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Showing posts from September 11, 2016

How our tax dollars fund Mideast terror

American and Israeli government officials signed an agreement Wednesday that locks in the largest-ever package of U.S. military aid — $38 billion over the next decade — to Israel. This includes funds for missile defense systems, including the noted Iron Dome, that will protect against rockets fired by Hamas and Hezbollah and other terrorist groups. While this long-term aid agreement is worthy of applause, American taxpayers should be alarmed that the very same terrorist attacks on Israel are also being financed with American taxpayer dollars. According to a 2015 Congressional Research Service report, the Palestinians are among the largest recipients of international aid, with the U.S. contributing more than $5 billion in security assistance and bilateral economic aid since the mid-1990s. In addition, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S.-supported United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East provide hundreds of millions of

22 bank accounts in S Kashmir under NIA lens for terror funding, Hizb links

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is examining around 22 bank accounts in south Kashmir that received unaccounted money and saw withdrawals coinciding with the current unrest in the valley, will probe possible links of the account holders with Hizbul Mujahideen or its cadres, Kashmiri separatists and terror financiers based in Pakistan. NIA sources indicated that in the event of the preliminary enquiry unearthing a direct link between the payments/disbursals and the ongoing protests, related offences may be added to the existing NIA case relating to JKART (Jammu Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust), a Pakistan-based frontal outfit of Hizbul Mujahideen charged with funding terror activities in India. NIA had registered JKART case in 2011 and after a thorough probe found that the trust, floated in 1999 at a meeting chaired by Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin in Rawalpindi with the connivance of Pakistani government and ISI, was systematically raising funds in Pakistan a

Pakistan revokes forged CNICs of terror financiers

ISLAMABAD:  Pakistan has revoked fraudulently acquired citizenship of three key financiers of terrorist organisations based in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The identity cards of 30 members of their families have also been unregistered. Faizullah Khan Noorzai, Haji Kherullah and Malik Noorzai have been declared ‘confirmed aliens’ and their identity credentials blocked by the National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) on the request of the intelligence agencies. These terrorism financiers along with their 30 family members had obtained Pakistani identity cards through fake documentation showing them as residents of Killa Abdullah, a district in north-western Balochistan which borders Afghanistan. Malik Noorzai, a brother of Faizullah, had obtained a CNIC under the fake name of Allah Ditta. Eleven family members of Faizullah, 14 of Malik and five of Kherullah also possess Pakistani identity cards. Documents available with The Express Tribune suggest the action was t

Brazil Files Terrorism Charges Against 8 for IS Support

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BRASILIA —  Eight Brazilians arrested before the Rio Olympics for belonging to a loosely organized group that supported Islamic State and discussed attacking the games were charged on Friday under Brazil's anti-terrorism law. The men, who were loosely connected by the internet, were arrested in July two weeks before the Olympics opened in Rio de Janeiro. Police working on an intelligence tip from the FBI traced them through email exchanges about the purchase of an automatic weapon and discussion of plans for a possible attack on the Games. Prosecutors charged the men with promoting a terrorist organization and criminal association. Five of them were charged with inciting children and adolescents to commit crimes, and one was charged for recruiting members for a terrorist group, the federal prosecutors said in a statement. "It wasn't a professional terrorist organization. They were amateurs, but they could have endangered the Olympics and the nation," Jus

Bosnian Prosecutors Charge Citizen with 'Organizing Terror Group'

Prosecutors in Bosnia announced charges Thursday against a citizen accused of joining and fighting for the Islamic State terror group in Syria. Authorities say Abdulaziz Osman Kekic, who was deported from Turkey earlier this year, was arrested by Bosnian authorities at Sarajevo International Airport. It is unclear if he was actively fighting in Syria before his detention. Soon after his arrest, he was released pending trial. He is formally charged with "organizing a terrorist group." The court ordered Kekic not to leave the town of Buzim, where he currently lives. The defendant is appealing the decision, arguing he should be allowed to travel to see his family in Gornji Rahic. However, prosecutors argue against travel rights, saying that the region he intends to travel is known as a stronghold of radicalized Bosnians. Kekic’s attorney, Senad Dupovac, dismissed that assertion. The court's decision is expected in a couple of weeks. So far this year, Bosni

Belgium’s Molenbeek: Redirecting Kids Away From Extremism

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BRUSSELS —  Learning how to build apps, hike in the mountains or expand creative skills such as printing T-shirts are just some of the projects organized for young people in Molenbeek, home to one of the largest Muslim communities in Brussels. Located across a canal from the Belgian capital's city center, the historically working-class neighborhood captured the world's attention last year when it was revealed that those involved in the November terrorist attack in Paris, and the March attack in Brussels, were linked to the borough. Of the estimated 540 Belgians who traveled to the Middle East to fight for extremist groups, 47 are said to have come from this small enclave. While most Molenbeek residents are tired of discussing Islamic radicalization, many believe that getting youngsters involved in sports and neighborhood projects are vital to discouraging the path to extremism. Something to focus on Nabil Fallah, a 22-year-old student who first became involved with nei

Druze Want Israeli Protection From Syrian Islamists

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After recent attacks from Islamist militant rebels, Syria’s Druze community is looking to clan leaders in nearby Israel for protection from attacks in Syria’s civil war. “Druze in Israel are concerned about what’s happening to their brothers in Syria,” said Sheikh Mouafak Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel. The Druze, who are an ancient religious sect with ties to Shi’ite Islam, were split between Israel and Syria following a 1967 war when Israel gained the Golan Heights from Syria. As Syria’s five-year war has unfolded, Israeli Druze have watched as their community in Syria has come under increasing threat, especially from Islamist militants affiliated with the Fateh al-Sham Front, a rebel group battling Syrian troops. The group was formerly known as al-Nusra Front, which was al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria. Druze solidarity Scattered across Syria, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon, Druze have nonetheless maintained a strong sense of solidarity. As a

Facing Arms Shortages, IS Turns to Homemade Weapons

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MOSUL IRAQ / WASHINGTON —  As the Islamic State group's arsenal of sophisticated weaponry dwindles, IS fighters are creating more homemade armaments. Commanders in the battlefield in Iraq told VOA this week that months of separate bombing campaigns by the U.S. coalition, Russian, and Iraqi government planes have wiped out much of the terror group's heavy weapons and equipment that it collected in recent years. That is forcing IS fighters “to turn to these strange weapons,” said Jamal Syare, the commander of a Kurdish force on the Khazir frontline north of Mosul. “The weapons are made from gas canisters and thick iron pipes filled with explosives or, sometimes, fertilizers,” Syare said, as he looked over a display of the homemade arsenal uncovered by Kurdish forces. WATCH: IS Turns to Homemade Weapons 0:48 00:00 /0:48 ▶   Direct link   Losing territory means no more armories to loot When IS fighters overran Iraq’s second large

US ties Syria aid flow to joint cell with Russia

The United States said on Friday that it will not set up a planned joint US-Russian military coordination cell in Syria until regime forces there allow aid into besieged cities. US secretary of state John Kerry called Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and condemned “repeated and unacceptable delays of humanitarian aid”, a spokesman said. A ceasefire was declared in Syria’s five-year-old civil war on Monday two days after Kerry and Lavrov signed a deal in Geneva to pressure both sides to hold their fire. Under the pact, Russia was to restrain Bashar al-Assad’s regime while Washington  leans on the rebel groups opposing him, and both sides agree violence has reduced. If the truce lasts seven days and humanitarian access is granted, Russia and the US are to work together to target the Islamic State and Al-Nusra front. But some clashes have continued, and the United Nations has been unable to send supplies to starving civilians in areas like the besieged northern city of

Daesh information minister killed in US-led airstrike: Pentagon

The United States military says that Daesh (ISIL)’s information minister, who oversaw the Takfiri group’s propaganda, has been killed in a US-led airstrike. Wa'il Adil Hasan Salman al-Fayad, also known as Dr. Wa'il, was killed in Syria’s Raqqah province, the Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement Friday. “Wa'il oversaw ISIL's production of terrorist propaganda videos showing torture and executions,” Cook said. “He was a close associate of Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the ISIL spokesman and leader for plotting and inspiring external terror attacks.” The Pentagon had previously confirmed that Adnani was killed in a US airstrike in Syria on August 30. “The removal of ISIL’s senior leaders degrades its ability to retain territory, and its ability to plan, finance and direct attacks inside and outside of the region,” Cook noted. “We will continue to work with our coalition partners to build momentum in the campaign to deal ISIL a lasting defeat.” American m

ISIS sex slavery survivor named UN goodwill ambassador

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An ISIS victim Iraqi Yazidi Nadia Murad Basee Taha (left), speaks during her visit in the makeshift refugee camp at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Sunday, April 3, 2016. (AP)  A young Iraqi woman who survived rape and abuse as a sex slave of  ISIS fighters on Friday became a UN goodwill ambassador for the dignity of survivors of human trafficking. Nadia Murad Basee Taha, a 23-year-old Yazidi woman, called for justice for the victims of the terror group and argued that the 2014 attack on the Yazidis should be recognized as a genocide. Murad was taken from her home village of Kocho near Iraq’s northern town of Sinjar in August 2014 and brought to ISIS-controlled Mosul, where she was gang-raped, and bought and sold many times. “I was used in the way that they wanted to use me. I was not alone,” Murad said during a ceremony held at UN headquarters. “Perhaps I was the lucky one. As time passed, I found a way to escape where thousands others could not. They are stil

Agriculture as the new oil for ISIS

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) may be all things evil, but when it comes to finding sources of revenue it seems to have gone back to basics – agriculture. Even as the terror outfit continued to kill and maim over the years, we now know that it also kept an eye on crop yields. Traditionally, ISIS would depend on oil, looting, ransom, foreign funds and taxation to fill its coffers. But, if a new report is to be believed, it has also relied on agriculture to survive and to keep its terror factory running. This has gone on in spite of the military conflict, large-scale displacement of farmers and supply chain disruptions. The report , carried out by academic journal Food Policy, says recurrent taxation of agriculture is a crucial source of income for ISIS. This is understandable considering other income streams, such as oil and ransom, have shown signs of dwindling in recent times. Satellite evidence suggests that agricultural production has been sustained in ISIS-control

18 killed in Saudi airstrikes across Yemen

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At least 18 civilians have been killed in Saudi Arabia’s multiple aerial strikes across war-torn Yemen during the past 24 hours. Saudi fighter jets bombarded Khawlan al-Tayyal district in the western Yemeni province of Sana'a on Friday, killing at least 11 people, including women and children, and injuring a number of others, including two children. The victims were all travelling in a vehicle when it came under Saudi fire, Yemen's al-Masirah television channel reported on Friday. The Saudi warplanes also launched several airstrikes on different localities in the northwestern province of Sa'ada. Initial reports said at least two people were killed in the province's Ghamar district as a result of the airstrikes. Elsewhere in the west-central province of Ma'rib, at least five other Yemenis lost their lives when Saudi jets pounded Sirwah district. Saudi warplanes also bombarded areas in the northern province of Jawf and in the western provinces o

Palestinian stabs Israeli soldier in West bank

A Palestinian stabbed an Israeli soldier Saturday in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron before he was shot dead, the army said, in the fourth attack on Israelis in less than 24 hours. A military statement said the attacker drew a knife during a routine security check in Hebron’s Tel Rumeida neighborhood and wounded the soldier. “In response to the immediate threat, forces at the scene shot the assailant, resulting in his death,” the statement said. On Friday, three alleged assailants were killed while carrying out attacks on Israelis, two in and around occupied Hebron and one in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. Another man was killed on Thursday, also in Hebron, after allegedly trying to evade arrest by the Israeli military. Since October, 228 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, one Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed in ongoing violence, according to an AFP count. Israeli forces say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-rammin