Puppet Masters
In an interview for the Odessa Crisis Media Center, cited by Russia's RIA Novosti, Islyamov, the Tatar nationalist organizer who earlier published photos of himself posing with Turkish Grey Wolves militants, and who has since declared that his activists were preparing for a 'naval blockade' of Crimea, said that the Turkish defense ministry would assist his group by providing it with clothing and footwear.
According to the radical activist, the new formation will consist of 560 volunteers. By January 15, the formation will be assigned a number as an official military unit. The unit's main objective, Islyamov says, will be the "defense of the Crimean border from inside Crimea itself," in addition to "attacks" against unspecified targets.
Daesh militants captured 36 Christian villages along the Khabur River in the province of Al Hasakah in February. The extremist group outlawed in Russia destroyed ancient churches, killed scores of civilians and kidnapped over 300 Assyrians in the offensive.
"We were able to negotiate through mediators the release of another 25 Assyrians from captivity. In return, we gave the ransom to terrorists. There are still some 80 Assyrians in captivity," the source told RIA Novosti on Saturday.
Comment: Hopefully all of these individuals will get home safely, and Washington's psychopathic nut-jobs will get what they deserve.
Also see:
With regards to kidnapping, Napoleoni explained that it was initially one of the main sources of revenue. Between 2014 and 2015, the group actually made between $75-100 million, but now migrant smuggling is much more profitable.
Italian journalist reveals ISIL's primary sources of revenue
The fate of Raqqa, the de-facto capital of Daesh, has come under serious threat as one of the chief supply roads across the Euphrates has now been cut off by Kurdish-led forces Saturday.
Several villages and nearby lands, canals along the Euphrates river and - most importantly - the strategic Tishrin dam have been captured from Daesh by Kurdish, Arab and Assyrian allied forces in a rapid advance over the course of the day, the regional forces' spokesman said in a statement on Saturday.
More than 70 representatives of the Syrian opposition gathered in Kazakhstan's capital Astana twice in 2015 — in May and October.
"Saudi Arabia's attitude since the start of the conflict and the fact that Saudi authorities have raised tensions between communities and encouraged the emergence of groups of extremist fighters should disqualify them from taking part in negotiations that will lead to peace in Syria," the letter sent to US Special Envoy for Syria, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura and the Russian Foreign Ministry reads.
Comment: Also see this report about the Saudi-led coalition: Falling apart: Role of Saudi-led 'military alliance' put to question as some members reject participation
He added that this success was possible because of the courage of the local soldiers and commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari to the fight against Boko Haram.
"There is no community that has not been liberated from Boko Haram now," Sani Sidi told reporters in the city of Kaduna.
Comment: In Western 'dynamic narratives' concerning how ISIS got its massive arsenal, the pseudo-plausible version is that al-baddy al-Baghdadi just scooped them up from abandoned US weapons stores in the deserts of northwestern Iraq. The terrorists would still require operational training and a supply chain several orders of magnitude greater than the arsenal, but we'll just let that those issues slide and pretend to go along with it...
Boko Haram, meanwhile, has tanks, high-grade explosives, armoured personnel carriers, anti-aircraft rockets, vast stores of ammunition, technical expertise, operational expertise, the requisite logistical supply lines, and enormous quantities of cash. The narrative goes that they bought them from Eastern Europe and Libya after generating cash by kidnapping people.
Yeah right!
Boko Haram is no rag-tag bunch of 'jihadis'. They too, clearly, have MASSIVE military-intel and financial support from Uncle Sam and friends in Western intel.
"For sure it will cause a big delay and it may kill the whole process. Whoever committed this crime is pushing for a military solution, not a political process solution."That's a quote from Hadi al-Bahra, a Syrian opposition leader. The comments come a day after an apparent Russian airstrike killed Zahran Alloush. Alloush, the son of Saudi-based cleric Abdallah Alloush, is (or, more appropriately "was") the leader of Jaysh al Islam, a powerful Syrian opposition group whose forces number some 10,000.
The group controls Ghouta, the site of an infamous sarin gas attack that nearly served as the excuse for a US air campaign against the Assad regime in 2013. Alloush was violently anti-Shiite and anti-Alawite but was seen as "moderate" when compared to ISIS and al-Nusra. Jaysh al Islam has fought against Islamic State in various parts of Syria.
Alloush, here a video of him preaching, was an extremely sectarian man. He called for the "cleansing" of all Alawite and Shia from Syria and he put Alawite women into cages on marketplaces to use them as human shields against government attacks. He praised Osama Bin Laden. Two Years ago Joshua Landis provided a profile of Alloush with some translation of his speeches.
Alloush had many enemies. Unlike other "moderates" he fought not only against the government. When challenged by ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra or any local competition he fought them too. In the eyes of some Gulf propagandists that made him a "moderate". But his ideologically positions were nearly identical to those of the Islamic State or al-Qaeda. His pasture was the Ghouta area, east of Damascus and he had about 12,000 troops under his command. The Saudis and the Turks paid him and his men.
Comment: Alloush was reportedly on the Saudis' payroll since the '80s. According to NSNBC, He was also responsible for the Ghouta chemical weapons attack in August 2013, the chain of command going up to the U.S.'s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House, and the Saudi government. He also escorted the UN inspectors involved in gathering evidence after the attack. He had previously been arrested, but was released in 2011 as a result of Assad's policy of clemency.
According to Ziad Fadel at Syrian Perspective, the meeting where Alloush was targeted also included 25 leaders from other terrorist groups, including Alloush's brother, his deputy, Jaish al-Islam's propaganda leader, and the leader of Ahraar al-Sham. The operation wouldn't have been possible without a Syrian Air Force intelligence agent who had infiltrated Alloush's group.
As Russia and India signed new agreements in the defense, nuclear and energy sectors on December 24, it became apparent that Moscow remains one of Delhi's most important strategic partners, the Washington Post observes.
The officials of the two countries have also agreed to ease visa regulations, to cooperate on a joint venture to build military helicopters in India, and to develop nuclear reactors in India.
"The Jews thought we forgot Palestine and that they had distracted us from it. Not at all, Jews. We did not forget Palestine for a moment. With the help of Allah, we will not forget it... The pioneers of the jihadist fighters will surround you on a day that you think is distant and we know is close. We are getting closer every day," Abu Bakr Baghdadi said as quoted by The Telegraph.















Comment: This is just more blatant criminality and terrorist-funding coming from NATO. Check out: