Six Palestinian Terrorists Killed By IDF Forces - BREAKING :UPDATED: No Palestinians Killed?

 UPDATE:  Now, the word is coming out that NO Palestinian terrorists were killed in this gunfight in Jenin.  Good grief.  I guess that is what happens when news sources try to be first to the punch.

The updated Times of Israel story is HERE.




This is just out.  The report comes from Times of Israel.

6 Palestinians said killed in gunfight with IDF in Jenin

IDF troops performing an arrest in the northern West Bank city of Jenin came under fire on Monday night. In the ensuing gunfight with wanted Palestinians, at least six Palestinians were reportedly shot dead.

Heavy gunfire was reported in one of the refugee camps outside town.

Video footage taken by local Palestinians purported to show multiple IDF vehicles rushing into the city.

IDF troops reportedly encircled the homes of Bassem Saadi, a formerly imprisoned senior Islamic Jihad terrorist, and Hamas affiliates Majdi and Alaa Abu al-Hija. The Hija brothers are the sons of imprisoned Hamas leader Jamal Abu al-Hija; their older brother Hamza Abu al-Hija was killed in a shootout with the IDF last year.

Jamal Abu al-Hija is a convicted Hamas leader who is currently incarcerated in Israeli prison. He was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to nine life sentences for involvement in at least six bombings, including the Meron Junction attack that killed nine Israelis in 2002 and the Jerusalem Sbarro pizzeria bombing that killed 15 in 2001.

Hamza Abu al-Hija was killed in a shootout with IDF troops in Jenin last year while allegedly plotting a terrorist attack on Israel. The IDF said he was wanted for a number of shooting and bombing attacks against Israelis.

John Kerry Gave the Keys To Nukes To THESE Guys

From Israel National News.

A day earlier, the Iranian Parliament Speaker's Adviser for International Affairs Hossein Sheikholeslam blasted Hammond for what Fars described as his “interfering” remarks, and said Tehran's positions against Israel have not changed at all.

"Our positions against the usurper Zionist regime have not changed at all; Israel should be annihilated and this is our ultimate slogan," Sheikholeslam told reporters in Tehran.

Khamenei Aide: Fighting the 'Zionist Regime' is Our Policy

Iran is continuing its verbal attacks on Israel, with the latest remarks coming on Saturday by a close aide to the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The aide, Seyed Mahmoud Nabavi, was replying to British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond's recent remarks that Tehran has changed its policy on Israel, and underlined that fighting the “Zionist regime” is Iran’s everlasting policy.

"Fight against the illegal Zionist regime is one of the immutable policies of Iran which has always been maintained," Nabavi told the semi-official Fars news agency.

He blasted Hammond's comments and said, "Such words are incorrect since one of the driving goals of the Islamic Revolution has been campaign against the arrogant powers."

"We haven’t recognized the Zionist regime since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution and such a policy will continue," Nabavi stressed.

Hammond comments last Sunday came as he reopened the British embassy, four years after it was ransacked by an Iranian mob, forcing its closure.

Nabavi’s dismissal of the comments marks the third time that an Iranian official has commented on Hammond’s remarks since they were made.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday stressed that the “Zionist regime” had no place in diplomatic talks between Tehran and London.

"We have rejected such media hype (before) and during Mr. Hammond's trip to Iran, we just discussed potentials of bilateral relations, fighting extremism and terrorism, etc.," said Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham.

"There were no talks on the Zionist regime and the report that Iran has changed its position is denied," she stressed.

A day earlier, the Iranian Parliament Speaker's Adviser for International Affairs Hossein Sheikholeslam blasted Hammond for what Fars described as his “interfering” remarks, and said Tehran's positions against Israel have not changed at all.

"Our positions against the usurper Zionist regime have not changed at all; Israel should be annihilated and this is our ultimate slogan," Sheikholeslam told reporters in Tehran.

Despite the nuclear deal that was signed between Iran and the West, Khamenei has continued to bash Israel and the United States.

Recently, Khamenei went so far as to publish a new book on the topic of outwitting the United States and destroying Israel.

Taliban Admit They Covered Up the Death of Mullah Omar 2 Years Ago

So, why did the Taliban not disclose that their top leader, Mullah Omar, had died back in 2013?  Well, probably because they knew they had a complete doofus in the White House in America and simply holding back that information would help lead to the ultimate American surrender in Afghanistan.  And the Obama administration never even sought to look into the fact that no one had heard a peep from Omar in about 3 bloody years.

Elections have consequences.

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

Taliban spokesman admits Mullah Omar’s death was covered up

In an interview published on the Taliban’s official English-language website, the organization’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, admits that Mullah Omar’s death was covered up. And a careful reading of the interview indicates that Omar either died in 2013, as was first claimed by Afghan intelligence, or was otherwise incapacitated at that time.

The Taliban interviewer asks Mujahid: “Exactly whose decision was it to hide the passing away of Mullah Muhammad Omar Mujahid? [A]nd what were its advantages to the Taliban?”

“The family of Amir ul Mumineen [Emir of the Faithful]…the responsible personnel of [the] Islamic Emirate’s Judiciary and some members of the leadership council including the leader decided on this matter together,” Mujahid responds. “Its positive effect was that there were some critical matters and conditions of that time which could have been exacerbated with the announcement but all praise is due to Allah, we have now come out of that phase.”

The “leader” of the Taliban’s “leadership council” is Mullah Omar’s successor, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, who has been described as the “acting head” of the council in official statements.

The follow-up question includes an implicit admission that Omar was no longer in command of the Taliban as of sometime in 2013. Afghan intelligence and other sources said he passed away in April of that year.

The interviewer asks how the Taliban can prove that Omar “commanded the war for 12 years,” meaning from 2001 to 2013.

Mujahid replies that Omar “was physically undertaking military activities along with several of his commanders for one year following the American invasion,” or until 2002. “He then began issuing audio statements to the Shura due to security reasons which are still present with the concerned members of the Emirate and some have even been published online.” In addition, “written letters were sent to the leadership and messengers also made rounds.”

The admission that Omar no longer led the insurgency as of 2013 is supported by other Taliban propaganda. On Aug. 24, the Taliban released audio statements in Pashto from Mawlawi Mohammad Sharif, its sharia court chief, and “renown scholars” Khalifa Din Mohammad and Mawlawi Ismail, who discussed the “passing away of Mullah Omar Mujahid.” The three Taliban officials said that Omar died in April 2013. They said that Mullah Omar’s family members, including his brother, Mullah Manan, were made aware and that Omar’s family supported the decision to keep his death a secret. Omar’s family also pledged allegiance to Mullah Mansour, these Taliban officials claimed. (There are reports of a disagreement between Omar’s kin and the new Taliban leadership.)

Despite Mujahid’s claim that there is enough evidence of Omar’s leadership role for twelve years after 9/11, doubts are sure to linger.

The Taliban’s story is also sure to fuel additional questions about the role of Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate, which is suspected of harboring the dead Taliban emir and his comrades for years.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which was formerly allied with the Taliban and al Qaeda, officially pledged allegiance to the Islamic State’s Abu Bakr al Baghdadi after Omar’s death was confirmed. The IMU repeatedly questioned Omar’s status beforehand.

Mujahid denies that the IMU is “based in Afghanistan,” saying “this is a false presumption.”

“Those who are waging Jihad in Afghanistan are doing so under the flag and policy of the Islamic Emirate,” Mujahid claims. He adds that the “people” operating under the Islamic State’s name (referred to as “Daesh,” a derogatory shorthand) in Afghanistan are in only “one or two districts of Nangarhar” and “are mostly Pakistani nationals with a very small number of young locals.”

“They cross over the border from Pakistan and there is no one else operating anywhere under this name in Afghanistan,” Mujahid says.

The IMU has long had a significant presence throughout Afghanistan. Despite Mujahid’s claims otherwise, the IMU’s defection to Baghdadi could potentially give the Islamic State a bigger foothold in the region than it has had in the past. It is not clear, however, if the entire IMU has now broken with the Taliban, or if parts of the group remain in the Taliban’s camp. Another Uzbek-led jihadist organization, the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), is still part of the Taliban-al Qaeda axis.

Shortly after the Taliban conceded that Omar had passed away, al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri recorded an audio message in which he pledged allegiance to Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour. Two weeks later, al Qaeda released Zawahiri’s oath online and Mansour publicly accepted the oath.

The Taliban’s decision to cover up Omar’s death raises a potential problem for al Qaeda, at least with respect to its effort to counter the Islamic State’s narrative. Zawahiri’s organization repeatedly proclaimed Mullah Omar to be the “Emir of the Believers,” portraying him as the rightful leader of jihadists everywhere. In July 2014, al Qaeda released a video of Osama bin Laden explaining his pledge of allegiance to Omar in mid-2001. Al Qaeda then publicly reaffirmed its allegiance to Omar shortly thereafter. This was part of al Qaeda’s attempt to rebut Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s self-proclaimed status as the “caliph,” or “Emir of the Believers.”

Mujahid’s admission that the Taliban hid Omar’s death raises a host of questions. Did Zawahiri and al Qaeda’s other senior leaders participate in the disinformation operation as well? It increasingly seems possible, if not likely, that they did. Both the Taliban’s and al Qaeda’s actions in recent weeks indicate that the two longtime allies remain closely knit. Mansour has been brazenly pro-al Qaeda in his statements. And Siraj Haqqani, the de facto leader of the Haqqani Network, has been appointed to serve as one of Mansour’s two top deputies. Siraj’s tight working relationship with al Qaeda has been amply documented.

Therefore, while the circumstances surrounding Omar’s mysterious death cause a narrative problem for al Qaeda, Zawahiri and his men still have an indispensable ally in the Taliban.

Mujahid is asked about the relationship between the Taliban and al Qaeda. “The international community has always emphasized that the Taliban renounce all ties with terrorist outfits (international armed groups),” Mujahid’s interviewer states. “The Taliban have also over the past years declared in their statements that there are no foreign armed groups present in Afghanistan and neither do the Taliban have any ties with them. Now that the leader of Al Qaeda, Ayman al Zawahiri pledged his allegiance and was accepted by Mullah Mansur, does this not mean that a gulf has once again appeared between the Taliban and the international community?”

Mujahid offers a muddled response, saying the Taliban has always “had a policy of non-interference since the rule of the Emirate,” but maintains relations with those countries that recognize its legitimacy. The Taliban “cannot forget the oppressed Muslims and individuals worldwide,” Mujahid says, because it “is our religious and ethical responsibility to sympathize with the oppressed Muslims.”

“People can label them whatever they want but they are still our brothers in religion,” Mujahid says, implying that al Qaeda represents the downtrodden.

“We have not asked anyone from outside of our country to pledge their allegiance to us, but if they do so due to their own affection then we have no religious grounds to reject their pledge rather we must respond reciprocally to their affection,” Mujahid continues. “But this does not mean that our soil can be used against anyone else without our knowledge. It is a need and necessity of our time to not make the world our enemy and foolishly increase the allies of America with our policies. It is wisdom and necessity that the outside world does not feel threatened by us.”

Mujahid’s interview touches on other issues as well, including the resignation of Tayyab Agha, who previously headed the Taliban’s political office in Qatar. There was a time when the US pinned its hopes for a peace deal on Agha, seeing him as direct line to Mullah Omar. The US State Department even negotiated directly with Agha. It was during those talks that the Taliban demanded the release of five senior commanders in US custody at Guantanamo. The “Taliban Five” were exchanged for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in May 2014.

Mujahid says that Agha has indeed resigned his post, but claims that he will continued to serve in an “individual capacity with the Taliban.”

The Spread of the Islamic State In Afghanistan is Slow

The story comes from DAWN.

IS struggle to make progress in Taliban bastion Afghanistan

KHOGYANI: The self-styled Islamic State (IS) group had ambitious plans for Afghanistan, but Taliban resistance, US drone strikes, and a society less scarred by sectarianism mean the extremists have so far failed to repeat their Middle Eastern breakthrough.

The jihadist group, which controls large areas of Syria and Iraq, has been trying for months to establish itself in Afghanistan's eastern badlands, challenging the Taliban on their own turf.

Its franchise in the war-torn country has managed to recruit disaffected Taliban fighters, as the fractious Afghan militant movement wrestles with a bitter power transition.

But the loss of senior commanders in drone strikes and the group's signature brutality, which repels many Afghans, has helped stem its advance.

Frequent clashes and firefights with Taliban insurgents have also hampered its bid to capture significant territory.

"In Iraq and Syria, you might say (IS) are in stage six or seven or eight," top US military officer General Martin Dempsey said last month. "In Libya, they are in stage three or four, and in Afghanistan they are in stage one or two."

His views are echoed by other NATO officials who say that IS in Afghanistan are not yet capable of carrying out the sort of coordinated operations they are conducting in Iraq and Syria, although the potential exists for them to evolve into a bigger threat.

Also read: Taliban warn Islamic State not to interfere in Afghanistan
IS: flavour of the month?

Some Taliban insurgents, particularly in the restive eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar, have adopted the IS flag to rebrand themselves as a more lethal force as NATO troops depart after 14 years of war.

The risk of defections grew after the July announcement of Mullah Omar's demise, with many angry Taliban fighters accusing the leadership of covering up the supremo's death for two years.

Some top cadres including Omar's son and brother have refused to pledge allegiance to new leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, saying the process to select him was rushed and even biased.

"The Taliban have no redeeming features," said Mullah Mirwaos, a former Taliban militant who is now an IS commander in the Kajaki district in the southern province of Helmand.

Michael Kugelman, Afghanistan expert at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said Islamic State is the "flavour of the month right now. It has a dramatic appeal to a lot of alienated militants."

But the Taliban are attempting to counter that, with an aggressive drive north from their southern and eastern strongholds, as well as a wave of fatal bombings in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Experts say the escalating violence demonstrates Mullah Mansour's bid to boost his image within the Taliban, which could halt the defections to IS.

"The Taliban remain a formidable fighting force. It is in a position to fight back and push back against IS inroads," Kugelman said. "The Taliban has been able to keep IS at bay in eastern Afghanistan."
"IS are cruel"

US drone strikes in recent weeks have also dealt a significant blow to IS in Afghanistan, killing dozens of suspected cadres, including the group's Afghanistan-Pakistan regional chief Hafiz Saeed.

NATO spokesman Colonel Brian Tribus said IS is an "operationally emergent" group but the Taliban pose a "greater threat" to the Afghan government and foreign forces.

Crucially, beyond the battlefield the Taliban have been far more successful than IS in attracting the support of local Afghans. "Daesh (IS) militants are cruel — they kill without reason," explained a resident of the volatile district of Achin in eastern Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan.

The Taliban, who have themselves often been accused of savagery during their 14-year insurgency, are seeking to appear as a bulwark against IS's rein of brutality and as a legitimate group waging an Islamic war.

Earlier this month the Taliban condemned a "horrific" video that apparently showed IS fighters blowing up bound and blindfolded Afghan prisoners with explosives. "This un-Islamic act... can never be justified," the Taliban said.

One other reason IS have struggled to gain a firmer foothold in Afghanistan, Kugelman said, is because of the lack of a deeply sectarian environment. "It's sharp sectarian divides that IS is exploiting in Iraq and Syria," he said. "IS simply cannot use any sort of sectarian divide as traction to gain a foothold in the region. You simply don't have a sharp divide in Afghanistan."

Islamic Terror Hits Bahrain

The country of Bahrain has always been mostly insulated from Islamic terror attacks but that is changing and a Bahrain security officer is dead due to a terrorist bomb attack.

You know, for such a small, miniscule number of radical Muslims doing these terror attacks they sure seem to get around to every country on the planet.  Don't they?

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

Bahrain security officer killed in bomb attack

One Bahraini security officer was killed and several others injured as a result of a homemade bomb attack in the village of Karana, Al Arabiya News Channel.

“The terrorist attack also resulted in wounding four other security officers, one of them critically. A citizen and his wife were also injured while they were passing as the attack happened and a child was also hurt,” Bahrain ministry of interior said on their Twitter account.

The attack comes a month after two policemen were killed and a six were severely wounded in a bomb attack in the mainly Shi’ite village of Sitra on July 28.

Sporadic protests and small-scale clashes still persist in Bahrain, while bomb attacks have increased since mid-2012.

Islamic State kills 2 senior Iraqi generals in suicide assault near Ramadi

 Three of the vehicles used by the Islamic State in the suicide assault that killed two Iraqi generals near Ramadi. One of the vehicles is an up-armored Humvee that was given to the Iraqi Army by the US.




Didn't I say that the retaking of Ramadi would be a bloody nightmare for the Iraqis?  Well?  Didn't I?


The story comes from The Long War Journal.

Islamic State kills 2 senior Iraqi generals in suicide assault near Ramadi

The Islamic State killed two senior Iraqi generals in a coordinated suicide assault on a military headquarters in Anbar province. Six suicide bombers, including a German and a Tajik, executed the deadly attack.

The Islamic State claimed credit for killing Major General Abdel Rahman Abu Raghif, the deputy commander for the Anbar Operations command, and Brigadier Safin Abdel Majid, the commander of the 10th Iraqi Army Division, in an assault on “the main headquarters where the operations are managed,” according to a statement that was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group. The base is located in the Al Tarrah area near Lake Thar Thar, which is north of Ramadi, according to the jihadist group. The Iraqi military is attempting to wrest control of Ramadi, Fallujah, and other cities and towns that fell to the Islamic State between January 2014 and the end of May 2015.

The suicide assault was carried out “in revenge for our brother Abu Radhi al-Ansari (emir of the rural sector of al-Khaldiya),” the Islamic State said. It was executed by six fighters, who were identified as “Abu Hamza al-Ghazawi, Abu al-Darda’ al-Tunisi, Abu Muqatil al-Almani, Abu Muhammad al-Jazrawi, Abu al-Farouq al-Shami, and Abu Anas al-Tajiki.” The nom de guerres indicate that the fighters were from Germany, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Tunisia, and Syria. The jihadists used “four explosives-laden vehicles and two DShK-mounted vehicles” in their attack. Additionally, the Islamic State claimed it shot down an Iraqi military headquarters.

The attack and the deaths of the two Iraqi generals were confirmed by news reports from the region. According to RFE/RL, three Iraqi soldiers were killed along with generals Raghif and Majid. The Islamic State said that “dozens of officers and soldiers” died in the assault, but this claim cannot be confirmed.

The Islamic State has targeted and killed senior Iraqi generals in suicide operations in the past. In December 2013, one month before taking control of Fallujah and other towns in Anbar province, a suicide assault team killed the commander of the Iraqi Army’s 7th Division, the commander of the 28th Brigade, and 16 officers and soldiers in an attack in the of Rutbah in Anbar. The decapitation strike put the Iraqi military in Anbar in disarray, and helped the Islamic State, which at that time was still part of al Qaeda’s network, take over territory in the province.

The suicide assault, or coordinated attack using one or more suicide bombers and sometimes a follow-on assault team, is a tactic frequently used by the Islamic State, al Qaeda and its branches, as well as allied groups such as the Afghan Taliban, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Suicide assaults are commonly executed by jihadist groups in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Nigeria.

The Islamic State has used the suicide assault to demoralize and strike fear into the hearts of Iraqi troops, and often uses five or more suicide bombers during a single attack. This tactic has allowed the jihadist group to overwhelm Iraqi forces. Between May 15 and May 17, the Islamic State deployed 30 suicide bombers during its operation to take control of Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar. Two months prior, the Islamic State deployed 13 suicide bombers in Ramadi in a single day. Many of the bombers were foreigners, and included a Belgian, an Australian, a Chechen, an Uzbek, a Moroccan, a Tunisian, an Egyptian, and two Syrians.

The Islamic State has touted its foreign suicide bombers that have executed attacks in Iraq. Suicide bombers from Western countries such as France, England, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Australia, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China, and Russia have carried out numerous attacks for the jihadist group in Iraq.

British Computer Hacker Whiz Working For ISIS Eats a Hellfire

There are some people in this world who really need to be dead and Junaid Hussain was one of them.

And so he's dead.  The world is happier now. Good riddance, jihadi.

The story comes from Times of India.

British hacker for Islamic State killed in US drone strike in Syria: Sources

WASHINGTON: A British hacker who US and European officials said became a top cyber expert for Islamic State in Syria has been killed in a US drone strike, a US source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

It was the second reported killing of a senior Islamic State figure in the last eight days. Islamic State's second-in-command was killed in a US air strike near Mosul, Iraq, on Aug 18.

The source indicated that the US defence department was likely involved in the drone strike that killed British hacker Junaid Hussain, a former resident of Birmingham, England.

A report on the website CSO Online said the drone strike took place on Tuesday near the Syrian city of Raqqa.

US and European government sources told Reuters earlier this year that they believed Hussain was the leader of CyberCaliphate, a hacking group which in January attacked a Twitter account belonging to the Pentagon, though the sources said they did not know if he was personally involved.

Hussain moved to Syria sometime in the last two years. He was 21 years old, the Birmingham Mail newspaper reported.

Cyber security experts have said they believe that Hussain and other hackers working for Islamic State lack the skills needed to launch serious attacks such as ones that could shut down computer networks or damage critical infrastructure.

"He wasn't a serious threat. He was most likely a nuisance hacker," said Adam Meyers, vice president of intelligence with cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. "It was his involvement in recruitment, communications and other ancillary support that would have made him a target."

In 2012 he was jailed for six months for stealing former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's address book from an account maintained by a Blair adviser.

Hussain pleaded guilty to putting details of the address book online and making hoax calls to a counterterrorism hotline.

US government sources said that in his role as Islamic State's cyber chief, Hussain recently had become a subject of considerable interest to US security and defence agencies.

However, the sources denied a recent British news report that said he was No. 3 on a US list of drone targets, saying other operational Islamic State commanders were regarded by US authorities as far more dangerous than Hussain.

Video: When An Irish Christian Tourist Takes On 15 Muslims In Istanbul....

Is the al Qaeda vs. ISIS Feud Heating Up?

The other day I put up how al Qaeda and the Taliban have formed a new alliance while the forces of ISIS are already butting heads with the Taliban - well, now we see ISIS forces in Libya putting out "Wanted Dead" posters on al Qaeda leadership.

Like I said before, this is gonna be lots and lots of fun to watch.

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

The Islamic State’s supporters want Mokhtar Belmokhtar dead

Update: According to some Islamic State-linked accounts, the “wanted dead” poster for Mokhtar Belmokhtar was not officially issued by the group. This statement comes after a number of Islamic State supporters and members spread the image seen above on social media. Interestingly, as can be seen below, other “wanted dead” posters have targeted pro-al Qaeda jihadists linked to Belmokhtar. This includes the “wanted dead” poster for Al Murabitoon leader Hisham Ali Ashmawi, who allegedly has “ties” to Belmokhtar. Thus far, the poster for Ashmawi hasn’t been disavowed.

The Islamic State’s supporters in Libya have continued their “wanted dead” campaign by targeting Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an al Qaeda leader who has long been loyal to Ayman al Zawahiri. The Islamic State’s loyalists have released an online poster for Belmokhtar (seen above), just as they have done for dozens of other pro-al Qaeda jihadists in North Africa. Some senior Islamic State figures on Twitter quickly disavowed the poster, saying it wasn’t an official production.

Not all of the posters are bluster, however. The “caliphate’s” arm in North Africa has specifically targeted some of the individuals identified in previous posters, including leaders of the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC) in Derna, a jihadist coalition that has been engaged in heavy fighting against Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s fighters.

Indeed, in June, Baghdadi’s forces killed two veteran jihadists in Derna. The MSC then quickly routed the Islamic State’s branch from its strongholds in the city, pushing most of the fighting to Derna’s suburbs.

The Islamic State is attempting to strike back. The Islamic State says its opponents in Libya and elsewhere are part of the “awakenings.” This term is used to disparage its jihadist rivals, including the MSC, lumping them in with the American-backed tribes and fighters who battled al Qaeda during the height of the Iraq War. In reality, the MSC has nothing in common with America’s allies in western Iraq.

The Islamic State’s supporters say Belmokhtar is part of the “awakenings,” too.

Belmokhtar leads Al Murabitoon, an al Qaeda group that operates in North and West Africa. Al Murabitoon recently released a statement saying that Belmokhtar had been selected to serve as its emir. The statement’s authors added “Al Qaeda in West Africa” to Al Murabitoon’s name. But online operatives quickly clarified that it should have simply read “Al Murabitoon – Al Qaeda,” dropping the “West Africa” part while still emphasizing their connection to Zawahiri’s international insurgency and terrorist organization.

Al Murabitoon’s decision to underscore its connection to al Qaeda was undoubtedly influenced by the uncertainty caused earlier this year when another leader in the group, Adnan Abu Walid al Sahrawi, swore allegiance to Baghdadi. Sahrawi claimed to speak on behalf of the entire Al Murabitoon group, but this was quickly proven false. Belmokhtar and his men remain firmly in al Qaeda’s camp.

The one-eyed Belmokhtar has been reported killed on at least several occasions, only to reemerge. According to Al Murabitoon and other al Qaeda-linked jihadist groups operating in North Africa, including al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Belmokhtar survived a June airstrike by the US in Libya. The US bombed a jihadist meeting hosted by the Ajdabiya Shura Council (ASC), which is led by Ansar al Sharia, yet another al Qaeda-linked group.

Interestingly, local press reports out of North Africa claimed that Belmokhtar was expected to attend the meeting, which was part of his effort to coordinate the opposition to the Islamic State’s presence in Libya. However, this and other details concerning the meeting cannot be easily verified.

Regardless, members of the Islamic State’s Libyan arm clearly see Belmokhtar as a threat.

As The Long War Journal reported earlier this month, one of the “wanted dead” posters (seen on the right) put a former Egyptian special forces officer named Hisham Ali Ashmawi in the Islamic State’s crosshairs. In late July, Ashmawi was featured in a video posted online by “Al Murabitoon,” which is either part of Belmokhtar’s operation or an allied entity in Egypt. The video makes it clear that Ashmawi is loyal to Ayman al Zawahiri.

Egyptian officials allege that Ashmawi has been involved in a string of assassinations, including a car bombing that killed Egypt’s chief prosecutor in June.

According to Baghdadi’s loyalists, Ashmawi “joined the awakenings council” (the MSC) and “participated in the war on the Islamic State in the city of Derna.” The Islamic State has other reasons for its animosity, too. Ashmawi became a member of Ansar Bayt al Maqdis (ABM), a Sinai-based group that pledged allegiance to Baghdadi in November 2014 and was then rebranded as the Islamic State’s “Sinai province.” Ashmwai joined ABM after returning from the jihad in Syria in 2013. But Ashmawi did not join his ABM comrades when they switched allegiance to Baghdadi. Instead, he is part of an ABM cadre that remained in al Qaeda’s network.

The “wanted dead” poster for Ashmawi, which was disseminated by the Islamic State’s supporters, says he has “ties” to Belmokthar. If true, then this is a strong piece of evidence that the two “Al Murabitoon” groups (Belmokhtar’s and Ashmawi’s) are indeed connected.

Another graphic (seen on the right) identifies one of Ashmawi’s alleged colleagues. The jihadist is Imad al Din Ahmad Mahmud Abdul Hamid, a “close friend” of Ashmawi who was also a member of the Egyptian armed forces before joining ABM. Abdul Hamid then broke from ABM and supposedly joined the “Apostate Awakenings Council” (MSC) in Derna.

The poster describes Abdul Hamid as Ashmawi’s “right hand man” and as the “mastermind” of Ashmawi’s plans. He supposedly attempts to hide his identity, which the Islamic State’s supporters have now gladly shared.

To Huma Abedin: Your Little Jihad Ain't Gonna Fly In America, Bitch

From the article at the New York Times:

A lawyer for Huma Abedin, a top adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton, has accused Charles E. Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, of damaging Ms. Abedin’s reputation through “unfounded allegations” about her time at the State Department.

The lawyer, Miguel Rodriguez, sent a letter to the State Department on Friday responding forcefully to two sets of questions posed by Mr. Grassley, Republican of Iowa: whether Ms. Abedin, while a department official, had been overpaid during her maternity leave and a vacation, and whether she had demonstrated a conflict of interest by aiding one of her part-time employers through her work at the State Department.

Well Ms. Abedin and your little gofer attorney, your form of Islamic jihad ain't gonna fly in the US of A, honey.  Go ahead and protest like one of your sisters who is upset she can't wear her hijab while working the counter at a beauty parlor but we're on to your ass by now.  We know about your connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, we know the jihad that's in your heart.

Fuck off, Huma - take your lumps like a 2/3 human like you are referred to in your holy book and shut the hell up.  Can't stand the heat, honey?  Then grab a camel out of America any damn time.

Lawyer for Huma Abedin, a Hillary Clinton Aide, Strikes Back at Accuser

A lawyer for Huma Abedin, a top adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton, has accused Charles E. Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, of damaging Ms. Abedin’s reputation through “unfounded allegations” about her time at the State Department.

The lawyer, Miguel Rodriguez, sent a letter to the State Department on Friday responding forcefully to two sets of questions posed by Mr. Grassley, Republican of Iowa: whether Ms. Abedin, while a department official, had been overpaid during her maternity leave and a vacation, and whether she had demonstrated a conflict of interest by aiding one of her part-time employers through her work at the State Department.

Ms. Abedin was granted permission by the State Department to work as a “special government employee” while also performing work for certain outside clients. Mr. Grassley has focused recently on her consulting work in 2012 for the firm Teneo, which was founded by Douglas J. Band, a longtime adviser to former President Bill Clinton.

Mr. Grassley has suggested that emails existed showing that Mr. Band had asked Ms. Abedin to press Mrs. Clinton to seek a White House appointment for Judith Rodin, the head of the Rockefeller Foundation, a Teneo client. Ms. Rodin is a longtime friend of the Clintons.

But Mr. Rodriguez, in his letter on Friday, cited a Washington Post article pointing out that Ms. Rodin, a longtime friend of Mr. Clinton’s, received that White House appointment in 2010, before the Rockefeller Foundation had retained Teneo “and before Teneo hired Abedin.”

Mr. Grassley has also recently disclosed that the State Department’s inspector general had found that Ms. Abedin received nearly $10,000 in excess pay during her maternity leave. But Mr. Rodriguez wrote that Ms. Abedin was contesting that finding because she “extensively worked” during those periods, as the inspector general’s “report itself found.”

“Chairman Grassley also has asked about Ms. Abedin’s 2011 trip to France and Italy,” the letter said. “That trip was intended to be a vacation, and Ms. Abedin personally paid for it.” But, he added, Ms. Abedin — who is married to former Representative Anthony D. Weiner, who resigned from Congress in June 2011 — worked during that trip as well.

Mr. Rodriguez, in his letter, alluded to a recent report that Mr. Grassley had received information from a confidential source about an internal investigation into Ms. Abedin that was completed in May by the State Department inspector general.

“We are deeply concerned that Chairman Grassley’s letter has unfairly tarnished Ms. Abedin’s reputation by making unsubstantiated allegations that appear to flow from misinformation that Chairman Grassley has been provided by an unnamed — and apparently unreliable — source,” Mr. Rodriguez wrote. Those allegations, he wrote, included the “suggestion that Ms. Abedin has violated any criminal statute.”

He also noted Mr. Grassley’s assertion that there were about 7,300 emails mentioning both Ms. Abedin and Mr. Band, but he said that this was because the two remained on many of the same mass email distribution lists thanks to their longstanding ties to the Clintons.

“These are but two examples of the unfortunate and unfounded allegations that have been made about Ms. Abedin,” Mr. Rodriguez wrote. “No staffer — indeed, nobody at all — should be subject to such unfounded attacks based on ill-informed leaks, much less someone who has made countless personal sacrifices in distinguished service to the country she loves.”

Mr. Grassley, who also serves on the Senate Finance Committee, has been aggressive in questioning Ms. Abedin’s status as a special government employee since it was revealed in 2013.

A former investigator on the Finance Committee who worked with Mr. Grassley there and was at one point expected to work for him on the Judiciary Committee, Emilia DiSanto, is now a deputy inspector general at the State Department.

ISIS is Kicking Iraqi Militia's Asses In Anbar

I knew damn well that the inbred, pussy Iranian-backed militias and the rag tag Iraqi army would get torn a new asshole by ISIS when they entered Anbar province in the west of Iraq but didn't figure they would see this kind of wholesale losses.  This is going to lead to some HUGE desertion by these Iraqi soldiers as they turn tail and head back to their comforts of the south.

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

ISIS attack kills 23 soldiers, Sunni fighters

At least 23 Iraqi soldiers and government-allied militiamen were killed Sunday in an attack by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants in the turbulent Anbar province west of Baghdad, Iraqi military and police officials said.

The officials said Sunday's attack, which killed 17 soldiers and six Sunni militia fighters, took place in the rural district of Jaramshah, north of Anbar's provincial capital, Ramadi.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

They said the ISIS fighters used suicide bombings and mortar shells and that chief of army operations in Anbar, Maj-Gen. Qassim al-Dulaimi, was lightly wounded.

News of Sunday's attack came two days after up to 50 soldiers were killed by the ISIS in two ambushes elsewhere in Anbar province, much of which is under ISIS control.

US air strike kills 'IS number two': White House

Sounds like someone in America's White House is struggling to put out at least SOMETHING positive about "action" against the Islamic State.

The story comes from DAWN.

US air strike kills 'IS number two': White House


WASHINGTON: The second-in-command of Daesh or the self-styled Islamic State jihadist group has been killed in a US air strike in northern Iraq, the White House said Friday.

The National Security Council identified the slain militant as Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, also known as Haji Mutaz, and said he was IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's senior deputy.

This is not the first time that US officials have announced Hayali's death.

In December, US defense officials, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said he was one of several senior figures killed in coalition strikes, giving another of his pseudonyms, Abu Muslim al-Turkmani. But US forces now say they were able to kill him, along with an IS "media operative" known as Abu Abdullah, on August 18 in a strike on a vehicle near the city of Mosul.

The White House described Hayali as a member of the Islamic State's ruling council, and "a primary coordinator for moving large amounts of weapons, explosives, vehicles and people between Iraq and Syria".

"He supported ISIL operations in both countries and was in charge of ISIL operations in Iraq, where he was instrumental in planning operations over the past two years, including the ISIL offensive in Mosul in June 2014," it said, using another name for Islamic State.

Like many senior Iraqi jihadists, before joining the IS group, Hayali had been a member of al Qaeda's Iraqi faction.

Read more: Islamic State attack repulsed near Ramadi: Iraqi forces

He was reportedly a former Iraqi officer from the era of Saddam Hussein.

IS militants launched a devastating offensive in Iraq in June 2014.

Beginning in Mosul, the country's second city and capital of Nineveh province, they swept security forces aside and eventually overran around a third of the country.

A parliamentary inquiry said this week, that Iraqi officials had disastrously mismanaged the Mosul crisis, ignoring ample warnings of an impending attack.

Officials said earlier this month that more than 2,000 people had been executed in and around the city since the jihadists took it over, accused by the militants of "promoting ideas that distort Islam."

Know more: Air strike kills Al Qaeda leader in Syria: Pentagon

Their names were posted on a list compiled by IS along with an order for health ministry staff to deliver death certificates. The names included policemen, former army officers, local officials, journalists, doctors and rights activists.

The Iraqi army, which the United States spent billions of dollars to train and equip, performed dismally in the early days of the IS offensive.

Baghdad's forces have since regained significant ground north of the capital from IS, but Mosul remains under jihadist control, as does much of western Iraq.

The group also holds significant territory inside Syria, and has drawn in thousands of foreign recruits, including from Europe and the United States.

Video: The Hometown Battlefield

(Hat Tip: Henry Bowman)

Iran Unveils New Surface-to-Surface Missile, Says Peace Will Come Through Strength (apparently not some dumbass treaty)

The Iranians are hard for some people to figure out - people like John Kerry struggle with them.  For me they are like reading a book.  They are the sneakiest, chicken-shittest, lyingest bastards on earth.  These are the kind of men who would rape your wife if you weren't home, they'd go after your 8 year old daughter or 7 year old son first.

Anyway, they have a new missile.  They intend to use it on Israel and filthy Sunnis.  Same old shit.  Different day.

The story comes from Times of India.

Iran unveils new missile, says seeks peace through strength

DUBAI: Iran on Saturday unveiled a new surface-to-surface missile it said could strike targets with pin-point accuracy within a range of 500 km (310 miles) and it said military might was a precondition for peace and effective diplomacy.​

The defence ministry's unveiling of the solid-fuel missile, named Fateh 313, came little more than a month after Iran and world powers reached a deal that requires Tehran to abide by new limits on its nuclear programme in return for Western governments easing economic sanctions.

According to that deal, any transfer to Iran of ballistic missile technology during the next eight years will be subject to the approval of the United Nations Security Council, and the United States has promised to veto any such requests. An arms embargo on conventional weapons also stays, preventing their import and export for five years.

But Iran has said it will not follow parts of the nuclear deal that restricts its military capabilities, a stance reaffirmed by President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday.

"We will buy, sell and develop any weapons we need and we will not ask for permission or abide by any resolution for that," he said in a speech at the unveiling ceremony broadcast live on state television.

"We can negotiate with other countries only when we are powerful. If a country does not have power and independence, it cannot seek real peace," he said.

The defence ministry said the Fateh 313, unveiled on Iran's Defence Industry Day, had already been successfully tested and that mass production would start soon.

THREATS

Iran has one of the largest missile programmes in the Middle East. It wants to export arms to its allies in the region and import anti-missile systems to prevent any possible attack by its arch-foe Israel.

"In our aerospace industry we have various ballistic missiles with different ranges under production," Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan said on Friday.

"We will continue this path with maximum power in line with our defensive needs and proportionate to threats ahead of us."

Fars news agency, which is close to the country's Revolutionary Guards, released a music video on Saturday praising Iran's missile capabilities. It contained pictures of what the agency called a new and unknown missile of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

A senior IRGC commander said on Friday Iran would hold a large ballistic missile manoeuvre in the near future.

"Some wrongly think Iran has suspended its ballistic missile programmes in the last two years and has made a deal on its missile programme ... We will have a new ballistic missile test in the near future that will be a thorn in the eyes of our enemies," the commander of the aerospace division of the IRGC, Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh, said on Friday.

Islamic State overruns Iraqi base near Fallujah

Oh yeah, that strategy of Barack Obama to "contain" ISIS is working to perfection.

Oh, and by the way, for my regular readers...the Iraqi/Iranian Shia Militia retaking of Ramadi hasn't exactly happened yet after they announced the beginning of it 3 months ago.

The story on Fallujah comes from The Long War Journal.

Islamic State overruns Iraqi base near Fallujah

The Islamic State overran an Iraqi military base and killed dozens of soldiers and policemen in an attack near Fallujah in Anbar province, where the government has been trying to dislodge the group for the past year.

In a newly released video, the Islamic State showcases its forces overrunning a military outpost near the city. The video shows jihadists attacking the base with armored personnel carriers packed with explosives and a ground assault team. The Islamic State seized tanks, armored personnel carriers, Humvees, and other vehicles. The bodies of dozens of dead Iraqi security personnel are displayed.

The exact date the assault occurred is unclear, but it likely took place earlier this week. The Associated Press reported that the Islamic State attacked Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) positions outside of Fallujah on Aug 16. According to the AP, “four suicide attackers drove explosives-laden military vehicles into government forces’ barricades.” Four suicide bombers driving US-made M113 armored personnel carriers are shown in the jihadist group’s video, which confirms the AP report.

The AP, quoting Iraqi officials, said that 17 Iraqi personnel were killed in the assault. The video released by the Islamic State shows at least 30 dead bodies of soldiers and police officers, but the number may be higher.

The jihadist group took over Fallujah in January of 2014, nearly six months before it overran large portions of Iraq. Last month, Iraqi forces and their Iranian-backed Shiite militia allies started an offensive to try and retake the city as well as Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar. The Iraqi offensive has made little gains in the past two months.

The US military is providing air support for the Iraqi military and the Iranian-backed militias. In the last week, US Central Command said it executed seven airstrikes in and around Fallujah. On Aug 16, four airstrikes “destroyed two ISIL [the dated acronym for the Islamic State] buildings, an ISIL VBIED, two ISIL heavy machine guns and an ISIL obstruction,” while another airstrike near Habbaniyah in the Fallujah-Ramadi corridor “struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed three ISIL vehicles and an ISIL fighting position.” In addition, two airstrikes “destroyed two ISIL mortar firing positions and an ISIL vehicle” near Habbaniyah yesterday.

Commie Greek Prime Minister Resigns in Utter Shame, Slinks Off To Masturbate At Lenin's Tomb

Fuck the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tspiras.  This clown, this cowardly Communist played his little game in Greece...got his 15 minutes of fame and hopefully, one day he'll get the rest of his time on earth on a meat hook.

Typical pussy Communist - sweeps into power when the people are desperate and then fucks up things even worse than they ever were before.  Locusts.  Nothing but locusts.

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

Greek PM resigns and calls for snap elections

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has submitted his resignation and that of his cabinet to President Prokopis Pavlopoulos on Thursday, and asked that elections be held on the soonest possible date.

“The present parliament cannot offer a government of majority or a national unity government,” Tsipras told Pavlopoulos during a meeting on Thursday night.

Tsipras effectively lost his majority in the 300-seat Greek parliament after members of his leftist Syriza party broke ranks over a multi-billion euro bailout his government clinched with international lenders this month.

The move came after the leftist leader faced a rebellion in his governing Syriza party over austerity measures demanded in a massive new international bailout worth about 86 billion euros over three years.

Government sources cited by the official news agency ANA said earlier he had proposed elections on September 20.

(With AFP)

Same Old Same Old

(Hat Tip:  GulfDogs)

Air strikes kill 40 terrorists in Pakistan

Good news.  There are 40 fewer Taliban in the world today.

Carry on.

The story comes from Times of India.

Air strikes kill 40 terrorists in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: At least 40 terrorists were killed on Sunday in renewed military air strikes against militants' hideouts in Pakistan's restive North Waziristan region bordering Afghanistan.

"Forty terrorists were killed in bombardment by fighter jets in Shawal area of North Waziristan on Sunday afternoon," Army was quoted as saying by Express Tribune.

The aerial strikes were launched after Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif directed intelligence agencies to help find the perpetrators involved in the suicide bomb attack in Attock district in which Punjab province Home Minister Shuja Khanzada and 12 others were killed.

Khanzada, 71, and a DSP were among the 13 people killed when the suicide bomber attacked his political office in his native Shadi Khan village, Punjab Emergency Department spokesperson Deeba Shahnaz said.

On July 14, fourteen terrorists, including top commanders, were killed during air strikes in Alwara area of North Waziristan.

North Waziristan, where army has launched an offensive against militants, has been a hub for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants since the early 2000s.

Army has also moved ahead to clear the Shawal valley which overlaps both South and North Waziristan and links these two districts to Afghanistan.

More than 2,800 militants have been killed since the launch of the operation last June.

Photo of the Day: A Clinton Vacation

(Hat Tip:  Henry Bowman)


--

Video: Islam and America

(Hat Tip: Henry Bowman)

It's Now Official, The Taliban and al Qaeda Are Wed - Does This Mean a Honeymoon Complete With Another 9/11?

Left: Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, from a handout released by a Taliban spokesman. Right: Ayman al Zawahiri, from his latest tape declaring allegiance to Mansour.

The stage has been set for al Qaeda to rejoin the Taliban in the safe haven of Afghanistan - that apparently WILL happen as soon as the Taliban complete their mission of overthrowing the Afghan government which in my estimation will take about 12 to 15 months.

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

New Taliban emir accepts al Qaeda’s oath of allegiance


The Taliban’s new leader, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, has accepted the oath of allegiance (bayat) from al Qaeda emir Ayman Zawahiri, as well as the pledges to him from “Jihadi organizations spread throughout the globe.” Mansour’s statement was published just one day after al Qaeda released an audio message from Zawahiri in which he gave bayat to Mansour.

Mansour’s statement accepting Zawahiri’s pledge was released today on Voice of Jihad, the Taliban’s official website. In the statement, the Taliban emir thanked “all those respected brothers who have sympathized with us in this critical juncture of the Islamic Ummah, have sent messages of condolence about the passing away of Amir ul Mumineen [Mullah Omar] or have pledged allegiance with us as the new Amir (leader) of the Islamic Emirate and servant of the Muslims.”

Mansour places Zawahiri’s oath of fealty above all others.

“Among these respected brothers, I first and foremost accept the pledge of allegiance of the esteemed Dr. Ayman ad-Dhawahiri [al Zawahiri], the leader of international Jihadi organization (Qaedatul Jihad) and thank him for sending a message of condolence along with his pledge and pledge of all Mujahideen under him,” Mansour said.

“Similarly those Mujahideen protecting the Jihadi frontlines, Madaris (religious seminaries), teachers of universities and centers for learning, national figures and all Islamic and Jihadi personalities as well as Jihadi organizations spread throughout the globe who have sent messages of condolence or pledge allegiance with us as leader of Jihad, I reciprocally thank them and implore Allah Almighty to grant me and all our brothers success to properly serve Islam and Muslims,” he continued.

Mansour’s acceptance of Zawahiri’s oath should come as no surprise. The new Taliban emir issued a pro-al Qaeda statement in June, before Mullah Omar’s death was announced. In the statement, he described al Qaeda’s leaders as the “heroes of the current jihadist era” and bin Laden as the “leader of mujahideen.” Mansour’s statement contained parallels to al Qaeda’s messaging and he took al Qaeda’s side in its dispute with the rival Islamic State.

Mansour’s leadership team also indicates his close ties to al Qaeda. As The Long War Journal reported on July 31, Mansour appointed Siraj Haqqani, the operational leader of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network, as one of his top two deputies. Files recovered in Osama bin Laden’s compound and other evidence show that Siraj has worked closely with al Qaeda for years. [See LWJ report, The Taliban’s new leadership is allied with al Qaeda.]

The public acceptance of Zawahiri’s pledge demonstrates that Mansour has no intention of breaking with al Qaeda.

Indeed, the statement from the new Taliban emir is a dramatic gesture. Since last year, al Qaeda has repeatedly broadcast its enduring allegiance to Mansour’s predecessor, Mullah Omar. In July 2014, al Qaeda released a video from mid-2001 of Osama bin Laden explaining his loyalty to Omar. But the Taliban’s public-facing propaganda has been far less explicit about the relationship. For instance, after al Qaeda reaffirmed its allegiance to Omar on July 20, 2014, the Taliban did not publish a statement attributed to Omar acknowledging the pledge.

Therefore, while the Taliban and al Qaeda have long been closely allied, Mansour’s official statement is a bold proclamation of the relationship between the groups.

The Taliban is brandishing its alliance with al Qaeda in other ways as well.

Earlier today, Mansour’s propagandists posted an English-language translation of Zawahiri’s oath along with an embedded copy of his complete audio message. An accompanying note from the Taliban reads: “This step is evidence of the great resolve of the said organization [al Qaeda], acumen of the esteemed Dr. Ayman ad-Dhawahiri [Zawahiri] (may Allah protect him) as well as strong determination and commitment to well-being of the Muslim Ummah by the Mujahideen under his leadership.”

A screen shot from the page on the Taliban’s website that reproduced Zawahiri’s message can be seen above and to the right.