The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

The mysterious identity of the "King of the North" and "Small Horn" discussed here. The "Great War" of Daniel 10:1 (NIV) discussed here. The heavenly & earthly establishment of God's Kingdom discussed here at length. Answers such questions as when does Jesus' Kingdom Rule begin and end.

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Mary
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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#166 Post by Mary » Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:25 am

10 Die In Twin Blasts At British Compound In Kabul
Image
Afghan police stand guard near the site of a suicide attack and a clash outside The British Council in Kabul,
Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 19, 2011. Two suicide bombers attacked a British compound in the Afghan capital on Friday, killing
at least three people and wounding others, police and eyewitnesses said. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
By AMIR SHAH
Article Source
Associated Press
August 19, 2011

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Suicide attackers stormed a British compound in the Afghan capital on Friday, killing at least 10 people in a five-hour gunfight on the anniversary of the country's independence from Britain.

A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack on the British Council in the western part of Kabul.

The dead included eight Afghan policemen, a security guard whose nationality was not immediately known and an Afghan municipal worker, according to Kabul police official Farooq Asas. Two of four people wounded in the blasts were not Afghans, he said.

Britain's Foreign Office said all insurgents involved in the attack were killed.

The attack started with one suicide bomber detonating an explosives-laden car outside the British Council while another suicide bomber struck inside the compound, according to Afghan police.

Afghan security forces dispatched to the scene said that at least three insurgents fought from a secure bunker inside the compound with rifles and rocket propelled grenades.

An Afghan policeman named Azizullah said that the insurgents wrestled weapons and ammunition from the guards at the compound. Afghan men often use one name.

In London, the British Foreign Office confirmed that all British nationals were safe following the attack.

"My thoughts are with those killed and injured and their families and friends, including locals working to protect the British Council building," Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said. "It is a sad fact that once again an attack aimed at the international community has killed Afghans."

"It is due to the presence of mind of the staff involved and our good security measures that no British nationals were hurt," he said, adding that the attack would not affect Britain's commitment to Afghanistan.

British authorities would not say how many of their personnel were inside the building at the time of the attack. At one point Afghan police carried a man with a Union Jack patch on his shoulder on a stretcher away from the scene.

The Afghans on Friday mark Independence Day, the anniversary of the date the country reached full independence from Britain in 1919.

As the stand-off was still going on five hours after the initial blasts, Asas, the police official, said he had counted five suicide bombers. One detonated the car outside the compound, one set of an explosion inside while at least three more got inside the compound on foot.

Hours into the battle, two more blasts occurred, part of the building was on fire and smoke covered the areas, according to a reporter for The Associated Press at the scene.

Ambulances and at least one helicopter airlift ferried casualties to hospitals. The explosions shattered glass windows a third of a mile (half a kilometer) from the site.

Afghan troops led the assault on the insurgents, but NATO troops were on the scene in an advisory role.

The walled compound of the British Council is located in an upscale residential area in west Kabul. It consists of two buildings, one is a two-story building and the is other a single-story structure. The Council focuses on aiding foreign nations with education and building civil society.

Friday's firefight also damaged two neighboring high schools and several auto repair and auto parts shops nearby.

While violence continues to rage in many parts of Afghanistan, attacks in the capital are relatively uncommon. In June, 21 people were killed at a Kabul hotel, including nine insurgents, with militants fighting NATO and Afghan troops for five hours with rocket-propelled grenades and suicide bombs.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#167 Post by Mary » Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:47 am

Rockets, Airstrikes Follow Attack On Israel
Image
Israeli soldiers secure the area near roads leading to the sites of several attacks in the Arava desert,
near the southern Israeli resort town of Eilat, Friday, Aug. 19, 2011. On Thursday, gunmen who appear to have
originated in Gaza and who crossed into southern Israel through the Egyptian desert ambushed civilian vehicles
traveling on a remote road in southern Israel, killing eight people. Six were civilians, and two were members of
Israeli security forces responding to the incursion.(AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

By MATTI FRIEDMAN
Article Source
Associated Press
August 19, 2011

JERUSALEM (AP) — Gaza militants launched barrages of rockets deep into Israel early Friday and Israeli aircraft struck targets in the Palestinian territory in the aftermath of the deadliest attack against Israelis in three years.

Gunmen who appear to have originated in Gaza and crossed into southern Israel through the Egyptian desert ambushed civilian vehicles traveling on a remote road, killing eight people. Six were civilians, and two were members of Israeli security forces responding to the incursion.

Thursday's attack signaled a new danger for Israel from its border with the Sinai Peninsula, long quiet under the rule of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak. He was deposed in February, and the desert of the Sinai Peninsula — always restive and controlled largely by Bedouin tribes — has become increasingly lawless.

The sudden spike in violence threatened to upset the already frayed ties between Israel and Egypt and escalate the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

On Friday, militants in Gaza launched at least 17 rockets into Israel, the military said. One, aimed at the city of Ashkelon, was intercepted by the new Israeli anti-missile system known as Iron Dome. Another hit next to a synagogue in the port city of Ashdod and wounded six Israelis, according to Israeli emergency services.

Israel's south has been equipped with early warning systems and bomb shelters over years of rocket fire from Gaza, and those measures have helped keep casualties low.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited some of the wounded in hospital Friday afternoon. "We killed the head of the group that sent the terrorists but this is just an initial response."

The Israeli military's chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, said it was "too early" to say that a broad escalation in Gaza was imminent.

"If we see that Hamas is choosing to escalate, we will not hesitate to expand the scope of our actions, respond in strength and exact a price from Hamas," he told Israel Army Radio on Friday morning.

Israeli aircraft hit five targets in Gaza in response to the rocket attacks, the military said. Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Adham Abu Salmia said five people were killed, including a militant.

Egyptian officials said five Egyptian security personnel died as a result of Thursday's gunbattles. An Egyptian security official said three died Thursday and two others died of wounds on Friday. He said they were apparently caught in a crossfire as Israeli soldiers chased the attackers.

On Friday the Egyptian news agency said Egypt filed an official protest over the deaths and called on Israel to investigate. The news agency said the Egyptian army chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Sami Anan, who is also second in command of Egypt's ruling military council, went to Sinai to head up Egypt's inquiry.

An Israeli military officer gave a different version of the events. He said one of the attackers was a suicide bomber who fled back across the border into Egypt and detonated his explosives among the Egyptian security personnel. It was not possible to reconcile the two versions.

The military said Friday that Israeli forces killed seven militants during the clash. The officer, briefing reporters by phone on condition of anonymity according to military regulations, said there were at least 15 attackers — Palestinian militants from Gaza, members of an extremist group.

Israel responded hours after the border attack with an airstrike in Gaza that killed five members of the group, known as the Popular Resistance Committees. The dead included the group's leader.

A spokesman for the group, Abu Mujahid, would not confirm or deny responsibility for the attack inside Israel.

Also Friday, dozens of Palestinians trying to reach the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for Muslim prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan scuffled with police at one of the gates to the Old City. The police were allowing access only to older Muslims in a measure police said is meant to prevent unrest.

The officers used a water cannon to disperse the crowd and made several arrests, police said. No injuries were reported.

The violence in the south focused Israel's attention on its border with Egypt — 125 miles (200 kilometers) of mountainous desert with no fence for most of its length. Bedouin smugglers ferrying drugs and thousands of African asylum-seekers into Israel have crossed the border almost unimpeded for years.

Thursday's attack — the deadliest for Israel since a Palestinian gunman killed eight people in a Jerusalem religious seminary in 2008 — took place near Israel's popular Red Sea resort city of Eilat, at the height of the tourist season.

Though the desert outside Eilat showed signs of an increased military presence on Friday morning, the city itself appeared unaffected. Joggers and cyclists were visible along the beach.

A new fence is currently under construction, and the military says it will be completed by the end of 2012.

The attack came after a prolonged period without negotiations between Israel and the Western-backed Palestinian leadership in the West Bank. That deadlock has led the Palestinians to unilaterally seek recognition of statehood at the United Nations next month, a largely symbolic move opposed by Israel and the U.S.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#168 Post by Mary » Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:56 am

Suicide Bomber Kills 40 In Pakistan Mosque
Image
REUTERS - A paramilitary soldier secures the site of a sucide bomb attack inside a mosque in Jamrud, located
in Pakistan's Khyber region August 19, 2011. A suspected suicide bomber killed at least 34 people in a mosque during Friday
prayers in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region of Khyber on the Afghan border, a top government official said.
By RIAZ KHAN
Article Source
Associated Press
August 19, 2011

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber struck a mosque in a Pakistani tribal region during Friday prayers, officials said, killing at least 40 people and wounding 85 others in the deadliest attack in the country in recent weeks.

The attack came during the holy month of Ramadan, a time of fasting, sharing and heightened community spirit for Muslims.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but the Taliban and other Islamist militants have previously targeted mosques, especially if they believe enemies — such as army soldiers or anti-militant tribesmen — are using the facilities.

The mosque hit Friday is in Ghundi, a village in the Khyber tribal region, a part of Pakistan's tribal belt. Khyber has long been a base for Islamist militants, and the Pakistani army has waged multiple operations aimed at pacifying the region but with limited success.

Khyber also is a key region for the U.S. and NATO, because a large portion of non-lethal supplies heading to U.S. forces in Afghanistan passes through it.

Some 300 people had gathered for prayers Friday afternoon in the Sunni mosque, and many were on their way out when the explosion occurred, local administrator Iqbal Khan said.

"All the evidence we have gathered confirms that it is a suicide attack," said Fazal Khan, another local official who also confirmed the casualty figures. He said witnesses alleged the bomber was a young man.

Saleem Khan, 21, said people panicked after the blast, and that amid the smoke, cries and blood, several ran over him when he fell.

"Whoever did it in the holy month of Ramadan cannot be a Muslim," he said from a hospital bed in the main northwest city of Peshawar. "It is the cruelest thing any Muslim would do."

TV footage from the scene showed a heavily damaged building. Prayer caps, shoes and green prayer mats were scattered across a blood-splattered floor, while ceiling fans were twisted and walls blackened. Men comforted a young boy who wept as he held his hand to his heart.

The attack appeared to be the deadliest since twin bombings in mid-June killed around 40 people in Peshawar. That attack was believed to be part of a wave of bombings staged by militants to retaliate over the U.S. killing of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in May.

The Pakistani Taliban and their affiliates stage attacks in Pakistan because they oppose Islamabad's alliance with the United States.

Also Friday, two U.S. missiles struck a house in a tribal region that was once a Pakistani Taliban stronghold, killing four people, intelligence officials said.

The strike came as Pakistani-U.S. relations are struggling since the unilateral American raid that killed bin Laden in the northwest Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad. The continued missile attacks, which Pakistan officially opposes, suggests Washington considers the tactic too valuable to give up.

Though Pakistan objects to the covert, CIA-run missile program, it is believed to have aided it at times. The U.S. rarely acknowledges the program.

The two missiles hit a house Friday in Sheen Warsak village in the South Waziristan tribal area, according to two Pakistani intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

The identities of the dead were not immediately clear. Although U.S. officials insist the vast majority of victims in the strikes are militants, Pakistanis and some human rights activists have said civilians are often caught up in the attacks.

South Waziristan is a lawless stretch of rugged territory that was largely under the control of the Pakistani Taliban until October 2009, when the country's army launched an operation against the insurgents. However, militant activity is still occasionally reported in the region.

It is nearly impossible to independently verify the information from the region because access is heavily restricted.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#169 Post by Mary » Fri Sep 02, 2011 6:13 pm

Bin Laden Film Reveals Doubts
Image
In this 1998 file photo, al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden
is shown in Afghanistan. A person familiar with developments
said Sunday, May 1, 2011 that bin Laden is dead and the
U.S. has the body. (AP File Photo)/AP
Erie Times-News
Article Source
Published: September 1, 2011 12:01 AM EST

A new documentary film reveals that a last-minute double-check of intelligence before the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last spring cast fresh doubt on whether the al-Qaida leader was really in the Pakistani compound where he was found.

The History network, in its "Targeting Bin Laden" special that airs next Tuesday at 8 p.m., said President Barack Obama convened a special "red team" of terrorism experts to take a fresh look at the evidence.

That team had greater doubt that bin Laden was in the Abbottobad, Pakistan home primarily because they didn't believe he would take the risk of having as many visitors as he did.

Despite the new assessment, Obama ordered the mission to proceed. Four days later on May 2, a team of U.S. Navy SEALs successfully located and killed the terrorist leader behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Obama was interviewed two weeks ago for the special, which provides a ticktock account of what went into the planning and execution of the raid.

Other people interviewed for the special include national security adviser Tom Donilon, White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan and former CIA officials.

"At the end of the day only the president can weigh those risks," Donilon told interviewers. "Only the president can ask, 'What's in the nation's interest? What are the risks worth running here? What will we accomplish if this works? How will I deal with it if it doesn't work?' It was a quintessential presidential decision."


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#170 Post by Mary » Fri Sep 09, 2011 1:39 pm

New York Cracks Down After "Credible" 9/11 Threat

Reuters
By Daniel Trotta and Phil Stewart
Article Source
August 9, 2011 – 32 mins ago

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New York police amassed a display of force on Friday including checkpoints that snarled traffic in response to intelligence about a car or truck bomb plot linked to the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Officers armed with automatic weapons were stationed at city landmarks including Wall Street, Times Square and the September 11 memorial site where the Twin Towers once stood.

U.S. officials called the threat "credible but unconfirmed" and timed to the anniversary of the hijacked plane attacks that killed 2,995 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

There was reason to believe threat may be linked to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, a U.S. official told Reuters on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

New Yorkers who have grown accustomed to bag searches at subway stations and random displays of police presence encountered increased vigilance after the threat, which prompted President Barack Obama to order a redoubling of U.S. counterterrorism efforts.


A manhunt was under way for two or three suspects, U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity. One said there could be a link to Zawahri, who took the reins of al Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was killed in May in a U.S. raid in Pakistan.
Image
New York Police officers stop and check vehicles and their drivers in Times Square New York,
September 9, 2011. REUTERS/Allison Joyce
Near the site known as Ground Zero, where a new World Trade Center is under reconstruction and Obama will attend Sunday's commemoration, police established a checkpoint behind the historic Trinity Church, stopping vehicles, opening the cargo bays of trucks and checking drivers' licenses.

Similar checkpoints went up at Times Square, Columbus Circle on the southern edge of Central Park and outside the Macy's department store in midtown, creating traffic jams all over Manhattan.

"I think for our safety it is good," Eva Kurzawska, 57, said as she watched irritated drivers a checkpoint in midtown.

"The commute on the train this morning was horrible but it was worth it because we are being protected," said Mario Vigorigo, 42, a wireless manager from Brooklyn.

Sam Ginzburg, a senior trader at First New York Securities, said warnings of a potential attack was one factor unnerving traders before the weekend. "There is an extreme amount of negativity," he said as U.S. stocks fell on Friday.

A senior law enforcement official told Reuters police patrols and security will be stepped up beginning at 3 p.m. EDT to coincide with the evening rush hour. The operation will involve a "big show of force" which will include teams of officers armed with heavy weapons.

While the rush-hour operation had been planned some time ago, the forces and tactics deployed were increased after authorities received the intelligence threat this week.

'TERRORISM IS THEATER'


The intelligence included possible threats of attacks targeting subways or commuter trains or possible car bomb attacks in New York or Washington, U.S. officials said.

"We have to be concerned. Terrorism is theater and this is a stage, right now probably the world's biggest stage," New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told CNN.

"We have the opening of the 9/11 memorial, the president and two former presidents here, obviously a lot of high profile public officials will be here, so we have to be concerned," Kelly said.

In addition to the vehicle checkpoints, police would assign additional officers to cover bridges and tunnels, increase bag searches in the subway system, deploy radiation detectors and employ bomb-sniffing dogs, Kelly told NY1 television.
Image
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 09: New York Police Department tactical police officers stand guard near the New York Stock Exchange on
September 9, 2011 in New York City. Officials are stepping up security in New York and Washington D.C. a day after U.S. officials received
a credible but unconfirmed terror threat to utilize car bombs on bridges or tunnels in New York or Washington. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Vice President Joseph Biden said on ABC's "Good Morning America" program on Friday morning, "We don't have the smoking gun but we do have talk about using a car bomb."

A counterterrorism official said the threat information came from Pakistan's tribal areas.

Documents discovered in Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after he was killed in a raid in May by Navy SEALs, highlighted his persistent interest in attacking the United States around the anniversary of the 2001 attacks. But it is unclear if the plans ever evolved beyond aspiration.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#171 Post by Mary » Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:32 am

9/11 REMEMBERED


AP Sources: 2 Terror Suspects May Be US Citizens


By EILEEN SULLIVAN & KIMBERLY DOZIER
Associated Press
Article Source
August 10th, 2011 – 40 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Al-Qaida may have sent American terrorists or men carrying U.S. travel documents to launch an attack on Washington or New York to coincide with memorials marking the 10th anniversary of 9/11, government officials say.

One U.S. official says al-Qaida dispatched three men, at least two of whom could be U.S. citizens, to detonate a car bomb in one of the cities. Should that mission prove impossible, the attackers have been told to simply cause as much destruction as they can. But U.S. intelligence officials say they have no evidence there is anyone inside the United States tied to the plot.

Although the initial tip suggested terrorists, including U.S. citizens, may be traveling to the country, that remains unconfirmed.

Word that al-Qaida had ordered the mission reached U.S. officials midweek. A CIA informant who has proved reliable in the past approached intelligence officials overseas to say that the men had been ordered by newly minted al-Qaida leader Ayman al Zawahri to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks Sunday by doing harm on U.S. soil.

The tipster says the would-be attackers are of Arab descent and may speak Arabic as well as English. Counterterrorism officials were looking for certain names associated with the threat, but it was unclear whether the names were real or fake.
Image
A New York police officer examines the rear section of a truck at a vehicle check point on Friday, Sept. 9, 2011 in New York. The city is deploying additional resources and taking other security steps in response to a potential terror threat before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. U.S. counterterrorism officials are chasing a credible but unconfirmed al-Qaida threat to use a car bomb on bridges or tunnels in New York or Washington. (AP Photo/Jin Lee)
Intelligence analysts have looked at travel patterns and behaviors of people entering the country recently. And while they have singled out a few people for additional scrutiny, none has shown any involvement in a plot.

Counterterrorism officials have been working around the clock to determine whether the threat is accurate, but so far, have been unable to corroborate it, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.

In the meantime, extra security was put in place to protect the people in the two cities that took the brunt of the jetliner attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon a decade ago. It was the worst terror assault in the nation's history, and al-Qaida has long dreamed of striking again to mark the anniversary. But it could be weeks before the intelligence community can say whether this particular threat is real.

Undaunted by talk of a new terror threat, New Yorkers and Washingtonians wove among police armed with assault rifles and waited with varying degrees of patience at security checkpoints.

"We're watching," James McJunkin, FBI assistant director in charge of the Washington field office, said Saturday. "We expect we're going to get an increase in threats and investigative activity around high-profile dates and events. He added: "This is a routine response for us. It's routine because it's muscle memory."

For months, the FBI had planned to increase staffing around the anniversary and police knew they were going to be out in force in Washington, he said.

In New York on Friday, security worker Eric Martinez wore a pin depicting the twin towers on his lapel as he headed to work in lower Manhattan where he also worked 10 years ago when the towers came down. "If you're going to be afraid, you're just going to stay home," he said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, too, made a point of taking the subway to City Hall.

Briefed on the threat Friday morning, President Barack Obama instructed his security team to take "all necessary precautions," the White House said. Obama still planned to travel to New York on Sunday to mark the 10th anniversary with stops that day at the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa.

Washington commuters were well aware of the terror talk.

Cheryl Francis, of Chantilly, Va., said she travels over the Roosevelt bridge into Washington every day and doesn't plan to change her habits. Francis, who was in Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, said a decade later the country is more aware and alert.

"It's almost like sleeping with one eye open," she said, but she added that people need to continue living their lives.
Image
New York City Police officer Steve Chei, right, patrols outside Citi Field as fans enter the stadium before a baseball game between the New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs, Friday, Sept. 9, 2011, in New York. Security has been enhanced around the country in the weeks leading up to the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
The intelligence community regularly receives tips and information of this nature. But the timing of this particular threat had officials especially concerned, because it was the first "active plot" that came to light as the country marked the significant anniversary, a moment that was also significant to al-Qaida, according to information gleaned in May from Osama bin Laden's compound.

The U.S. government has long known that terrorists see the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and other uniquely American dates as opportunities to strike. Officials have also been concerned that some may see this anniversary as an opportunity to avenge bin Laden's death.

Britain, meanwhile, warned its citizens who are traveling to the U.S. that there was a potential for new terror attacks that could include "places frequented by expatriates and foreign travelers."

Acutely aware of these factors, law enforcement around the country had already increased security measures at airports, nuclear plants, train stations and more in the weeks leading up to Sept. 11. The latest threat, potentially targeting New York or Washington, prompted an even greater security surge in those cities. U.S. embassies and consulates abroad had also boosted their vigilance in preparation for the anniversary.

At Penn Station in New York, transit authority police carried assault rifles and wore helmets and bullet proof vests as they watched crowds of commuters. Police searched passengers' bags as they entered the subway, and National Guard troops in camouflage fatigues moved among riders, eyeing packages.

In Washington, Police Chief Cathy Lanier warned that unattended cars parked in suspicious locations or near critical buildings and structures would be towed.

Speaking in New York, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said there was "a specific, credible but unconfirmed report that al-Qaida, again, is seeking to harm Americans and in particular, to target New York and Washington."


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#172 Post by Abaddon (Ex. 23:21) » Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:41 pm

Pakistan Mulls Deploying Air defenses To Border
AP
Article Source
By ASIF SHAHZAD
Image
Pakistanis take part in an anti NATO rally in Islamabad, Pakistan on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011. Hundreds Pakistanis from different groups rallied in the capital Islamabad to condemn NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops. The placard and banner in center reading as 'there is only one treatment for American aggression holy war holy war' and completely stop the NATO supplies route . (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
SLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan may deploy air defense weapons to the Afghan border to prevent future NATO airstrikes such as the ones last month that the Pakistani military claims were pre-planned and that killed 24 of the country's soldiers, a senior lawmaker said Friday.

U.S. officials have denied last month's attack was deliberate and have worked to repair the damage it caused to the country's already strained relationship with Pakistan. Finding a way to mend ties is important because Pakistan is seen as critical to the Afghan war.

The possibility of Pakistan deploying air defense weapons to the border shows just how much distrust exists between the country and U.S.-led forces fighting in Afghanistan, even though Islamabad has received billions of dollars in American aid over the last decade.

The NATO airstrikes against two army posts on the Afghan border before dawn on Nov. 26 added to anger that Pakistan still felt over the covert U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town in May. Pakistani officials were outraged they were not told beforehand about the operation against the al-Qaida chief, which also originated in Afghanistan, and fumed over the violation of the country's sovereignty — as they have done with the NATO attacks.

Maj. Gen. Ashfaq Nadeem, Pakistan's head of military operations, told the Cabinet and the Senate's defense committee Thursday that officials believe the airstrikes were planned and speculated they may have been carried out by the CIA, according to the head of the defense committee, Javed Ashraf Qazi, who attended the briefing.

The CIA is widely despised in Pakistan because of frequent drone strikes targeting militants in Pakistan's tribal region.

Nadeem said the military was considering deploying air defense weapons to the Afghan border to prevent future attacks, according to Qazi.

A report in Pakistan's leading English-language newspaper, Dawn, erroneously said the military has already decided to deploy the weapons.

"You cannot deploy these systems on each and every outpost. Sometimes these posts are attacked by militants, and you may lose these weapons," said Qazi, a retired army general and former head of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

Despite these risks, the defense committee was convinced the military should deploy air defense weapons to the border, said Qazi.

Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has instructed troops on the ground that they are allowed to strike back against any future incursions without prior approval of top commanders, Qazi quoted Nadeem as saying.

NATO attacks have killed Pakistani troops at least three different times along the porous and poorly defined border since 2008, but the Nov. 26 incident in the Mohmand tribal area was by far the most deadly.

U.S. officials have said the strike occurred when a joint U.S. and Afghan patrol requested air support after coming under fire. The U.S. checked with the Pakistan military to see if friendly troops were in the area and were told there were not, they said.

Pakistan has said the Americans gave the wrong coordinates — an allegation denied by U.S. defense officials. Pakistani officials have also said the attack continued even after authorities contacted one of the centers meant to coordinate military activity between forces on either side of the border.

Pakistan retaliated immediately by closing its Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies, demanding the U.S. vacate an air base used by American drones and boycotting an international conference held earlier this week in Bonn, Germany, aimed at stabilizing Afghanistan.

Since the border closure, hundreds of NATO trucks have been stranded at the poorly guarded border terminals. On Thursday, assailants torched more than 20 tankers. There were no casualties in the attack.

The crisis has come as Pakistan continues to battle militant and other forms of violence across the country.

A vehicle carrying paramilitary soldiers in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi hit a roadside bomb Friday, killing three troops and wounding four others, said police official Akram Naeem.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Islamist militants, including the Pakistani Taliban and their allies, have carried out many such bombings throughout the country. Karachi has also experienced frequent violence caused by power struggles between gangs allegedly connected to the city's main political parties.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#173 Post by Abaddon (Ex. 23:21) » Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:51 pm

Obama Heralds End of Divisive Iraq War
Image
President Barack Obama meets with Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, Dec. 12, 2011. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
AP
By JULIE PACE
Article Source
Monday, December 12, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama heralded the end of the divisive Iraq war Monday, and warned Iraq's neighbors that the United States would remain a major player in the region even as it brings its troops home.

"Our strong presence in the Middle East endures," Obama said. "And the United States will never waver in the defense of our allies, our partners and our interests."

Speaking after a morning of meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Obama said other nations must not interfere with Iraq's sovereignty. While he stopped short of mentioning any countries by name, U.S. officials are closely watching how neighboring Iran may seek to influence Baghdad after U.S. troops withdraw.

Early signs of how Iraq may orient itself could come from how it handles troubles in Syria, where the United Nations says 4,000 people have been killed in a government crackdown on protesters. While Obama has called for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, Iraq has been more circumspect, with al-Maliki warning of civil war if Assad falls and abstaining from Arab League votes suspending Syria's membership and imposing sanctions. Those positions align Iraq more closely with Iran, a key Syrian ally.

Obama said he and al-Maliki were both deeply concerned by the Syrian government's assault on its own people. And Obama said he was confident that the Iraqi leader's approach to dealing with Syria was based on his own nation's interests.
Image
Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gestures during his news conference with President Barack Obama, Monday, Dec. 12, 2011, in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo)

"Even if there are tactical disagreements I have no doubt those decisions are made based on what's best for Iraq, not considerations of what Iran would like to see," Obama said.

Al-Maliki's trip to Washington came as the last American troops were preparing to leave Iraq ahead of a Dec. 31 deadline. Just 6,000 U.S. forces remain, down from a high of 170,000 at the war's peak in 2007.

About 1 million U.S. troops have cycled through Iraq since the war began nearly nine years ago. Obama said the military can officially withdraw from Iraq "with honor and with their heads held high."

Following their meetings at the White House, Obama and al-Maliki traveled to nearby Arlington National Cemetery, where some of the nearly 4,500 Americans killed in Iraq are buried. The two leaders stood solemnly as their nations' national anthems were played. Then together, they placed a large wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns, a monument dedicated to U.S. service members who died without their remains being identified.

Mindful of what he called America's "enormous investment of blood and treasure," Obama said Monday the U.S. would seek to build a comprehensive relationship with Iraq, with the goal of making the war-weary nation a model of democracy in the region.

Al-Maliki said Iraq will still need U.S. help on security issues, combating terrorism, and training and equipping the Iraqi military, as well as other areas including education and developing its wealth. He said there were "very high aspirations" for the relationship between the two nations."

Yet significant questions remain over the details of the security relationship between the U.S. and Iraq once all Americans troops are withdrawn. Iraqi leaders have said they want U.S. military training assistance for their security forces but have been unable to agree on what type of help they'd like or what protections they would be willing to give American trainers.

The U.S. will be selling Iraq weapons, including the sale of 18 F-16 fighter jets announced Monday.
Image
President Barack Obama and Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki shake hands in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington, Monday, Dec. 12, 2011. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
And the U.S. will maintain a significant presence in Iraq, with about 16,000 people working at the embassy in Baghdad. The size of the embassy has been a point of contention among some in Iraq, who see the massive mission as another way for the U.S. to wield influence in their country.
Obama defended the embassy's scope, saying there were special security needs required in a country fresh off a protracted war.

"As president of the United States I have to make sure that anybody who is in Iraq trying to help Iraqi people is protected," he said. "I'm putting civilians in the field. I want to make sure that they come home, because they are not soldiers."

The White House has been eager to promote the end of the Iraq war as a promise kept for Obama. He was an early opponent of conflict, and pledged to bring the war to a close when he ran for the White House.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#174 Post by Sunshine » Thu Dec 22, 2011 4:01 am

BAGHDAD BLAST KILLS 40 AS TENSIONS RISE!


December 21, 2011
Story By Kareem Raheem | Reuters
Source of Article

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A series of blasts and a suicide bomber hit mainly Shi'ite areas in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 40 people in the first major attack on Iraq's capital since a crisis erupted between its Shi'ite-led government and Sunni rivals just days after the U.S. troop withdrawal.

The apparently coordinated bombings were the first sign of rising violence after Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki moved to sideline two Sunni leaders, just a few years after sectarian killings drove Iraq to the edge of civil war.

In the largest blast, at least 18 people were killed when a suicide bomber driving an ambulance exploded the vehicle near a government office in Karrada district, sending up a large dust cloud and scattering car parts into a nearby kindergarten, police and health officials said.

"We heard the sound of a car driving, then car brakes then a huge explosion, all our windows and doors are blown out, black smoke filled our apartment," said Maysoun Kamal, who lives in a Karrada compound.

At least 40 people were killed and 149 more were wounded from more than ten explosives in Baghdad, said Ziad Tareq, a spokesman of Iraq's health ministry.

Two roadside bombs struck southwestern Amil district, killing at least seven people and wounding 21 others, while a car bomb blew up in a Shi'ite neighborhood in Doura in the south, killing three people and wounding six, police said.

More bombs ripped into the central Alawi area, Shaab and Shula in the north, all mainly Shi'ite areas, and a roadside bomb killed one and wounded five near the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya, police said.

Violence in Iraq has ebbed since the height of sectarian violence in 2006-2007 when suicide bombers and hit-squads targeted Sunni and Shi'ite communities in attacks that killed thousands and pushed the country to the brink of civil war.

Iraq is fighting a stubborn insurgency with Sunni Islamists tied to al-Qaeda and Shi'ite militias, who U.S. officials say are backed by Iran, still staging daily attacks.

US TROOPS OUT ONLY DAYS AGO

The last few thousand American troops pulled out of Iraq over the weekend, nearly nine years after the invasion that toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein. Many Iraqis had said they feared a return to sectarian violence without a U.S. military buffer.

Days after the withdrawal, Iraq's fragile power-sharing government is grappling with its worst turmoil since its formation a year ago. Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish blocs share out government posts in a unwieldy system that has been stymied by political infighting since it began.

Shi'ite Maliki this week sought the arrest of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi on charges he organized assassinations and bombings, and he asked parliament to fire his Sunni deputy Saleh al-Mutlaq after he likened Maliki to Saddam.

The moves against the senior Sunni leaders are stirring sectarian tensions as Sunnis fear the prime minister wants to consolidate Shi'ite control.

Iraq's Sunni minority feel marginalized since the rise of the Shi'ite majority in Iraq after the 2003 invasion. Many Sunnis feel they have been shunted aside in the power-sharing agreement that Washington touts as a young democracy.

Thursday's attacks were the first major offensive in Baghdad since November when three bombs exploded in a commercial Baghdad district and another blast hit the city's western outskirts on Saturday, killing at least 13 people.

In October, bomb attacks on a busy commercial street in northeastern Baghdad killed at least 30, with scores wounded.

(Additional reporting by Aseel Kami; Writing by Patrick Markey and Rania El Gamal; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#175 Post by Sunshine » Mon Dec 26, 2011 12:21 pm

EXCLUSIVE: AFGHANISTAN SETS GROUND RULES FOR TALIBAN TALKS
Reuters - By Sanjeev Miglani and Hamid Shalizi
December 26, 2011
Source of Article

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan will accept a Taliban liaison office in Qatar to start peace talks but no foreign power can get involved in the process without its consent, the government's peace council said, as efforts gather pace to find a solution to the decade-long war.

Afghanistan's High Peace Council, in a note to foreign missions, has set out ground rules for engaging the Taliban after Kabul grew concerned that the United States and Qatar, helped by Germany, had secretly agreed with the Taliban to open an office in the Qatari capital, Doha.

U.S. officials have held about half a dozen meetings with their insurgent contacts, mostly in Germany and Doha with representatives of Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban's Quetta Shura, this year to prepare the way for face-to-face talks between the group and the Afghan government.

A representative office for the group is considered the starting point for such talks and Doha has in the past served as a meeting ground for initial contacts.

But the Afghan peace commission which has suffered a series of setbacks including the assassination of its head in September said that negotiations with the Taliban could only begin after they stopped violence against civilians, cut ties to al Qaeda, and accepted the Afghan constitution which guarantees civil rights and liberties, including rights for women.

The council, according to a copy of the 11-point note made available to Reuters, also said any peace process with the Taliban would have to have the support of Pakistan since members of the insurgent group were based there.

"The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is in agreement regarding the opening of an office for the armed opposition, but only to move forward the peace process and conduct negotiations," the council said.

The government would prefer such an office in either Saudi Arabia or Turkey, both of which it is close to, but was not averse to Doha as long as the authority of the Afghan state was not eroded and the office was only established for talks, officials said.

"We are saying Saudi or Turkey are preferable, we are not saying it has to be there only. The only condition is it should be in an Islamic country," said a government official.

President Hamid Karzai's administration recalled its ambassador from Doha last week, apparently angry that it had been kept in the dark about the latest round of contacts with the insurgent group.

Officials said Kabul was also deeply concerned about reports that the United States was considering the transfer of a small number of Afghan prisoners from Guantanamo Bay military prison to Doha as a prelude to the talks.

"We are a sovereign country, we have laws. How can you transfer our prisoners from one country to another. Already it's a violation to have them in Guantanamo Bay," the official said.

The Afghan government wanted the prisoners to be returned to its custody, the official said.

Reuters reported this month that the United States was considering the transfer of an unspecified number of Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay into Afghan government custody as part of accelerating, high-stakes diplomacy.

"We have no problem with this. In fact we have been demanding this for a while. These are Afghan prisoners," said the official, who declined to be identified.

The tension between the Karzai administration and the United States over engaging the Taliban underscores the challenges of seeking a political settlement as the West prepares to withdraw most combat troops from the country by 2014.

Efforts to engage the insurgent group have faced a string of setbacks, the most recent being the assassination of the head of the peace council and former president, Burhanuddin Rabbani, in September at the hands of a suicide bomber who pretended to be a Taliban emissary.

HARDENING OF POSITIONS

It led to a hardening of positions with Karzai saying the government could not talk to suicide bombers and that there should be an address for the Taliban so that negotiators know they are talking to the right representatives.

"We are committed to the reconciliation process, the experience of the last 10 years shows no military solution is possible. Talking to the armed opposition is the key in this regard," said presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi.

The peace council, laying down the markers for engagement with the Taliban, said well known figures from both the Taliban and the government had to be involved in talks.

It said that "before any negotiations can take place, violence against Afghan people must stop and that the armed opposition must cut ties to al Qaeda and other terrorist groups."

It also said that the Taliban must accept the constitution and honor the gains made in the last 10 years since they were ousted from power, conditions that the Taliban have shown no sign of accepting.

The Taliban do not accept the constitution and have vowed to carry on fighting until all foreign troops have left the country.

The peace council said Pakistani support was necessary for talks to take place, another condition that makes the task harder because of fraught ties between the United States and Pakistan which fears it is being shut out of the process.

Opening a Taliban office in a third country is seen as a way to create distance from Pakistan which has longstanding ties to the insurgent group.

But the government official said he did not think the peace council had laid down such tough conditions that the talks would fail even before they started.

"We don't think it's a deal breaker. We are quite optimistic," he said.

(Editing by Robert Birsel and Ed Lane)


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#176 Post by Sunshine » Fri Jan 27, 2012 2:22 am

'Iran Can Turn Off Oil Tap To EU'


Press TV
Thu Jan 26, 2012 8:9PM GMT
Article Source
Image
A new law drafted by Iranian lawmakers will stop oil supply to Europeans.
A Russian news network says Iran can react to the European Union's new sanctions on its oil sector by stopping oil exports to EU member states.



The Russia Today reported on Thursday that Iran's move will be a good response to EU sanctions which have been already slammed by Iran's close allies like China.

The report quoted Nasser Soudani, a member of Iran Majlis (parliament) Energy Committee, as saying that in reaction to EU measure, Iranian lawmakers are drafting a new law, which would stop oil supply to European countries as soon as possible.

“A number of representatives of the Majlis and I are seeking to approve a bill according to which all European countries that made Iran the target of their sanctions will not be able to buy even one drop of oil from Iran, and oil taps will be turned off to them so that they will not play with fire again,” the lawmaker added.

The report stated that the legislation may be ratified in Iran's Majlis as early as this Sunday, adding that such a ban would result in a fuel shortage in Europe as the countries which joined the sanctions, while receiving a considerable amount of crude from Iran, would not have enough time to secure a substitute.

In their latest meeting in Brussels on January 23, EU foreign ministers imposed new sanctions on Iran which include a ban on purchasing oil from the country, a freeze on the assets of Iran's Central Bank within the EU, and a ban on the sale of diamonds, gold and other precious metals to Iran.

EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, claimed that the new sanctions aim to bring Iran back to negotiations with P5+1 -- US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany -- over the country's peaceful nuclear program.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program. Iran has strongly rejected the allegation.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#177 Post by Sunshine » Fri Jan 27, 2012 2:28 am

'No One Can Sell Oil If Iran Cannot'


Press TV
Article Source
Thu Jan 26, 2012 2:42PM GMT
Image
Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
A senior Iranian official has dismissed as futile the latest EU sanctions on the country's oil exports, adding that Tehran will not allow a condition to arise wherein others are allowed to sell oil and Iran is not, Press TV reports.


"In the absence of Iranian supply, oil prices will go up and they (the Western states) know it; However, Iran will never allow itself to be in a situation in which it cannot sell oil but other regional states can," Ali Akbar Velayati, senior adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, told Press TV on Thursday.

Europe's decision to embargo Iranian oil exports is in no one's interest, Velayati said, adding, "Western policy makers know just too well that their sanctions regime is a political maneuver."

"Iran doesn't need any favor from any country to sell its oil, because global demand is always there."

On New Year's Eve, US President Barack Obama signed into law fresh unilateral economic sanctions against Iran's Central Bank in an apparent bid to punish foreign companies and banks that do business with the Iranian financial institution. The bill ultimately takes aim at Iran's oil revenue.

The EU followed suit after it slapped new sanctions against Iran in a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers on January 23.
Image
Strait of Hormuz is a strategic waterway between the Sea of Oman and the Persian Gulf.
The 27-member bloc agreed to ban oil imports as well as petroleum products from the major OPEC member state and freeze the assets of the Iranian Central Bank across the EU.

The European Union also imposed a ban on the sale of gold, diamonds, and other precious metals to Iran

Iranian authorities have warned that the imposition of sanctions against the country's energy sector will prompt Tehran to choke the oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway which connects the Persian Gulf on the west to the Sea of Oman. Statistically, the waterway is one of the world's most important shipping lanes, with a daily flow of about 15 million barrels of oil.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#178 Post by Sunshine » Sat Jan 28, 2012 3:52 pm

Arab League Suspends Syria Mission As Violence Rages

Image
Actors wearing giant masks of Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin dump dozens of bloodied body bags outside the UN Security Council building January 24. The Syrian National Council has urged Syria's diaspora to protest outside Russian diplomatic missions against Moscow's opposition to a draft resolution on Syria at the UN Security Council. (AFP Photo/Timothy A. Clary)
Reuters
Article Source
By Ayman Samir and Erika Solomon

CAIRO/BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Arab League suspended its monitoring mission in Syria on Saturday due to deteriorating conditions in the country, as state security forces battled rebels holding three suburbs just outside the capital Damascus.

The decision comes days after the Arab League called for President Bashar al-Assad to step down, following 10 months of revolt against his rule. It will take an Arab peace plan to the U.N. Security Council next week.

"Given the critical deterioration of the situation in Syria and the continued use of violence ... it has been decided to immediately stop the work of the Arab League's mission to Syria pending presentation of the issue to the league's council," Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby said in a statement.

Arab League foreign ministers are expected to discuss early next month the possibility of withdrawing monitors completely, a League official said, but added that the secretary general could pull monitors out at any time if necessary.

A Syrian official said the government could not yet comment.

The Arab League's job was to observe implementation of its peace plan. Though its mandate was extended for a second month, critics lambasted the mission for its failure to stem bloodshed. It was further undermined when Gulf states withdrew their monitors last week, saying the team could not stop the violence.

Diplomatic pressure, tempered by continued support from Russia and regional power Iran, has yet to halt Assad's crackdown on unrest that it blames on foreign-backed militants.

FIGHTING, DEFECTIONS NEAR CAPITAL

Fighting raged outside three rebel-held suburbs of Damascus on Saturday, activists said. They said the army was trying to prevent insurgents from solidifying a stronghold just 15 minutes outside the capital.
Image
Demonstrators protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad after Friday prayers in Hula near Homs, January 27, 2012. REUTERS/Handout
But insurgents were emboldened by a string of reports of army desertions amid the fighting. Activists said a group of deserters brought with them the three tanks they operated.

A spokesman for the rebel forces, known as the Free Syrian Army (FSA), said he did not have a complete tally but estimated that over 100 soldiers deserted in the area.

Activists told Reuters by telephone that rebels who control the towns of Saqba, Kafr Batna and Jisreen were exchanging fire with soldiers. Military forces earlier fired from tanks and had used anti-aircraft guns and mortars, they said.

Six residents were killed and dozens wounded as fighting raged, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

A video uploaded by activists, purported to be from a rebel-held Damascus suburb, showed smoke rising from behind a mosque and heavy gunfire erupted in the background as residents screamed "Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)."

It was not possible to verify the video or many of the details from activists, as media access is restricted in Syria

The FSA agreed a truce last week for state forces to withdraw from rebel-held Zabadani, 30 minutes from Damascus. It says the number of desertions there had forced the army's hand.

What began as peaceful protests against four decades of Assad family rule last March has grown more violent as rebels, including army defectors, began fighting back.

"I think they want to try to avoid another Zabadani situation here, so they hope to crush this. But there have been several army defections and we hope this will force them to negotiate," Abu Ishaq said on Skype from the town of Saqba.

Fighting also flared in central Homs province, activists said, after an oil pipeline was blown up on Saturday morning.

The United Nations said in December that more than 5,000 people had been killed by Syrian forces. Syria says over 2,000 security forces have been killed by militants.
Image
Syrian people carry a coffin during the funeral of Mazen abou Dhahab who killed in a protest in Saqba in Damascus suburbs, January 27, 2012. REUTERS/ Ahmed Jadallah (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS)
The state news agency SANA said "terrorist groups" killed seven soldiers, including an officer, in the Damascus suburbs on Saturday. SANA also reported the burial of 28 members of Syrian security forces killed in several revolt hotspots across the country, showing pictures of bloodied corpses and a funeral procession lead by soldiers carrying flower wreaths.

U.N. RESOLUTION TALKS

In the central city of Hama activists said they found the bodies of 17 men previously in security force custody, shot in the head. They said the killing took place during a military offensive on the town this week.

On Friday, the Security Council discussed a European-Arab draft U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at halting the bloodshed in Syria. Britain and France said they hoped to put the draft resolution to a vote next week.

The Arab League's deputy secretary general said the group was also in talks with Russia ahead of its Security Council meeting this week.

There was no comment yet from Russian officials, but Moscow's U.N. ambassador Vitaly Churkin previously said Russia found the plan unacceptable though he said Moscow was willing to "engage."

Russia joined China in vetoing a previous Western draft resolution in October and which has since promoted its own draft. Churkin said Moscow wanted a Syrian-led political process, not "an Arab League-imposed outcome of a political process that has not yet taken place" or Libyan-style "regime change.

The prominent opposition Syrian National Council said it was joining the Arab League at its Security Council meeting to request "protection." The SNC has previously called for international forces to implement a no-fly zone in Syria.

Turkish officials say the number of Syrians seeking sanctuary in Turkey has risen in the past six weeks, with 50 to 60 arriving daily, taking the total living in refugee camps to nearly 9,600.

More than 6,000 Syrian refugees have fled to Lebanon.

(Additional reporting by Shaimaa Fayed in Cairo, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Joseph Logan in Dubai, Steve Gutterman in Moscow, Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations and Simon Cameron-Moore in Istanbul)


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#179 Post by Sunshine » Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:48 pm

Syria Forces Shell Homs, Saudis Push U.N. Resolution

Image
Demonstrators gather during a protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Homs February 10, 2012. REUTERS/Handout
Reuters
Article Source
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Angus MacSwan
Sat, Feb 11, 2012

AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces unleashed new tank and rocket bombardments on opposition neighborhoods of Homs on Saturday while diplomats sought U.N. backing for an Arab plan to end 11 months of bloodshed in Syria.

Activists said seven people were killed in the latest attacks in a week-long government siege of Homs, a battered city at the heart of the uprising to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

"The four included a 55-year-old woman. They were killed by shelling that hit their building in Bab Amro," a Homs opposition activist, Mohammad Hassan, told Reuters by satellite telephone.

The bloodshed followed a day of violence across Syria on Friday, when bombings targeting security bases killed at least 28 people in Aleppo and rebel fighters battled troops in a Damascus suburb after dark.

Assad has ignored repeated international appeals, the latest from the European Union, to halt his violent crackdown.

"I am appalled by the reports of the brutal attacks by the Syrian armed forces in Homs. I condemn in the strongest terms these acts perpetrated by the Syrian regime against its own civilian," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.

"The international community must speak with one voice, demanding an end to the bloodshed and urging Assad to step aside and allow a democratic transition."

However, the world is deeply divided over how to end the Syria conflict. On Sunday Russia and China vetoed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution sponsored by Western and Arab states that backed an Arab League call for Assad to step down.

HOMS SUFFERS

The government offensive on opposition-held, mostly Sunni Muslim areas of Homs has killed at least 300 people in the past week, according to activists. Food and medical supplies are running low in blockaded areas, where many people are trapped in their houses, fearful of coming under fire if they step out.

Accounts could not be independently confirmed as Syria restricts access by most foreign journalists.

Youtube footage provided by activists showed a doctor at a field hospital next to the body of the woman. "Shrapnel hit her in the head and completely drained her brain matter," he says.

In Damascus, Free Syrian Army rebels fought for four hours on Friday night against troops backed by armored vehicles who had entered al-Qaboun neighborhood, activists said.

The rebels said they had sustained several casualties but it was not known if any had died of their wounds.

The fighting showed how opposition to Assad, whose family, from the Alawite minority, has ruled Syria for 42 years, has increasingly evolved from street protests to armed insurrection.

World powers fear a slide into all-out civil war which could inflame a region already riven by revolts and rivalries from Bahrain and Yemen to Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Gulf Arab states, the United States, Europe and Turkey are leading diplomatics effort to force Assad to end his 11-year rule. But they have ruled out a military intervention of the kind that helped bring down Libya's Muammar Gaddafi last year.

Assad can count on the support of Russia, Syria's main arms supplier and an ally stretching back to the Soviet era, as well as Iran. Moscow, which is keen to counter U.S. influence in the Middle East, insists foreign powers should not interfere.

A new diplomatic showdown was shaping up at the United Nations this weekend. Saudi Arabia circulated a draft resolution backing an Arab peace plan for Syria among members of the U.N. General Assembly on Friday, diplomats said. The text echoed the one vetoed by Russia and China in the Security Council.

Like the failed resolution, the assembly draft "fully supports" the Arab League plan floated last month, which among other things calls for Assad to step aside.

Russia and China said the Security Council draft was unbalanced and failed to blame Syria's opposition, along with the government, for violence in which thousands have died.

The United Nations, which says it can no longer tally casualties, estimated in mid-December that the security forces had killed more than 5,000. A week later, the government said armed "terrorists" had killed over 2,000 soldiers and police.

The assembly draft, seen by Reuters, calls for an end to violence by all sides, but primarily blames Syrian authorities for "continued widespread and systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms."

The 193-nation body's resolutions have no legal force, unlike those of the Security Council, but were the Syria text to pass it would add to pressure on Assad and his government.

The assembly is due to discuss Syria on Monday, with a vote on the resolution expected later in the week.

Russia has already made its position clear.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, accusing unspecified

Western states of arming the rebels, said on Friday: "The U.N. Council is not a tool for intervention in internal affairs and is not the agency to decide which government is to be next in one country or another.

"If our foreign partners don't understand that, we will have to use drastic measures to return them to real grounds."


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#180 Post by Sunshine » Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:45 am

Koran Burning at U.S. Base Sparks Afghan Protests
Image
Protesters throw stones toward US soldiers standing at the gate of Bagram airbase . The US commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, apologised and ordered an investigation into a report that troops "improperly disposed of a large number of Islamic religious materials which included Korans"
ABC News
By ALEEM AGHA and NICK SCHIFRIN
Article Source
February 21, 2012

Troops on the U.S.'s largest base in Afghanistan have inadvertently burned Korans and other religious materials, triggering angry protests and fears of even larger demonstrations as news of the burning spreads.

The books were mistakenly thrown out with the trash at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul and were on a burn pile Monday night before Afghan laborers intervened around 11:00 p.m., according to NATO and Afghan officials.

The workers doused the flames with their jackets and mineral water before marching out of Bagram in a fury, carrying with them the charred remains, according to Sabir Safar, secretary of the provincial council of Parwan, the province where Bagram is located.

By the morning, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside of Bagram and on the outskirts of Kabul. Some shot into the air, some threw rocks at the Bagram gate, and others yelled, "Die, die foreigners." Many of them were the same people who work with foreign troops inside the base. At one point, apparently worried that the base would be stormed, guards at the base fired rubber bullets into the crowd, according to the military.

"They should leave Afghanistan rather than disrespecting our religion, our faith," Mohammad Hakim told the Associated Press outside of Bagram. "They have to leave and if next time they disrespect our religion, we will defend our holy Koran, religion and faith until the last drop of blood has left in our body."

There is perhaps no action that enrages Afghans more than foreigners' mistreating the Koran. It taps into widespread doubt of whether Americans respect Islam as well as deep frustration that, more than 10 years after the Taliban were overthrown, violence remains widespread. Korans are supposed to be buried or released into a flowing river if they need to be disposed.
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Afghan protestors are seen in front of the US base of Bagram during an anti US demonstration in Bagram north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012. More than 2,000 angry Afghans, some firing guns in the air, protested on Tuesday against the improper disposal and burning of Qurans and other Islamic religious materials at an American air base in Bagram north of Kabul. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
NATO officials scrambled furiously to contain the fallout, tweeting and emailing reporters not long after the first protests began. Gen. John Allen, the commander of all foreign forces in Afghanistan, released a statement, then a video statement, then gave an interview to NATO television. In his and in all NATO officials' communication today, each emphasized that the burning was unintentional.

"Those materials were inadvertently given to troops for disposition and that disposition was to burn the materials. It was not a decision that was made because they were religious materials," Allen told NATO TV. "It was not a decision that was made with respect to the faith of Islam. It was a mistake, it was an error. The moment we found out about it we immediately stopped and we intervened."

Allen launched an investigation and promised to take steps that the same incident would not be repeated.

"This is not who we are. These are very, very isolated incidents," Allen said. "We've been dying alongside the Afghans for a long time because we believe in them, we believe in their country, we want to have every opportunity to give them a bright future."

In the morning, U.S. officials on Bagram escorted local Afghan elders to the site of the burning. Ahmad Zaki Zahed, the chief of the provincial council, said 60 to 70 books had been recovered from the fire, including Korans that were once used by detainees at the base.

"Some were all burned. Some were half-burned," Zahed told the Associated Press.

The protesters' fury was immediate, but Afghan officials eventually calmed them down by the afternoon. They demanded to see President Hamid Karzai and threatened to resume demonstrations.

Previous reports of Koran burning have led to deadly protests in Afghanistan. In April, 2011, after a fringe protester burned a Koran, a mob in a usually peaceful northern city stormed the United Nations compound and killed at least seven foreigners. In May, 2005, Afghan police killed at least four demonstrators angry over a report that an American interrogator in Guantanamo Bay prison flushed a Koran down a toilet.

While today's reaction was quick and furious, the protests might have been larger if it wasn't snowing and if it had happened at a different time. Many Afghans did not know about the burning because it occurred late last night and news is generally consumed during television newscasts in the evenings, at home. Many Afghans and Westerners fear that protests could get larger Wednesday and the rest of the week.

"Past demonstrations in Afghanistan have escalated into violent attacks on Western targets of opportunity," the U.S. embassy said in statement known as a Warden Message, sent to Americans living in Afghanistan. "U.S. citizens in Afghanistan should remain vigilant and avoid areas where Westerners congregate. Avoid large public gatherings or demonstrations. Do not discuss travel plans or other personal matters with strangers, or in public."

Far to the south, in an area where a surge of U.S. troops has removed many Taliban safehavens, insurgents reminded the local population that they still held considerable sway.

In the Washer district of Helmand, insurgents beheaded four people they accused of spying for the U.S., according to the Helmand governor's spokesman. The Taliban denied any involvement in the executions, claiming they were carried out by Western intelligence officials to bring the Taliban a bad name.


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