terrorism

Iranians Accused of Shelling Kurdish Villages Across Border in Iraq

Reports are surfacing from Northern Iraq that the Iranians have used artillery to shell Kurdish villages across the border in Iraq injuring at least three and forcing hundreds to flee their homes.

The attack, which took place on Monday, was in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Haji Omaran region and targeted positions of Iranian Kurdish rebel groups Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) and Komala, according to Kurdish officials.

“The shelling started at 5 a.m. [local time] and continued for several hours, forcing hundreds of civilians from nearby villages to flee their homes,” Farzang Ahmad, the local administrator of the Haji Omaran sub-district in Iraqi Kurdistan, told VOA.
Ahmad added that one villager and two rebels were injured and many local farmers’ livelihoods were destroyed as a result of the shelling.
“The Republic of Iran’s justification for the attack is the presence of Iranian Kurdish rebels in the border region with Iraq,” he said.
Iran is home to roughly 10 million Kurds who mostly live in the northwest of the country, close to Iraqi and Turkish Kurdish communities across the border.
Kurdish groups
Kurdish armed groups, such as KDPI and Komala, have been in conflict with the Iranian government for decades, and are seeking greater autonomy for the areas inhibited by ethnic Kurds. These armed Kurdish groups are widely spread across the 60-kilometer border with neighboring Iraq.
The mountainous nature of the terrain makes it difficult for the Iranian government to control the area.
To diminish the growing activity of the Iranian Kurdish rebels, the country’s military has bombed areas inside the Iraqi border on several occasions in the past, drawing criticism from Iraqi Kurdish officials who charge that civilians bear the brunt of the bombing.
The Iranian government has not commented on Monday’s shelling, but Iraqi Kurdish officials say the bombing was carried out in response to the killing of an Iranian commander and injuring two Iranian border guards during clashes in Kermanshah province on Saturday.

The Iranians are being accused of escalating the violence along the border with Iraq. However, they claim that they are just expelling Kurdish rebels from their borders. Kurdish spokesman believes that this will continue as long as both Iraqi and Iranian Kurdish people have no say in their own homeland.

To read the entire article from The Voice of America, click here:

Photo courtesy US Army

ISIS Resistance in ‘caliphate’ of Mosul is Crumbling

The last vestiges of what just a few years ago was proclaimed as the Islamic State’s new ‘caliphate’ is crumbling under constant attack from Iraq’s forces as they push to retake Mosul.

Iraqi military spokesmen say that the ISIS fighters remaining in what is left of their stronghold of Mosul are in a “fight to the death.” Only about 5 percent of the city remains in the hands of the Islamic State as US-backed Iraqi forces continue to keep the pressure on.

Gen. Abdel Ghani al-Asadi, the head of Iraq’s special forces, said his troops were just 250 yards from the Tigris River on Tuesday after retaking the Mosul’s main hospital compound from ISIS the day before.
He said the militants are increasingly resorting to suicide bombings, and he expects the fighting to get even heavier as they are pushed closer to the river.
Iraqi forces launched the operation to retake Mosul, the country’s second largest city, in October.
Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the anti-ISIS military coalition, said Tuesday in a tweet that the militants remained in control of only about a square half-mile of Mosul.
The Iraqi Defense Ministry said two senior ISIS fighters were captured trying to flee from western Mosul to the town of Qayyara in the south. One of them was described as an administrative official and the other was allegedly a top bomb-making expert, according to the Ministry.

Forces from the elite Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service, the federal police, the regular Iraqi army and the Emergency Response Division have fully surrounded the extremists in the old part of Iraq’s second-largest city and are fighting through the winding, narrow streets to root them out of their remaining entrenched positions.

With their situation desperate, ISIS has adopted using women mixed in with refugees as suicide bombers. One such bomber was a 15-year-old girl from Bangladesh.

To read the entire article from The CBS News click here:

Photo courtesy DOD

Hezbollah, Backed by Iran Looks to Expand Mid East Conflict to Israel

With the wars against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria driving the terrorist group from each country, the prospect of peace in the region is even less likely as a possible power vacuum in Syria is setting up Iran in a position of strength.

The government of Tehran has been propping up the government of Assad by lending support through their proxy, Hezbollah. Now, the Iranians will look to expand the Syrian civil war past the border and into Israel.

Eleven years ago this month, Israel went to war with Hezbollah, Iran’s Lebanon-based Shi’a proxy militia. The fighting began when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli villages and missiles at Israeli armored vehicles patrolling the border. Three Israeli soldiers were killed. Two were kidnapped and taken into Lebanon.
They would be among the more than a thousand people killed during the 34 days that followed. Hundreds of thousands, in both countries, would be displaced.
The passage of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 on August 11 marked a halt to the conflict. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was expanded and granted the authority to use force to ensure that southern Lebanon became free of “any armed personnel, assets and weapons” not under the direct control of the Lebanese government or UNIFIL.
It soon became apparent that UNIFIL would fail to accomplish that mission. Today, Hezbollah has an estimated 150,000 missiles of varying ranges and accuracy pointing at Israeli villages and cities — about 10 times what it had in 2006. UNIFIL sees nothing, knows nothing and, of course, does nothing.
There has been one restraint on Hezbollah’s rearmament: Israeli intelligence sometimes learns of Iranian shipments of advanced missiles. Airstrikes have destroyed at least some of these shipments en route.
Now, however, Iran has a new plan: Over recent months, its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been building fortified, underground missile production factories in Lebanon.
For the moment, the Israelis are giving diplomacy a chance, for example by briefing members of the U.N. Security Council, warming that the next war is bound to be more destructive and bloodier than the last.
Among the reasons: Hezbollah’s presence now extends well beyond southern Lebanon. It has taken control of Beirut’s port and airfields. It is the most powerful faction in Lebanon’s government. To fight Hezbollah while sparing Lebanon is no longer possible.
In addition, Hezbollah’s leaders have installed their missiles in (and under) homes, schools, hospitals and mosques. Their use of “human shields” ensures a high civilian death toll and, incidentally, blatantly violates international law. But they are confident that many journalists, U.N. officials and “human rights” groups will reflexively blame Israel, not them and certainly not Iran for the carnage.
Another indication that Hezbollah may be preparing for a new conflict: It has set up observation posts along the Israeli border, claiming these are part of an environmental effort called “Green Without Borders.”

With the Iranians pouring foreign Shia fighters into Syria, the stage is set. Tehran has never made its plan to annihilate Israel a secret. Now they are planning on beginning that plan and to spread its revolution to neighboring Bahrain and Kuwait as well. They have also been sending fighters into Afghanistan, trying to gain influence there as well.

The US and the Trump Administration has some very difficult decisions to make shortly.

To read the entire article from The Washington Times, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

July 4, 1976, Israeli Special Operations Raid on Entebbe Stuns the World

It doesn’t seem that long ago, but on July 4, 1976, the United States was set to celebrate its Bi-Centennial. Massive celebrations were set to take place across the USA but then a small Special Operations unit from a smaller Middle Eastern nation stole the spotlight with a daring raid that was stunningly executed.

Israeli commandos from the Sayeret Matkal known to the soldiers in it as only “The Unit”, stormed the Ugandan airport at Entebbe under the command of LTC Jonathan “Yoni” Netanyahu. There they freed about 100 Jewish hostages and 12 people from the flight crew from a combined force of terrorists and Ugandan troops.

The raid was a brilliantly executed Special Operation. Only one Israeli soldier, Netanyahu was killed along with three hostages. Another Israeli paratrooper was paralyzed by a gunshot wound to his neck and another hostage, Dora Bloch, who was taken to a hospital was murdered by Amin’s soldiers after the raid.

Airplane Hijack Begins Siege: On Sunday, June 27, Air France’s Flight 139 left from Ben Gurion Airport, made a stopover in Athens, and then took off towards its final destination in Paris, with 248 passengers on board. At around 12:35 pm, four terrorists—two German and two Palestinian—hijacked the plane.

The hijackers landed briefly in Libya where they took on more terrorists before flying down to Entebbe, Uganda which was run at the time by the dictator Idi Amin. The hostages were led into the terminal building where they were guarded by terrorists and Ugandan soldiers. There the Jews and Israelis were separated from the other passengers.

On the 29^th, the terrorist decided to release all the non-Jewish and Israeli hostages. But the Air France crew refused to leave their Jewish and Israeli passengers. This set-in-motion the operation that would be known as Operation Thunderbolt. This was a critical time because once the hostages were released, they were flown to Paris, and an Israeli officer interviewed a few of them. The hostages described where the Israeli hostages were located, how many terrorists there were, the floor plan of the building, and other important details.

A Mossad agent flew a light aircraft over Entebbe and pretended to have engine trouble. He took photographs of the area and reported that only dozens, not hundreds of Ugandan soldiers were guarding the building. That fact was corroborated by released hostages in Paris. That convinced the Israeli government that the mission had at least a modest chance of success.

The Israeli plan was to land 4 C-130 Hercules aircraft with 33 members of Sayeret Matkal on the tarmac of the Entebbe airport. There they would have a limo disguised as Idi Amin’s with soldiers dressed as Ugandan soldiers along with jeeps filled with commandos. Once they got close enough they would storm the terminal, kill the terrorists guarding the hostages with just six members of the unit. The rest would eliminate any remaining terrorists and soldiers.

IDF commandos dressed in Ugandan camouflage with a car designed to resemble Idi Amin’s limo

Netanyahu had to meet with and convince the Israeli Defense Minister Shimon Peres that the mission was doable. His confidence was unwavering and he assured Peres the casualties among the hostages would be small.

The unit would then gather the soldiers and hostages and board the Hercules and fly back to Israel.

The Operation begins: The four C-130s took off from Israel and had to fly low under the radar to avoid detection. There were no seats and the commandos had to sit on the vehicles. The lurching of the planes in the heat made almost every commando sick.

They flew across Egypt, the Sudan, South Sudan and into Ugandan airspace. The first C-130 was to touchdown on the airfield while the others were to circle over Lake Victoria. Once the first aircraft landed the vehicles with Netanyahu leading from the first one disguised as Amin’s limo, would race to the terminal.

Israeli commando map of the Entebbe terminal area

Seven minutes later the next two Hercules were to touch down with Armored cars to eliminate any Ugandan resistance. As the vehicles carrying the commandos were racing to the terminal, they passed a guard post with barbed wire. The guard snapped to attention and raised his weapon in a salute. The ruse of Amin’s car was working.

Netanyahu leaned out the window with a silenced .22 and tried to shoot the guard but missed with the vehicle racing so fast. But a soldier in the Land Rover behind the limo blasted the soldier with a burst of automatic weapons fire.

The Mercedes limo stopped 40 meters short of the terminal building and with the crowded confines, it was slow work, getting out. Netanyahu yelled to his troops, “Come on, charge! Come on, charge!”

At the terminal building, a German terrorist came outside and the leader of the commandos charged with clearing the terminal emptied his magazine at him but missed. He stopped to change his magazine but didn’t announce it as was the unit SOP. The rescue team stalled waiting for their leader.

Tamir Pardo, the future director of the Mossad, was Netanyahu’s radio operator during the mission. “As we were running, I stayed close to Yoni. We came under fire from the tower, and if memory serves me right a Ugandan soldier who was by the terminal also opened fire (at us). Yoni was hit… he was so close I could reach out and touch him. His body did half a turn and then he fell… I remember myself saying on the comms ‘Yoni was hit.’ David (Hassin) the doctor came up to him and I joined Zussman’s team,” Pardo told the Ynetnews.

Israeli commando Afir Ofer was the first commando inside the terminal. A terrorist on the floor fired nearly an entire magazine at Ofer but missed. Ofer but a four-round burst with two tracers impacting the terrorist, killing him instantly.

In an interview done by my friend Lela Gilbert with Iddo Netanyahu, Yoni’s brother, he described what his brother told the commandos about things going wrong. Iddo was also a member of “the Unit” as was younger brother Benjamin.

“At that point, they remembered what Yoni had told them before they left for Entebbe. ‘Things will go wrong,’ he said. ‘Thing will not go exactly according to plan. All you have to remember this: you have to reach the hostages as quickly as possible and kill the terrorists. Just do whatever is necessary to achieve that goal.’

“And that’s what they did, even as Yoni was hit by gunfire in those very seconds, while they moved forward.

“They entered the hall and succeeded in killing the terrorists before the terrorists could kill the hostages. Only three hostages died in the process. The Entebbe raid was a success.”

As Ofer moved inside the building two German terrorists, a man and a woman aimed their AK-47s at him intending to shoot him. But a captain, right behind Ofer, put two rounds in each and kicked their weapons away.

Ofer began to yell into a megaphone in Hebrew and English, “Everyone on the ground; we’re here to take you home.” Another German terrorist, hiding among the hostages leaped to his feet and was also aiming at Ofer, when another commando fired two rounds at him before he could pull the trigger. The first hit his Kalashnikov, knocking from his hands, the second hit the terrorist in his chest. He was dead before he hit the ground. He was the last terrorist in the terminal with the hostages. The room was clear.

The Ugandans on the second floor and the customs building attempted to flee. About 60 ran and escaped. Eleven more tried to race down the stairs to escape and were cut down.

Another group of commandos took down the smaller hall in the terminal. Two terrorists, one with a grenade tried to rush past but one of the men fired a burst that killed both and the grenade exploded beneath the two bodies. One commando got a tiny sliver of shrapnel in his jaw from the explosion.

The entire operation in the terminal was over in a minute and the hostages were freed and moving to the aircraft.

Follow-on C-130s Arrive: Right on time, exactly seven minutes after the initial C-130 touched down, the next three landed. Two with armored vehicles. They were receiving fire from the control tower. One MAG-58 gunner unleashed two belts of ammo at the tower while another fired an RPG from point-blank range silencing the fire.

Israeli commandos with one of the Land Rovers used in the operation

Years later when flying thru Africa, our plane landed at Entebbe. The old terminal and control tower were still pocked-marked by hundreds of bullet holes.

Another armored vehicle raced to where the Ugandan Air Force had its MiGs parked. In one row was five MiG-21s and the other had three MiG-17s. He cut loose with his MAG-58. One was loaded with fuel and exploded. Soon the conflagration ignited the others in a huge fireball.

With the threat neutralized, it was time to leave. The commandos and the hostages boarded the C-130s for the flight to Kenya to refuel and then to Israel. But the elation of freeing the hostages was crushed by the news that their commander Netanyahu was killed.

There were few tense moments when flying over the Red Sea but Israeli Phantom jets appeared to escort the C-130s home. The country of Israel was in a state of jubilation over the rescue.

And in the US, amid all the Bi-Centennial celebration, then US President Gerald Ford released a statement on the raid. “Our own Bicentennial Independence Day was enhanced by an event at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. That action of liberation freed our own hearts to a fuller understanding of the universal meaning of independence – and the courageous action sometimes required to preserve it.”

Happy Independence Day.

Photos Courtesy IDF

US-Backed Forces in Raqqa, Breach Perimeter in ISIS Stronghold

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) backed by the United States have breached a perimeter wall that surrounds the Old City of Raqqa, as the battle rages around the last stronghold of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.

SDF fighters had penetrated the Rafiqah Wall as the battle intensified. Reports were surfacing of Islamic State fighters trying to wear SDF uniforms in attempts to escape and disrupt SDF and coalition fighter operations.

On Monday night, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) issued a statement confirming that Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — supported by coalition fighters — had found a way through the historic Rafiqah Wall.
“Coalition forces supported the SDF advance into the most heavily fortified portion of Raqqa by opening two small gaps in the Rafiqah Wall that surrounds the Old City,” CENTCOM said in the statement. “The portions targeted were 25-meter sections and will help preserve the remainder of the overall 2,500-meter wall,” it added, without specifying where those portions were.
Citing local media, CNN reports that The Rafiqah Wall is approximately 3.1 miles long, more than 12 feet high and more than three feet thick. According to CENTCOM, ISIS fighters had taken positions there to defend the city and planted explosive devices at breaks in the wall.
The U.S. envoy for the anti-ISIS coalition, Brett McGurk, called breaching the wall “a key milestone in the campaign to liberate the city” on his twitter page. Earlier on Monday, McGurk tweeted that ISIS terrorists were “down to less than one square kilometer” in Mosul and totally surrounded in Raqqa.

The US-backed coalition has killed a reported 1000 IS fighters in the past month and with the noose tightening, only about 300, mostly foreign fighters remain. Their only escape route is the Euphrates River where they’ll be easily detectable and the coalition is actively trying to sink every boat it can.

To read the entire article from Time click here:

Photo Courtesy DOD

With ISIS Defeat Looming in Syria, Iraq, US Strategy Has to Define Next Step

American-backed ground forces are poised to recapture Mosul in Iraq and Raqqah in Syria, the Islamic State’s de facto capitals. But while U.S. commanders are confident they soon will vanquish the militant group from its self-declared caliphate after three years of fighting, Washington has not defined a strategy in the next step for stabilizing the region.

The Trump administration faces key decisions about safe zones, reconstruction, governmental control in the area, easing sectarian tensions and commitment of U.S. troops among other considerations.

Nor has the Trump administration set policy for how it will confront forces from Iran and Russia, the two outside powers that arguably gained the most in the bitter conflict — and that now are hoping to collect the spoils and expand their influence.
Iran, in particular, is pushing to secure a land corridor from its western border across Iraq and Syria and up to Lebanon, where it supports Hezbollah militants, giving it a far larger foothold in the turbulent region.
“Right now everyone is positioned” for routing Islamic State “without having the rules of the road,” said Michael Yaffe, a former State Department envoy for the Middle East who is now vice president of the Middle East and Africa center at the U.S. Institute of Peace. “That’s a dangerous situation.”
The risk of a broader confrontation was clear in recent weeks when a U.S. F/A-18 shot down a Syrian fighter jet for the first time in the multi-sided six-year war, provoking an angry response from Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar Assad.
U.S. warplanes also destroyed two Iranian-made drone aircraft, although it’s not clear who was flying them. The Pentagon said all the attacks were in self-defense as the aircraft approached or fired on American forces or U.S.-backed Syrian fighters.
“What I worry about is the muddled mess scenario,” said Ilan Goldenberg, a former senior State Department official who now heads the Middle East program at the nonpartisan Center for a New American Security. “When you start shooting down planes and running into each other, it quickly goes up the escalation ladder.”
U.S. commanders say thousands of American troops should stay in Iraq to bolster the Iraqi army, which collapsed and fled when the militants first arrived on pickup trucks in 2014, three years after President Obama withdrew most U.S. troops from the country.
A tougher challenge lies in Syria, where the U.S. military has not been invited by the government and has no large fixed bases. The Pentagon has deployed hundreds of special operations forces and conventional troops to support the Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab rebel groups that oppose Assad.
If the U.S. military pulls out, it could give a green light to Assad and Iran’s forces to turn their firepower on the U.S.-backed militias, potentially a nightmare scenario.
Pressure is growing on Capitol Hill for the White House to articulate a longer-term strategy for when the Islamic State threat has been neutralized.

Routing the Islamic State out of those countries is the first step but there are other concerns once that is accomplished. Hezbollah which has sided with Assad’s forces in the civil war is emboldened now and is pushing to escalate the war by attacking Israel. There will be no easy answers for Washington as peace and stability in the region will be very hard to come by.

To read the entire article from The Los Angeles Times click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Iraqi PM Declares End of “ISIS Caliphate” in Iraq

Although only a symbolic landmark, the Iraqi government has captured a destroyed mosque in the heart of ISIS’ de facto capital of Mosul. Iraq’s government declared victory over ISIS on Thursday.

The eight-month siege of Mosul by Iraqi troops, who have been fighting their way through Mosul have seized the Grand al-Nuri Mosque on Wednesday. That was considered the heart of the Daesh (Iraqi term for ISIS) caliphate.

US coalition sources believe that the fighting for Mosul will be over in days now rather than weeks.

Though destroyed by ISIS fighters, the capture of the 850-year-old mosque is considered a huge symbolic victory to Iraqis. It is where the Islamic State announced its caliphate almost three years ago.
“The return of Nuri mosque and minaret of Hadba today after being [destroyed] by ISIS marks the end of Daesh State falsehood,” Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for the terror group. “We will continue chasing ISIS until we kill and arrest [every] last one of them.”
While the Iraqi government appears assured of its victory, there is still fighting in areas of Mosul populated by civilians. Between 15,000 and 20,000 noncombatants are trapped in the Old Mosul neighborhood, which still needs to be cleared, according to Joint Operation Command spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool.
“Iraqi forces have liberated the Nuri mosque and advanced in the depth of Old Mosul neighborhood,” Rasool said.
ISIS now controls less than a square mile inside of Mosul, but there were indications of forward momentum inside the city.
About 300 ISIS fighters remained in the Old City, according to the Associated Press.

ISIS controls a small, densely populated area west of the city. And as many as 2500 ISIS fighters remain in the Syrian city of Raqqa. But while the capture of the Nuri mosque is largely symbolic, the ISIS stronghold of Mosul is now almost completely back in Iraqi government control.

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

Photo courtesy DOD

Syria, Russia Accuse US of “Provocation” in Chemical Weapons Attack

The latest war of words between Washington, Moscow, and Damascus occurred on Thursday. The Syrian government of President Assad along with their Russian allies accused the United States of manufacturing a “provocation” in Syria. This was to be blamed on Assad and his government of preparing a chemical weapons attack as an excuse for the US and the coalition troops to attack.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry described the US allegations as “misleading” and “completely baseless.” It strongly stated that they reject the US’ claims that Syria is preparing for another chemical attack. The Syrians claim, that they’ve never used chemical weapons at all.

It said the objective of such allegations was to “justify a new aggression on Syria under ill-founded pretexts,” similar to what happened in April when the U.S. struck a Syrian air base, which it said had been used to stage a chemical attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed nearly 90.
Earlier this week, the White House has warned that Assad is preparing for another chemical attack and said that the Syrian ruler will “pay a heavy price” if he unleashes it.
Also Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow has received information that Syrian rebels have already fabricated video materials to accuse Damascus of a chemical attack.
She said that according to the information Russia has, Syrian towns of Saraqib and Arihah could serve as venues for the “provocation.” Both towns are located in the province of Idlib in northwestern Syria and are controlled by the rebels.
She claimed that such action could be aimed at derailing the next round of Syria peace talks brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran, which is set for next week in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana. The meeting is meant to determine specifics related to safety zones in Syria.
Zakharova’s strongly-worded statement reflect soaring tensions between Moscow and Washington even as U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin are expected to hold their first meeting at the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Germany.
The U.S. in April struck the Shayrat air base in central Syria, which it said had been used to stage a chemical attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun. The Pentagon said the preparations detected by the U.S. occurred at the same Shayrat air base which the U.S. named as the platform for launching the April attack.
The Syrian government has denied it ever used banned chemicals, and it rejected Washington’s latest allegations.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Larionov was asked by the press what the Russian response would be if the Syrians are indeed attacked again by the US, and he stated only “proportionate.”

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

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Philippine Insurgents Beheading Civilians in ISIS Stronghold

As the fighting in the Philippine city of Marawi continues, the Islamist rebels have been accused of decapitating civilians. The military has reported that they’ve recovered five civilians who were murdered by rebels and reports that more atrocities are bound to occur as the military wrests control back from the insurgents.

Philippines military members discovered the five decapitated victims among the 17 bodies that have been recovered in Marawi so far. The battle for the city has been ongoing for five weeks as insurgents loyal to the Islamic State are now beginning to try to escape the city as the military noose tightens.

The claim has not been verified by third party personnel yet but that has been the modus operandi for the IS insurgents.

Seventy-one security force personnel and 299 militants have been killed and 246,000 people displaced in the conflict, which erupted after a failed attempt on 23 May to arrest a Filipino militant commander backed by Isis’s leadership.
President Rodrigo Duterte promised to destroy the militants in Marawi and said the Philippines was now dealing with “a very dangerous situation” due to young Muslims inspired by the “mass insanity” of Isis.
“All they do is just to kill and destroy, and killing in a most brutal way,” he said at an event where he received hundreds of sniper and assault rifles donated by China to help the military campaign in Marawi.
“They enjoy decapitating people in front of cameras. They have to be dealt with, with the same ferocity but not the brutality,” he said.
The information about the beheadings came via a text message to reporters from Lt Cnl Emmanuel Garcia of the Western Mindanao Command.

Now fears that the insurgent group is freely crossing into the Philippines from Malaysia and Indonesia have the governments there worrying that the insurgent group may have a larger presence in those two countries than previously thought.

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

Photo courtesy SOFREP

Nikki Haley Tells Congress that Iran Would Supply Nukes to Terrorists

America’s top diplomat at the United Nations, Nikki Haley told members of Congress on Tuesday that the government of President Trump is worried that Iran will not only give nuclear weapons to terror groups but do so with tacit Russia approval.

That bit of news is something that has some Republicans in the House asking if a regime change something that may be considered.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley told a House Appropriations subcommittee that she believes the Iran nuclear agreement reached under the Obama administration will only “delay something that’s going to happen,” which is Iran’s achievement of a nuclear weapon. She said that poses the risk that Iran could share that technology with terrorist groups it supports.
“They’re going to continue their nuclear capabilities and we just gave them a lot of money to do it with,” she said. “And my concern is they are associating with are all the groups we’re trying to defeat.”
“So, not only did we give that capability to Iran, we are now giving it to those terrorist organizations we’re trying to defeat,” she added.
Haley told lawmakers that Iran has escalated its support for a pair of terrorist organizations on the borders of Israel, aided by the influx of money that followed the easing of sanctions under the Iranian nuclear agreement. She conceded that Iran is not committing “any violations” of the nuclear deal, but said the regime is defying international resolutions against the development of ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear weapons.
Haley added that her efforts to rally international opposition to Iran are hamstrung by Russia’s willingness to block U.N. Security Council resolutions censuring Iran. “Yes, we would love to sanction Iran; and, yes we will continue to be loud about it; and, yes, Russia will veto it,” she said.

Although President Trump has stated that the Iran is abiding by the agreement made with the US, he’s considering scrapping the deal that President Obama made with Iran. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson notified members of Congress and stated that Iran is still a leader in state-sponsored terrorism. And he added that the administration is looking into whether the pact is vital to US security interests.

To read the entire article from the Washington Examiner click here:

Photos courtesy White House