is going to do is to put pressure on groups--on countries such as Turkey and Israel and others that are playing a duplicitous game in this international coalition against ISIS. I think that is far more important. It's clarifying the politics. Where does Turkey stand vis-a-vis ISIS? Where does Israel stand?
JAY: Listen, we've been saying--and you and I have talked about this, I've talked about this in other interviews on the Real News. But the fundamental strategy of the United States and Israel in Syria was let everybody kill each other, as long as it takes. In other words, make sure no one side gets a real strategic advantage over the other. And if one gets too strong, strengthen one of the other sides. Do you think this has something to do with it, that they don't--you know, they don't want a complete collapse of ISIS.
PRASHAD: Well, look, it's--. This is a plausible scenario. I've never heard it from anybody in a position of authority, you know, that they feel that they don't want to see the collapse of ISIS. But what they do say, which comes close to that, is that destroying ISIS itself is not going to give the Sunni population of northwestern Iraq an sections of northern Syria, it's not going to give the Sunni population confidence that they, you know, their sort of anxieties, their grievances, would be taken care of. In other words, just allowing the cities of Ramadi, Fallujah, Mosul, to be overrun by the Iraqi army is itself not going to bring that Sunni population to understand that their needs would be taken care of by the Iraqi state, and the same of course in Syria.
So this the American administration says quite clearly, that they don't want to see a precipitous, you know, move by what they see is a largely Shia army overrunning Sunni parts of Iraq, in particular. What they would prefer to see is some other solution take place. And in lieu of that, of course, you have the status quo, where ISIS remains in control. So yeah, I mean, I don't think there's a serious attempt to break ISIS. You know, yes, they are having--doing some strategic bombing raids against ISIS. But there is nobody moving against them. And in Syria it is so particularly fraught, because the American government continues to dance between acknowledgement that without having the Syrian Arab army, in other words the army of Bashar al-Assad, involved with the Kurds, with other forces against ISIS, at some point they say we need to, you know, help them. At other points they say no, we need to also get rid of Assad.
There's a kind of ambivalence in Syria which has not been fully worked out. In fact, there was a report recently that American planes bombed Syrian Arab army fighters near [inaud.], where they were involved in operations against ISIS. The Syrian government in Damascus said that you are operating against the air force of ISIS.
Paul, it's so complicated. And it's very hard to get the Americans to clarify what they're doing. You know, at every turn the State Department and other officials say contradictory things. Unless they start to clarify what they're saying, this is open field for all kinds of conspiracy theories.
JAY: All right. Thanks very much for joining us, Vijay.
Elite Israeli troops rescue wounded Syrians from the world's worst war almost every night
They have saved more than 2,000 people since 2013, at a cost of 50 million shekels (£8.7million)
Many are enemies of Israel and some may even be fighters for groups affiliated to Al Qaeda
MailOnline embedded with Israeli commandos stationed on the border between Israel and Syria
Dramatic video filmed by MailOnline and the Israeli army shows these operations taking place
Israel says that the operation is purely humanitarian but analysts believe Israel also has strategic reasons
For more of the latest news updates on the Syrian war visit www.dailymail.co.uk/syria
By Jake Wallis Simons On The Israel-syria Border For Mailonline
Published: 07:55, 8 December 2015 | Updated: 15:20, 16 December 2015
Under cover of darkness, an Israeli armoured car advances down the potholed road that leads to Syria. As it crests a small hill, the driver picks up the radio handset and tells his commanding officer that the border is in sight.
He kills the engine. Ten heavily-armed commandos jump out and take cover, watching for signs of ambush. Then five of them move up to the 12ft chainlink fence that marks the limit of Israeli-held territory.
On the other side, on the very edge of Syria, lies an unconscious man wrapped like a doll in a blood-drenched duvet. The commandos unlock the fence, open a section of it and drag him onto Israeli soil.
But this wounded man is not an Israeli soldier, or even an Israeli citizen. He is an Islamic militant. And his rescue forms part of an extraordinary humanitarian mission that is fraught with danger and has provoked deep controversy on all sides.
MailOnline has gained unprecedented access to this secretive and hazardous operation, embedding with the commandos to obtain exclusive footage, and interviewing the medics who are obliged to treat Syrian militants, some of whom openly admit that they intend to kill Israelis.
Cameraman: Shai Rosenzweig
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Danger: Israeli commandos are carrying out similar rescues every night - but their government's motive for authorising the extraordinary missions is unclear
The casualty – who doesn't look older than 20 – is losing blood fast. He has been shot in the intestines and the liver, and has a deep laceration in his left ankle.
After putting him on an emergency drip, the commandos stretcher him back to the armoured car and head back to Israel.
Almost every night, Israeli troops run secret missions to save the lives of Syrian fighters, all of whom are sworn enemies of the Jewish state.
Israel insists that these treacherous nightly rescues are purely humanitarian, and that it can only hope to 'win hearts and minds' in Syria. But analysts suggest the Jewish state has in fact struck a deadly 'deal with the devil' – offering support to the Sunni militants who fight the Syrian ruler Assad in the hope of containing its arch enemies Hezbollah and Iran.
'My dream is that one day, the Red Cross will say, thanks guys, we'll take it from here, you go back to your unit and take care of injured Israelis,' said Lieutenant Colonel Itzik Malka, commander of the medical branch of the Golan Brigade.
'I am proud of what we are doing here, but it is a great burden. For every Syrian in hospital, there is one less bed for an Israeli. One day we will have to make a choice between an Israeli life and a Syrian one. When that happens it will be hard, but I have to say my first duty will be to Israelis.'
Unconscious: A wounded Syrian Islamic militant receives urgent medical treatment from Israeli troops at the Syrian border. The commandos are seen administering 'tracheal intubation' by forcing a tube down the man's throat to prevent asphyxiation
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Emergency: The militant is very close to death and requires expert medical attention from the team, including a complex blood transfusion
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Chaos: Alongside the border with Israel numerous groups battle in Syria, including Hezbollah, Government troops, rebels and ISIS
There is no doubt about the danger involved. Many of the casualties rescued by Israel belong to Salafist groups who harbour a deep-seated hatred of the Jewish State. It has also been reported that some may be members of Jabhat al-Nusra, a Syrian group affiliated to Al Qaeda that has kidnapped scores of UN peacekeeping troops in this area, and has massacred Christians deeper in Syria.
“
In giving medical support to these fighters, Israel has done a deal with the devil”
Kamal Alam, research analyst, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)
It is unclear how the two enemies arrange the rescue. All that has been disclosed is that word reaches Israeli forces that casualties have been dumped at the border, intelligence establishes that it is not a trap, and the commandos are sent in.
In the three years that Israel has been running these operations, it has saved the lives of more than 2,000 Syrians – at least 80 per cent of whom are male and of fighting age – at a cost of 50 million shekels (£8.7 million).
Almost nothing is known about the Syrian as he is wheeled into emergency surgery 40 minutes after the rescue. He may be a member of a relatively moderate Islamist group, or he may be a jihadi. For its part, Israel says it either does not gather, or does not disclose, this information.
Officially, Israel says that this operation is part of its programme of humanitarianism, which has provided aid to a long list of countries from Haiti to Nepal. Palestinian civilians are also regular patients at Israeli hospitals such as the Rambam Medical Centre in Haifa.
A spokesman pointed out that about 20 per cent of the Syrians treated by Israel are civilians. MailOnline witnessed Israeli army medics treating a sick two-month-old baby and a middle-aged man who had suffered a heart attack, both of whom were evacuated across the Syrian border by the commandos.
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Wounded: The commandos must stabilise the casualty as soon as possible and rush him to hospital so that his wounds can be treated
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Safe: The stabilised casualty is stretchered out of the vehicle outside the hospital, where he will be handed over to the surgical team
The rescue of the baby girl was particularly poignant. Her older brother had died of a rare bone disease, and her mother feared that she was showing symptoms of the same disorder. Distraught, the woman decided to brave the dangers of the border and appeal to the enemy for help.
“
One day we will have to make a choice between an Israeli life and a Syrian one. When that happens, my first duty will be to Israelis”
Lieutenant Colonel Itzik Malka, commander of the medical branch of the Golan Brigade
The baby was treated under cover of darkness in the back of an armoured car, by Israeli military medics with rifles slung over their shoulders. They were able to ascertain that she was suffering from a high fever and gave the mother some much-needed medication.
Then mother and infant were escorted by heavily-armed combat troops back to the Syrian warzone. Diagnosing the bone disorder would have to wait.
'I wouldn't say that Israel is doing this for nothing,' said Chris Doyle, Director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding. 'If so, it wouldn't be publicising it.
'There is an element of wanting to improve the country's brand and image abroad, when all the opinion polls show that Israel doesn't have the greatest reputation. £8.7million is a large price to pay for PR, but Israel's powers-that-be have realised that it has to invest in its image.'
An Israeli Government spokesman rejected these claims as 'absurd'.
'Israel is a world leader in providing humanitarian assistance, both in the Middle East and around the world,' he said. He also pointed out that this is not the first time the Jewish State has given medical care to those bent on its destruction and their families.
In October, a Tel Aviv hospital treated Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' brother-in-law, and last year it treated the daughter of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. But analysts maintain that in the 'tough neighbourhood' of the Middle East, it is rare to give something for nothing.
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Humanitarian: A Syrian woman (centre) is brought into Israel by commandos so that her ill baby can be treated by military medics
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Support: An Israeli Army medic gives the Syrian baby a medical examination. The child's older brother died of the same condition
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Desperate: After being treated in the back of a jeep, mother and infant are escorted back to the dangerous Syrian warzone
MailOnline was given access to interview Syrian militants at the Ziv Medical Centre in Safed, northern Israel, one of a number of hospitals at which they are treated, on condition that their identities are not revealed. If other Syrians discovered they had received medical care in the hated Israel, they would be in danger of execution.
The casualties lavished praise on Israel. 'I will not fight against Israel in the future. Israel looks after wounded people better than the Arabs. The Arabs are dogs,' said a wiry rebel fighter who gave his name as Ahmed, 23, who was recovering from a gunshot wound to the groin.
'Before I came here, I wouldn't have said this. But there are many people who got injured and came to Israel for treatment, and they told me about it. I feel safe here in Israel. But when I am well again, I will go back and fight.'
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Another rebel, 20-year-old Mohammed, whose leg had been all but destroyed by fire from a Russian-made 'Dushka' heavy machine gun, agreed. 'Thanks to Israel for letting me in,' he said, eyeing the surgical frame supporting his shattered leg.
'The butcher Assad is my enemy. Israel is not my enemy. The one who treats you is not your enemy.' As soon as he was well enough, he added, he too intended to go back to Syria to take up arms again.
The Israeli doctor in charge of their treatment, Russian-born Professor Alexander Lerner – a leading expert in treating war injuries – did not disguise his delight at these responses.
'We are trying to build peace with our neighbours and win their hearts and minds,' he said. 'There are now 2,000 Syrians who have had their lives saved by Israel. We hope that this will change their life position. In the future, they will be more friendly to Israel and they won't want to fight us.'
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Recovering: Mohammed, 20, a Syrian militant, receives medical care in Israel after his leg was almost destroyed by heavy machine gun fire
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Converted: Ahmed, 23, a Syrian militant, says Israel is no longer his enemy, but many suspect he is just saying what Israelis want to hear
Other medical staff, however, believe that the militants were lying. Issa Peres, 36, a Christian Israeli Arab social worker, said that many hospital staff resented having to treat them.
“
I don't trust any one of them. You can't change their minds by taking care of them for two weeks”
Issa Peres, social worker, Ziv Medical Centre
'I work with the Syrians all the time, I see and hear bad things,' he said. 'Many of them said bad words to me, that they are going to kill me, they are going to fight with the Christian community, when they are safe they will fight against Israel.
'They have destroyed churches and Christian communities in Syria. I have to care for them, it is my job. But if I'm sitting with myself, I say no, it is not right for Israel to treat them.'
Asked about the fighters' promises not to fight against Israel in the future, he said: 'I don't trust any one of them. They grew up believing Israel is their enemy, Israel is the devil. You can't change their minds by taking care of them for two weeks.'
Other Israelis are more bitter. In June, two wounded Syrian jihadis were attacked by a lynch-mob while they were being transported to hospital by ambulance. One was beaten to death, while the other suffered serious injuries.
Six weeks later, two members of the Israeli Druze community – an Arabic-speaking people found in Israel and across the Levant – were charged with murder. It emerged that the militants were suspected members of Jabhat al-Nusra, an Al Qaeda affiliate who had attacked Druze villages in Syria.
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Nervous: A treated Syrian militant is wheeled out of a civilian ambulance a mile from the Syrian border in order to be taken back to Syria
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Returning: The militant is due to be returned back to war in an operation that is risky for the Israeli troops who will take him to the border
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Farewell: The Syrian militant takes a final look at the medical team that saved his life before heading back to continue fighting in the war
According to one senior Israeli army officer, Israel's humanitarian mission may also be part of a security strategy, aiming to 'keep the northern border quiet and our soldiers safe' by using medical treatment as an 'insurance policy'.
“
It is humanitarian, but it's also a case of "my enemy's enemy is my friend" ”
Kamal Alam, research analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)
'The Syrians will not strike us because they know we'd stop helping them,' Lieutenant Colonel Malka told MailOnline.
'They are desperate for our medical help. They have no doctors, not even a vet. Once we treated a man who had been stitched up by a friend with a needle and thread.
'If they want our help to continue, they know they must stop anybody from attacking our soldiers and civilians.'
Some experts argue that the status quo makes sense for both sides. The militants are stretched almost to breaking-point in a bitter struggle against Assad, and Israel, which is coping with stabbings throughout the country and sporadic rocket fire from Gaza, wants to avoid a flare-up of terror in the north.
Others, however, believe that Israel is also pursuing more hard-headed geopolitical goals. 'Above all, Israel wants to prevent Hezbollah from gaining control on the other side of the border,' said Michael Stephens, Research Fellow for Middle East Studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
'The Sunni militants are fighting Hezbollah, so for now they share the same objectives as Israel. That's why we're seeing this odd cooperation between people who would be enemies under any other circumstances.
'It is also possible that Israel is looking at what capacity these Syrians can add to its intelligence gathering in Syria, which is already formidable.'
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Leaving: The rebel fighter is wheeled out of an ambulance and transferred to a stretcher, which will be placed in an armoured vehicle
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The final stage: These are the last moments that this Syrian militant is likely to spend in Israel before he goes back to fight in the war
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Transfer: The militant is taken on a stretcher to the waiting armoured vehicle for the short journey back to Syria, where he will be collected
Analysts agree that the powerful Shia alliance of Iran, Hezbollah and Assad's troops is an existential threat to Israel, far outweighing any danger from the Sunni Islamist rebels (who are backed by Saudi Arabia, understood to have a form of working relationship in some areas with Israel).
Significantly, an Israeli spokesman confirmed that no medical support has been provided to any militants from the Shia alliance.
'From an Israeli viewpoint, it's a case of my enemy's enemy is my friend,' said Kamal Alam, research analyst at RUSI and an expert in Syrian affairs.
'There is no one they can trust in the Syrian quagmire, but if you get rid of Hezbollah, that's the end of Iran in the region. Israel's main aim has to be to eliminate Hezbollah – and whoever takes on Hezbollah is an uneasy but necessary ally.
'In giving medical support to these fighters, Israel has done a deal with the devil.'
For Israel to actually arm and equip the Sunni militants, he pointed out, would be to risk a fierce backlash, both from the Arab world and in Israel. It would also run the risk that the weapons could one day be turned against the Jewish State.
Humanitarian medical assistance, on the other hand, which is also offered to civilians, raises fewer objections on both sides, while fulfilling mutual strategic objectives.
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Mission accomplished: The armoured car, filled with heavily armed commandos and the patched-up militant, leaves for the Syrian border
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Watching him go: A team of commandos look on as their comrades take the militant on the dangerous journey back to war in Syria
This is where the commandos come in. For these young soldiers, the night is yet young; taking Syrian casualties to hospital was just the first half of their duties. As the night wears on, an ambulance draws up carrying a patched-up militant ready to be taken back to war.
He has received treatment at the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel's leading medical facility for treating the most severely wounded patients. A civilian ambulance – with an armed guard – has taken him on the 90-minute journey to the border, to avoid attracting the attention of lynch-mobs along the way.
MailOnline is allowed to film on condition that the militant is not asked his allegiances. When he is wheeled out of the ambulance, it is clear that despite intensive medical treatment, he is still very unwell. One of his legs is in plaster and the other is scarred with shrapnel pockmarks, and his right eye is covered with a bandage. He looks disoriented and afraid as he is transferred into an armoured vehicle and driven off into the darkness.
From Israel's point of view, this is the conclusion of another successful humanitarian mission, which now take place nightly as the conflict in Syria burns on. At the same time, however, many believe that this man's treatment – and the care given to thousands of Syrians like him – is an important, if unlikely, investment in Israel's security.
WHO IS FIGHTING WHOM IN SYRIA – AND WHERE DOES ISRAEL FIT IN?
For four bitter years, the Syrian civil war has been raging less than a mile from Israeli-held territory (Jake Wallis Simons writes). But aside from the occasional exchange of fire, the Jewish State has so far avoided being dragged into the conflict.
Nonetheless, Israel has significant interests at stake in the hostilities. Most obviously, it does not want to see Iranian influence creeping close to its borders, as this could have serious security repercussions.
A senior intelligence officer told MailOnline that Israel also concerned about Hezbollah's role in the Syrian conflict, as the Lebanese militia is gaining valuable combat experience that may strengthen its future operations against Israel.
Below is a summary of the main military actors in Syria, and what each one means for Israel.
Assad's troops: The Syrian ruler's forces are now only operational in his stronghold in western Syria, but they are now beginning to regain territory with the help of Russian air support. Israel has fought three bitter wars with Syria, and sees it as a longstanding enemy.
Iran: Officially, the theocracy denies that it has combat personnel engaged in Syria. But analyses of military burials suggests that at least 100 members of the Revolutionary Guards and the elite Quds Force have been killed in action in the country since January 2013, and its financial and logistical support of Assad is significant. Iran is by far Israel's most powerful foe, having repeatedly threatened to destroy the Jewish State. Given the large sums of money that will flow into Iran following the lifting of Western sanctions, its deep involvement in Syria is of grave concern to Israel.
Hezbollah: The Shia Lebanese guerrilla organisation has formidable capabilities, and works hand-in-glove with Iran in Syria. It is one of Israel's most deadly enemies, having kidnapped a number of Israeli soldiers and fought several debilitating conflicts with the Jewish State.
Russia: Officially on friendly terms with Israel, Vladimir Putin nonetheless threw his hat into the ring on the side of Assad in September. The US says Russia has been mostly targeting the 'moderate' opposition, but this may have changed since ISIS downed the Russian Airbus A321 in Egypt on 31 October, killing all 224 people on board. Nonetheless, Russia's main priority is to prop up Assad.
ISIS: The brutal jihadi group, which has become the number one enemy of the West since it mounted attacks in Paris in November, controls areas of Iraq and Syria which is home to five million people and is thought to earn more than $2billion a year. In October, the group released a video in Hebrew in which it promised that 'not one Jew will be left in Jerusalem'. But it currently does not occupy territory in immediate reach of the Israeli border.
Saudi Arabia: The Gulf monarchy is the principal financial backer of the Sunni militia who are fighting Assad , including the Army of Conquest, a group of Islamist rebels linked to Al Qaeda. It is engaged in a long-term struggle for supremacy with Iran, and is also fighting Iranian-backed Shia forces in Yemen. It is understood that Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states have a working relationship with Israel, which is hated on the Arab street. Israel has recently opened its first ever diplomatic mission in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Shia militia: Iran has mobilised a multinational network of Shia militias in Syria, which analysts believe serves as Iran's 'Foreign Legion', fighting the Sunni networks of ISIS and al-Qaeda. This includes Shia fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan. All of these militiamen are informed by Iran's loathing of Israel, even if they do not necessarily share it to the same extent.
Al Qaeda: Various AQ affiliate groups are fighting Assad in Syria, including the feared al-Nusra Front, also known as the Syrian Al Qaeda. This group attacked Druze villages in southern Syria, angering Israeli Druze on the other side of the border. As a result, two alleged al-Nusra fighters who were being treated in Israel were lynched by Israeli Druze in June 2015.
The Kurds: This proud people has been fighting for an independent Kurdistan for decades, and is currently engaged in a bloody war with ISIS. Kurdish forces are comprised of a number of disparate militia such as the YPG (supported by Syrian Turkmen Brigades) and the PKK, which is locked in an armed struggle with Turkey. The Kurds have long been on friendly terms with Israel, which supports their desire for independence.
Turkey: The country is preoccupied with combating the Turkish Kurds in northern Syria, and has conducted airstrikes against them, as well as against ISIS. It has also provided arms and logistical support to the Free Syrian Army, and wishes to see Assad deposed. Relations between Turkey and Israel were derailed in 2010, when eight Turkish nationals and an American-Turkish activist were killed by Israeli commandos in international waters when they attempted to run the Israeli blockade of Gaza. The relationship has been repaired to a large extent since.
Moderate Syrian rebels: A range of militias opposed to Assad are referred to generally as the Free Syrian Army. David Cameron has placed their numbers at about 70,000, but doubts remain about how unified they are, given the fact that they do not share a central command structure and operate in different parts of the country. They have no immediate desire to fight Israel, but share the general hatred of the Jewish state that dominates in Syria.
United States: The Obama administration failed to attack Assad when he crossed the 'red line' of using chemical weapons in 2014. However, it has conducted significant air operations against ISIS, the al Nusra Front and other jihadi groups. The US is a staunch ally of Israel, though relations have been strained in recent years due to differences between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu over the settlement policy on the West Bank.
France: Following the Paris terror attacks, France has played a leading role in rallying support for Western strikes on ISIS, and has significantly stepped up its own air operations. Large numbers of French Jews have emigrated to Israel in the wake of terror attacks against Jewish targets in France. The French Government was one of the first to recognise the Jewish State in 1948, but also strongly supports the Palestinian right to self-determination.
It's about oil, stopping Russian & Shi-ite oil getting into the Med for further transport to Europe. Saudi is trying to stop this via proxies like ISIS. We allowed this as they buy our arms in return for keeping oil prices under control, IMO.
THE SECRET WAR
The simple fact is your son or daughter was injured or killed by a terrorist bullet, bomb, drug, or cyberattack financed, in part, by assets (cash, diamonds, gold, drugs, etc.) illegally transferred from Swiss Bank accounts—specifically the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), and one Saudi account holder in particular, Abdulaziz Abbas (Asra Abdulaziz a pouvoir su le coffre—Coffre No 8170 lie au Co-259.518-B.N.—Titulaire: 0279/CO-617’500-T.B.), and its Optimus Foundation—whose chief executives (i.e., Robert Wolf, Chairman of the Americas) have been financial bundlers for the Obama Administration, and protected from Justice Department prosecution by Attorney General Eric Holder and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer; and rewarded by Hillary Clinton and Ambassador Dell Dailey at the State Department, and Senators Carl Levin, Diane Feinstein, John McCain, and others in Congress.
STRATEGIC ANALYSIS
Most shocking was my discovery that these Swiss bank accounts—especially UBS and the Abdulaziz Abbas account—were known, controlled and preserved by the United States, but never shared with the military's Terrorist Threat Finance team; and the defense contractor managing this program, Booz Allen Hamilton—the same defense contractor that managed Edward Snowden's intelligence whistleblowing reports—intentionally covered this up.
Booz Allen Hamilton was paid to essentially help end the Middle East wars (Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa) by identifying, analyzing, and disrupting terrorist financial networks and operations. I know this, because I myself worked for Booz Allen Hamilton. I performed global psychological warfare analysis at the U.S. State Department's Coordinator for Counter-terrorism Office (under General Dell Dailey), U.S. Special Operations Command (under Colonel Dorothea Burke), and U.S. Central Command (under General James Mattis), where among other things I was the Liaison Officer, and terrorist threat finance analyst with a Top Secret/SCI clearance.....
http://armypsyop.wix.com/scottbennett _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
AFP, The Hague Wednesday, 13 January 2016
Dutch secret services fear as many as 70 Dutch children may be growing up among Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, warning in a bleak new report about life under such a “totalitarian” regime.
“Life among ISIS, unravelling the myth” was released late Tuesday by the intelligence services, the AIVD, in a bid to spell out to families, police and aid workers the true hardships and dangers facing those who travel to Iraq and Syria.
It paints a stark picture of life under a regime where “violence is inherent,” new male recruits to ISIS are interrogated for days to ensure they are not spies, and children are routinely taken to watch executions of those sentenced to death by harsh Sharia courts.
Thousands of foreign fighters from Western Europe as well as Gulf countries have been attracted to ISIS ranks in the past two years wanting to support its goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate stretching across Iraq and Syria and beyond.
Among them are more than 200 Dutch nationals, including about 50 women.
Of the 70 Dutch children now feared to be living among the militants, a third were born in either Iraq or Syria, while the rest had been taken there by their parents, the report said.
Propaganda put out by ISIS “paints an idyllic life in the ‘caliphate’, which is just not consistent with the reality,” the Dutch services said in a statement.
“Intelligence research shows conditions are truly deplorable.”
From the moment new recruits arrive in an ISIS hub such as its stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria, men and women are separated.
Women, who from the age of nine have to be veiled, have one main function within ISIS -- to have as many children as quickly as possible, the report said.
Single women are kept together in a house and only allowed out once a week until they are married off.
Children go to school from the age of six, where they are taught English and Arabic but also given lessons in “the ISIS doctrine and the correct interpretation and implementation of jihad.”
“Life for children in ISIS areas is associated with death and destruction,” the report says, describing their daily experiences as “hard and traumatizing.”
Many ISIS-held towns are under constant air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition, and children may have to deal with the death of their parents, risk getting injured and are regularly exposed to gruesome scenes.
A spokeswoman for the AIVD would not reveal how the information in the 16-page report was obtained, saying only “intelligence gathering is our business.”
But Inge Oevering told AFP Wednesday it was primarily aimed at professionals and relatives, to understand what foreign fighters and their families are going through.
While the secret services would “hope to dissuade” people from leaving the Netherlands to join ISIS, “we are not under the impression that they would listen to us.”
Last Update: Wednesday, 13 January 2016 KSA 19:10 - GMT 16:10
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PERSPECTIVE ANALYSIS
President Obama’s final SOTU reminiscent of candidate Obama
Obama’s address to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday night was reminiscent of candidate Obama (R). (Reuters)
Sigurd Neubauer, Special to Al Arabiya NewsWednesday, 13 January 2016
It was a confident and cheerful Barack Obama who delivered his last State of the Union address of his presidency, concluding that he “believes in change” and remained optimistic about the extraordinary qualities exhibited by the American people.
With seven years in office, which have partially been marked by a dysfunctional Washington in a partisan gridlock, Obama’s address to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday night was reminiscent of candidate Obama; a young man in a hurry to strengthen America by unapologetically championing liberal policies.
It was a president who spoke largely about economic fairness, referenced the need for stricter gun control, while outlining some of the Democratic Party’s key policy initiatives, including pushing for minimum wage, equal pay and the need for protecting entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Calling for two-years of free community college for eligible students and free pre-school education for all Americans were non-starters for Republicans, as well. So much for bipartisanship.
President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. (AP)
While Obama acknowledged that the unfolding election season would likely impact the chances for reaching common ground with Republicans on some of his stated policy objectives, he missed no opportunity to tout his administration’s successes: His Iran agreement, which was largely criticized by Republicans, had prevented another war, Obama asserted.
The president also took a jab at some of his domestic opponents for denying climate change, a not so subtle reference to Republicans. Overall, his address was nothing but a pep rally to the liberal base of the Democratic Party, yet he gave an earnest and articulate assessment of why he believes America has prospered for all under his watch. He also took time to acknowledge the new speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, (R-Wisconsin) for his commitment to fighting poverty.
Defending anti-terror strategies
Still, the unapologetic Obama ceded little ground to Republicans as he touted his accomplishments, including the Affordable Care act while outlining his liberal vision for America: For those who had hoped for any sort of bipartisan overtures in his address on the many challenges facing the nation, Obama sorely disappointed.
President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. (AP)
In reference to a growing sentiment among Americans that Obama’s foreign policy is fundamentally adrift amid increasing threats presented by a host of international terrorist organizations, including al-Qaeda and ISIS, the president once again defended his legacy on keeping America safe. He also touted his own anti-terrorism record by reminding Americans that it was he who had ordered the killing of sl-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden. The president was also unapologetic for his anti-ISIS strategy, while at the same time sticking to his campaign promise to close down Guantanamo Bay, the U.S.-military base in Cuba where a number of dangerous terrorists mostly caught in Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. are held.
On America’s longest war, the war in Afghanistan, and his initial campaign promise to bring it to an end, Obama said nothing. In contrast to what he called the “failed” wars of Vietnam and Iraq, he said that the “smart approach” to the war in Syria was establishing an international coalition to help accelerate a diplomatic process to bring the conflict to an end. He also challenged largely Republican allegations that America had not been leading on the world stage under his tutelage, arguing that rapprochement with Cuba, the U.S.-led effort to eradicate Ebola from West Africa to reaching the historic climate change agreement in Paris were all significant foreign policy victories.
As part of an effort to justify his anti-ISIS strategy, Obama said that the international coalition he had established had killed its leaders, attack its oil installations and terror financing sources, while at the same time pushing the group out of large parts of its territory. In short, he implied that his anti-ISIS strategy was just perfect and did not acknowledge prior foreign policy mistakes, including his failure to enforce his own redline on Syria. Yet, he acknowledged that instability promoted by failed states across the Middle East would likely last another generation.
A liberal agenda
During the last part of Obama’s State of the Union, he made one important admission: He stated that he regretted how his presidency had increased the already deep political division among Americans while pledging to what he could to improve the level of discourse.
President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. (AP)
Still, Obama’s delivery was reminiscent of his own campaign for the White House nearly eight years ago, when he used his powerful oratory skills and charisma to appeal to the American people of why he would the best candidate to presidency. Sadly, during his last State of the Union, Obama had by all accounts failed to be the uniting leader he had once promised to be, and instead reminded Americans why he had been a polarizing president by presenting himself as the preacher in chief.
A preacher with a liberal agenda bent on shaping America according to his own principles routed in the role of big government. Obama, however, is right about one thing: America is still the most powerful country in the world with an economy second to none. America’s best days are therefore undoubtedly ahead, and not behind.
Last Update: Wednesday, 13 January 2016 KSA 20:17 - GMT 17:17
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'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
The front covers of ISIS propaganda magazines.
By Michel Moutot AFP, Paris Monday, 18 January 2016
ISIS may be losing ground in its strongholds of Iraq and Syria but as the attack in Indonesia this month showed, the militants are rallying other groups under their banner, analysts say.
In most cases, these groups have no direct contact with the leadership of ISIS’s self-proclaimed caliphate, but the group is happy to claim responsibility for the blood spilled in its name, the experts say.
“From the start, Islamic State (ISIS) has vowed to take its fight globally, but until recently it has been focused on managing its caliphate in Iraq and Syria,” said Michael Kugelman, of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.
With the Iraqi army re-taking some of the territory the group had taken, ISIS “has re-dedicated attention to focusing on a more global approach”, he said.
“The big question, after the Jakarta attacks and all of these attacks around the world in recent months that have been claimed by ISIS is - are these militants only inspired by ISIS or have they been directly managed by ISIS?” he said.
Kugelman, like all of the experts questioned by AFP, believes that ISIS is for now content to take credit for the attacks, using the “brand recognition” of its name that has spread across the world, partly through social media, without necessarily dedicating resources or manpower to these groups.
“What you have here are disillusioned, alienated militants, who have been fighting with a different organization, who are interested in identifying themselves with a more dynamic cause. And they see ISIS as a very dynamic cause - they are in the media all the time and commit spectacularly brutal attacks,” he said further.
‘Seeking new identity’
That is why in Afghanistan and Pakistan groups claiming to be ISIS have appeared in recent months, claiming attacks or posing on the Internet with the group’s black flag.
“There are breakaway local militant groups seeking a new identity who are joining ISIS,” Pakistan-based analyst Hasan Askari said.
“The ISIS ideology already exists in Pakistan, it is an extreme Salafi tradition and people are now following them for a new identity, (even though) they might not have direct links with the real ISIS leadership,” he said, referring to a strict form of Islam.
He said there was no evidence to suggest that the ISIS leadership had visited the groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan, which are both strongholds of al-Qaeda.
Amedy Coulibaly, the French militants who killed four Jews in a kosher supermarket in Paris in January 2015, pledged allegiance to ISIS, but the investigation has so far found no evidence that he had ever been in contact with the organization, apart from viewing its propaganda videos on the Internet.
‘This is new’
Indonesian police investigating Thursday’s attack on a busy street in Jakarta lined with shopping malls, luxury hotels, and foreign embassies that left five assailants and three other people dead, have pointed the finger at Katibah Nusantara, a militant unit of Malay-speaking ISIS militants.
Yet Kugelman said: “In Indonesia, I heard no indication before these attacks of any form of formal ISIS presence. This is new.”
ISIS has put on record its allegiance with extremist groups in eight countries - in Algeria, Nigeria, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan - and claims it has directed or inspired attacks in at least 17 countries, killing around 1,000 people.
Security services have long feared that ISIS will work with the equally bloodthirsty Boko Haram movement, which since 2009 has wreaked havoc as it seeks to impose Islamist rule in northern Nigeria. In May last year, ISIS accepted a pledge of allegiance from the group.
“For Boko Haram in Nigeria, there is no clear evidence of operational contacts, but there has been a clear sophistication in its attacks,” said Peter Pham, of the Atlantic Council in Washington, suggesting that the ISIS planners are having some influence.
Pham is worried by ISIS’s advance into the Sahel region of north Africa. Pummeled from the air by a U.S.-led coalition and by Russian jets in Syria and Iraq, ISIS has been rapidly spreading into Libya, where affiliated groups have profited from the anarchy in that country to take control, and to secure the considerable oil reserves in some areas.
“We have to bear in mind that Sahel is a very permeable region, so it’s really a concern for the continent,” Pham said.
Levant Report
the Real Middle East, debunking the sound bites
DIA Docs: West Wants A “Salafist Principality In Eastern Syria” - Robert Barsocchini - Progressive Radio Network
http://www.levantreport.com/2015/05/19/2012-defense-intelligence-agenc y-document-west-will-facilitate-rise-of-islamic-state-in-order-to-isol ate-the-syrian-regime/
May 19, 2015
2012 Defense Intelligence Agency document: West will facilitate rise of Islamic State “in order to isolate the Syrian regime”
Posted by Brad Hoff
On Monday, May 18, the conservative government watchdog group Judicial Watch published a selection of formerly classified documents obtained from the U.S. Department of Defense and State Department through a federal lawsuit.
While initial mainstream media reporting is focused on the White House’s handling of the Benghazi consulate attack, a much “bigger picture” admission and confirmation is contained in one of the Defense Intelligence Agency documents circulated in 2012: that an ‘Islamic State’ is desired in Eastern Syria to effect the West’s policies in the region.
Astoundingly, the newly declassified report states that for “THE WEST, GULF COUNTRIES, AND TURKEY [WHO] SUPPORT THE [SYRIAN] OPPOSITION… THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME…”.
The DIA report, formerly classified “SECRET//NOFORN” and dated August 12, 2012, was circulated widely among various government agencies, including CENTCOM, the CIA, FBI, DHS, NGA, State Dept., and many others.
The document shows that a..... _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2016 1:24 pm Post subject:
Does ISIS really have SEVEN-FOOT tall executioners? Parts of grisly film showing beheading of 21 Christians were faked, claim experts
Isis released a video last week showing the murder of 21 Coptic Christians
The five-minute film showed the men being marched along a beach
The victims are then shown lined up and beheaded in sequence
Experts believe the Egyptian victims were not murdered at the beach
Instead, they were murdered elsewhere with the background added later
The shocking scene of the sea turning red is believed to be special effects
The scene where the sea turns red with blood is also thought to be faked
By Darren Boyle and Stephanie Linning for MailOnline
Published: 16:54, 21 February 2015 | Updated: 21:22, 21 February 2015
Parts of a sickening video released by Islamic State militants that shows members of the terror group beheading 21 Coptic Christians have been faked, experts have claimed.
The footage, which lasts five minutes, shows the Egyptian Christians dressed in jumpsuits being marched one by one along a lonely beach, each held by a fighter clad in black.
The captives, their faces uncovered, are made to kneel before being forced to lie down. The masked jihadists then behead them simultaneously.
While experts believe the men were killed by the terrorists, questions have been raised over whether some scenes - including one where the militants appear to be 7ft tall - have been manipulated.
Experts believe that the scene of ISIS terrorists marching 21 Coptic Christians to their death was faked
It is believed the actual murders were filmed in a different location and the sea was added at a later stage
There are also doubts as to whether the men were all murdered on the beach and whether they were all killed at the same time.
It is thought sections of the footage might have been shot on a 'green screen' in a studio - a technique used in Hollywood blockbusters - and that the beach background was added at a later stage.
Veryan Khan, of the Florida-based Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium, told Fox News that there are several technical mistakes in the video that show it was manipulated.
She said that in the shot of the terrorists marching their prisoners along the beach, the jihadis appear to be 7ft tall - towering as much as two feet above their victims.
This observation was supported by Hollywood director Mary Lambert who described it as the shot with the 'really tall Jihadists and the dwarf Christians.'
Ms Khan added that the terrorist who speaks in the clip - dubbed 'Jihad Joseph' - appears much bigger than the sea in some shots, while his head looks out of proportion to his body.
The sickening image of blood in the sea is believed to have been created using special effects
Ms Khan explained that this meant it was likely he had been filmed indoors and the sea scene, believed to be in northern Libya, had been placed behind him at a later stage.
Meanwhile, Lambert said that the scene that apparently shows the sea turning red with the blood of the beheaded men 'was obviously special effects'.
The experts claimed that only a few Jihadis would have been on the beach along with a 'less talented crew' than the ones responsible for some of the group's more high-production videos.
Earlier this week, local media reported that militants from the Islamic State and Ansar Al-Sharia were understood to have rounded up dozens of farm workers in the wake of bombings by Cairo.
It raises the chilling prospect of yet another mass execution in what is being seen as ISIS's bid to announce its presence in a new region where it is gaining influence.
Initial reports said seven men had been seized, but that figure had risen to more than 35 by mid-afternoon yesterday, according to The Libya Herald.
It came as Egypt blitzed ISIS training camps, weapons stockpiles and fighters in two waves of air strikes following the gruesome murder of captured Egyptian workers.
During Shishani’s four years in the military, from 2006 to 2010, his unit received some degree of training from American special-forces units.
“He was a perfect soldier from his first days, and everyone knew he was a star,” an unnamed former comrade still active in the Georgian military told McClatchy DC. “We were well trained by American special forces units, and he was the star pupil.”
Published on: March 13, 2015 | Last Updated: March 13, 2015 7:32 PM EDT
Bruno Saccomani, Canada's ambassador to Jordan, is seen in a file photo with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Canada’s embassy in Jordan, which is run by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s handpicked ambassador and former top bodyguard, is being linked in news reports to an unfolding international terrorism and spy scandal.
The federal government refused to comment Friday on multiple Turkish media reports that a foreign spy allegedly working for Canadian intelligence – and arrested in Turkey for helping three young British girls travel to Syria to join Islamic State militants – was working for the Canadian embassy in Amman, Jordan.
Reports also say the suspect has confessed to working for Canadian intelligence and was doing so in order to obtain Canadian citizenship. The man previously travelled to Canada with the embassy’s approval, said one report.
Canada’s ambassador to Jordan is Bruno Saccomani, the former RCMP officer who was in charge of Harper’s security detail until the prime minister appointed him almost two years ago as the envoy to Amman, with dual responsibility for Iraq.
The suspect in custody is a Syrian intelligence operative named Mohammed Mehmet Rashid – dubbed Doctor Mehmet Rashid – who helped the three London schoolgirls travel to Syria upon their arrival in Turkey, according to Yeni Safak, a conservative and Islamist Turkish newspaper known for its strong support of the government.
Other Turkish news outlets identified the man with slightly different spellings: Mohammed al Rashid or Mohammad Al Rashed.
Police arrested Rashid more than a week ago in a province near Turkey’s border with Syria, multiple news agencies reported.
The initial police report says Rashid confessed he was working for the Canadian intelligence agency and that he has flown to Jordan to share intelligence with other agents working for the Canadian Embassy in Amman, various news outlets reported.
The suspect claimed he worked for the intelligence service in order to get Canadian citizenship for himself, said various news reports. The Turkish intelligence service confiscated his mobile phone and computer, which were provided by the Canadian government, according to reports.
Computer records revealed Rashid entered Turkey 33 times with his Syrian passport since June 2013, and agents discovered passport images of 17 more people, aside from the ones belonging to the three British girls, Yeni Safak reported.
The Citizen has not been able to independently confirm the Turkish news reports.
The Syrian agent reportedly received deposits of between $800 and $1,500 through bank accounts opened in the United Kingdom.
A federal government source in Canada said the individual arrested is not a Canadian citizen and “was not an employee of CSIS,” but nobody in government has said this on the record. Nor has the government categorically ruled out reports that the alleged spy was working for or helping the Canadian government in some capacity.
Turkish news channel A Haber reported the 28-year-old man was a dentist who fled the Syrian conflict into Jordan, and sought asylum in another country before the Canadian embassy took an interest in his asylum case.
He then travelled to Canada by approval of the embassy and stayed there for a while before returning to Jordan, according to news outlets that cited A Haber’s coverage.
The news channel claimed he contacted a Canadian embassy official in Jordan called “Matt,” and quoted Turkish police sources that Matt was likely an employee of a British intelligence service, said a report from Istanbul-based newspaper Daily Sabah, citing the A Haber coverage. The suspect only acted as a smuggler and was paid by the intelligence service.
A Haber has released two different videos of the man arrested, with one video allegedly showing him leading the girls into Syria and another of him in custody being led away by security officials.
The choppy footage in the first video, filmed by the man now in custody, shows the girls’ journey from Turkey into Syria, Turkish media reported.
The three girls arrived at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, then headed to the southern city of Gaziantep near the Syrian border, Daily Sabah reported. The girls then took a cab from Gaziantep to a location where they were greeted by the man.
The suspect starts shooting video when the girls arrive and asks for their names, before telling them to take their baggage and not leave anything behind. He then informs the girls they will be in Syria within one hour, Daily Sabah reported.
The girls and suspect then hop into another vehicle. He then delivers them to Islamic State militants in Syria and returns to Turkey, and is later apprehended by Turkish authorities, according to the newspaper.
In Ottawa, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney has refused to comment on the reports, citing operational security. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service, RCMP and Prime Minister’s Office have also refused comment.
The official Opposition pursued the Conservatives Friday in question period over the alleged link to Canada’s embassy in Jordan, which they noted is run by Harper’s handpicked ambassador.
NDP deputy leader Megan Leslie asked the government to confirm that someone linked to Canadian intelligence – “either an employee, an agent or an asset, is being detained in Turkey.”
Roxanne James, the parliamentary secretary to Blaney, confirmed the government is aware of the reports but, like the minister, refused to provide any details “on operational matters of national security.”
Defence Minister Jason Kenney, speaking to reporters Friday in Calgary, said he has never heard Rashid’s name before and refused further comment. “We don’t comment on allegations or operations about our intelligence agencies,” Kenney said.
NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar said the government’s refusal to outright deny the reports out of Turkey lends credence to them.
“They haven’t responded,” he said. “And in light of the fact that there’s been more than 24 hours for the government to establish the facts as to what happened, I can only conclude that there is some truth to this story.”
Dewar said if the reports are true, that would be devastating for Canada’s credibility, and, at the very least, reiterate the need to increase oversight over the spy agency’s activities.
“We have been engaged with someone who is not blocking people from travelling to Syria to join up with ISIL, they’re actually facilitating it,” he said.
“So the government has to understand that they’re accountable for the actions of our spy agency and whomever they work with.”
Should the allegations prove true, Dewar said there should be an immediate investigation into what happened, including how CSIS would have recruited such a person to work for it. At the same time, he questioned who would lead such an investigation and where the report would go given the lack of independent monitoring over the spy agency.
“This is why we don’t support Bill C-51,” he said. “There’s no proper oversight right now. It’s a black hole.”
Dewar also noted the reports say Rashid was recruited out of Canada’s embassy in Jordan, which is headed by Saccomani. He said it is ironic given the government defended Saccomani’s lack of diplomatic experience by touting his background in security issues when the prime minister appointed him to the post last year.
Exactly why Turkish officials chose to publicly identify the man’s affiliation as being with Canada, and possibly CSIS, remains unclear.
Relations between Turkey and Canada were rocky after the Conservative government formally recognized the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during the First World War as a genocide, but they have become more cordial in recent years.
In particular, Canada has remained largely silent while other Western countries are criticizing Turkey for not doing more to stop the flow of foreign fighters into Syria, many of whom have joined Islamic State (ISIL).
It has also refrained from speaking out too loudly on what some have seen as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian bent and attempt to turn Turkey away from secularism.
Shamima Begum, 15, Amira Abase, 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16, are the three British girls believed to have joined the Islamic State, after they left their London homes in early February, travelled to Turkey and crossed the border into Syria.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said the suspect arrested worked for the intelligence agency of a country that is part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State.
He didn’t identify the country, but multiple media outlets, citing security officials, first reported Thursday the individual was working for Canadian security intelligence.
CSIS may well be operating in the region.
If Rashid worked in some capacity for CSIS, and based on reports his computer contained images of passport and travel documents of several apparent ISIL recruits, it’s conceivable he was actually gathering intelligence for CSIS about those recruits and the methods, logistics and contacts for spiriting them into Syria, said Ray Boisvert, former assistant director of intelligence for CSIS.
“If he was a CSIS asset, he’s likely an observer whose only job is to report what he saw,” Boisvert said.
If his computer did, in fact, contain information about many other ISIL recruits in Syria, “that’s a hell of intelligence operation, well done.”
Boisvert said relations between Turkey and Western coalition countries have become acrimonious, especially with the British. It has “become a very high, politically-charged discussion about who’s to blame,” for the ISIL recruit pipeline through Turkey into Syria.
If Rashid was working for CSIS in some fashion, the spy agency’s current mandate would prevent him or the organization from doing anything to have stopped the three British girls from reaching Syria. Under current Canadian law, CSIS and its assets are only allowed to gather intelligence.
Ironically, the government’s contentious security legislation, Bill C-51, would empower CSIS to disrupt such activities that threatened the security of Canada.
The reports come as the government pushes to enact two pieces of divisive security legislation giving CSIS extraordinary powers at home and abroad. But critics argue that without additional oversight and review, Canada’s security agencies could run amok with the new powers.
Under Bill C-51, the CSIS mandate would dramatically expand from its current intelligence collection-only role to actively reducing and disrupting threats to national security, whether in Canada or abroad. If those disruption activities are illegal or unconstitutional in Canada, the legislation authorizes Federal Court judges to grant CSIS warrants to break the law.
The bill also gives explicit direction to CSIS and Canadian courts to ignore the statutes of sovereign states in pursuing such operations. That development was highlighted in an online New York Times op-ed article this week by Canadian legal scholars Craig Forcese and Kent Roach.
Another piece of government security legislation before the Senate, Bill C-44, which amends the CSIS Act, also would allow Federal Court judges to “without regard to any other law, including that of any foreign state … authorize activities outside of Canada to enable the service to investigate a threat to the security of Canada.”
Those activities would be limited to traditional intelligence gathering, which is done, usually covertly, by intelligence services the world over.
Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2016 1:15 pm Post subject:
U.K. Labour Party Member in Hot Water After Saying Israel's Mossad Is Behind ISIS
Israel is responsible for the Brussels bombings and ISIS has refrained from attacking Israel 'because the dog doesn't bite his own tail,' Bob Campbell says on Facebook before reportedly getting suspended.
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the U.K. opposition Labour Party, listens to a speech at the party's annual conference in Brighton, U.K., on Monday, Sept. 28, 2015.Bloomberg
Leading Jewish figure in U.K. Labour Party threatens to quit over anti-Semitism
U.K. Jewish weekly highlights concern about anti-Semitism in British Labour Party
U.K. Labour party suspends activist for saying Jews have 'big noses'
In another of a seemingly unending string of controversies over anti-Jewish or anti-Israeli comments by members of Britain's Labour Party, Bob Campbell, a party activist who has reportedly claimed that ISIS is controlled by Israel, denies that he has been the suspended by the party.
The London-based Jewish Chronicle and Sunday Times have reported over the past several days that Campbell was suspended pending a party investigation after allegedly posting a claim on Facebook that the Israel's Mossad intelligence agency runs ISIS. He is also said to have claimed Israel was behind this month's terrorist bombing in Brussels.
But Britain's Independent news website, which added that Campbell alleged on Facebook that ISIS has refrained from attacking Israel "because the dog doesn't bite his own tail," said the Labour Party member denied having been suspended. Media reports have said that such a suspension came at the request of his local member of parliament, Tom Blenkinsop of the Labour Party. Blenkinsop represents the Middlesborough region of northeast England, where Campbell lives.
Recent scandals involving extremism of Labour Party activists include Gerry Downing, who is said to have objected to condemnation of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. He was expelled from the party this month. Vicki Kirby, a former Labour Party parliamentary candidate, took heat in 2014 over tweets in which she reportedly stated that Adolf Hitler might be the "Zionist God” and that Jews had “big noses.” She was suspended from the party twice. In mid-February, Alex Chalmers, the co-chair of the Oxford University Labour Party Club, resigned after the group decided to support Israel Apartheid Week. He claimed many club members “have some kind of problem with Jews."
The party, which last governed Britain under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown between 1997 and 2010, is now led by Jeremy Corbyn, who since his election as party head last summer has engendered concern in the British Jewish community and elsewhere for views that are seen by some as extreme. For his part, however, Corbyn recently told Britain's Sky News: "Since I became leader I’ve absolutely condemned anti-Semitism. I've condemned Islamophobia. I've condemned any form of racism anywhere within our society. It is absolutely something I totally passionately believe in."
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/1.711550
TonyGosling wrote:
ISIS’ truck convoys through Turkey provide 75% of Israel’s oil:
Vijay Prashad is the George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College. He is the author of sixteen books, including The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South (Verso, 2013), Arab Spring, Libyan Winter (AK, 2012), (co-edited with Paul Amar) Dispatches from the Arab Spring (2013), and No Free Left: The Futures of Indian Communism (Leftward Press, 2015). Vijay's latest book is Letters to Palestine: Writers Respond to War and Occupation. Vijay is the chief editor at Leftward Press, and writes regularly for The Hindu, Frontline, Jadaliyya, Counterpunch, Himal and Bol.
Transcript
PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to the Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay.
Thirty thousand barrels of oil a day. $19 million a month. That's apparently the revenues that are flowing to the Islamic State. Its oil exports flowing through Turkey. And now and investigative report accuses Israel of being one of the principal middlemen for Islamic State oil. Now joining us to talk about how all this works, and how it can work given supposedly the bombing campaigns that are going on, is Vijay Prashad. Vijay joins us from Northampton, Massachusetts. He's the George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History, professor of international studies at Trinity College. His latest book is Letters to Palestine: Writers Respond to War and Occupation. Thanks for joining us again, Vijay.
VIJAY PRASHAD: Pleasure.
JAY: So first of all, what do we know about how the oil gets out? It seems a little bizarre to me that such industrial-scale exports can take place without all the various countries that are supposedly attacking IS being able to stop this.
PRASHAD: Well, first I should say that there are a number of reports and studies that have been conducted. The Financial Times has done some reporting. Al-Araby Al-Jadeed has done a major study on the I think 26th of November, which they called Raqqa's Rockefeller. The Russian government has released their own paper on what they claim is going on between the ISIS territory, Turkey, and Israel. I did a report called ISIS Oil. So there's a number of people who have been looking at the phenomena of ISIS oil and how it's both being taken out of the ground and where it's going, how ISIS is able to make money.
The story is rooted actually in phenomena that predate ISIS. In other words, there are oil fields in northern Iraq in the Kurdish autonomous region where for many years the Iraqi regional government of Kurdistan has been in some kind of competition with the government in Baghdad, the central government. And oil has been siphoned out of these northern fields, these Kurdish fields, into, onto big trucks, smuggled into Turkey. And then they've gone out through [sehan] port, through Malta, often to Israel.
So this is a rather old network that has at least been going for 15 years or so. When ISIS took control of these fields about 18 months ago, they simply used the same networks, smuggling networks. They organized it, they've created in Mosul a, you know, an institution called Office of Resources, which controls things that were as far afield as oil smuggling to soft drink distribution. They do a variety of things, this Office of Resources.
As far as the oil is concerned, they've, as I said, utilized the old smuggling rings that had been used by the Kurdish regional government, so that oil travels across the border into Turkey. There is some preliminary refining that happens, because Turkey at least in this respect seems to be rather particular that you can only bring crude oil into Turkey if you have a license from the Iraqi government. If the oil is partly refined, then it can cross without that license. So there's crude refining of the oil. Bribes are paid at the border. And the trucks cross over and dispatch their crudely refined order onto trucks of another smuggling network. So the first set of trucks will return, essentially, to Mosul and to the oil fields in Iraq, and some of them in [inaud.] in eastern Syria.
Inside Turkey, the al-Araby al-Jadeed report skims this over, but here the story is quite fascinating. Because you know, yes, indeed, al-Araby al-Jadeed shows that there is a influential middleman. They call him Uncle Fareed. Fareed had, you know, he has various names, who at least takes charge of some of the trucking networks. But once the oil comes into mainstream Turkey, particularly in the three ports, one in which is [sehan] port, which is run by the Turkish government, there is a mysterious company called BMZ which takes control. And it turns out that BMZ has a familiar name as one of its owners. And that's the third child of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his name is Bilal Erdogan.
And Bilal Erdogan is one of the owners of BMZ. BMZ recently bought two major oil tankers. Why would they be buying oil tankers unless the flow of oil had increased in recent months? And they, through [sehan], take the oil out to Malta, where it is, again, ship, put onto a different ship, and it goes to Israel. From where it is either consumed in Israel, or it's laundered or sold out to European markets. To that's basically how the oil flows.
What we don't quite know yet, and I think what requires some investigation, is how the finance works. You know, how the payments are taking place. The banking networks that are involved, et cetera. But most of the money as far as the Islamic State is concerned, up to the border with Turkey, is done in cash. So there the question of banks don't apply. That's essentially, you know, how the oil travels.
JAY: Now, Vijay, in the--. In the Araby piece they quote an oil official, a European oil industry official, who says that without Israel IS wouldn't be able to send its oil to Europe. That Israel's playing a critical link in the exports of IS oil. And then if that's true it means Israel is playing a critical link in funding IS.
PRASHAD: Well, you see, again this goes back to the networks that pre-date the Islamic State, or ISIS. Israel has indeed played a role recycling or laundering oil from, illegal oil, that has come out of the Kurdish regional government for, you know, ten, fifteen years. I mean, that is how Erbil, the northern capital, has been able to get revenues by itself. And that has been one of the real tension, reasons for tension, between the Kurds in the north in Erbil and the government in Baghdad.
So Israel has indeed been laundering illegal oil from northern Iraq. They seem to not care. They are agnostic, it seems to me, whether that oil is being sold to them by the Kurdish regional government, which is pro-American, or by ISIS, which apparently America is against. In either case, the Israelis seem quite happy to launder that oil and provide, therefore, the group, whether it's ISIS or the Kurdish government, finances.
So yes, it is absolutely true that the relationship between Malta and Israel is of the essence here. Malta and Israel are joint partners in exploring for oil fields. Some of this is contested with the government of Lebanon, because their waterways are ill-defined. You know, these are two countries still at war. So Malta is a partner with Israel in much of the oil dealings. And yes, it's perfectly reasonable to say that without Israel's laundering ISIS oil would not be able to benefit ISIS.
JAY: Now, it's certainly the--if journalists can figure out these routes the CIA must be able to figure out--obviously you would think Israel's Mossad. I mean, this can't all be happening without everybody knowing. And if in fact they're trying to close down IS, you'd think they'd closed down the primary source of their revenue. I mean, why wouldn't the Israeli state step in, unless--it can't just be about the money they're making out of the oil.
PRASHAD: Well, Jeremy Corbyn asked this very question during the parliamentary debate in the United Kingdom over whether to bomb Syria. He said, you know, what about the oil revenues? Why aren't we looking into that? This is what the Russians said when they provided their brief, saying Turkey is a party to the trans-shipment of oil from ISIS territory, and why aren't they stopping this?
You know, at some level you imagine that this is something that concerns deeply people in, you know, the White House, et cetera, perhaps the CIA. That they understand--they know that this is true, because much of this is open-source reporting. You know, this isn't, these are not secret documents. This has not relied on, you know, WikiLeaks-type leaks coming from a government. This is, you know, relied-upon old fashioned reporting, where for instance, disgruntled Kurdish oil ministry officials have talked openly with reporters about how they believe that in Kurdistan the oil has been leaking across the border into Turkey. There are people inside Turkey who have talked quite openly, but I think with a great sense of trepidation given the crackdown on press freedom. But they've talked quite openly about the role of various Turkish companies in the trans-shipment. And in the side of Malta, there have always been very leaky, you know, corporate people there who speak openly about what's going on.
I mean, what you have to understand is that there is a political series of contradictions involved here, and not merely whether the evidence is good or bad. You know, the United States has a contradictory relationship with Turkey. They are unable to push Turkey to even close their border, to stop attacking the Kurdish militias, which the U.S. government say are one of the few forces capable of fighting IS on the ground.
These are political contradictions. I think within these institutions the U.S. government, perhaps the Israeli government, there is some debate going on about why they haven't responded to something that is so obvious as trucks driving through the Turkish landscape, taking IS oil to Israel.
JAY: Now, you made a point in your article that the Americans have done very little bombing of these oil trucks. They kind of picked it up after the Russians started bombing oil trucks. How do you explain the Americans allowing this kind of flow of funds into IS?
PRASHAD: Well, I asked somebody in the State Department this. And you know, she's not a spokesperson, not possible for her to speak on the record. But she basically said something that I found very unbelievable, which is that it's taken them time to perfect their targeting. They didn't want to hit civilians, they don't believe that the truck drivers should be targeted, that they themselves aren't, you know, a party to IS. They are merely driving trucks. So they had to finesse their operations.
Well, this sounded a little far-fetched to me. The United States has not been known, you know, as a humanitarian bomber when it's bombed other logistical convoys in Afghanistan or elsewhere. So this seemed a little odd to me. Yes, it--of course, it appears directly that the American bombing, the few bombings now of oil convoys have followed the ration bombings of the oil convoys. But you know, I just want to say that even the bombings of the oil convoys, it will have a dent on ISIS's Office of Resources. But the vast bulk of ISIS funding comes from confiscations, extortion, and taxation. And that is not going to be affected by aerial bombardment. So whether they bomb the trucks or not, ISIS funding is not going to be completely depleted.
What this attack at the ISIS oil is going to do is to put pressure on groups--on countries such as Turkey and Israel and others that are playing a duplicitous game in this international coalition against ISIS. I think that is far more important. It's clarifying the politics. Where does Turkey stand vis-a-vis ISIS? Where does Israel stand?
JAY: Listen, we've been saying--and you and I have talked about this, I've talked about this in other interviews on the Real News. But the fundamental strategy of the United States and Israel in Syria was let everybody kill each other, as long as it takes. In other words, make sure no one side gets a real strategic advantage over the other. And if one gets too strong, strengthen one of the other sides. Do you think this has something to do with it, that they don't--you know, they don't want a complete collapse of ISIS.
PRASHAD: Well, look, it's--. This is a plausible scenario. I've never heard it from anybody in a position of authority, you know, that they feel that they don't want to see the collapse of ISIS. But what they do say, which comes close to that, is that destroying ISIS itself is not going to give the Sunni population of northwestern Iraq an sections of northern Syria, it's not going to give the Sunni population confidence that they, you know, their sort of anxieties, their grievances, would be taken care of. In other words, just allowing the cities of Ramadi, Fallujah, Mosul, to be overrun by the Iraqi army is itself not going to bring that Sunni population to understand that their needs would be taken care of by the Iraqi state, and the same of course in Syria.
So this the American administration says quite clearly, that they don't want to see a precipitous, you know, move by what they see is a largely Shia army overrunning Sunni parts of Iraq, in particular. What they would prefer to see is some other solution take place. And in lieu of that, of course, you have the status quo, where ISIS remains in control. So yeah, I mean, I don't think there's a serious attempt to break ISIS. You know, yes, they are having--doing some strategic bombing raids against ISIS. But there is nobody moving against them. And in Syria it is so particularly fraught, because the American government continues to dance between acknowledgement that without having the Syrian Arab army, in other words the army of Bashar al-Assad, involved with the Kurds, with other forces against ISIS, at some point they say we need to, you know, help them. At other points they say no, we need to also get rid of Assad.
There's a kind of ambivalence in Syria which has not been fully worked out. In fact, there was a report recently that American planes bombed Syrian Arab army fighters near [inaud.], where they were involved in operations against ISIS. The Syrian government in Damascus said that you are operating against the air force of ISIS.
Paul, it's so complicated. And it's very hard to get the Americans to clarify what they're doing. You know, at every turn the State Department and other officials say contradictory things. Unless they start to clarify what they're saying, this is open field for all kinds of conspiracy theories.
JAY: All right. Thanks very much for joining us, Vijay.
PRASHAD: Thank you.
JAY: And thank you for joining us on the Real News Network.
The British polling organization ORB International, an affiliate of WIN/Gallup International, repeatedly finds in Syria that, throughout the country, Syrians oppose ISIS by about 80%, and (in the latest such poll) also finds that 82% of Syrians blame the U.S. for ISIS.
The Washington Post summarized on September 15th the latest poll. They did not headline it with the poll’s anti-U.S. finding, such as “82% of Syrians Blame U.S. for ISIS.” That would have been newsworthy. Instead, their report’s headline was “One in five Syrians say Islamic State is a good thing, poll says.” However, the accompanying graphic wasn’t focused on the few Syrians who support ISIS (and, at only one in five, that’s obviously not much — it’s hardly even news). It instead (for anyone who would read beyond that so-what headline) provided a summary of what Syrians actually do support. This is is what their graphic highlighted from the poll’s findings:
82% agree “IS [Islamic State] is US and foreign made group.”
79% agree “Foreign fighters made war worse.”
70% agree “Oppose division of country.”
65% agree “Syrians can live together again.”
64% agree “Diplomatic solution possible.”
57% agree “Situation is worsening.”
51% agree “Political solution best answer.”
49% agree “Oppose US coalition air strikes.”
22% agree “IS is a positive influence.”
21% agree “Prefer life now than under Assad.”
Here are the more detailed findings in this poll, a poll that was taken of 1,365 Syrians from all 14 governates within Syria.
The finding that 22% agree that “IS is a positive influence” means that 78% do not agree with that statement. Since 82% do agree that “IS is US and foreign made group,” Syrians are clearly anti-American, by overwhelming majorities: they blame the U.S. for something that they clearly (by 78%) consider to be not “a positive influence.”
Here is the unfortunately amateurish (even undated) press release from ORB International, reporting their findings, and it links directly to the full pdf of their poll-results, “Syria Public Opinion – July 2015”. Though their press-operation is amateurish, their polling itself definitely is not. WIN/Gallup is, instead, the best polling-operation that functions in Syria, which is obviously an extremely difficult environment.
WIN/Gallup and ORB International had previously released a poll of Syria, on 8 July 2014, which reported that, at that time, “three in five (60%) of the population would support ‘international military involvement in Syria’. In government controlled regions this drops to 11% (Tartus), 36% (Damascus) and rises in those areas currently largely controlled by the opposition – Al Raqqah (82%), Aleppo (61%), Idlib (88%).” In other words: The regions that were controlled by Islamic jihadists (Sunnis who are backed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United States) were, a year ago, overwhelmingly wanting “international military involvement in Syria.” They wanted to be saved from ISIS. Government-controlled regions didn’t feel the need for international involvement. Syrians were, apparently, at that time expecting “international military involvement” to be anti-jihadist, not pro-jihadist, as it turned out to be (which is the reason why the current poll is finding rampant anti-Americanism there).
This earlier poll further found that, “There is also evidence to suggest that Bashar al-Assad’s position is strengthened from a year ago.”
So, apparently, the more that the war has continued, the more opposed to the U.S. the Syrian people have become, and the more that they are supporting Bashar al-Assad, whom the Syrian people know that the U.S. is trying to bring down.
Also on September 15th, Russian Television issued a video of their interview in Damascus of President Assad. Unfortunately, most of it is in Russian, and without subscripts. However, parts of it are in English, and this interview does provide English-speakers an opportunity to hear him speak, unmoderated by Western media.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/09/polls-show-syrians-overwhelming ly-blame-u-s-for-isis.html
Stockton, California: The history of Sikhism is closely associated with the history of Punjab and the socio-political situation in medieval India. Sikhs distinction was further enhanced by the establishment of the Khalsa, by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699. Sikhism was created by Guru Nanak, a religious leader and a social reformer during the fifteenth century in the Punjab region. The religious practice was formalized by Guru Gobind Singh on 13 April 1699. The latter baptized five persons from different social backgrounds to form Khalsa.
The Mughal Empire was founded by Babur, a Central Asian ruler who was descended from the Turko-Mongol conqueror Timur on his father’s side and from Chagatai, the second son of the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan, on his mother’s side. Ousted from his ancestral domains in Central Asia, Babur turned to India to satisfy his ambitions. He established himself in Kabul and then pushed steadily southward into India from Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass. Babur’s forces occupied much of northern India after his victory at Panipat in 1526. Generally Sikhism has had amicable relations with other religions. However, during the Mughal rule of India (1556–1707), the emerging religion had strained relation with the ruling Mughals. Prominent Sikh Gurus were martyred by Mughals for opposing some Mughal emperors’ persecution of Sikhs and Hindus. Subsequently, Sikhism militarized to oppose Mughal hegemony and ended their rule in India.
ISIS and Mughals
What ISIS is doing is the exact copy of what Mughals did against Sikh Gurus and followers of Sikhism from 15th century to 18th century. Mughal Empire wanted whole India to be converted to Islam religion. Hindus started converting to Muslim because of fear. Watching hundreds of thousands conversion and the fear for their own life, Hindu religious leaders came and asked for help from Sikh Gurus and his followers. Sikh Gurus stepped up to protect freedom of religion (which was unheard on any corner of the world at that time) and Mughals started the same brutal war crime against Sikhs is exactly what Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is doing today in 21st century.
Guru Arjan Dev Ji
Guru Arjan Devi ji was put on hot plate by mughals and they poured hot sand on top of Sikh Guru.
Guru Arjan Devi ji was put on hot plate by mughals and they poured hot sand on top of Sikh Guru.
The Mughal emperor Jahangir wrote in his autobiography Tuzk-e-Jahangiri that too many people were becoming persuaded by Guru Arjan’s teachings and if he did not become a Muslim the Sikh Panth had to be extinguished. HE ordered the Guru’s execution A contemporary Jesuit account, written in early 17th century by Spanish Jesuit missionary into the Mughal court Father Jerome Xavier (1542–1605), who was in Lahore at the time, records that the Sikhs managed to get Jahangir to commute the death sentence to a heavy fine, for which a rich individual, possibly a Sikh, stood as guarantor. The Guru however refused to let a fine be paid for him and even refused when a longtime friend of his, Sufi Sai Mian Mir, tried interceding on his behalf. Jahangir tortured Guru Arjan in the hopes of extracting the money, but the Guru refused to give the fine and was executed.
Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib Ji
Shaheedi of Guru Sahib
Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib ji before Beheading by Mughals
The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb ordered Hindu temples to be destroyed and that idol worship was to be stopped. He had a temple converted into a Mosque and slaughtered a cow inside it. He also had Hindus sacked from their government jobs and employed Muslims instead. Aurangzeb also ordered Gurdwaras to be destroyed, and he expelled many missionaries from the main cities. Despite some resistance after many years of persecution, people were being forced to take up Islam. Aurangzeb, being clever, decided if he could convert the revered Brahmin Pandits of Kashmir that millions of followers would then easily be converted. Threatened with conversion or death, the Pandits overcome by panic, came in a delegation to Chakk Nanaki, Pargana Kahlur and requested Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji’s help. Hearing the serious nature of the conversation, Guru Ji’s 9 year old son Gobind Rai Ji told his father what the problem was. The Guru told his son of the Pandits dilemma and said that it would take a holy man literally laying down his life to intercede. Gobind Rai responded “Who would be better than you to defend the poor Brahmins”. Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji decided to stand up for the right of freedom of worship and told the delegation to tell Aurangzeb that if he could convert Guru Tegh Bahadur they would gladly convert.
Four days later Guru Tegh Bahadur ji was arrested, along with some of his followers, Bhai Dayala, Bhai Mati Das and Bhai Sati Das by Nur Muhammad Khan.
After Mati Das, Dyal Das and Sati Das were tortured and executed on three consecutive days, Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded at Chandni Chowk in 1675. Guru Tegh Bahadur is popularly known as “Hind Di Chadar” i.e. “The Shield of India”, in reference to his popular image as sacrificing his life for the protection of religious freedom in India.
Bhai Sati Das, Bhai Mati Das & Bhai Dayala
Bhai Sati Das was wrapped up in cotton wool, set alight and was roasted alive. He remained calm and peaceful and kept uttering Waheguru, waheguru, waheguru (Sikh meditation). His martyrdom is remembered by the Sikhs in their daily prayers. This happened on 24 November 1675, on the same day as Bhai Mati Das was executed.
Sawed, Burned and Boiled Alive - Bhai Dayala, Bhai Mati Das and Bhai Sati Das.
Sawed, Burned and Boiled Alive – Bhai Dayala, Bhai Mati Das and Bhai Sati Das.
Mati Das while standing erect was tied between two posts. He was asked if he had any parting words, to which Mati Das answered, “I request only that my head be turned toward my Guru as I am executed.” Two executioners placed a double-handed saw on his head. Mati Das serenely uttered “Ek Onkar” and started reciting the Japji Sahib, the great morning prayer of the Sikhs. He was sawn in half from head to loins. It is said that even as the body was being sawn into two, the Japji continued to reverberate from each part until it was all over.
Qazi pronounced his religious order that Bhai Dayala must either accept Islam or be prepared to embrace death by being boiled in a Cauldron. Bhai Dayal was asked for a final time if he would leave his faith and embrace Islam. Bhai sahib defiantly and consistently answered, “No!” to the qazi’s repeated requests. This infuriated the qazi who pronunced his immediate torture and death. The executioners sat Bhai Sahib in the cauldron of water under which a large fire was lit. Slowly the water was let warm; then it was hot; soon it was too hot and then it was boiling. Bhai Dayala continued to his last breath to recite Sikh prayers.
bhaitarusinghjiBhai Taru Singh Ji
After a short period of imprisonment and torture, Bhai Taru Singh ji was brought by Mughals before Lahore Governor Zakariya Khan and given the choice of converting to Islam or being executed. Taru Singh calmly asked, “Why must I become a Mussalman (a Muslim person)? Do not the Mussalmans ever die?” Upon his refusal, and in a public display, Bhai Taru Singh’s scalp was cut away from his skull with a sharp knife to prevent his hair from ever growing back. Bahi Taru Singh ji was left to bleed to his death by Mughals.
Mass torture and persecution of Sikhs
Zakariya Khan was the Mughal governor of Lahore, now in Pakistan. He had taken part in the Mughal Empire’s operations against the Sikh leader Banda Singh Bahadur. After the capture of Banda Singh and his companions in December 1715, he escorted the prisoners to Delhi, rounding up Sikhs that he could find in villages along the route. As he reached the Mughal capital, the caravan comprised seven hundred bullock carts full of severed heads and over seven hundred captives. He ordered village officials to capture Sikhs and hand them over for execution. A graded scale of rewards was laid down – a blanket for cutting off a Sikh’s hair; ten rupees for information about the whereabouts of a Sikh; fifty rupees for a Sikh scalp. Plunder of Sikh homes was made lawful; giving shelter to Sikhs or withholding information about their movements was made a capital offense.
mughals_killing_Sikhs
From top left: Mughal army returning with Sikh heads on spike to claim reward. Top right: Sikhs getting butchered for refusing to convert to Islam. Bottom Left: Mughal ruler giving rewards for killing Sikhs. Bottom right: Non-Soldier Muslims (Mughals Sympathizer) killing Sikhs .
Zakariya Khan’s police, consisting of nearly 20,000 men especially recruited for this purpose, scoured the countryside and brought back hundreds of Sikhs in chains. Prominent Sikhs including the revered Bhai Mani Singh and Bhai Tariff Singh were, after the severest of torments, publicly beheaded at the Nakhas, the horse-market of Lahore, renamed by Sikhs “Shahidganj” in honour of the martyrs. Yet Zakariya Khan remained unsuccessful in his object of vanquishing the Sikhs. He died at Lahore on 1 July 1745 a dispirited man, bequeathing to his sons and successors chaos and confusion.
Torture on Sikh Women & Kids
01-Meer-Mannus-JailThe Sikh women held as prisoners in Mir Mannu’s Jail (1748-1753) who endured the pain of having their children murdered and made into garlands around their necks but did not sacrifice their faith. During 18th century Sikh women were arrested and endured torture in Mir Mannu’s Jail in Lahore, they chanted: “ਮਨੂੰ ਸਾਡੀ ਦਾਤਰੀ ਅਸੀਂ ਮਨੂੰ ਦੇ ਸੋਏ || ਜਿਉਂ ਜਿਉਂ ਮਨੂੰ ਵਢਦਾ ਅਸੀਂ ਦੂਣ ਸਵਾਏ ਹੋਏ || (We are the grass, and Mannu the sickle (grass-cutting blade); The more he cuts us, the more we grow.)”
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40 COMMENTS
sadiq salih
February 27, 2015 at 10:11 pm
May be true, I don’t know. But what I do know is, islam never supports brutal killing. Islam is a way of peace. But most of you are blaming Islam without even try to understand the concepts of it, only on the basis of these brutality.
Prem Singh Duggal
February 22, 2015 at 1:16 pm
Its the same attitude as before. Now the world knows.
AMRIK
February 13, 2015 at 2:48 pm
if it wasn’t for the sikh gurus today all Hindus would have been Muslims…….Sikhs ended the Mughal Raaj in india……. Dhan shri guru teg bahudar Ji…..”hind de chader” Dhan shri guru Gobind Singh Ji
flora
February 13, 2015 at 1:06 pm
Religions are all man made our sikh gurus taught us to be good to all mankind
To reach to thé montain peak v all go différent ways but v all reach thé top
B Sengh
February 13, 2015 at 9:42 am
Sikhs were Hindu’s before they turned to Sikhism
andi
February 15, 2015 at 2:56 pm
Sikhs were Hindus, Buddhist, and some were Jain.
Harry Singh
February 21, 2015 at 7:49 pm
Keep telling yourself and be happy:)
dindayal garg (agarwal)
February 13, 2015 at 3:48 am
SIKH GURU JIO KA KOI MUKABLA NAHI WO HAMARI KOM KE LIYE BHAGWAN SE KAM NAHI HAIN
Salman
February 12, 2015 at 1:06 pm
Mughal times were medival times, lets not forget our recent history
after Indira Gandhi assasination, thousands of Sikhs were butchered by Hindus.
They were cornered and attacked by mobs of Hindus, sikh women were raped and kids killed in cold blood.
Lets not forget that
Arun
February 12, 2015 at 10:53 pm
How Bulshit comment ,.. How you could compare Mugals terrisium with after affect of Indira gandhi assassination..
I shows your pr thought and nothing else…
mahesh
February 14, 2015 at 11:26 am
After the assassination of Indira Gandhi, it was the Congress butchering the Sikhs.
Don’t put it on Hindus, Indira ain’t a Hindu goddess.
ven
February 12, 2015 at 9:42 am
sikhs gurus and sikhs are great, they saved india and hindus
Sanjeev
February 12, 2015 at 9:32 am
Very good article and heart touching .salute to all the gurus and Sikhs who sacrificed their life for country .
Raghunathan Srinivasan
February 12, 2015 at 8:58 am
In the present days, Terrorism is sponsored by some countries to boost their sales; our own people fall a prey to their money, temptations, affluence and ‘beauty of the skin’! Then with the help of locals, eager to get favours, they start Terrorism within our country too; for the sake of easy money, our media too probably mote terrorism in some way or the other; practically none of our media and business houses present to the public, the wrongs done to our forefathers.
Bharat Krishna
February 13, 2015 at 6:14 pm
This is either ignorance or concious trouble making! The 1984 riots were not Hindu-Sikh riots. It was Con-crass – Sikh riots. The communal terror group Con-crass wanted to do a public display of brutality, aided and abetted by top leadership under Rajeev and Sonia Maino, and had Con-crass terrorists from across religions. It is NOT a religious rivalry as in case of brutality and massacre by barbaric middles eastern hoards like Mughals!
Amrinder Singh
February 12, 2015 at 8:36 am
I am a Sikh and i am proud to be a part of such a brave community…
ashwani singh
February 12, 2015 at 8:29 am
still many fellow indians busy cracking sardar jokes….f**k them….long live sikhs…the martial race of india
Ashok Sahu
February 12, 2015 at 7:19 am
Sikhs are great patriots among Indians whose religion had a political tenor and agenda. Their suffering and sacrifice is unparalleled . But it was most ironical that during Indira Gandhi’s assassination the Sikhs were subjected to worst type of brutality on the streets of New Delhi in independent India. More than 3500 Sikhs were killed. But still the Sikhs voted the Congress to power in Punjab. What has happened to the great heroic race of Sikhs. Some Sikhs also , of late, have become tool for proselytisation into Christianity. Most unfortunate , indeed.
visha gupta
February 12, 2015 at 5:43 am
sikhs r really brave,they r actually shield of india.
PadmeSamadhi
February 12, 2015 at 4:29 am
Im shaking with anger, Muslins are sons of the Devil
Aliya khan
February 13, 2015 at 11:07 am
How can you say that? Surely you can’t brand a whole faith? What happened to the Sikhs was wrong but don’t show immaturity by blaming the whole religion
anu
February 13, 2015 at 2:45 pm
Islam has brought nothing but hardship
Venkatesh
February 12, 2015 at 4:28 am
Really sad. All the mughals who did this and the people who are doing such crimes now will know terrible fear and pain as garuda puran says. They may say they only one life we have but in the next life they will be a street dog or a pig with memories of previous life. Imagine that.
pawan kumar
February 12, 2015 at 3:58 am
Sing is king
Sachin Bhatia
February 12, 2015 at 3:41 am
Today we are Hindus and Indians this because Sikhs have a well known and distinguished role in this. Even today our Sikh brothers guard our borders and till our lands. We are proud to be related to such a community!
Sachin Bhatia
February 12, 2015 at 3:36 am
Hindus and India owe a lot to the Sikhs…
NataraParamasivam
February 12, 2015 at 1:22 am
When such is the great history of sacrifice by Sikh Gurus, for upholding religion and safe guarding Hindu Brothers, Khalistan Movement is meaningless and also against Sikh Gurus’ ideals. Sikhs who fund violent Khalisthan, should ponder over this and desist.
Ravi Kataria
February 11, 2015 at 11:03 pm
Who can forget the great sacrifice of Chaar Sahibzaade.. Waheguru ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki Fateh..
nagendra
February 11, 2015 at 7:56 pm
Great people
nagendra
February 11, 2015 at 7:56 pm
Really sikhs are great and brave hearted people
Naresh kumar
February 11, 2015 at 7:01 pm
Dhan Dhan teri sikhi Dhan Dhan tera Khalsa. Marno mool na darde singh maut de vapari ne
Mahaneesh
February 11, 2015 at 4:44 pm
That proves that brutal acts isn’t with respect to any religion but with the evil staying within one.. even thought of such things shakes our soul.. Surely one doing such things doesn’t have one..!
Zulfeqar Abedi
February 11, 2015 at 1:37 pm
Yes this is what isis is doing . what hapn with the sikh people n grus was the same what there fathers (isis) did in 680AD prophit mohammeds fmly. In karbala iraq. N didnt stop they killd alll the11 grus of shia faith . With the same brutality as the killed sikh grus . The vilages the cities n any where uf the find shia beliver they just killed in the same way . Isis type mode of operandi was established in 620AD itself. But came to light in 680AD. then again in the time of sikh grus . N again now . It dosent meen that this b****** stopped inbetween .
Arun Kumar Singh Rana
February 11, 2015 at 11:53 am
Every Indian owes a lot to Sikhs , Sikhism is the only religion where everyone who is born in this religion has a spiritual Guru, even though I am Hindu I love & respect Sikhism a lot.infact all the religions which originated in India are based on the same ideology of love.
Jayarathne Abeydeera
February 11, 2015 at 8:34 pm
I’m from Sri Lanka & a Sinhalese Buddhist & like I like them very much.
sugato roy
February 11, 2015 at 11:41 am
every time I read Sikh history from 1700 onwards, I feel how much we owe it to the Gurus and their disciples who laid down their lifes for we Hindus…Respect and Prayers.
IBK
February 11, 2015 at 11:13 am
Shocked. I am a south Indian and was not knowing this. Really sad. Brutality
Abhishek Kapoor
February 11, 2015 at 9:59 am
I am a Hindu and a proud follower of all gurus. We all owe a lot to Guru Nanak and Guru Govind Singh Ji.
vibukar
February 11, 2015 at 9:46 am
Well it was an really it was an intresting article by you people
For a matter of fact i myself as an hindu i always feel proud to read the teachings of sikhisim
You people always protect us even if we make jokes on you people and even you have been torched like this my hartly respect to you people
And i will suerly speard this article
A Singh
February 10, 2015 at 2:03 am
You forgot to mention that Sheikh Ahmad Shah Sirhindi was responsible for Naqsbandi Silsila in Sirhind. And later Naqsbandi Silsila shifted to Kabul and then to Damascus.
Current marauders in Syria owe allegiance to Naqsbandi Silsila and hence the similarities.
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Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Late last year, Germany’s broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) investigated what turned out to be hundreds of trucks a day carrying billions of dollars in supplies, flowing across the Turkish border into Syria and directly into the hands of the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS).
The border crossing near the Turkish city of Oncupinar, approximately 100km west of the Syrian city of Kobani, is apparently only one of many such crossings where ISIS fighters, weapons, and materiel move directly under the watch and apparent assistance of NATO.
TIME in their recent article titled, “ISIS Fighters Kill 200 Civilians in Syrian Town,” reported that:
The attacks also came after the group [ISIS] suffered a series of setbacks over the past two weeks, including the loss last week of the Syrian border town of Tal Abyad — one of the group’s main points for bringing in foreign fighters and supplies.
Tal Abyad, a Turkish-Syrian border crossing east of Kobani, is now a second, confirmed point of entry into Syria used by ISIS to supply its ongoing campaign within the country.
Reports of confirmed, extensive logistical networks passing through NATO and US-ally territory, into Syria, contradict the current prevailing narrative that ISIS is an “indigenous” terrorist organization, funded and self-sustaining within the territory it currently holds in both Syria and Iraq. The Western media has attempted to claim with little evidence that ISIS’ immense, global operations are somehow underwritten by “ransom payments” and “black market oil” it has seized in eastern Syria.
Clearly, not only are these reports as untenable as they are untrue, the Western media itself has reported precisely how ISIS has been sustaining its impressive fighting capacity – with billions of dollars of state-sponsored aid flowing through NATO territory, directly to their front lines.
Were the supplies flowing over the Syrian-Iraqi border, it may be possible to argue plausible deniability – with the governments of either nation unable to control either side of the border. However, Turkey, a NATO member since 1952 and host of the United States Air Force’s Incirlik Air Base, has full control of its borders meaning that ISIS-bound convoys not only pass over its borders with the apparent approval of Turkish border guards, but are assembled somewhere within Turkey itself before arriving at the edge of Syrian territory.
No effort has been made to stem the flow of supplies to ISIS from NATO territory, with the Turkish government officially denying the trucks DW videotaped and reported on even exist. This indicates clear NATO complicity in the arming and supplying of ISIS and other Al Qaeda affiliates who are in fact invading Syria from NATO-territory, as well as from US-ally Jordan.
For the West, which feigns indignation in the wake of recent ISIS attacks on France, Tunisia, and Kuwait, while posing as the primary force engaged in war with ISIS directly, it would be a simple matter to close the Turkish-Syrian border with NATO troops to ensure ISIS was shut off completely from the supplies it depends on to maintain its fighting capacity. That the borders are intentionally left open for this extensive daily torrent of supplies, weapons, and fighters to pass over unopposed, is proof positive that ISIS is and has been from the beginning a proxy force intentionally created to stoke fear and support at home for unending war abroad.
Without the threat of ISIS and the chaos it is creating across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the ability for the West to wage war on its enemies and justify extraterritorial meddling would be severely limited. In fact, the very ISIS forces clearly being armed and supplied by NATO directly, are being used as a pretext by US policymakers to execute recently laid plans to incrementally invade and occupy Syria with US military forces.
The Brookings Institute from which these plans originated, recently used an ISIS assault on Kobani to call for “US boots on the ground” in Syria, an assault which would have been logistically impossible were it not for the daily torrent of supplies the US and its NATO-ally Turkey have themselves intentionally enabled for years to cross into Syria.
To defeat ISIS, its supply lines must be cut – a simple matter to perform that requires only Turkish and other NATO troops to move in and disrupt overt ISIS logistical networks running within their own territory. Instead, the US State Department and US-operated NGOs have even gone as far as condemning what little attempts have been made to control Turkey’s border with Syria. The US State Department’s Voice of America in their article, “Turkish Border Crackdown Imperils Syrian Refugees,” used the pretext of “human rights” to condemn Turkey for what meager control measures it has attempted to put in place.
The fact that the US, with a military base in Turkey itself, has elected not to call for or attempt to implement stricter border security to stem the flow of ISIS supplies, and instead has gone as far as bombing Syrian territory in feigned efforts to “fight ISIS,” proves that the terrorist organization is both a proxy and a pretext. No serious military campaign would be launched against an enemy without identifying and cutting off its supply lines, especially when those supply lines run through that military’s own territory.
The general public across the West, if they truly desire an end to ISIS and its atrocities, will demand what least the West can do – shutting the borders of Turkey and Jordan and ending the flow of supplies to ISIS. This will never happen, thanks to both elementary but effective “divide and conquer” rhetoric miring the Western public in endless circular debate, and the fact that the average Westerner’s understanding of modern warfare and military logistics is derived from Hollywood and television, not maps, history, and basic knowledge.
The report said Centcom leaders 'violated professional ethics' to paint a rosy picture of US efforts
Last update: Thursday 11 August 2016 19:52 UTC
US military leaders painted an overly optimistic picture of American efforts to fight the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, a government report released on Thursday found.
The interim report stems from a congressional task force investigating whistleblower allegations that intel bosses cherry-picked information that soft-pedaled the risk of IS, while overstating US efforts to train local forces to fight the militants.
"From the middle of 2014 to the middle of 2015, the United States Central Command's (Centcom) most senior intelligence leaders manipulated the command's intelligence products to downplay the threat from ISIS in Iraq," Republican Congressman Mike Pompeo said in a statement, using an IS acronym.
"The result: consumers of those intelligence products were provided a consistently 'rosy' view of US operational success against ISIS," he added, noting this "may well" have put US troops at risk.
Task force investigators surveyed dozens of Centcom analysts, with many viewing the leadership environment at the time as toxic.
"Forty percent of analysts respond that they had experienced an attempt to distort or suppress intelligence in the past year," the report states.
Additionally, Centcom disseminated press releases and gave public statements that were "significantly more positive" than reality, investigators found.
Further, senior Centcom leaders "violated regulations, tradecraft (spying) standards, and professional ethics" by modifying intelligence to present overly positive assessments of initial US efforts to train Iraqi security forces to fight IS.
The Pentagon's inspector general is currently running an internal investigation into the matter so officials could not comment directly on Thursday's report.
"The intelligence community routinely provides a wide range of assessments based on multifaceted data related to the current security environment," Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Commander Patrick Evans said.
"These assessments and the expert analysts who develop them are absolutely vital to our efforts, particularly given the incredibly complex nature of the multi-front fights that are ongoing now in Iraq and Syria.
"Experts sometimes disagree on the interpretation of complex data, and the intelligence community and Department of Defense welcome healthy dialogue on these vital national security topics."
Congressman Brad Wenstrup said it remained unclear why the intel had been skewed.
"We still do not fully understand the reasons and motivations behind this practice, and how often the excluded analyses were proven ultimately to be correct," he said.
Centcom officials must be held to account if they pressured analysts to distort or suppress information in the anti-IS fight, said Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"A successful strategy to defeat the scourge of radical Islamist terrorism must be based on facts - not rosy assessments manipulated to support a political narrative," she said in a statement.
Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 12:13 am Post subject:
British girl recruited online by Canadian Intelligence and believed killed in Syria ‘was too scared to flee Isis’
Sources say Kadiza Sultana feared being caught and publicly executed if she tried to escape group’s stronghold of Raqqa
Jamie Grierson and Vikram Dodd Friday 12 August 2016 18.46 BST Last modified on Friday 12 August 2016 22.00 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/12/british-girl-believed-ki lled-in-syria-was-too-scared-to-flee-isis
A London schoolgirl thought to have been killed in an airstrike in Syria was fearful of the risks involved in trying to rescue her from Islamic State and could not “make the leap of faith” needed to try to escape, sources have told the Guardian.
Kadiza Sultana, who left her home in Bethnal Green, east London, during the half-term break in February 2015 with friends Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, is believed to have died in the terror group’s stronghold of Raqqa earlier this year.
Sultana is thought to have become disillusioned with life in Raqqa and had been considering attempting to make her way back to Britain.
But sources on Friday said the former Bethnal Green academy student feared the dangers of such a plan failing were too high, and that she would be caught and publicly executed, a fate that befell an Austrian woman who tried to flee Isis.
Sultana would have been under extreme pressure to remain in the battered city after swearing a mandatory oath of allegiance to the Isis leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a counter-extremism expert said.
Fresh details of Sultana’s death came as Rushanara Ali, the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, said her fate should prompt a full review of Prevent, the government’s counter-terrorism strategy.
Her family heard in late June that Sultana may be dead, following an airstrike that took place around 22 June and hit a building in which there was a financial office on the ground floor and Sultana’s flat above, sources said.
A friend of Sultana’s – who was the first of four girls from the Bethnal Green school to flee to Syria – is understood to have notified the family.
When considering a plan to flee Syria, one issue on Sultana’s mind would have been to enter Kurdish-controlled territory, which could be dangerous if the Kurds believed she was affiliated with Isis.
Haras Rafiq, managing director of counter-extremism thinktank Quilliam, said she would have also felt the weight of an oath – known as bayah or bayat – sworn to the terror group’s leader.
“When they get over there, the very first thing they have to do is to give bayah to Baghdadi,” he said.
“Giving bayah to Baghdadi is an oath of allegiance which can only broken by death. So once you join Isis, one you’ve given bayah, you can’t leave – you’re not allowed to leave.
“The only way you can leave is if you’re sent on a mission, or if you die.”
Rafiq said research showed that the majority of women who have fled to Syria – earlier this year counter-terror police said about 56 women and girls had travelled there from the UK – end up disillusioned with life under Isis rule.
“One of the biggest factors of disillusionment right now is the constant bombardment of airstrikes,” he said.
“The constant having to run, to hide, to retreat. It’s dangerous.”
He added: “People are dying and they’re seeing their friends die around them.”
Life under Isis also presents a cultural shock, he said. “When they go out there, they do feel they’re part of the cause. They have something, which they didn’t have here. They find that empowering and in some cases liberating.
“But then when there’s no TV, then when there’s no social media, then when there’s people who don’t speak English and you don’t speak Arabic, then you haven’t got the creature comforts you had at home, then you start feeling disillusioned.”
Ali, a Labour MP, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday that she had deep concerns about Prevent, which funds local authority schemes aimed at preventing people from becoming involved in extremism.
“Many have concerns about how Prevent is being implemented, concerns about young Muslims being stigmatised. There needs to be a balance struck to protect young people, to prevent them from being radicalised, but also making sure teachers and other agencies have the proper advice training and support,” she said.
“I have huge concerns about some of the ways in which it’s implemented; some of it can be quite misguided. The government needs to do a proper assessment of what’s working and what’s not and listen to the Muslim community and the dangers the Muslim community face.”
The loss of the three girls, who followed a friend who had earlier left for Syria, was a severe blow to the Muslim community in east London and a powerful indication of how strong the lure of Isis can be.
They plotted the trip together, according to material recovered by investigators, making a shopping list of items to take with them and then deceiving their families.
The items for their escape to Syria ranged from a mobile phone to underwear, makeup and an epilator. Plane tickets to Turkey were listed at just over £1,000. The list appears to be consistent with an Isis online guide for potential recruits.
All four girls married fighters approved by Isis – including an Australian and a US national – and two became widows within months of arriving in Syria, their families were told.
In March last year, the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, said the teenagers could return home without fear of being prosecuted for terrorism, as long as no evidence emerged of them being engaged in violence.
Leaks from Mohammed al-Rashed's police statement published in Turkish media outlets revealed how he aided three UK girls and other foreign nationals to cross into Syria to join the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).
Rashed was apprehended on February 28 by Turkish security forces. Along with many documents and information found on his possession and in his laptop, a video showing Rashed aiding three missing British girls, Shamima Begum, 15, Amira Abase, 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16, was also found.
According to the police statement, Rashed came into contact with Canadian officials in 2013 when he sought for asylum in Canada. Rashed said that Canadian officials asked for information regarding ISIS' operations in return for citizenship.
Rashed said in his statement that he was working for the Canadian government in exchange for citizenship. "While I was working in a hospital in Raqqa, I was collecting information from the wounded regarding ISIS operations. I was handing this information to Canadian Embassy in Jordan. In order to do this, I was going to Jordan via Istanbul and giving the information to Canadian Embassy officials recorded in my laptop. I was delivering passport information, baggage tags and other details of the ones who came (to join ISIS from abroad) to my embassy contacts. I was also transmitting information to the same place via Internet. Along with three missing girls, I had also sent the information of 12 people which I aided them to cross into Syria, to the Canadian Embassy. My aim was to learn which ways are being used by the ones who want to join ISIS and transfer this information to the Canadian government, " Rashed said.
Regarding the costs of his operation, Rashed said that cost of his plane tickets was covered by the Canadian Embassy in exchange for receipts. "The people who I aided for crossing into Syria were covering my bus tickets" he added.
Stating that all his operations are recorded in his laptop, Rashed said that during the period he was in Turkey, he helped the U.K. nationals the most to cross into Syria. He said that he also aided South Africans, Indonesians, Australians and Nigerians.
Rashed also admitted giving detailed information regarding his ISIS contacts. "Abu Kaka, a British national located in Raqqa, was sending the information of those who wanted to cross into Syria through WhatsApp. Those who were coming from foreign countries were also contacting me through Abu Kaka. I took three British girls from Istanbul Esenler Coach Station and bought their tickets, and delivered them to Abu-Bakr in Gaziantep. Abu-Bakr was finding private vehicles for people to cross into Syria, " Rashed said in his statement.
Rashed stated that he was contacting with a person named "Matt" at the Canadian Embassy and "Matt" was handing over Rashed's information to his superior "Claude."
Rashed also revealed the money traffic between ISIS and its sympathizers abroad, as many bank receipts were found in his possession. "The money was being sent to me, and I was sending the money to my brother in Raqqa via a jeweler in Şanlıurfa. Abu Kaka's men were picking them up from my brother, " Rashed said.
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Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 12:08 pm Post subject:
TonyGosling wrote:
Spy’s statement reveals his links with Canada and ISIS
DAILY SABAH ISTANBUL Published March 15, 2015
http://www.dailysabah.com/investigations/2015/03/15/spys-statement-rev eals-his-links-with-canada-and-isis
Leaks from Mohammed al-Rashed's police statement published in Turkish media outlets revealed how he aided three UK girls and other foreign nationals to cross into Syria to join the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).
Turkish reports claim smuggler for Islamic State worked for Canada
A Syrian former army lieutenant who defected from the military three years ago has become the central figure in a tale of intrigue that ended last month in the flight to the Islamic State of three British schoolgirls.
In this three image combo of stills taken from CCTV issued by the Metropolitan Police in London on Feb. 23, 2015, Kadiza Sultana, 16, left, Shamima Begum,15, center and 15-year-old Amira Abase going through security at Gatwick airport, before they caught their flight to Turkey.
In this three image combo of stills taken from CCTV issued by the Metropolitan Police in London on Feb. 23, 2015, Kadiza Sultana, 16, left, Shamima Begum,15, center and 15-year-old Amira Abase going through security at Gatwick airport, before they caught their flight to Turkey. AP
By Duygu Guvenc - McClatchy Foreign Staff
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article24781852.htm l
A Syrian former army lieutenant who defected from the military three years ago has become the central figure in a tale of intrigue that ended last month in the flight to the Islamic State of three British schoolgirls.
Everyone agrees that Muhammad el Rashed arranged to smuggle the girls to Syria after they’d arrived in Turkey, some of the hundreds of Britons thought to have joined the Islamic State in recent years.
What’s less clear is how Rashed came to be in a position to help smuggle them. The Turkish government charges that he was a paid agent of Canadian intelligence, and officials imply that’s proof that Canada, as well as the United Kingdom, is helping to finance the Islamic State.
For its part, the Canadian government hasn’t commented on Rashed’s statement to police that he was working as an intelligence operative. A representative of Canadian Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney declined to comment about the reports when asked about them last week in the House of Commons.
The Canadian government also hasn’t commented on Turkish claims that payments wired to Rashed were immediately transferred to Islamic State operatives in Syria. The amount he allegedly received remains unknown.
Turkey has been under pressure from its European neighbors to stop the flow of recruits to the Islamic State, most of whom pass through the country. In the best-known recent case, Hayat Boumeddiene, the common-law wife of an Islamic State sympathizer who killed four Jews in a grocery in Paris during the Charlie Hebdo violence in January, slipped across a border crossing about 300 yards from the office of the district governor, even though Turkish authorities had spotted her as suspicious on her arrival in the country.
Turkey has said there’s little it can do to stop people who arrive in the country legally, and it’s blamed European nations for not notifying it fast enough when possible recruits leave their home countries. The Turkish allegations raise the question of whether officials are highlighting Rashed’s alleged Canada connection to deflect attention from claims that Turkey has been at best lukewarm in its opposition to the presence of radical Islamists in Syria.
The story began last month in Great Britain, when the three girls, Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, disappeared from Bethnal Green Academy in London. Their families alerted British authorities and told them they thought the three had caught a flight from London to Istanbul on Feb. 17. Closed-circuit video later released by Scotland Yard showed the girls at London’s Gatwick Airport.
Turkish surveillance video caught the girls waiting for 18 hours on Feb. 18 at a bus station in Istanbul. A subsequent video made public last week by the Turkish TV channel A Haber showed Rashed interacting with the girls in Gaziantep, a city in southern Turkey. The video, apparently taken via a hidden camera by Rashed himself, shows him urging the girls to hurry. “You will be there in one hour,” he says at one point, apparently referring to Syria.
Since Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu revealed last week that a man had been arrested in the smuggling of the girls to Syria, Turkish newspapers have published what they said were transcripts of Rashed’s confession to Turkish authorities.
According to those purported transcripts, Rashed said he’d helped 35 Europeans cross from Turkey to Syria, that his Islamic State contact was a British jihadi who went by the nom de guerre of Abu Kaka and that he’d laundered the payments he received from Canada through a jewelry store owned by a relative in the southern Turkish city of Sanliurfa, which then passed them to the Islamic State via Rashed’s brother, who lives in Raqqa, Syria.
According to the news accounts, Rashed told Turkish interrogators that Abu Kaka would contact him via the Internet chat service WhatsApp with the names of people who wanted to join the Islamic State. Rashed would then arrange their delivery to the border.
In the case of the three British teenagers, Rashed reportedly said he’d met the girls at a bus station in Istanbul, bought them bus tickets and accompanied them to Gaziantep, where he’d delivered them to a man he identified as Ilahmai Bali, who used the nom de guerre Abu Bakr.
Bali was responsible for arranging private transportation for people wanting to enter Syria, Rashed was quoted as saying.
During his interrogation, according to the purported transcripts, Rashed said he’d been working for Canadian intelligence since 2013.
According to the Turkish accounts, Rashed joined the Syrian military in 2010, before the war there broke out, and defected two years later in Homs, which by then had become the focus of fighting between rebels and the government of President Bashar Assad.
“While seeking asylum, I got in contact with Canada in 2013,” Rashed allegedly told his interrogators in Sanliurfa, adding, “They told me they would give me citizenship if I would gather information about the Islamic State and share it with them.”
The Canadians, he said, provided him with a laptop and a cellphone. He said the Canadian Embassy in Amman, Jordan, had paid for plane tickets for him to travel to Amman. Turkish authorities said migration records showed that Rashed had used his Syrian passport to enter and exit Turkey 33 times since 2013, primarily through Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport.
Over the next years, he said, he worked as a dentist in Raqqa – a city the Islamic State captured in March 2013 –and sent the Canadian Embassy in Amman details of who was being treated at the hospital. He identified his Canadian contact as Matt, whom he described as about 35 years old, 5 feet 11 inches tall and about 200 pounds.
When he moved from Raqqa to Turkey to take up smuggling people isn’t stated in the published transcripts. According to the accounts, Rashed said most of the people he’d helped reach the Islamic State bought their own bus tickets. Most were from English-speaking countries, primarily Britain, but also South Africa, Indonesia, Australia and Nigeria.
Turkish police surmised from records on his laptop that he may have played a role in the smuggling of 150 people to Syria. Among the photos they found, according to reports, were those of the three missing schoolgirls.
Though many scoffed when the Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, Jabhat Al-Nusra, rebranded itself Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham, that cosmetic change was apparently enough to convince the US government to start sending them arms.
In the recent push by rebels in the city of Aleppo, Al-Nusra /Al-Sham took a leading role and was reportedly among the rebels groups who received US weapons. Those weapons will first be used to kill Syrian government troops and after that, well, who knows?
Many, if not most, of the rebel groups fighting the Syrian government are jihadist and few have any serious objection to Al-Nusra participating in their operations, especially given that Al-Nusra has proven to be one of the most effective groups on the battlefield. If Al-Sham and fellow Sunni jihadists prevail over Syrian government forces, a genocide will likely commence against religious minorities in Syria, starting with the Alawites and moving on to other Shiites.
From the Atlantic Council:
Fateh al-Sham’s support extends beyond the immediate political and military opposition. Roshd Virtual University in Istanbul, Turkey offered 100 scholarships to the children of the fighters who participated in Aleppo’s battle. The opposition’s desperation to change the balance of power in Syria has made themembrace Fateh al-Sham and turn a blind eye to the fact that it was until recently the Nusra Front, an internationally designated terrorist group with ties to al-Qaeda.
According the Syria analyst Charles Lister, there is a significant subsection of the Syrian opposition that does not oppose Fateh al-Sham’s participation in Aleppo related military operations. Moreover, Lister said that opposition forces fighting in Aleppo received for the first time American weapons that are normally designated for forces fighting the Islamic State (ISIS). The opposition’s takeaway is that the United States does not object to preserving the balance on the ground with the Syrian regime, even if doing so indirectly bolsters Fateh al-Sham.
While it would be a mistake to say this is the first time the US gave assistance to Al Qaeda-linked rebels in Syria, it is a pretty stunning digression from earlier claims from US officials that assisting Al Qaeda and ISIS was completely off limits. Now the US is arming them in one of the most crucial battlefields of the Syrian Civil War.
Then again, Al-Nusra /Al-Sham claims it no longer is within the Al Qaeda network (though they also appear to still hold much of the same beliefs). I guess a rebrand is all it takes for the US to take a group from sworn enemy to ally worthy of receiving anti-tank weapons.
What could go wrong? _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
ISIS has revealed the reason why they refuse to target Israel in their campaign of terror against the world.
According to an article by Egyptian newspaper Egypt Independent, the Islamic State claims that their god Allah commands them to leave Israel alone.
Fellowshipoftheminds.com reports:
Instead, ISIS’s immediate enemies and targets should be apostates — a word that variously means turncoat, heretic, atheist, or infidel. The article then makes a historical reference to how Saladin (1137-1193), the Sunni Muslim military commander, had fought Shiite Muslims first before capturing Jerusalem. The implication is that ISIS should focus on fighting fellow Muslims who are “apostates,” and conquering countries like Iraq and Syria.
Note: ISIS is the acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. It has another acronym, ISIL, favored by Obama, which stands for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. (The Levant is a geographical term that in its widest historical sense included all of the countries along the eastern Mediterranean shores, extending from Greece to Cyrenaica. Today, Levant consists of the island of Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and part of southern Turkey.) Daesh is the acronym of the Arabic name for ISIL: al-Dawlah al-Islamīyah fī al-ʻIrāq wa-al-Shām.
Below is the Google translation (with some editing on my part to render it less gibberish) of the Arabic essay by Bassam Ramadan, “Daesh: Allah commands us not to fight Israel,” Egypt Independent, Sept. 7, 2014.
He said the organization of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Daesh), Allah in the Qur’an commands us not to fight Israel or Jews, but fight the apostates and hypocrites
Daesh said in a tweet on the page used to publish data and information operations: “Question the Saudi people who defends Juggernaut. Does your country kill the apostate. Apostles and companions, Ashraf people ordered us to kill the apostate. (Note: Ashraf refers to someone who is a direct blood-line descendant from Muhammad by way of his daughter Fatimah.)
On questions about why Daesh does not fight Israel but will fight the people of Iraq and Syria, Daesh said in a separate tweet: “In the Qur’an, God speaks of the near enemy and the hypocrites as more dangerous than the original unbelievers. (Note: In the context of this essay, “original unbelievers” is a reference to Jews.) The answer was at Abu Bakr’s feet while fighting the apostates to open Jerusalem, which opened after the Umar bin al-Khattab. (Note: Abu Bakr was the father of Muhammad’s child-bride, Aisha, and a trusted advisor to Muhammad.Umar bin al-Khattab, who was hostile to Islam before his conversion, succeeded Abu Bakr as the second caliph.)
Daesh added that “The answer is seen in what Saladin and Nur ad-Din did. They fought Shiites in more than 50 battles in Egypt and Syria before Jerusalem. Saladin was told: ‘Fight Shiites, the Ubaydi state in Egypt, and leave the Roman Crusaders to occupy Jerusalem. Do not fight the Crusaders.’ (Note: Saladin was the first sultan of Egypt and Syria and the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin led the Muslim military campaign against the Crusader states in the Levant. At the height of his power, his sultanate included Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, the Hejaz, Yemen and other parts of North Africa.)
Daesh said: “Jerusalem will not be liberated until we get rid of these idols, the likes of Al Alinvtaiwih and all these families and pawns of [western] colonialism that controls the fate of the Muslim world.”
SAID ABDUL RAZZAK
August 22, 2016, 9:19 am 495
Ambulances arrive at site of an explosion on August 20, 2016 in Gaziantep following a late night militant attack on a wedding party in southeastern Turkey. AFP
Ambulances arrive at site of an explosion on August 20, 2016 in Gaziantep following a late night militant attack on a wedding party in southeastern Turkey. AFP
Ankara-Gaziantep is known as the ISIS stronghold due to its proximity to the Syrian border and easy access.
The city in southern Turkey witnessed another suicide attack on Saturday that left 51 civilians dead and many others injured.
According to the public prosecution’s 500-page brief, ISIS had a plan to overtake the city. This was revealed in a letter sent by the ISIS chief in the city, Yunus Durmaz, to the ISIS leader in Turkey after the latter’s directives to attack several areas in the country.
According to the indictment, Durmaz suggested to secrecy regarding ISIS activity and recruitments in Gaziantep. He said: “Currently, there are many jobs occupied by Arabs only in Gaziantep. There are around 50 men who work as shoemakers. A Turkish man will rent a two-story place and turn it into workplace. He will only hire Arabs. That way we can hide our friends. If we open five similar places we can do our operations,” said Durmaz.
He also suggested using Arab housings to hide ISIS members: “There are buildings used by Arabs only and we can put our friends in them for a yearly rent. For example, I live in a building with Arabs. There are 38 apartments in the building, and in each apartment there are least 4 persons. This means we can hide at least 110 people.”
The Turkish army publishes a weekly newsletter about the number of ISIS members captured in different cities. Gaziantep is the first city with the largest number of ISIS militants arrested.
Also, terrorist Orhan Gonder, who is responsible for the attack on the rally of the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakir two days before Turkey’s June 7 general elections, was captured in Gaziantep.
Security reports reveal that fighters who belong to ISIS or are sympathizers with the organization arrive at Gaziantep and hide in ISIS homes. Then, they move to Syrian territories.
The reports explained that ISIS had transformed the city into a logistic place to support its basic needs and manpower.
It is believed that due to the defeats at the borders, ISIS members had to retreat and hide in Gaziantep and Kilis.
Turkish Opposition MP Eren Erdem of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) stated on Sunday, that there are around 200 ISIS cells within Turkey. He added that there are active cells in Istanbul.
Erdem said that it is enough to check the manifest of passengers between Istanbul and Gaziantep since 2013 to understand the gravity of the situation.
The MP said that at least 20% of the passengers belong to ISIS, with over 600 passengers entering Gaziantep this way.
Erdem explained that after reading ISIS reports and testimonies it became clear the ISIS militias first arrive in Istanbul and stay in guesthouses. He said that they even used the guesthouse of the Committee of Religious Affairs. He added that it isn’t clear whether the committee was aware of the situation or not. He said that police residences were even used for the same purpose.
He went on to say that ISIS militias would then transfer to Gaziantep for theoretical and not arms training. They receive training on how to use weapons and bombs as soon as they arrive to Raqqa.
Erdem claimed that the security forces and Turkish Intelligence are aware of this information but did nothing. _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OetbWEJF608
Published on Dec 9, 2016Brussels Attack: Another Chapter in NATO's Gladio Strategy?
WAYNE MADSEN | 27.03.2016 | OPINION
Europe has experienced another Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist attack. This time terrorists set off bombs at Brussels International Airport in Zaventem, a stone’s throw away from NATO headquarters, and the Maelbeek Metro station, in the heart of the European Union’s Brussels office building complex.
The Brussels attack was linked to the November 13, 2015 attacks in Paris, which targeted the Bataclan concert hall and restaurants and cafés in the heart of the city, as well as the Stade de France football stadium.
In almost a replay of the Paris attacks, the news media began reporting that the Brussels attack was carried out by two brothers – Ibrahim and Khalid el-Bakraoui – who were linked to the November 13 attacks in Paris. The November 13 attacks were, in turn, linked to the January 7, 2015 ISIL attacks on the Paris offices of the satirical magazine «Charlie Hebdo» and a kosher supermarket in the Paris suburbs. The January 7 attacks also involved two brothers – Cherif and Said Kouachi. Since all the sibling attackers died in suicide attacks, the media is bound to believe what law enforcement reports to them about the Paris I, Paris II, and Brussels attacks. One of the suicide bombers at Brussels airport was reportedly ISIL’s chief bomb maker in Western Europe, Najim Laachraoui, who is said to have made the suicide bomb-laden vests used in the Paris II attacks.
Just prior to the Brussels bombings, Belgian police swooped in on the person they said was the mastermind of the Paris II attacks, Salah Abdeslam. Abdeslam was captured in the largely Muslim-populated neighborhood of Molenbeek in Brussels, an area believed to have spawned a number of ISIL terrorists and guerrillas who have fought in Syria and Iraq.
There was some media speculation that Abdeslam began passing to the police details of ISIL’s plans for future terrorist attacks. Nevertheless, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who, himself has suspicious connections to ISIL fighters in Syria, claimed that one of the Brussels terrorist brothers, Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, had been deported by Turkey to the Netherlands in July 2015, some four months before Abdeslam’s cell carried out the Paris attacks. Erdogan said that Turkey deported Ibrahim el-Bakraoui because he was a militant foreign fighter in Syria. Turkey has aided and abetted other militant foreign fighters, including terrorists, traveling to and from Syria, so why Erdogan singled out el-Bakraoui is a mystery. It also stands to reason that if Turkey was such a valued member of NATO, why did it deport a security threat to the Netherlands, also a NATO member?
And just as with previous terrorist attacks, the media reported that the Brussels attackers were previously known to European law enforcement and intelligence services. So, why were they able to carry out three successful major terrorist attacks in a year-and-a-half time period?
Pre-attack knowledge by the authorities of an alleged terrorist perpetrator was certainly the case in the Merah affair in March 2012. Mohammed Merah, a French national, was killed by French police after he was accused of killing three French paratroopers in Montauban and three students and a teacher at a Jewish school in Toulouse. It was later discovered that not only did the French Central Directorate of Internal Intelligence (DCRI) have a dossier on Merah but that it tried to recruit him as an agent. Merah traveled with ease to Afghanistan and Pakistan with the foreknowledge of French intelligence. The then-governing conservatives of President Nicolas Sarkozy and the opposition, now ruling, Socialist Party, conspired to cover up Merah's links to French intelligence.
The deadly 1980 attack on the Bologna train station in Italy began, in earnest, the modern era of using false flag attacks in waging asymmetric warfare. Although the Italian government and media originally blamed the bombing on leftist radical Italian guerrillas, it was, in fact, carried out by an underground fascist cell that obtained the bomb materials from hidden caches belonging to the secret NATO «stay behind» paramilitary network known generically as «Gladio»....
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
SIBEL EDMONDS | AUGUST 17, 2015 111 COMMENTS
A Gladio-Mainstream Media Partnership: The Recycling & Establishment of Designed Terror Brands
Welcome to our 21st edition of Probable Cause. In this episode we discuss branding and promoting terror organization brands. Specifically, we discuss how the deep-state and its partner, the media, go about designing, creating, branding and marketing self-created terror organization brands. Even more specifically, we look into two deep-state-created terror organization brands: Al Qaeda & ISIS. With vivid examples we illustrate the re-branding of the Al Qaeda Terror Corporation into the ISIS Terror Corporation. We provide comparison between the 2002-2003 Al Qaeda media marketing archives and the 2013-2015 ISIS media marketing coverage, and establish the uncanny sameness between the two brands.
As always, our next episode will be based on your reaction, critique, responses and questions posed in the comments section below.
*To listen to our previous episodes on this topic click here
Listen to the full episode here:
Show Notes
Syria: Secret US-NATO Training & Support Camp to Oust Current Syrian President (Nov 21, 2011)
The Continued Blackout on West’s Secret Training & Support Camp in Turkey for War on Syria (Dec 3, 2011)
Hundreds of US-NATO Soldiers Arrive & Begin Operations on the Jordan-Syria Border (Dec 11, 2011)
BREAKING: US Troops Deploying on Jordan-Syria Border (YouTube, Dec 11, 2011)
Al Qaeda Terrorists 'spread all over Europe' (2002)
The Qaeda Vipers in Europe's Bosom (2003)
ISIS Terror cell warning as Europe scrambles to handle threats (2015)
Pentagon: al-Qaeda Pursuing Bio Weapons (2003)
Islamic State Suspected of Using Chemical Weapon, U.S. Says (2015)
Laptop reportedly seized from ISIS hideout hints at bio weapons attack (2014)
ISIS is now the wealthiest terrorist organization on the planet (2014)
Drug Money Sustains al Qaeda (2003)
ISIS generates up to $1bn annually from trafficking Afghan heroin (2015)
Christian Iraqi Militia Leader: Iran Prevented ISIS From Taking Baghdad. US Did Nothing (VIDEO)
Iran gave Iraq weapons to fight ISIS, while Washington watched from the sidelines
The Middle East Media Research Institute has published an excellent translation of a recent interview with Rayan Al Kaldani (also known as Ryan Chaldean), leader of the Christian Iraqi militia "Babylon Brigrades".
In a February 28 interview with Baghdad TV, the Iraqi Christian leader claimed that "if not for the Iranian intervention, ISIS would have been in Baghdad by now."
Chaldean goes on to say that Iran responded almost immediately to Iraq's appeal for military aid and assistance, while Washington sat on its hands. At the end of the interview he says that he is "unwilling to visit Saudi Arabia...because Saudi Arabia is the cause of Iraq's destruction".
James Mattis, Defense Secretary of the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism, recently accused Iran of being "the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism". _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2017 1:04 am Post subject:
ISIS fighters APOLOGISED after launching an attack on Israeli soldiers, former defence minister reveals
Former Israeli minister Moshe Ya'alon was referring to a skirmish in November
Four Islamic State-affiliated fighters were killed by tank and plane fire
German man who visited Islamic State said Israel is the only country they fear
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4456130/ISIS-fighters-APOLOGIS ED-attack-Israeli-soldiers.html
Fighters aligned with Islamic State said sorry to Israel after firing on its troops, a former Israeli defence minister has revealed.
Moshe Ya'alon was apparently referring to a clash in the Golan Heights - where Israel and Syria have a border - last November in which four fighters from the IS-affiliated Khalid ibn al-Walid Army were killed.
During the attack, IDF soldiers exchanged fire with the terrorist group but the battle was soon over when Israeli tanks and planes crushed the jihadis.
Scroll down for video
Not so tough: Former Israeli defence minister said IS-affiliated fighters said sorry after a skirmish in November +5
Not so tough: Former Israeli defence minister said IS-affiliated fighters said sorry after a skirmish in November
According to a German man who visited the Islamic State in 2014, the only country in the world the terrorists fear is Israel. Pictured above, smoke caused by shelling along in the Golan Heights +5
According to a German man who visited the Islamic State in 2014, the only country in the world the terrorists fear is Israel. Pictured above, smoke caused by shelling along in the Golan Heights
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Speaking to reporters in Afula, northern Israel, the Times of Israel quoted Mr Ya'alon as saying: 'There was one case recently where Daesh [IS] opened fire and apologized.'
He did not expand on his remark and the Israeli army refused to comment.
Under Israeli law, it is technically illegal to communicate with a terrorist group because they are classed as 'enemy agents' - raising questions as to how exactly the apology was delivered.
But a clue might be found in the testimony of Jürgen Todenhöfer, the German man who spent 10 days inside the Islamic State in 2014.
During the fighting in November last year, four fighters from Khalid ibn al-Walid - aligned with Islamic State - were killed by Israeli tanks and planes +5
During the fighting in November last year, four fighters from Khalid ibn al-Walid - aligned with Islamic State - were killed by Israeli tanks and planes
Moment Israel strikes arms depot near Syrian capital airport
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He told the Jewish News the only country IS fighters feared is Israel.
'They told me they know the Israeli army is too strong for them,' he said.
He added: 'They are not scared of the British and the Americans, they are scared of the Israelis and told me the Israeli army is the real danger.'
Mr Ya'alon's comment about the apology was related to his country's strategy in the Syrian Civil War.
Israel has adopted a policy of non-intervention in Syrian Civil War, but has defended its borders when fighting spilled over in the past. Above, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi adopts an unapologetic stance +5
Israel has adopted a policy of non-intervention in Syrian Civil War, but has defended its borders when fighting spilled over in the past. Above, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi adopts an unapologetic stance
Just yesterday Israeli planes bombed an Iranian-supplied arms depot near the Syrian capital, Damascus +5
Just yesterday Israeli planes bombed an Iranian-supplied arms depot near the Syrian capital, Damascus
They have remained out of the fight for the most part, but have hit back hard when fighting spills into the Israeli Golan Heights - land Israel took from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Yesterday Israel bombed an Iranian-supplied arms depot near the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Speaking in Moscow on Wednesday, where he was attending a security conference, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Israel 'will not allow Iranian and Hezbollah forces to be amassed on the Golan Heights border'.
Thanks Murica! You're number 1!
Bulgarian investigative journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva has been fired from her job at the Trud newspaper in Bulgaria after reporting how the CIA (and others) run a covert operation where US defense contractors are used to procure weapons from Bulgarian and other East European arms manufacturers and send them to terrorist groups around the world, including al-Qaeda/al-Nusra/ISIS in Syria.
While in Aleppo in December 2016, Gaytandzhieva obtained access to underground weapons storage areas belonging to al-Nusra Front, the terrorist group that was routed from Aleppo by the Syrian Arab Army and the Russian military. In the storage areas Gaytandzhieva found boxes of weapons that displayed airway bill numbers, packing lists and other markings that proved they had come from Bulgarian manufacturers.
More recently, Gaytandzhieva received documents from an anonymous source that included correspondence between the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the embassy of Azerbaijan in Bulgaria. The leaked documents detail the purchase and movement of tons of weapons to and from European and Middle Eastern nations. The weapons were picked up and flown to their destinations by Azeri national cargo airline Silk Way Airlines under Azeri diplomatic cover in order to avoid inspection.
According to the documents, Silk Way provided weapons transportation flights under diplomatic cover to private companies and arms manufacturers from the USA, the Balkans and Israel, as well as to the militaries of Saudi Arabia, UAE and the US Special Operations Command (USSCOM). The militaries of Germany and Denmark in Afghanistan, and the Swedish military in Iraq, have also availed themselves of the services of Silk Way, the documents show.
The documents also reveal that the official destination of some of the flights were not the actual destinations, with flights often making unnecessary stops for several hours in third countries, leaving open the possibility that the weapons cargo was offloaded there. For example, in December 2015, Silk Way made 14 flights with 40 tons of weapons on each plane from Nosony in Azerbaijan to Ostrava in the Czech Republic and then back to Nosony. On the way back from the Czech Republic, however, all planes landed in Ovda military base in the south of Israel and stayed there for several hours before returning to Azerbaijan.
There were also five flights this year from Serbia to Azerbaijan via Israel. Each flight carried 44 tons of weapons, including 1970s-era Czechoslovakian-made RM-70/85 multiple rocket-launcher systems. The seller was MSM Martin in Serbia and the purchaser was Elbit Systems, Israel. Each RM-70/85 system weighs about 33 tons. What does Israel want with up to 10 such 1970s-era systems that are not compatible with Israel's NATO-compatible military?
When Silk Air planes were not available, Azeri Air Force planes were used. For example, on May 12th 2015, an Azeri Air Force aircraft carried 18 tons of RPGs from Bulgaria to Azerbaijan. The official 'seller' of the weapons was the small US defense contractor Purple Shovel. The official 'buyer' of the weapons was the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan. The manufacturer was Bulgaria's VMZ military plant. But the RPGs never arrived in Azerbaijan and instead were offloaded at Turkey's Incirlik airbase, home to a major US Air Force compound.
Syrian "rebels" with a SPG-9 rocket launcher in 2012.
What seems to be going on here is that the Pentagon gives $$millions in US taxpayers' money to US 'defense contractors' who then buy weapons from Bulgarian or other Balkan arms manufacturers. The US defense contractor then 'sells' the weapons to the Azeri government, which then dispatches a Silk Way plane to pick up 'their order'. Silk Way then flies the weapons to the real destination desired by the Pentagon, in the above case a US air base near the Syrian border, from where the arms can be shipped to 'Syrian rebels' and ISIS.
Purple Shovel was also directly involved in the Obama administration's farcical 2015 plan to 'train and equip moderate Syria rebels' that ended with four or five 'rebels' being combat ready. The story goes that Purple Shovel was having a hard time finding the thousands of new RPGs (among other things) that the Pentagon wanted to send to the 'rebels', and ended up buying 1980s models from a Bulgarian arms manufacturer. The Pentagon was wary of such out-of-date munitions and Purple Shovel was required to test them and learn how to use them before they could be shipped to the US military, which would then teach the 'rebels' how to use them against civilians in Syria. One of Purple Shovel's trainers was doing just that at a firing range in Bulgaria on June 6th 2015 when one of the RPGs exploded and killed him.
Purple Shovel: Around the clock, around the world, around the bend.
Purple Shovel was also tasked by the Pentagon with acquiring 700 Russian-designed Konkurs missiles for the Syria 'rebels'. Konkurs are anti-tank weapons that are guided by an attached wire and can hit a target up to two and a half miles away. The problem was that no one had any, except Belarus. Belarus, a staunch ally of Russia, is on a special US State Dept 'International Traffic in Arms Regulations' list of countries with bans or special restrictions on arms sales. The Pentagon green-lighted the sale anyway.
Other US contractors were also involved in this illicit arms-for-jihadis program. Major US defense contractor Orbital ATK transported weapons to Afghanistan on 6 diplomatic Silk Way flights in July and August 2015. The route was Azerbaijan - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Azerbaijan - Afghanistan. Orbital ATK was the 'seller' of the Bosnian weapons and the Afghan police force was the 'buyer'.
It's not clear why the Afghan government could not simply purchase the weapons directly and instead involve a US defense contractor, the Azerbaijani government, and the Azerbaijani national cargo airline. It's also not clear why the official Afghan national police did not purchase weapons directly from US manufacturers via the Pentagon. Surely the Afghan police would prefer to use superior US-made weapons and US arms manufacturers would appreciate the business. We can't, of course, be sure that the Afghan police ever received the weapons. Maybe the guys in the black helicopters know.
One of the leaked documents showing US defense contractor Chemring using Silk Way airlines to ship non-US-standard heavy weapons from Eastern Europe to Iraq
Another major US defense contractor, Chemring Military Products, appears in the documents as a regular user of Silk Ways arms shipments. One flight in particular on October 18th 2016 was carrying 15.5 tons of 122mm rockets that were bought by Chemring in Belgrade. The official destination was Kabul, Afghanistan, but the flight overflew Afghanistan and landed in Lahore, Pakistan, where it stayed for 2 hours before returning to Afghanistan. One possible explanation for this 1,000km overflight is that the weapons were offloaded in Pakistan, which then might suggest that news reports about 'Pakistan arming the Taleban' may not be exactly correct. A more accurate news headline might be: 'US defense contractors arm Taleban by way of Pakistan in order to justify continued military presence in Afghanistan as a roadblock against Chinese and Russian economic expansion'
Birds of a feather...
No one should be surprised to learn that Silk Way airlines is also very popular with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Both appear in the documents as regularly using this arms smuggling network. In the case of Saudi Arabia, there are 23 flights from Bulgaria and Serbia to the headchoppers' kingdom via Azerbaijan. On April 28th and May 12th this year, the Saudis commissioned two diplomatic flights from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria and then to Jeddah and Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo where the 'purchaser' was allegedly the Republican Guard of the Congo. The tons of mortars and anti-tank grenades on board the two flights, including SPG-9 and GP-25 variants, were 'held up' however for 12hrs 30min and 14hrs respectively in Jeddah. In June this year, those very same weapons were discovered by the Iraqi army in and ISIS warehouse in Mosul. It should be noted that the Saudi military does not use these non-NATO-issue weapons.
The leaked documents also show that three Silk Way flights in March and April this year flew from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria and then on to Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Each plane carried 10.8 tons of armor-piercing warheads for RPG-7s. The exporter was Samel-90 in Bulgaria, the importer was 'al-Tuff LLC' of the UAE, which just happens to be a subsidiary of the aforementioned US defense contractor, Orbital ATK. Again it should be noted that these weapons do not comply with UAE's NATO-standard military infrastructure. That is to say, these weapons were not destined for use by the UAE military.
If anyone was still wondering why ISIS was able to overrun Syria and almost defeat the Syrian Arab Army and slaughter hundreds of thousands of Syrians in the process before Russia intervened, now you know.
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Joe Quinn (Profile)
Joe Quinn is the co-author of 9/11: The Ultimate Truth (with Laura Knight-Jadczyk, 2006) and Manufactured Terror: The Boston Marathon Bombings, Sandy Hook, Aurora Shooting and Other False Flag Terror Attacks (with Niall Bradley, 2014), and the host of Sott.net's The Sott Report Videos and co-host of the 'Behind the Headlines' radio show on the Sott Radio Network.
An established web-based essayist and print author, Quinn has been writing incisive editorials for Sott.net for over 10 years. His articles have appeared on many alternative news sites and he has been interviewed on several internet radio shows and has also appeared on Iranian Press TV. His articles can also be found on his personal blog JoeQuinn.net. _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Syrian military forces have discovered a large cache of Israeli-made weapons in the strategic city of Mayadin in Dayr al-Zawr province, days after retaking the eastern city from Daesh terrorists.
The weapons included several types of heavy, medium and light firearms that beside Israel, came from some European countries as well as members of the NATO military alliance, Syria’s state news agency SANA reported Thursday, citing a field commander.
The commander said they had also found mortars, artillery equipment, large quantities of anti-armor munitions and a NATO- made 155mm cannon with a range of up to 40km (about 25 miles).
This was not the first time that the Syrian government forces made such discoveries from terrorist hideouts across the country.
According to SANA, only a few days back they captured an Israeli cannon along with large amounts of weapons, ammunition and communication equipment from Takfiri terrorists in the area of Jib al-Jarrah in the eastern Homs countryside.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the country.
Israeli violations of Syria’s sovereignty
Although Israel has sought to avoid direct involvement in the six-year conflict, it has acknowledged conducting frequent attacks against military targets in Syria, in what is considered by experts as an attempt to prop up terrorist groups among their many losses.
The latest of such attacks occurred on Thursday, when Israeli tanks fired shells into Syrian territories from the occupied Golan Heights.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the attack, calling it a response to a “projectile” that was allegedly fired from Syria earlier in the day and landed on “open ground” without causing any casualties.
The attack followed an Israeli aerial violation of Syria’s airspace near the Lebanese border on Monday.
Syrian military forces responded to the intrusion by opening fire on the aircraft, hitting one and forcing them all to flee.
According to a statement by the Syrian army, the Israeli jets then fired multiple missiles from inside the occupied Palestinian territories, causing material damage to a Syrian army position in the countryside of the capital Damascus. _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2017 12:48 am Post subject:
Israel is working closely with ISIS terrorists
http://alles-schallundrauch.blogspot.com/2017/10/israel-arbeitet-eng-m it-isis.html
Sunday, 15. October 2017 , by Freeman at 12:05
A larger training camps of the ISIS is directly next to the border between Syria and Israel on the Golan heights in operation. Although the terrorists of Al-Qaeda and al-Nusra to operate longer along the Israeli border with the connivance of Israel, is the establishment of a camp for training purposes of the ISIS is a novelty. It shows the close cooperation between Israel and the radical Islamic terrorists, what I repeatedly have reported on here. Conversely, I some time ago asked, "Why is the IS not of Israel?"A "stupid" question, because they are close partners in the fight against Assad!!!
http://alles-schallundrauch.blogspot.com/2017/10/israel-arbeitet-eng-m it-isis.html
The Israeli media have brought last week, the news of the training camps of the ISIS, after the TV channel 2 has sent multiple Videos and photos as evidence. You can see a training and recruitment centre of the ISIS with hundreds of new recruits, prepared as terrorists and fighters.
Channel 2 says the ISIS-commanders in the Islamic state-controlled enclave "in the vicinity of the border with Israel". They fled from Raqqa, the Syrian army has more and more areas, villages, towns and cities with Russian help.
The Russian air force alone has destroyed in the past week, 1'260 objects of ISIS, and according to the Russian military leadership about 90 percent of the Syrian territory are now free of terrorists. A hard core has gone to the Israeli border, because Israel protects the terrorists.
The Israeli air force bombed only the positions of the Syrian army and Hezbollah in Syria, but not ISIS!
One of the commanders is the most notorious recruiter of the Islamic state, Abu Hammam Jazrawi, according to the TV report.
The commanders also run the Propaganda campaigns via the Internet from this new base, instead of their former headquarters in Raqqa, which has been regarded as the "capital" of the Caliphate in the North-West of Syria, where the fighting are in the final stages.
The Israeli newspaper "The Times of Israel", confirmed a "shocking" fact of what I mentioned above is an open secret, a "live and let live" relationship with the Al-Qaeda in this Region.
"Both, the ISIS-affiliated Khalid ibn al-Walid's army and the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, al-Nusra Front, which also has Links to Al-Qaeda, for years at the Israeli border."
It does not bother the Israeli military that the terrorists items in front of your border comfortably set up and from there its terrorist attacks in Syria. Never, the IDF has launched an attack against you.
Instead, regularly, as I said, the Syrian army, the Iran-affiliated battle groups and the Hezbollah from the air to be attacked in a targeted manner. This means that the IDF is the de facto air force of the terrorists and the Islamic state!!!
A Search of the "Wall Street journal," has found out, is Israel's relationship to the terrorists of weapons deliveries, payments of money to the Anti-Assad fighters, and the medical treatment of Wounded terrorists in Israeli hospitals.
The Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has even publicly with the terrorists taking pictures, as he welcomes you in the hospital. Israel has agreed with the Sunni terrorists and the Packs with the devil, to fight Shiite Iran.
The former Israeli Ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, has, 2014, the audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival with the statement surprised, "the lesser of two Evils are the Sunnis against the Shiites, "and he therefore think that "ISIS is the lesser of two Evils."
For Netanyahu and the other politicians of the Zionist regime, there was never the concern about a danger of the Sunni-black death cult, the people's head cut off and a murderous, inhuman ideology followed, but as Henry Kissinger put it, "a the Shiites and Iran controlled belt from Tehran to Beirut".
The Israeli TV channel 2, and "The Times of Israel" even show a photo from a Video shows an ISIS terrorist with the flag of the Islamic state, to see with the "Israeli" side of the Golan clearly in the Background.
And then the Zionists tell us all the time, they are threatened by the defenseless Palestinians and to exert, therefore, the laws of war since 50 years on the West Bank and civilians in Gaza time and again to bomb.
Although the official television of Israel, has sent this report as a bombshell at the beginning of the week, and the press followed there, there will be a total Silence of the international media.
The only thing we hear is the alleged "Iranian threat to Israel", Iran would be "against the spirit of the nuclear agreement as it failed", and Trump think about it, the agreement to terminate and the new sanctions to impose.
Who controls the politics and media of the West? The answer to that is Yes taboo and "anti-Semitic!"
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