Puppet Masters
According to Palestinian sources, the attacks targeted facilities near the cities of Khan Younis in the south and Deir al Balah in the center of the strip, The Times of Israel reported. Israeli Army spokesman Colonel Peter Lerner has confirmed that its aircraft targeted a "Hamas military training facility" in central Gaza.
The Israeli Air Force jets reportedly hit two Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday night. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
The air raid comes in response to earlier rocket fire from the territory of Gaza when a single rocket apparently targeted Israel's southern communities. The projectile triggered warning sirens, but exploded in an open area, causing no injuries or damage.
Rockets coming from Gaza regularly hit Israel but rarely cause any damage. While Hamas, which is in control of the Palestinian territory, has never admitted responsibility for the sporadic attacks on Israel, Tel Aviv maintains that the organization is responsible for everything taking place in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli officers from the Border Patrol watch over the demolition of a building at the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near the West Bank town of Ramallah, Wednesday, July 29, 2015.
Israel's announcement of it's largest agricultural land seizure since 2014 has drawn harsh criticism from Palestinian and Western authorities. Palestine officials announced they would push for a UN resolution decrying Israeli settlement policies.
"Settlement activities are a violation of international law and run counter to the public pronouncements of the government of Israel supporting a two-state solution to the conflict," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement.
The move follows diplomatic clashes this week between Washington and Jerusalem, as US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro angered Israeli state representatives by issuing a statement that the US was concerned and perplexed by Israel's West Bank policy.
"We believe they're fundamentally incompatible with a two-state solution and call into question, frankly, the Israeli government's commitment to a two-state solution," deputy State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Wednesday.
In a move certain to bite the hand that feeds, Israeli forces destroyed six housing structures in the West Bank that were part of a project funded by a humanitarian arm of the EU. The structures were intended for Bedouins living in an area between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, locally known as E1. Israeli construction in the area would split the West Bank, cutting Palestinians off from East Jerusalem, the city they seek to make their capital.
Tens of terrorists were killed and dozens more were injured in heavy clashes with the Syrian troops in the Sunday clashes in the region as the army conducted massive assault to win back the town that is known as the second stronghold of the terrorists in the province of Lattakia. Meanwhile, the army is conducting mop-up operations around Rabi'a and nearby regions in a vast area that covers tens of kilometers of land to capture or hunt the remaining pockets of terrorists.
FNA reports from Rabi'a battlefield said frontline reports show terrorists are retreating fast and in an disorganized way, rushing to escape to Turkey. The winning back of Rabi'a town came after the Syrian troops seized back seven villages in the coastal province near the borders with Turkey. The Syrian troops entered the town from the west after killing tens of terrorists and injuring dozens more in fierce clashes. The army is now in full control over Rabi'a.
Ukrainian companies will file a set of lawsuits against Russia to international courts in two weeks, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Sunday.
"In two weeks, you will see a number of legal proceedings [against Russia]," Poroshenko told reporters.
Comment: What are they going to sue Russia for, exactly? Not giving them more free money? With tactics like this, it'll be surprising if anyone continues to do business with Ukraine in the future.
- Moscow to sue Kiev in London court as Ukraine officially defaults on $3bn debt
- Gazprom ceases gas supplies to Ukraine for lack of new payments
- Russia planning ahead: Warns France of Ukraine gas shortage
- Russia won't let Ukrainians freeze this winter, despite dealing with a pathological government in Kiev
- Ukraine rejects cheap Russian gas offer, imports more expensive EU gas instead
- Russia sends 47th humanitarian aid convoy to Donbass, as well as New Year's presents for children and the elderly
This map shows the current frontline as well as the old frontline from where the Latakia campaign started a few weeks ago. (bigger hi-res)
The jihadis evacuated all positions west of Rabiah and are on the run. Turkey closed its border to prevent them from crossing it. They will seek refuge in Kinsabba near the Jabal al-Akrad heights, their last strong point, which will be attacked next. After that the general attack will be launched at Jisr al Shanghaur in Idleb province from the west and the south after which a larger pincer attack on Idleb city is planned.
Latakia province and the Russian bases there are now secured. Opposition supply lines from Turkey are largely severed. The momentum is clearly on the side of the government troops.
Comment: We doubt the U.S. really wants the conflict to die down. They will participate in half-hearted negotiations, but in the U.S., the military option isn't just always on the table - it's a permanent fixture there:
- Pentagon fumes over Russia's win in Syria, threatens to send in the military in response
- US imperialism: Pentagon chief outlines plan for escalation of Iraq-Syria war
The World Economic Forum, the annual meeting of influential political and business elite, was held in a situation that one of the participants of the forum, head of Credit Suisse Tidjane Thiam described as "the worst start of the year in the history of financial markets."
The opening of the forum coincided with a drop in oil prices below $30 per barrel, which caused another round of the ruble fall.
Comment: As Edgar Cayce predicted over 80 years ago, Russia has become the hope of the world and a beacon of light in the dark times that have been brought on by US/NATO western imperialism with the ruling psychopaths at the helm:
"In Russia there comes the hope of the world, not as that sometimes termed of the communistic, or Bolshevik, no; but freedom, freedom! That each man will live for his fellow man! The principle has been born. It will take years for it to be crystallised, but out of Russia comes again the hope of the world."
(Edgar Cayce, 1944, No. 3976-29)
Earlier, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter called for a stronger involvement of the members of the international coalition against Daesh terrorists, German newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (DWN) reported, referring to Carter's interview with CNBC.
According to Carter, many coalition members show insufficient commitment to the fight against terrorism in Syria. The US could do much by itself, but is also expecting other members of the 65-state alliance to do "their part," the politician stressed.
Comment: Further reading: US drops 23k bombs on 6 mid east countries in 2015: Still totally ineffective against ISIS
Slightly more than seven decades ago, when the United Nations was officially founded in San Francisco, there was no question in the world about who was the Great Power, the World Hegemon. Today the situation has radically altered to the severe disadvantage of Washington and her ability to dictate terms to the rest of the world in economics, politics, and the greatly-misused expression "human rights and democracy-building." That disadvantage may, ironically, be a blessing in disguise for us all.
In 1945, the United States Federal Reserve controlled the overwhelming majority of the world's monetary gold. As war approached in Europe in 1939, European gold flooded into the United States for safety. In 1935 US official gold reserves were valued at just over $9 billion. By 1940 after the onset of war in Europe, it had leapt to $20 billion. As desperate European countries sought to finance their war effort, their gold went to the United States to purchase essential goods. By the time of the June 1944 international monetary conference at Bretton Woods, the United States Federal Reserve controlled fully 70% of world monetary gold, a staggering advantage in what was then a Bretton Woods Gold Exchange System with the US dollar at its heart. That wasn't even calculating the captured gold of the defeated Axis powers of Germany or Japan, where exact facts and data are buried in layers of deception and rumor to this day.
What began as a plan to destabilize the Alawite government by "playing on Sunni fears of Iranian influence" (to quote a leaked diplomatic cable from then-Deputy Chief of Mission in Syria William Roebuck) gradually metamorphosed into a overt and at times absurd effort to arm and train a series of rebel groups in an attempt to bring about regime change in Damascus.
Those efforts have thus far failed, in part because of how poorly the programs were orchestrated and implemented and in part due to Russian and Iranian intervention on behalf of the SAA.














Comment: The nomadic Bedouins are the latest unfortunate group to be caught in the path of the racist Israeli steamroller.