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allieggg

Two rival Libyan governments claim to control oil policy | Top News | Reuters - 1 views

  • Oil traders are concerned about the uncertainty over who is in charge of Libya's vast oil reserves after the Misrata group appointed its own oil minister and took over the official website of state firm National Oil Corp (NOC).
  • ncertainty about the oil industry, which had just started to show signs of recovery after Thinni managed to end a blockage of major eastern ports by groups of rebels demanding autonomy.
  • the newly appointed oil minister, Mashallah al-Zawi,
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  • Thinni, whose government is recognised by the international community, responded from Bayda, a town east of Benghazi, where his government has relocated and is trying to stay in contact with ministries almost 1,000 km (620 miles) away in Tripoli.
  • He said oil revenues for the OPEC member state continued to enter a Libyan bank, which transferred them to the central bank.
  • "They are under the control of the state of Libya and the government approved by the Libyan parliament," he said, referring to the elected House of Representatives, which has moved to Tobruk, east of Bayda near the Egyptian border.
  • chairman of National Oil Corp, Mustafa Sanallah
  • Zawi said oil revenue, Libya's sole source of income, would be around only a fifth of last year's level due to the wave of protests at oilfields and ports.
  • Western powers worry that the conflict between the Bayda- and Tripoli-based governments will lead to civil war and that the elected government's nascent army is no match for former rebels of various factions who defy state authority.
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    As their sole source of income the control over oil policy and revenue proves to be a huge factor in which government will gain control over the greater Libya. Thinni, the prime minister recognized by the international community, has assured OPEC members that oil revenues are deposited into the Libyan Bank, which then transfers them to the central bank. While this may be true, OPEC members are worried that the continuation of Islamist militant aims for political autonomy through the occupation and attacks on oil ports. BPD have already become a fifth of what they maintained just one year ago. 
mwrightc

ISIS Detainee Tells U.S. of Militants' Plan to Use Mustard Gas - The New York Times - 0 views

  • The Islamic State’s use of chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria has been known, but Mr. Afari’s capture has provided the United States with the opportunity to learn detailed information about the group’s secretive program, including where chemical agents were being stored and produced.
  • Mr. al-Afari was captured last month by a new Special Operations force made up primarily of Delta Force commandos shortly after they arrived in Iraq. They are the first major American combat force on the ground there since the United States pulled out of the country at the end of 2011.
  • Until recently, the United States has largely targeted Islamic State fighters with airstrikes. But the 200-member Special Operations team has been assigned to both kill and capture Islamic State operatives, the latter for use in gathering intelligence. Military officials said the team had set up safe houses and worked with Iraqi and Kurdish forces to establish informant networks and conduct raids on Islamic State leaders and other important militants.
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  • Under interrogation, Mr. Afari, told his captors how the group had weaponized sulfur mustard and loaded it into artillery shells, the officials said.
  • Sleiman Daoud al-Afari
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    US special forces were able to take an ISIS member into custody. Through questioning, the military men were able to learn that ISIS is now beginning to make plans to use mustard gas as a chemical weapon. The Red Cross has been identified because of the possible use of chemical weapons.
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    An Islamic State detainee currently in American custody at a temporary detention facility in Erbil, Iraq, is a specialist in chemical weapons whom American military officials are questioning about the militant Sunni group's plans to use the banned substances in Iraq and Syria, Defense officials said. The member of ISIS who is probably dead at this point reports say, told the miltants that they were planning on using mustard gas with upcoming attacks planned.
kristaf

JURIST - Egyptian judge involved in mass sentences of Muslim Brotherhood removed from post - 1 views

  • Egyptian judge Said Youssef [Al-akhbar report] was removed from his position on the Minya Criminal Court of Egypt [Middle East Monitor news archive] on
  • he Minya court, known as one of the nation's terrorism courts, was the forum for two mass sentences [JURIST report] of hundreds of Islamic supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood [JURIST news archive] earlier this year.
    • kristaf
       
      Recognition of the need to follow laws regardless of person political affiliations
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  • The ousting of Youssef may signal a change in the policy of the Egyptian judiciary, which has been criticized for a lack of judicial due process and sentencing of civilians based on their political affiliation.
  • In March the most notable sentencing occurred when 529 alleged Morsi supporters were collectively sentenced [JURIST report] to death in one controversial judicial proceeding.
    • kristaf
       
      This is the first time I am reading about death sentences for Muslim Brotherhood members or supporters of Morsi. Most articles have discussed members being put in jail for having been associated with the group as journalist 
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    The article discusses the removal of Said Youssef a judge who held a postion on the Minya Criminal Court of Egypt. The court was regarded as the court dealt with cases surrounding terrorism. Youssef was responsible for deciding the fate of many Muslim Brotherhood supports/members. Youssef's removal is said to be a "signal of change in the policy of Egyptian judiciary...for the lack of judicial due process and sentencing of civilians based on their political affiliation. 
fcastro2

UN plan to relocate Syrian refugees in northern Europe | World news | The Guardian - 0 views

  • “orderly relocation” of thousands of Syrian refugees from southern Europe to richer countries in the north, and is pressing the EU to agree to a year-long pilot programme
  • the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, has approached senior EU figures to get backing for its pilot programme
  • new approaches, which could be achieved within the existing Dublin framework, were urgently needed:
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  • is a radical departure from current EU policy, which forces asylum seekers to apply for asylum in their first country of entry, under legislation known as the Dublin law.
  • We need to convince them that it is better to go legally, that there is an alternative to months of suffering
  • More than 3 million people are estimated to have fled the country in the past four years, and although the vast majority have remained in neighbouring countries – Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan – thousands have tried to make the perilous journey to Europe.
  • Most of those who survive the Mediterranean crossing – and more than 3,000 died last year – end up in Italy and Greece
  • 42,000 Syrians ended up in Italy in 2014 alone
  • apply for asylum in their country of arrival. But only a tiny minority do. In practice, many migrants simply slip through the net and move, vulnerably, around Europe.
  • Syrians who chose to move irregularly across Europe could be reduced if people were allowed to legally travel onwards to join family or move to countries where they have language skills or work opportunities
  • Syrian conflict has exacerbated a refugee crisis in north Africa and the Middle East
  • The proposed relocation, which would start as a one-year pilot programme, would focus only on Syrians who have been recognised as refugees in Italy and Greece and would depend on an initial voluntary commitment from member states
  • previous attempts to reform the Dublin law have been met with fierce resistance during internal EU discussions
  • UK and other northern European countries have fought in both domestic and European courts to defend the right to return asylum seekers to their first country of entry
  • arguing that protection and accommodation conditions in Italy and Greece are inadequate
  • stressed the importance of states upholding the Dublin regulation
  • the commission is discussing with the member states on how to ensure a more balanced distribution of resettled refugees among all member states. We wil
  • Cochetel acknowledged that only a significant interest in building a new system would create a change in behaviour among desperate migrants
  • Last month Turkey become the largest country of asylum in the world
  • massive irregular secondary movements feeding trafficking, leading to human suffering and exploitation
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    The European Union is having some issues with Syrian refugees not staying in the country to where they first applied for asylum. This, and the ever growing number of Syrian refugees in Europe, has lead to a call to reform the Dublin Law. 
micklethwait

Libya: Where are the dividing lines? - Middle East - Al Jazeera English - 0 views

  • The House moved to Tobruk after armed groups supportive of the General National Congress began to overrun the capital.
  • Libya's new parliament, dominated by self-styled secular and nationalist candidates, was formed after the heavy defeat of Islamist candidates in June elections.
  • In the House of Representatives camp, many figures have come together in opposition to the contentious political isolation law, which banned anyone involved with the former regime from political participation.
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  • Errishi told Al Jazeera that oil revenues pass through the country's central bank. With members of Libya Dawn guarding the gates to the central bank, Errishi added that "the central bank is controlled by whomever is controlling Tripoli".
  • The UAE, which is home to Mahmoud Jibril, a leading politician opposed to Libya's Islamist groups, has been accused by the US of bombing sites held by Misrata forces with the help of Egypt.
  • t has also been alleged that Qatar, which plays host to Ali Salabi, a leading spiritual figure with close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, has provided weapons and support to Brotherhood-affiliated groups battling former general Haftar.
  • With the displacement of 100,000 people due to fighting in Tripoli and Benghazi, however, the Libya crisis may not yet have taken its worst turn. "If we see more brigades going to one side over the other," said researcher Hamedi, "this will lead to civil war. The role of the regional environment is to help the domestic equation reach a deal."
    • micklethwait
       
      sghsdghsfghfgh
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    Due to Libya's lack of institutional structure and weak centralized government, rival militia violence and clashes have created constant chaos leading the country towards another civil war. After the fall of Qaddafi, who obliterated institutions necessary for a functional government, Libya has been unable to manage the state. The National Transitional Council, which replaced the Qaddafi Regime, turned into the General National Congress and was given 18 months to form a democratic constitution. When the deadline passed the constitution was incomplete, which forced Congress to organize elections to a new House of Representatives. The former GNC members declared a new self proclaimed GNC, electing Omar al-Hasi as their prime minister. The new GNC is not recognized by Libya's parliament nor is it by the international community. Al Jazeera says the country literally has two parliaments and two governments, creating inconceivable instability throughout the state. The newly elected House has moved to Tobruk after armed islamic GNC militia groups overran the capital, seizing control over the major institutions in Tripoli. Due to this lack of a functional government, the rest of the state has turned to chaos. After the civil war, anti and pro Qaddafi forces branched into militias striving for power. Without a working state and government, militias had to rely on themselves to provide security, and really have no incentive to give up arms and no true government to be a part of. General Khalifa Hifter, a former Qaddafi general who later joined the Libyan rebel army in 2011, formed an anti-militia militia, targeting islamist militias like Ansar al-Sharia. Hifter is not affiliated with either of the governments, but rather strives for a military government, and supreme control of the armed forces.
cguybar

Muslim Brotherhood banned by Egyptian court | World news | The Guardian - 0 views

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    This article goes into more detail as to what exactly was done to the Brotherhood when banned. Many of there members were arrested and their assets were frozen. These actions have forced many members to live in secret.
nfyffe

PJAK members on hunger strike for Kobanê | ANF - 2 views

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    A group of PJAK [Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê, Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan] members in the Danish city of Arhus have started a three-day hunger strike to protest against the ongoing attacks of ISIS on Kobanê. The hunger strike which is being carried out in front of the Arhus Municipality building will end on Sunday.
wmulnea

Strife in Libya Could Presage Long Civil War - NYTimes.com - 1 views

  • Salah Badi, an ultraconservative Islamist and former lawmaker from the coastal city of Misurata.
  • Mr. Badi’s assault on Libya’s main international airport has now drawn the country’s fractious militias, tribes and towns into a single national conflagration that threatens to become a prolonged civil war. Both sides see the fight as part of a larger regional struggle, fraught with the risks of a return to repressive authoritarianism or a slide toward Islamist extremism.
  • the violence threatens to turn Libya into a pocket of chaos destabilizing North Africa for years to come.
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  • Ansar al-Shariah, the hard-line Islamist group involved in the assault on the American diplomatic Mission in Benghazi in 2012
  • Their opponents, including the militias stocked with former Qaddafi soldiers
  • The ideological differences are blurry at best: both sides publicly profess a similar conservative but democratic vision.
  • an escalating war among its patchwork of rival cities and tribes.
  • Motorists wait in lines stretching more than three miles at shuttered gas stations, waiting for them to open. Food prices are soaring, uncollected garbage is piling up in the streets and bicycles, once unheard-of, are increasingly common.
  • Tripoli, the capital and the main prize, has become a battleground
  • The fighting has destroyed the airport
  • Constant shelling between rival militias has leveled blocks
  • Storage tanks holding about 25 million gallons of fuel have burned unchecked for a month
  • with daily blackouts sometimes lasting more than 12 hours.
  • many Libyans despaired of any resolution
  • In Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city, the fighting has closed both its airport and seaport, strangling the city.
  • the rush toward war is also lifting the fortunes of the Islamist extremists of Ansar al-Shariah, the Benghazi militant group.
  • The United Nations, the United States and the other Western powers have withdrawn their diplomats and closed their missions
  • “We cannot care more than you do,” the British ambassador, Michael Aron, wrote
  • Until now, a rough balance of power among local brigades had preserved a kind of equilibrium, if not stability
  • the transitional government scarcely existed outside of the luxury hotels where its officials gathered, no other force was strong enough to dominate. No single interest divided the competing cities and factions.
  • But that semblance of unity is now in tatters, and with it the hope that nonviolent negotiations might settle the competition for power and, implicitly, Libya’s oil.
  • In May, a renegade former general, Khalifa Hifter, declared that he would seize power by force to purge Libya of Islamists, beginning in Benghazi. He vowed to eradicate the hard-line Islamists of Ansar al-Shariah, blamed for a long series of bombings and assassinations.
  • General Hifter also pledged to close the Parliament and arrest moderate Islamist members
  • he has mustered a small fleet of helicopters and warplanes that have bombed rival bases around Benghazi, a steep escalation of the violence.
  • moderate Islamists and other brigades who had distanced themselves from Ansar al-Shariah began closing ranks, welcoming the group into a newly formed council of “revolutionary” militias
  • a broad alliance of Benghazi militias that now includes Ansar al-Shariah issued a defiant statement denouncing relative moderates like the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood. “We will not accept the project of democracy, secular parties, nor the parties that falsely claim the Islamic cause,”
  • the general’s blitz has now stalled, it polarized the country, drawing alarms from some cities and tribes but applause from others.
  • the loudest applause came from the western mountain town of Zintan, where local militia leaders had recruited hundreds of former Qaddafi soldiers into special brigades
  • the rival coastal city of Misurata, where militias have allied with the Islamists in political battles and jostled with the Zintanis for influence in the capital
  • the Misurata and Islamist militias developed a reputation for besieging government buildings and kidnapping high officials to try to pressure the Parliament. But in recent months the Zintanis and their anti-Islamist allies have stormed the Parliament and kidnapped senior lawmakers as well.
  • the newly elected Parliament, led at first, on a seniority basis, by a member supportive of Mr. Hifter, announced plans to convene in Tobruk, an eastern city under the general’s control.
  • About 30 members, most of them Islamists or Misuratans, refused to attend,
  • Tripoli’s backup airport, under the control of an Islamist militia, has cut off flights to Tobruk, even blocking a trip by the prime minister.
  • a spokesman for the old disbanded Parliament, favored by the Islamists and Misuratans, declared that it would reconvene in Tripoli
  • In Tobruk, a spokesman for the new Parliament declared that the Islamist- and Misuratan-allied militias were terrorists, suggesting that Libya might soon have two legislatures with competing armies
  • Each side has the support of competing satellite television networks financed and, often, broadcast from abroad, typically from Qatar for the Islamists and from the United Arab Emirates for their foes.
  • Hassan Tatanaki, a Libyan-born business mogul who owns one of the anti-Islamist satellite networks, speaking in an interview from an office in the Emirates. “We are in a state of war and this is no time for compromise.”
  • Fighters and tribes who fought one another during the uprising against Colonel Qaddafi are now coming together on the same side of the new fight, especially with the Zintanis against the Islamists. Some former Qaddafi officers who had fled Libya are even coming back to take up arms again.
  • “It is not pro- or anti-Qaddafi any more — it is about Libya,” said a former Qaddafi officer in a military uniform
  • Beneath the battle against “extremists,” he said, was an even deeper, ethnic struggle: the tribes of Arab descent, like the Zintanis, against those of Berber, Circassian or Turkish ancestry, like the Misuratis. “The victory will be for the Arab tribes,”
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    Article explains the civil war that is erupting in Libya. Islamist extremists are trying to take over the country and towns and tribes of Libya are choosing sides. Tripoli has been the biggest battle ground and its airport was destroyed.
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    This NYT article gives an excellent outline of the prominent factions fighting in Libya, and the purpose and goals of those factions as of Aug, 2014.
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    This NYT article gives an excellent outline of the prominent factions fighting in Libya, and the purpose and goals of those factions as of Aug, 2014.
fcastro2

Main Syria-Jordan Crossing Under Insurgent Assault - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • The main border crossing between Syria and Jordan remained closed and chaotic on Friday, with insurgents
  • wrangling for control two days after they seized and looted the crucial gateway.
  • he power struggle at the Nasib crossing, coupled with Syrian government airstrikes that hit nearby on Thursday, is the latest cross-border spillover from Syria’s four-year war, and it has led to new tensions between Jordan and Syria.
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  • witnesses said as many as 22 were being held either for ransom or as bargaining chips.
  • border would remain closed indefinitely until the authorities could guarantee security there.
  • The chaos on the border was a blow to Syria’s government, which lost the last crossing it had still controlled along the 230-mile border. But it could also be embarrassing for Jordan, the United States and other allies involved in a covert program to train insurgents who, they insist, are relatively nationalist and moderate.
  • admitted in an interview that some members of army-affiliated battalions had taken part in the looting, but he insisted that they had not coordinated with Nusra.
  • “I admit there was chaos and looting even by members of the Free Syrian Army, but we are working on returning some of the stolen goods and equipment,”
  • He said that factions linked to the Free Syrian Army had seized the border crossing without Nusra fighters, who rushed in later to take credit. Antigovernment activists in the area have said that a deal was made with Nusra to remain in the background.
  • Nusra and Free Syrian Army groups were controlling different parts of the complex, with a Free Syrian Army group called the Southern Falcons objecting to Nusra’s efforts to seize control of the crossing and its spoils. He said a Nusra fighter told him they were holding 22 drivers, not for ransom, but as a way to put pressure on the Free Syrian Army “to let Nusra run the whole place.
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    A Syrian and Jordan border crossing has now been closed due to tensions between the "freedom fighters" and other similar groups. 
natphan

Egypt minister calls for killing 400,000 Brotherhood members and supporters - 0 views

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    Egypt justice minister says killings of police and army forces must be avenged with killings of 400,000 Muslim Brotherhood members (MB). The minister also said that he will resign from his post if the death penalties of jailed Brotherhood leaders are not carried out.
kristaf

Egypt Targets Journalists In Crackdown On Muslim Brotherhood : NPR - 1 views

  • Last week, the government designated the brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
  • Egypt's top prosecutor has ordered a 15-day detention for several journalists on suspicion of joining the brotherhood,
  • Egypt to be one of the top jailers of journalists
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  • Egypt now brands it a terrorist organization and announces new steps in a crackdown almost daily.
  • nd Morsi took a style, attitude toward the press and towards the station, and publicly accuse them of inciting violence which started the divide in the Egyptian media and also a divide between those who support the army and those who support the Muslim Brotherhood and President Morsi
    • kristaf
       
      Having to choose a side. You are either with the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi or you support the Army.
  • Al-Jazeera
  • funded by the Qatari government who was close to the former President Mohamed Morsi administration,
  • Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit that promotes the freedom of the press around the world.
  • 10 journalists have died in Egypt since 1992, six of them died last year in 2013.
  • hostility towards the press.
  • Syria remains the most dangerous environment for journalists. Last year in 2013, there were 29 killed. I
  • Turkey and Iran remain the top two jailers of journalists around the world, which makes the Middle East a very hostile environment for freedom of the press overall.
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    The article mentions the imprisonment of journalist in Egypt, who were believed to be members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt was identified as "one of the top jailers of journalists"  according to the Committee to Project Journalists. Along with Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and Iran are also among the most dangerous places for journalists.
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    The article mentions the imprisonment of journalist in Egypt, who were believed to be members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt was identified as "one of the top jailers of journalists"  according to the Committee to Project Journalists. Along with Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and Iran are also among the most dangerous places for journalists. 
cbrock5654

10 German MPs unfurl PKK flag in parliament, urge lifting of ban - 0 views

shared by cbrock5654 on 18 Nov 14 - No Cached
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    This article is a news report in Rudaw, an online Kurdish news network. On November 14, 10 members of the German Parliament unfurled the PKK's flag. This move was in support of both the PKK and Nicole Gohlk, a fellow MP who lost her parliamentary immunity last month after waving the PKK's flag at a pro-Kurd rally in Munich. According to the ten MPs, Germany should no longer classify the PKK as a terrorist organization, particularly in light of its contributions in the coalition against the Islamic State.
ralph0

American strike kills ISIS prince in Aleppo - ARA News - 0 views

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    More successful attempts to disrupt the established territories of ISIS. This is news that another prominent member of the group was killed. Again, this was a US airstrike, showing that US involvement in the area is becoming more effective.
katelynklug

Sisi warns Egypt students against 'malicious' acts - 0 views

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    On Sunday, Sept. 28, President Sisi made a speech at Cairo University, declaring his affection and support for the Egyptian youth. He also warned the students against "malicious" activities and that universities were "solely for education." The speech followed the draft of a new controversial law allowing for the arbitrary firing of faculty members. Sisi pledged to dedicate state resources like special councils and scholarship funds to the cause of the youth demographic.
nicolet1189

Social Media Prove Double-Edged Sword for ISIS - 1 views

  • the dangers presented by metadata and other information contained in digital postings.
  • A new ISIS hashtag
  • Himlat Takteem Ialami—the media
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  • instruction manual in online behavior
  • restraint campaign.
  • individual identities and landscape and urban geography in photos to encoded data from email accounts, servers and location of signals.
  • Also, by destroying the telecommunications infrastructure, the U.S.-led air campaign has forced ISIS in Syria to rely on non-secure routers that boost signals, making communications easy to intercept for intelligence agencies.
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    Although ISIS has been able to successfully use social media platforms to cater to their agenda, they have recently changed their strategies to deter US intelligence from intercepting crucial information. They have issued a new instruction manual to members regarding online behavior in order to circumvent data collection from digital postings.
tdford333

US drone strikes al-Qaeda amid Yemen political crisis - Al Jazeera English - 0 views

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    The strike killed two Yemeni fighters and a Saudi fighter, an al-Qaeda member told The Associated Press news agency.
irede123

Congress to EU: Declare Hezbollah a terror group - Global Agenda - News - Arutz Sheva - 0 views

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    U.S Congress members urge EU to do as Gulf states and outlaw both military and political branches of Hezbollah, to actually harm the terrorists.
jreyesc

ISIS plotting Trojan Horse campaign by smuggling militants into western Europ... - 0 views

  • ISIS is plotting to smuggle militants into Western Europe disguised as refugees so that they can launch devastating terror attacks
  • Relaxed border controls would allow IS militants to blend in with the thousands of genuine refugees spilling over the border in search of safety
  • ISIS was moving away from plans to conduct aircraft hijackings for fear of tight security - and that they were looking to land a new strategy.
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  • Because hundreds of refugees cross the Syrian-Turkish border every day, the jihadists have a good chance of remaining unnoticed in the crowds.
  • Kobane is a town of key strategic importance to both ISIS and the Kurdish resistance due to its close proximity to the largely porous Turkish border. 
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    Members of the Islamic State are being smuggled into Western Europe to plan attacks there. This is a very being problem because of what could happen if they enters these countries. According to the US intelligence sources, this is going to be very hard to control since they mix in with the refugees as well as they carry fake European passaports.
mwrightc

Meet 'Average Mohamed', the gas station manager fighting Isis | World news | The Guardian - 0 views

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    Mohamed Ahmed is fighting ISIS in his own way by making anti-ISIS cartoons, and because of this he is now receiving death threats from ISIS members. His home town of Minneapolis is a huge ISIS recruiting station for ISIS since the largest Somali population in the US is there.
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