Hamas Terror Attack In Jerusalem Kills Israeli Civilian and Police Officer

 Israeli riot policemen secure the area following a shooting incident in what an Israeli police spokesperson described as a terrorist attack, in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem October 9, 2016. (Reuters)

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

Several wounded in Jerusalem shooting attack

A Palestinian who was due to begin a prison term in Israel next week went on a shooting spree on Sunday, killing a pedestrian and a police officer in Jerusalem before being shot dead by police, medical and law enforcement officials said.

The incident, near Israel’s national police headquarters, began when shots were fired from a vehicle at people waiting at a tram stop, a police spokeswoman said.

The assailant, who the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said was a member of its organization, then drove off and was shot dead in an exchange of fire with police, she said.

Medical officials said six people were wounded in the attack, and that two of them, a woman and a police officer, died in hospital. Police identified the assailant as a 39-year-old Palestinian from East Jerusalem.

A spokeswoman for the Israel Prisons Service said the attacker had been ordered by a court to start a four-month jail sentence next week after being convicted of assaulting a police officer.

In the past year, Palestinians, many acting alone and often with rudimentary weapons, have killed at least 35 Israelis and two visiting Americans in attacks.

During that period, at least 220 Palestinians have died in violent incidents in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Of those, 149 were identified by authorities as assailants while others were killed during clashes and protests.

Israel says anti-Israeli incitement by Palestinian officials and on social media networks is stoking attacks.

Palestinian leaders say assailants are acting out of desperation over the collapse in 2014 of peace talks and the expansion of Israeli settlements on occupied land that Palestinians seek for an independent state.

Over 140 dead, 525 injured as Saudi strike hits funeral ceremony in Yemen

One of these days...the world is going to be at the brink.

The story comes from DAWN.

Over 140 dead, 525 injured as Saudi strike hits funeral ceremony in Yemen

SANAA: More than 140 people were killed and more than 525 wounded Saturday when air strikes hit a funeral ceremony in Yemen, a United Nations official said, with Houthi rebels blaming the attack on the Saudi-led coalition.

Senior health ministry official Nasser al-Argaly warned that the toll from the air strike that targeted a building where mourners had gathered in southern Sanaa could rise further.

Emergency workers pulled out at least 20 charred remains and body parts from the gutted building while others scoured the wreckage in search for survivors, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

The rebel-controlled news site sabanews.net said that coalition planes hit a building in southern Sanaa where hundreds had gathered to mourn the death of the father of a prominent local official.

The Houthis did not say if the official ─ rebel interior minister Jalal al-Rowaishan ─ was present in the building at the time of the attack which they dubbed a “massacre” nor did they indicate if other senior figures were attending the funeral.

Rebel Almasirah television said Sanaa mayor Abdel Qader Hilal was among those killed.

People had come from all over Sanaa to attend the funeral, said Mulatif al-Mojani, who witnessed the air strikes.

“A plane fired a missile and minutes later another plane pounded the building," he told AFP.

Another witness, who declined to give his name, described the attack as “war crime”.

“This was a funeral for one man in Sanaa and now it has turned into a funeral for tens of Yemenis,” he said.

A security source, quoted by the rebel website, said a fire tore through the building after the strikes.

Yemen's powerful ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key ally of the Houthi movement, called for an escalation of attacks against Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
US for 'immediate review' of coalition, Saudi agrees to investigate raid

The United States (US) said Saturday it had launched an "immediate review" of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen which was blamed for the strike.

"We are deeply disturbed by reports of today's air strike on a funeral hall in Yemen, which, if confirmed, would continue the troubling series of attacks striking Yemeni civilians," White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

"US security cooperation with Saudi Arabia is not a blank check... In light of this and other recent incidents, we have initiated an immediate review of our already significantly reduced support to the Saudi-led Coalition and are prepared to adjust our support so as to better align with US principles, values and interests, including achieving an immediate and durable end to Yemen's tragic conflict."

The Saudi-led coalition said Sunday it would investigate the air raid after Washington announced it was reviewing support for the alliance.

After initially denying any responsibility, the coalition said it was ready to launch a probe into the "regrettable and painful" strike. However, Reuters reported that sources in the Saudi-led coalition have denied any role in the attack.

"The coalition will immediately investigate this case along with... experts from the United States who participated in previous investigations," it said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.

"The coalition is also willing to provide the investigation team with any data and information related to its military operations today, at the incident's location and the surrounding areas," it said.

The UN said aid workers were "shocked and outraged" by the attack.
Call to protest

Houthis swept into Sanaa in September 2014 and advanced across much of Yemen, forcing the government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee Sanaa.

More than 6,700 people ─ most of them civilians ─ have been killed in Yemen since the coalition intervened in support of Hadi, according to the United Nations.

Ambulance sirens blared as they transported the wounded away and residents said local hospitals had issued an appeal for blood donations.

BREAKING: Donald Trump Announces Withdrawal From Presidential Race On CNN

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A night with Golani, a few hundred meters from Hezbollah

G_d bless the IDF.

The story comes from YNET News.

A night with Golani, a few hundred meters from Hezbollah

Mount Dov, termed "Hezbollah's playground," is full of IDF soldiers at night who are ready to ambush potential attackers from Lebanon. The 13th Battalion's commander warns that the Third Lebanon War is likely to start from there.

The sign that reads, "Stop! Border ahead" is misleading and confusing. The valley of Marjayoun and the village of Ghajar lay ahead, the Tel Dan and Hazbani Nature Reserves are behind, and this is allegedly the border with Lebanon. But opening the heavy gate only begins to describe the story of the network of mountain ridges between the Galilee Panhandle and Mount Hermon. After crossing the gate, the convoy of armored jeeps began up the back path to avoid anti-tank fire from Hezbollah. A Ynet team joined them a week ago for rare coverage of Golani soldiers' lying in wait in an Israeli enclave in the most volatile area of the border—Mount Dov.

There is no fence on the disputed border on the isolated mountain, devoid of any Israeli communities. In fact, there are no physical barriers that separates between the combat brigade's soldiers and Nasrallah's men before them. Amongst the high thickets and lush vegetation, a Hezbollah "playground" is revealed. This is where, according to assessments, the Third Lebanon War could break out.

Over the last 50 years, the mountain has seen hundreds of deaths from both sites, soldiers' kidnapping, thousands of mortars fired, serious exchanges of fire and countless roadside bombs—a never-ending sense of the battlefield. The verdant mountain is named after the late Capt. Dov Rodberg, a Golani company commander who fell there in 1970 in a battle with Fatah militants during a rescue operation for a wounded soldier.

Over the years, Hezbollah has marked the mountain as a preferred location for attacking IDF troops, and in recent years, the place has become an arena of confrontation between the army and the Shiite organization. In January of last year, Givati soldiers Maj. Yochai Kalangel and Staff Sgt. Dor Chaim Nini were killed on the mountain's slopes by anti-tank missiles from Hezbollah. The Lebanese organization has also laid a series of roadside bombs in the region for years. This is its way of avenging the assassinations of senior Hezbollah leaders that foreign reports attribute to Israel.

Hezbollah's preference for operating on the mountain comes from two principal reasons. The first is the legitimacy of attacks in a disputed area that has no Israeli civilians. Most parts of the border (marked by the Blue Line) were marked by the UN Security Council resolution that ended the Second Lebanon War. The second is the IDF's relatively limited control of the region due to its complex topography.

There's no barrier or fence there. Boulders, knolls, valleys and mountain ranges make it a complete above-ground tunnel network where penetration is more possible than in other areas. The IDF is aware of these problems, and the Northern Command has those who criticize the fact that resources have not been invested in establishing a serious barrier along the border. However, the IDF set up concrete blocks at a few locations over the past two years and blew out engineering paths supposedly marking the border.
The Rubicon has been crossed

According to all assessments, Hezbollah is not interested in a war with Israel in the foreseeable future, partly due to its bloody involvement in the Syrian civil war and the deterrence that still echoes from the Second Lebanon War. Notwithstanding that, something has changed over the past three years. The attacks that included the use of explosives and anti-tank missiles, self-confidence and the rich operational experience that Nasrallah is obtaining in Syria and Iraq have led to a certain degree to a crossing of the Rubicon.


The previous IDF chief of staff, Benny Gantz, said in reference to the wind blowing from the northern border that the likelihood of war is low, but the likelihood of deterioration due to misunderstandings in specific incidents had grown. In the opinion of Lt. Col. Yair Peli, the commander of Golani's 13th battalion that is currently responsible for the Mount Dov district, the deterioration that will lead to war could take place tomorrow morning. Without any warning, from the front yard of the Galilee Division.


'It will start here, and it could grow into war'

Peli explained, "Mount Dov is Hezbollah's playground, but we won't them play the game. They want to penetrate, enter, plant explosives, but we don't let them. We're operating on every hill, lots of nights. There's no place on Mount Dov that soldiers of the 13th Battalion aren't walking, aren't lying, aren't waiting for Hezbollah. It's possible that here, where we are, they were here yesterday."

The battalion commander's words were spoken in a whisper in the dark of a night with nearly no moon while he leaned on a rock. The potential ambush that his company commander, Capt. Shma'ur Ben Shitrit, is leading was at the preliminary stage of its operation, when its soldiers were silently taking their positions, setting boundaries in case of an encounter, studying the terrain, smelling the ground and letting their eyes adjust to the darkness.

They'll be there for at least 12 hours, near the village of Shebaa, merely a few hundred meters from Hezbollah. No fence separates the combatants. A navigation error by one of the commanders leading the force could expose them on Lebanese territory.

Peli explains, "This is a disputed area that there isn't an agreement on; they claim that it's theirs. The fact that it's a disputed area means that to Hezbollah, if they carry out something or respond, then it's the place that they usually operate. It's a great place to get back at us for what we're doing or not doing to them. Mount Dov is a wide open field for activity against us."

Dozens of Afghan troops missing from military training in US

And the Ringling Brother Circus version of the Obama administration just keeps humming along...

The story comes from DAWN.

Dozens of Afghan troops missing from military training in US

WASHINGTON: Forty-four Afghan troops visiting the United States for military training have gone missing in less than two years, presumably in an effort to live and work illegally in America, Pentagon officials said.

Although the number of disappearances is relatively small — some 2,200 Afghan troops have received military training in the United States since 2007 — the incidents raise questions about security and screening procedures for the programs.

They are also potentially embarrassing for US President Barack Obama's administration, which has spent billions of dollars training Afghan troops as Washington seeks to extricate itself from the costly, 15-year-old war.

The disclosure could fuel criticism by supporters of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has accused the Obama administration of failing to properly vet immigrants from Muslim-majority countries and has pledged a much tougher stance if he wins.

While other foreign troops on US military training visits have sometimes run away, a US defense official said that the frequency of Afghan troops going missing was concerning and “out of the ordinary.”

Since September alone, eight Afghan troops have left military bases without authorization, Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump told Reuters. He said the total number of Afghan troops who have gone missing since January 2015 is 44, a number that has not previously been disclosed.

“The Defense Department is assessing ways to strengthen eligibility criteria for training in ways that will reduce the likelihood of an individual Afghan willingly absconding from training in the US and going AWOL (absent without leave),” Stump said.

Afghans in the US training program are vetted to ensure they have not participated in human rights abuses and are not affiliated with militant groups before being allowed into the United States, Stump said.

The defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added there was no evidence any of those who had absconded had carried out crimes or posed a threat to the United States.

The Afghan army has occasionally been infiltrated by Taliban militants who have carried out attacks on Afghan and US troops, but such incidents have become less frequent due to tougher security measures.

Trump, whose other signature immigration plan is to build a wall on the US-Mexico border, has proposed a temporary ban on Muslims seeking to enter the country, and has said that law enforcement officers should engage in more racial profiling to curb the threat of attacks on American soil.

After Omar Mateen, whose father was born in Afghanistan, killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando in June, Trump said an immigration ban would last until “we are in a position to properly screen these people coming into our country.”

Billions of dollars in training

Washington has allocated more than $60 billion since 2002 to train and equip Afghan troops, but security remains precarious and the Taliban are estimated to control more territory in Afghanistan than at any time since 2001 when the US invaded.

Earlier this year, Obama shelved plans to cut the US force in Afghanistan nearly in half by year's end, opting instead to keep 8,400 troops there through the end of his presidency in January.

The military training program brings troops to the United States from around the world in order to build on military relations and improve capabilities for joint operations.

In some cases, officials said, the Afghan students who went missing were in the United States for elite Army Ranger School and intelligence-gathering training. The officials did not identify the missing troops or their rank.

Even though the troops were in the United States for military training, they were not necessarily always on a military base.

If students under the military program are absent from training for more than 24 hours, they are considered to be “absent without leave” (AWOL) and the Department of Homeland Security is notified.

In one case the Pentagon confirmed that an Afghan student had been detained by Canadian police while attempting to enter Canada from the United States.

It was unclear how many others have been located by US authorities, and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Experts said low morale and insufficient training to fight the Taliban could explain the troops leaving, in addition to a dearth of economic opportunities in the impoverished country.

“They face a formidable enemy, with very limited resources and many Afghan troops aren't getting paid on time,” said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia specialist at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Washington think-tank.

The Russian Bear vs. The American Rainbow Unicorn

Yep.  We seem to be seeing a stalemate between Russia and America.  Perhaps it will become a stare down like JFK and Kruschev....Putin staring down the Boy Wonder and lord only knows what happens when the Unicorn baby king shits his pants and runs to Valerie Jarrett to kiss his owie.

The story comes from YNET News.

US suspends contacts with Russia on Syria, as Russia suspends plutonium treaty

Faced with a truce in Syria that never truly took hold, the US suspends talks with Russia regarding the deal; Russia also decides to air out its grievances against the US, suspending their plutonium disarmament treaty over disputes regarding Syria and Ukraine.

The US State Department said on Monday that the US is suspending bilateral contacts with Russia over Syria. Russia, for its part, also came out with a statement on Monday, saying that it is suspending a plutonium disarmament deal wth the US.

The US announcement came after last week's threat by Secretary of State John Kerry to suspend contacts amid new attacks on the city of Aleppo. The department said in its statement that Russia had not lived up to the terms of an agreement last month to restore the cease-fire and ensure sustained deliveries of humanitarian aid to besieged cities.

As part of the suspension, the US will be withdrawing personnel that it had dispatched to take part in the creation of a joint US-Russia center. That center was to have coordinated military cooperation and intelligence if the cease-fire had taken hold. The suspension will not affect communications between the two countries aimed at de-conflicting counter-terrorism operations in Syria.

An end to the Russia-US plutonium treaty

The US State Department's announcement came as Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended a treaty, as well, regarding the Kremlin's agreement with Washington to clean up weapons-grade plutonium, thus signaling that he is willing to use nuclear disarmament as a new bargaining chip in disputes with the United States over Ukraine and Syria.

Starting in the last years of the Cold War, Russia and the United States signed a series of accords to reduce the size of their nuclear arsenals, agreements that have so far survived intact despite a souring of US-Russian relations under Putin.

But on Monday, Putin issued a decree suspending an agreement, concluded in 2000, which bound the two sides to dispose of surplus plutonium originally intended for use in nuclear weapons.

The Kremlin said it was taking that action in response to unfriendly acts by Washington.

The plutonium accord is not the cornerstone of post Cold War US-Russia disarmament, and the practical implications from the suspension will be limited. But the suspension, and the linkage to disagreements on other issues, carries powerful symbolism.

"Putin's decree could signal that other nuclear disarmament cooperation deals between the United States and Russia are at risk of being undermined," Stratfor, a US-based consultancy, said in a commentary.

"The decision is likely an attempt to convey to Washington the price of cutting off dialogue on Syria and other issues."

Taliban forces enter Kunduz city center

The handover of Afghanistan to the Taliban by Barack Hussein Obama is well on its way.

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

Taliban forces enter Kunduz city center

Taliban fighters have invaded the city of Kunduz once again, according to multiple online sources. Just over one year ago, in late September 2015, the Taliban seized Kunduz and briefly held it before being driven back. But the Taliban has retained a presence in the surrounding areas ever since and launched another assault on the center of Kunduz earlier today.

The Taliban’s push into Kunduz was first trumpeted on a Twitter account attributed to the group’s spokesman, Zabihulla Mujahid. Some of the tweets can be seen below.

The propaganda feed reported that Police District #2 (“PD2”) and a recruiting center for Afghan forces were “overrun” during the offensive. The Taliban’s fighters then moved into the city’s “main intersection” while also attacking the governor’s compound and a police headquarters. A short video shows a jihadist hoisting the Taliban’s white flag above a small building in the city’s “main” traffic intersection. A screen shot from the video can be seen above.

In still other tweets, “Zabihulla Mujahid” claimed that the Taliban is firmly in control. One tweet read: “Efforts underway to quickly establish normalcy in #Kunduz so people restart work, Mujahidin are treating people with kindness.”

The Taliban’s push into Kunduz was quickly confirmed by independent sources. For example, a reporter for TOLONews said that an office belonging to Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) in Kunduz is now “under Taliban control.” Citing the Kunduz provincial council, TOLONews also reported that the Taliban was “moving towards the governor’s office.”

NATO’s Resolute Support initially downplayed reports of the Taliban’s assault on Kunduz. “We are aware of reports of ongoing sporadic fighting in Kunduz & are coordinating closely with our Afghan partners to assist,” one tweet on Resolute Support’s official feed read. Another tweet continued: “At this point, we are not observing evidence via our internal means to support the reports that Kunduz is under significant attack.” And in a third, Resolute Support said that its forces would “continue to support ANDSF through training, advising & assisting as well as strategic enabler support.”

But just two hours later Resolute Support tweeted: “(Update) U.S. enablers, including air power, are in position and prepared to assist in Kunduz as needed.” And a subsequent tweet read: “Our #AFG partners are responding to increased Taliban activity in #Kunduz & US forces have multiple assets & enablers within area to support.”

It remains to be seen if the Taliban can maintain its presence inside the city’s center this time. Last year, the Taliban was ejected from Kunduz after approximately two weeks. Still, the temporary fall of Kunduz in 2015 was an ominous sign, as it was the first major urban area to be recaptured by the Taliban since 2001.

The Taliban has relied on its al Qaeda-linked jihadi allies during the fighting in Kunduz. Last year, for example, the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) participated in the siege of the city. The IJU is an offshoot of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State’s Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. However, the IJU remains loyal to the Taliban’s senior leader. [See LWJ report, Islamic Jihad Union participated in siege of Kunduz.]

Still other jihadist groups that recruit from central Asia have likely bolstered the Taliban’s ranks in Kunduz as well.

Video: Here's a Great Idea - Let's Debate Child Brides in Islam ....with a CHILD!

Drone Her - UPDATED with VIDEO

UPDATE:

And as is always the case, the Clintons get the last laugh.

Syrian regime calls on Aleppo rebels to surrender

Opposition fighters carrying their weapons in Aleppo on September 30, 2016. (Reuters)

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

Syrian regime calls on Aleppo rebels to surrender

Syrian rebels and pro-government forces clashed Sunday on several fronts around Aleppo as the country’s military command called on rebels to lay down their weapons and evacuate the contested city.

The Syrian military, supported by Iranian-backed militias and Russian air power, began their push to take the whole of the divided city after a ceasefire collapsed last month. The assault has nearly destroyed eastern Aleppo’s healthcare system, the U.N said.

An air campaign by the Syrian government and its allies was reinforced by a ground offensive targeting the besieged eastern half of the city where insurgents have been holding out.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Syrian military said the army and its allies had advanced south from the Handarat refugee camp north of Aleppo city, which they took earlier this week, taking the Kindi hospital and parts of the Shuqaif industrial area.

Air strikes and shelling continued on Sunday, the Observatory said.

Zakaria Malahifji, of the Aleppo-based rebel group Fastaqim, told Reuters there were clashes in this area on Sunday.

The Observatory added that there was fierce fighting between rebels and government forces all along the front line which cuts the city in two.

The Syrian army said on Sunday that rebel fighters should vacate east Aleppo and it would guarantee them safe passage and necessary aid.

“The army high command calls all armed fighters in the eastern neighborhood of Aleppo to leave these neighborhoods and let civilian residents live their normal lives,” the statement carried by state news agency SANA said.