Terrorism

How Did IS Emerge in Afghanistan Under the US Watch? – Karzai

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai continues to blame the U.S. for the problems in Afghanistan and wants to know, how under the US watch, with a massive military and intelligence apparatus in place, an organization like the Islamic State was able to take root in the country.

“The US came to Afghanistan to bring peace and stability and defeat extremism — [yet] we have more of it today. Why? That is what we should be discussing,” Karzai said. “Clearly bombings, killings, prisons and the harassment of people [in Afghanistan] have not worked.”
Noting that has emerged in Afghanistan over the past few years, Karzai asked: “Who did this under the watch of US intelligence and military in Afghanistan and how come?”
“We are grateful for what Britain has done in Afghanistan; it was a much, much softer version of what the US did,” Karzai said, admitting, however, that Helmand is no longer in control of the Afghan government today; rather, it is under the Taliban.
“How come there is more extremism in spite of millions of dollars and loss of lives?” Karzai asked. When the interviewer followed up with a question about “proof,” Karzai added: “The proof is what is happening in Afghanistan.”

Karzai has grown more and more vocal about his criticism at Washington although it was the government of President Bush that helped him take power in 2001 when they ousted the Taliban.

Karzai also said that the US has used Pakistan in a “way that was not human” in getting Afghanistan’s neighbor to aid them in ousting the Soviets in the late 1980s. He claims that the US policies will hinder economic development for both Afghanistan and Pakistan

To read the entire article from The Dawn, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Iran Warns US Against Further Sanctions, Terrorist Designation

In a bizarre turn of events that seem to be lost on the powers that be in Tehran, the Iranian government warned the United States that further sanctions against them or labeling Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization could result in attacks against US bases near the Iranian border.

In other words, the Iranians have basically stated that if the US labels them a terrorist organization, the Revolutionary Guard will act like terrorists and attack US bases. Their state-run news also threatened missile attacks to the limit of their range.

Iran warned the United States Sunday against imposing new sanctions, as well as against declaring Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.
The head of the elite military unit also made a veiled threat to attack US military bases in the region.
The state-run IRNA news agency quoted General Mohammad Ali Jafari as saying: “If new sanctions go into effect, the country [US] should move its regional bases to a 2000-kilometer radius, the range of Iranian missiles.”
The US has military bases in countries neighboring Iran, about 300 miles (500 km) from Iran’s borders. They include sites in Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, and Afghanistan.

The Iranians also claim that they will label the US military a terrorist organization in a tit-for-tat move, which they said is akin to deeming the US the equivalent of the Islamic State. The latest war of words has to do with the nuclear deal the previous US administration struck with Iran. President Trump made a campaign promise to void the deal which essentially guarantees a nuclear-capable Iran.

Regardless of whether or not the US voids that deal, there is expected to be sharper sanctions against the Iranians due to their disregard of the nuclear deal’s limits on missile testing, cyber-attacks and their continued support of terrorism.

To read the entire article from The DW, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Iraqi Forces Drive Islamic State Fighters Out of Central Hawija

Military forces from Iraq are driving out fighters from the Islamic State in their last bastion in Iraqi territory. On Tuesday, the military announced that they’ve driven ISIS troops out of the center of the town of Hawija.

In heavy fighting, the Iraqis claim to have killed 196 ISIS fighters and recaptured 98 small villages that surround the town. Hawija is the last big enclave of the Islamic State in Iraq. Once they’ve been ousted, they will control only a small strip of land between Iraq and Syria.

On Tuesday, Iraqi forces captured the Rashad air base south of the city, which was used as a training camp by the militants.
The UN said on Tuesday up to 78,000 civilians were still trapped in Hawija. Iraqi security forces said IS militants were preventing some people from leaving and might have laid explosives around the town.
About 12,500 people had fled since the army’s operation began two weeks ago, according to the UN. It is unclear though how many civilians have escaped in the past couple of days.

Lieutenant General Abdel Amir Yarallah, the Iraqi force commander, told the press that a combined force of military, police, and paramilitary had captured the center of Hawija and are continuing the advance. The Islamic State had held Hawija since moving into Iraq in 2014.

To read the entire article from the BBC, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

With the Las Vegas Shooter, There May Never Be an Acceptable “Why”

Everyone was horrified to see the scope of the massive carnage that followed the shooting outside The Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. In a large field that held close to 22,000 people for the Route 91 Harvest Festival, 59 people were killed and over 500 wounded as Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay, with wide open fields of fire and 23 weapons at his disposal. He also had a large amount of ammonium nitrate in his car, a fertilizer which is used to make homemade explosives.

The deadly carnage that followed has turned into the deadliest shooting rampage in American history. And the immediate question on everyone’s mind is why? What possessed someone to gun down nearly 600 people at an outdoor concert. But first, we have to look and see who was Stephen Paddock? It is an important question for criminal profilers who try to understand the minds of psychopathic killers and possibly identify and prevent these type of incidents from happening.

Paddock hardly fit the profile of a terrorist, disgruntled former employee or even an anti-government activist. He was retired, independently wealthy and spent the vast majority of his time at the gambling tables in Vegas. He owned homes in four different states but preferred staying for weeks at a time in the posh hotels in Las Vegas where he’d spend thousands of dollars at a time. He carried the highest rating for a “high roller” in Vegas. Which means he’d be comped rooms and other amenities.

He grew up the son of a bank robber. His father escaped from prison and was a member of the FBI’s most wanted list. But he was hardly a man who was following in his father’s footsteps. He never had any trouble with the law until that fateful Sunday night rampage that left everyone, including his family scratching their heads. Up until that final maniacal moment, nothing in his background gave the slightest indication that he was a danger to anyone least of which himself.

His brother, Eric Paddock was equally searching for answers. “If you told me an asteroid fell into Earth, it would mean the same to me. There’s absolutely no sense, no reason he did this,” he said. “He’s just a guy who played video poker and took cruises and ate burritos at Taco Bell. There’s no political affiliation that we know of. There’s no religious affiliation that we know of,” he added knowing the questions that would follow.

His brother knew of a few guns his brother kept at his home but claimed that he never knew his brother to own many. He said that Paddock took his children skeet shooting once, in an outing arranged by one of the hotels that his brother frequented. He said he was shocked that his brother would have 23 weapons in his hotel room, especially either automatic or ones that had been altered to fire automatically. And the thought that he had 19 more at his own outside Vegas was unfathomable.

Paddock had worked at a variety of jobs but had gotten rich buying and selling real estate. He was worth approximately $2 million dollars at the time of his death. Divorced twice, he had no children and his biggest passion was the gaming tables of Vegas. Hardly the kind of man who would apt to be radicalized into some kind of political terrorist, but a terrorist is exactly what he became on Sunday night.

He’s bought and resided in properties of his own in Florida, Texas, California, and Nevada. A records check by the FBI shows he once owned a fishing license in Alaska. He also was a licensed pilot and owned two aircraft, but according to his brother, he tired of it, and let his license lapse. In the past several years, he preferred to gamble and go on cruises.

He met his longtime girlfriend Marilou Danley in a casino where she used to work as a high-limit hostess at the Club Paradise, a rewards program at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno. While she’s not a suspect, the FBI wants to interview her as a person of interest. She left the United States on Thursday and it is unclear if she is in either Japan or the Philippines. She was actually an Australian citizen of Filipino descent.

Which brings the question back to why. Why would Paddock who was wealthy, and although cold and unfriendly to strangers, but had a comfortable life in the glitz of the Las Vegas casinos do this? What would propel him to attack a bunch of strangers at an outdoor country concert, the kind he enjoyed attending himself?

Law Enforcement and FBI criminal profilers are scouring his computer and electronic devices now in an attempt to find out what if anything would turn him into a cold-blooded murderer.

One thing he is not, however, was a radicalized Islamic terrorist. As soon as the shooting appeared, the Islamic State (ISIS) came out and claimed that he was one of their soldiers. Nothing in his background suggested the 64-year old was remotely attracted to the radicalized Islamist ideology. This was more of the terrorists just trying to take credit for every incident in the world to keep themselves relevant.

And he didn’t, as many talking heads in the media are claiming, “just snap.” The planning that had to go into this type of operation had to have taken many weeks. And it seems now that the country concert wasn’t even his first choice. Reports are surfacing that there was a large Rap/R&B outdoor show earlier in September in Vegas and Paddock tried to reserve rooms that overlooked that venue. But, those were unavailable and he moved his sights onto the Route 91 Harvest Festival. Many had speculated that he was going after conservatives who favor the country scene, but the fact that he had first targeted a Rap show belies that.

He was sure to get Danley away a few days before the terrible plans he’d concocted were carried out. He also wired tens of thousands of dollars to Danley’s family in the Philippines just prior to the shooting. He amassed an arsenal of weapons that were concealed in 32 bags that he had in his hotel room. He had weapons, ammunition an array of video cameras to watch the hallway and the inside of his suite and a large hammer that he used to break the windows of his room to begin the shooting rampage. This was hardly the action of a man who just snapped.

Danley’s testimony is key here, she knew him better than anyone and spent more time with him than even his brother. She can give the criminal profilers the needed information, that they’ll need to peer into this man’s psyche. But eventually, when they do find the cause, it will no doubt seem trivial and silly to us. But make no mistake, there was nothing silly or trivial in his actions on Sunday night. But what makes perfect sense in a demented mind will often seem as alien as Mars to the rest of us.

And why really won’t make a difference to the families of those who have suffered the loss or injuries to their loved ones. Nothing that Paddock could say would make any difference to them. Nor will it justify taking the lives of so many innocent people who just wanted to enjoy a concert. The profilers try to find out as much as they can with these mass-murderers to see what makes them tick and do the things they do. And hopefully, they’ll be better at recognizing and stopping these type of incidents before they happen. The authorities would have had time to study him and get those answers first hand from Paddock if they’d been able to take him alive.

But those cameras that told him when the Las Vegas police were outside the door was his cue. He wasn’t to be taken alive and blew his brains out on the hotel room floor. So we may never know why Paddock did that heinous crime in Las Vegas. But even if we do, will any of it make sense?

Photo: Wikipedia

ISIS Claim of Responsibility for Las Vegas Shooting a Sign of Desperation?

Counterterrorism experts are stating that the ISIS claims for responsibility for the Las Vegas shooting on Sunday are another sign that the terror group is growing increasingly desperate to remain relevant as they lose their “caliphates” in Syria and Iraq.

One former Department of Homeland Security official, Peter Vincent stated to media sources that by making such false claims that ISIS is becoming “somewhat of a joke among the terrorist elite.”

ISIS claimed Monday that Stephen Craig Paddock — who Las Vegas police say killed 58 people, in addition to himself, and injured at least 500 others — was a “soldier of the Islamic State” but gave no evidence to back up its claim.
Citing a “security source,” the group’s media arm, Amaq, said Paddock, a 64-year-old retiree from Mesquite, Nevada, carried out the attack “in response to calls to target coalition countries.” Unusually, ISIS doubled down on the claim, releasing a second statement claiming Paddock had recently converted to Islam and identified him as “Abu Abd El Bar.”
The FBI quickly dismissed ISIS’s claims, saying at this stage there was no evidence Paddock had no connection to any international terrorist group.

While some terror experts are arguing that this latest claim by ISIS for responsibility has undermined its credibility, still others are arguing that the opposite is true. Shiraz Maher, deputy director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at King’s College London said that this move by the Islamic State was a disinformation operation to spread panic, hinder the on-going investigation and to help recruit new operatives.

Stating that this latest ISIS move is a form of psychological warfare, Maher stated that “In a sense it doesn’t matter if ISIS lies about this — their supporters will see it as a victory,” he said. He also brought up the valid point that any follower of ISIS would never believe the FBI’s statement anyway, so the terrorist world will see this as a victory.

To read the entire article from NBC News, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Trump, Mattis Relax Rules of Engagement for Troops in Afghanistan

Back in August, President Donald Trump pledged to lift the restrictions and expand the authorities for US troops in Afghanistan in a move to break the stalemate in the sixteen-year long war. And now Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has overturned a stipulation in the rules of engagement that US troops must be in contact with enemy forces before opening fire.

“You see some of the results of releasing our military from, for example, a proximity requirement — how close was the enemy to the Afghan or the U.S.-advised special forces,” Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “That is no longer the case, for example. So, these kind of restrictions that did not allow us to employ the airpower fully have been removed, yes.”
Mattis also confirmed the changes at a later hearing, saying, “We are no longer bound by the need for proximity to our forces. It used to be we have to basically be in contact with that enemy.”
“Those units with NATO and American advisers win, and those without them often do not win,” he said. “So we are going to spread the number of units with advisers to bring that air support to win.”

The move easing the requirement of being in close proximity to the enemy as well as pushing the U.S. advisers down to lower level Afghan units is seen as a small but important step in breaking the stalemate with the Taliban who still control large areas of the country.

Mattis was quick to point out however, that these changes do not mean an increase in Afghan civilian targeting stating that U.S. forces will do everything “humanly possible” to avoid civilian casualties.

To read the entire article from Fox News, click here:

Photo courtesy Department of Defense

On this Day, October 3, 1993, Battle of Mogadishu (Black Hawk Down)

Today we remember the men of Operation Gothic Serpent who fought and died on the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia in what later became popularly known from the title of a book and film as “Black Hawk Down”

The operation was run by the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and was commanded by General William F. Garrison. They organized for this mission as Task Force Ranger and It consisted of various special operations units from Army, Air Force, and Navy Special Operations Forces:

B Company, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment under the command of Captain Michael D. Steele
C Squadron, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1st SFOD-D) under the command of Lt Col Gary L. Harrell
A deployment package of 16 helicopters and personnel from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (160th SOAR), which included MH-60 Black Hawks and AH/MH-6 Little Birds.
Navy SEALs from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU)
Air Force Pararescuemen and Combat Controllers from the 24th Special Tactics Squadron.

Their mission on October 3, was to plan and conduct an operation to move to the center of Mogadishu with the aim of capturing the leaders of the Habr Gidr clan, led by Mohamed Farrah Aidid. Included in that were Aidid’s foreign minister Omar Salad Elmi and his top political advisor, Mohamed Hassan Awale The assault force consisted of nineteen aircraft, twelve vehicles (including nine Humvees), and 160 men. The operation was intended to last no longer than one hour. In the end, it would last much longer.

Michael Durant’s helicopter over Mogadishu.

The plan was that Delta operators would assault the target building (using MH-6 Little Bird helicopters) and secure the targets inside the building while four Ranger chalks (under CPT Michael D. Steele’s command) would fast rope down from MH-60L Black Hawk helicopters. The Rangers would secure the defensive perimeter around the target building to isolate it and ensure that no members of Aidid’s militia could get in or out. Meanwhile, a column of nine HMMWVs and three M939 five-ton trucks (under LTC Danny McKnight’s command) would arrive at the building to take the entire assault team and their prisoners back to base. The entire operation was estimated to take no longer than 30 minutes.

At 1542 hours the assault began, and immediately things began to go wrong. The Little Bird helicopters that put the Delta operators on the ground kicked up so much dust that one of them was forced to go around and land out of position.

The Rangers were supposed to fast rope on all four corners of the target building, but Chalk Four was put down a block north of the target and was attempting to move on foot to the target when heavy ground fire prevented their linkup.

One of the Rangers from Chalk Four, PFC Todd Blackburn fell off the rope and suffered serious back and neck injuries and required immediate evacuation. Three Humvees were assigned to the task and en route back to the base came under heavy fire. SGT Dominick Pilla was killed instantly with a bullet wound to the head.

First Black Hawk Shot Down: At approximately 16:20, Black Hawk callsign Super 61 piloted by CW3 Cliff “Elvis” Wolcott and CW3 Donovan Briley, was shot down by an RPG. Both pilots were killed instantly in the crash and two of the crew chiefs were severely wounded. SSG Daniel Busch and SSG Jim Smith, both Delta snipers, survived and set up a defense around the downed bird.

A Little Bird, callsign Star 41 and piloted by CW3 Karl Maier and CW5 Keith Jones, landed nearby and Jones left the helicopter and carried Busch to the safety of the helicopter while Maier provided cover fire from the Little Bird’s cockpit, repeatedly denying orders to lift off while his co-pilot was not in the Bird. Star 41 evacuated SSG Busch and SGT Smith, though SSG Busch later died of his injuries, being shot four times while defending the crash site.

A Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) team in Black Hawk Super 68, led by Air Force Pararescueman TSgt Scott Fales, fast-roped down to Super 61’s crash site and immediately set up a triage for the wounded crew chiefs. Both pilots were dead, the CSAR team moved the wounded to a better defensible point and used the kevlar armor salvaged from Super 61 to protect the wound. Super 68 then suffered an RPG hit that severely damaged the helicopter and they peeled off. Although badly damaged, Super 68 made it safely back to the base.

Confusion reigned as both the ground and assault teams were under the impression that they were waiting for the other to give the call to exfil and 20 valuable minutes were lost. That’s when all hell broke loose.

Super 64 Shot Down, Gordon and Shughart Defend the Crash Site: It was during this time at 1640 hrs when Black Hawk Super 64 piloted by CW3 Mike Durant was hit by an RPG and crashed. Durant was the only survivor. Operating overhead in Black Hawk Super 62 were Delta snipers SFC Gary Gordon and SFC Randy Shughart who twice requested to be put down on the Super 64 crash site and were refused. On the third request, they put down and secured Durant and moved him to the edge of a building.

Super 62 stayed overhead providing fire support until they too were hit by an RPG. The Black Hawk was forced to return to the base. The two Delta snipers were alone.

During this time a force of about 90 Delta operators and Rangers reached the first crash site. Taking murderous fire, they were pinned down in the building around the crash site and were unable to move. During the movement to the site, Delta operator SFC Earl Fillmore was killed. One of the Rangers, CPL Jamie Smith was killed soon after arriving to the crash site in the firefight with Aidid’s militia.

Gordon and Shughart kept a large mob of militia at bay inflicting heavy casualties on them. But there were too many and they soon engulfed. Gordon was killed by enemy fire. Shughart crawled back to Durant and gave him Gordon’s rifle. He then went to the front of the helicopter and held off the mob for another 10 minutes. Then out of ammunition he too was killed. Durant was beaten badly but survived and taken prisoner. Both Gordon and Shughart would be awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions on that day.

The convoy under McKnight was being directed by LTC Harrell who was in the air to the crash site, but the roadblocks set up by the Somali citizens and militia in addition to the heavy fire were keeping the Humvees from finding the location. Increasingly lost in the maze of narrow streets and not getting the timely directions from above were taking a toll. McKnight’s crew became known as the Lost Convoy. If they had any kind of armored vehicles, the roadblocks could have easily been swept aside.

Earl Fillmore, Delta Operator killed en route to the first crash site. (photo: Kevin McCaffrey)

Four Rangers, CPL Jamie Smith, SP4 James Cavaco, SGT James Joyce, and SGT Richard Kowalewski were killed on the Lost Convoy. Delta Operator SFC Grizz Martin and Ranger SGT Lorenzo Ruiz were both mortally wounded and died in Germany of their wounds.

Relief Convoy: Garrison put together an ad-hoc relief convoy consisting of Task Force 2–14 Infantry, 10th Mountain Division, accompanied by Malaysian and Pakistani U.N. forces. The convoy had over 100 vehicles including M-48 Pakistani tanks, Condor Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs), as well as Cobra gunships assigned to the 10th Mountain Division.

They reached the embattled troops around 0200 on October 4th. Two men of the 10th Mountain would be killed during the relief convoy operation as well as two Malaysian soldiers and a Pakistani.

When the vehicles were loaded at the Super 61 site, there wasn’t room for all of the men to ride. There a mixture of Delta operators and Rangers began what was characterized as the Mogadishu Mile. They had to exfil on foot. One soldier was hit by gunfire but survived. All of the troops reached the UN base by 0630 on October 4.

On October 6, a Delta operator, SFC Matt Rierson was killed by a stray mortar shell that landed on the base.

Aftermath: The US suffered 19 killed and 73 wounded during the battle. Somali casualties differ widely depending on the source but were anywhere between 350-1000 dead and another 1000+ wounded. Durant was released 11 days later. The Somalis would drag the dead of Super 64’s crew as well as Gordon and Shughart thru the streets of Mogadishu for the next several days. Eventually, their bodies were recovered.

Footnote: General Garrison accepted full responsibility for the mission and ended his career as the Commander of the USAJFKSWC. He retired on August 1, 1996. As this ceremony was about to commence, a large number of Delta operators in civilian clothes came, many of those who were there in Mogadishu, to give the General a nice sendoff.

They informed him that Aidid had been killed earlier that day. There were big smiles and high fives all around…

Photos courtesy: US Army unless otherwise noted.

U.S. Backed SDF Scours ISIS Base in Raqqa For Intelligence

US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces are moving thru the Islamic State’s former bastion at Raqqa as now 90 percent of the city has been taken. Their fighters on Monday were slowly recovering communication equipment and weapons used by the ISIS forces in their former command centers.

After battling thru the western edge of the city, the SDF in the vicious no-quarter-given fight were now slowly moving from house-by-house in the search weapons or intelligence left behind by ISIS.

“This neighbourhood was a strategic place for Daesh. Most of their bases were here, including command centres and ammunition depots,” said local SDF commander Gabar Derek, using the Arabic acronym for IS.
Many of the buildings in the area are large stone complexes formerly used by Syria’s government, then taken up as bases by IS before the SDF moved in.
“A few days ago we advanced into a position used by IS and found walkie-talkies. We took out a lot but there was a part we could not remove until today,” said Derek, 25.
As he spoke, his fighters unloaded an armoured vehicle full of dozens of walkie-talkies, military fatigues and boots, a gas mask, rocket-propelled grenades, and even a serrated sword retrieved from the former IS command centre.

The SDF fighters are finding a treasure trove of weapons, equipment and documents as the Islamic State are leaving behind a mountain of gear in an attempt to flee. Radios with frequencies and call-signs and documents will all be gone thru carefully by the group as they finish up the task of evicting ISIS from the last big bastion in Syria.

To read the entire article from AL-Monitor, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Captured ISIS Fighter in Iraq Claims to Only Be a Cook

Iraqi officials are having to deal with a massive influx of civilian refugees as their military is putting the final touches on crushing the army of the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria. To compound matters, they’re dealing with a huge influx of military age men, who, dirty and pitiful looking are arriving at checkpoints begging for mercy and claiming to be legitimate refugees.

But Iraqi officials believe that up to 90 percent of them are ISIS fighters and that many have committed atrocities against Iraqi civilians and military. And they’re taking no chances, as each is being interrogated thoroughly.

While civilians from the stronghold, the city of Hawija, have sought safety in Kirkuk and elsewhere in Iraq’s Kurdish region, this past weekend was the first time they came in large numbers with men of fighting age.

Iraqi Kurdish officials were taking no chances on Sunday (Oct 1) as they prepared one suspected fighter in a small office as his wife and four children squatted on the dirt outside.
A lieutenant in the Asayish, the Iraqi Kurdish region’s intelligence service, put one hand on his holstered pistol and pointed with the other hand at a spot on the tiled floor. The prisoner understood and knelt on that spot, as an Asayish corporal tied the man’s hands behind his back with a scarf.
“It doesn’t matter what you do, I’m not going to spy for you,” said the man, Salah Hassan, 32, who described himself as a former construction worker.
“We don’t care about that,” the lieutenant said. “Just tell the truth.”
“Yes, tell them you’re ISIS,” the corporal said, brandishing a pipe in the prisoner’s face. “Don’t lie.”
Hassan hung his head and admitted it, then looked up. “I was only a cook.”

The Iraqi forces don’t buy that excuse, joking that with so many cooks, it would seem all ISIS did was eat. The men, deserting the fight to run and fight away another time are acting passively but their families, mostly the women freely admit they were ISIS families.

Thus far, the Iraqis are treating their ISIS prisoners much better than the Islamic State showed Iraqi civilians during their occupation.

To read the entire article from NY Times, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikimedia

Lebanon Sentences Radical Islamic Cleric to Death for Inciting Violence

A Lebanese court has sentenced to death a radical Sunni Muslim cleric for inciting attacks on the military. Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir, who had supporters protesting outside the courtroom had refused to recognize the hearing, was convicted for his part in inciting clashes that occurred in 2013, made worse by the war in neighboring Syria.

Assir rose to prominence supporting the mostly Sunni insurgents in Syria and condemning the backers of the Syrian government, including Lebanon’s Shi‘ite Muslim Hezbollah group.
Lebanese soldiers raided a mosque complex belonging to Assir in June 2013, after skirmishes between his supporters and opponents in the southern Mediterranean port city of Sidon.
The army said at least 18 soldiers died in fighting with Assir’s supporters, which raised fears at the time of sectarian violence spreading in Lebanon. (reut.rs/2xBmdx6)

Assir was arrested in 2015 after trying to leave the country with a false passport. He’d gone underground after the raid on his mosque complex.

Assir’s trial was delayed numerous times and he fired his legal representation which he refused to recognize. The court also found 30 more people guilty in absentia. Their sentences range from prison sentences to death as well. One interesting footnote to this trial is although Assir has been sentenced to death for his role in this incident, the country of Lebanon hasn’t executed anyone in more than 10 years.

To read the entire article from Reuters, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikimedia