Posted tagged ‘Islamic slaughter’

Anti-ISIL coalition preparing broad air operation:

November 12, 2015

Anti-ISIL coalition preparing broad air operation:

Report ISTANBUL

Source: Anti-ISIL coalition preparing broad air operation: Report – MIDEAST

And so it begins .

AA photo

Coalition forces fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadist group are preparing for a wide-scale aerial operation in Syria, private broadcaster CNN Türk has reported.

A number of Turkish and American fighter jets in southern Adana’s İncirlik Air Base were preparing for a “wide-scale operation” by next month, with a “boots on the ground” option set aside by the security sources in Ankara.

The coalition’s air operation could be an intensive one which lasts for days, the report added.

The aim of the operation was also to cleanse the Jarabulus, Azaz and Mare lines in northern Syria.

The U.S. Air Force’s F-15 jets, which arrived in İncirlik on Nov. 6, meanwhile would not secure Turkish airspace as previously reported, with an objective instead of securing coalition jets from possible attacks coming from Syria and Russia.

In addition, the opposition Turkmens and Arab forces in Syria will continue to work on the ground while Turkish troops will stand by on the border. Moreover, the option of a Turkish operation would only be discussed if Democratic Union Party (PYD) forces in northern Syria pass to the western banks of the Euphrates, the report said.

Jets in İncirlik:

– 6 F-15C fighter jets

– 12 KC-135 tanker aircrafts

– 11 MQ-1 predators

– 12 A-10 bomber aircrafts

– 14 Turkish F-16 fighter jets

November/12/2015

Turkey: Syria land operation possible but not alone

November 11, 2015

Turkey: Syria land operation possible but not alone

Uğur Ergan – ANKARA

Source: Turkey: Syria land operation possible but not alone – MIDEAST

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu (R) sitting across CNN International's Christiane Amanpour (L) in an interview on Nov. 9, 2015. AA Photo

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu (R) sitting across CNN International’s Christiane Amanpour (L) in an interview on Nov. 9, 2015. AA Photo

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said a ground forces operation in Syria could be possible but Turkey would not conduct such an operation alone, speaking in an interview with CNN International’s Christiane Amanpour on Nov. 9.

“[A] ground forces [campaign] is something which we have to talk [about] together and share. As I told you in our last interview, there’s a need of an integrated strategy, including an air campaign and ground troops,” Davutoğlu told Amanpour on Nov. 9.

“But Turkey alone cannot take on this burden. If there’s a coalition and a very well designed integrated strategy, Turkey is ready to take part in all senses,” he added.

Davutoğlu confirmed once again that he was talking about a possible ground forces operation after Amanpour asked if the strategy also included “the ground.”

“Yes, of course,” Davutoğlu answered.

He said that without an integrated strategy for Syria, which was needed, another terrorist group could emerge apart from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“We have to solve the Syrian crisis in a comprehensive manner,” Davutoğlu said.

According to Turkish security sources who spoke to daily Hürriyet on condition of anonymity, it was not considered a warm option for the Turkish Armed Forces to enter Syrian territory for a land operation against ISIL without a decision taken in the international arena, either with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) or the NATO Council. The inclusion of coalition forces in these international decisions is also being sought for Turkey to take part in a ground forces campaign, the sources said.

Since civil war erupted in Syria, sources said, Turkey has been making plans on various scenarios, which included launching a land operation, and were making the necessary changes to them according to new developments. The sources said it was “normal” for Turkey to conduct such plans.

If an attack is launched directly towards Turkey from the Syrian side, then Turkey would respond to this attack without seeking a decision from the UNSC or NATO, according to the sources.

Turkey could launch a special forces unit operation into the area in Syria where a attack on Turkey was launched from, but this would be a limited campaign and it could not be regarded as an extensive operation, the security sources said.

Sources added Turkey would be more involved in airstrikes under a coalition led by the U.S.

Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioğlu’s words last week in Iraq’s Arbil on the possibility of Turkey having “plans to militarily take action against ISIL” could be regarded in this perception, the sources said.

Turkey also needed to take into consideration Russia when making plans on a ground operation in Syria, they said.

November/11/2015

Five Child-Incitement Hot Spots

November 10, 2015

Five Child-Incitement Hot Spots, The Clarion Project, Meira Svirsky, November 9, 2015

Child-Incitement-2-HP

 

Hamas and the Palestinian Authority

A television show for pre-schoolers, a theater contest at a school, hit songs that encourage the use of “cleavers and knives” – all are mediums used by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to teach Palestinian children to hate Jews and incite them to punch, stab shoot and otherwise kill the “enemy.”

Palestinian textbooks teach their children that Israel has no right to exist; the Palestinian Authority uses sports events to glorify terrorists, naming tournaments and festivals after the most gruesome killers; Hitler is held up as the ultimate role model in PA schools and on their Facebook pages; and the PA media teaches children the pleasure and rewards of martyrdom.

In addition to all the above methods, Hamas provides military training and indoctrination for kids through their summer camps in which Palestinian children receive paramilitary training, including how [to] make a homemade rocket and how to fire guns (training uses live ammunition).

Islamic State (ISIS)

One of the stated strategies of the Islamic State is to assure the continuation of the “caliphate” and its mission by training the next generation in their methodology and dogma. The following video report (see below) by Irmi, a media outlet based in the UAE, shows the indoctrination of the “Caliphate Cubs,” the Islamic State’s children’s division.

Children are brainwashed to join the Islamic State in a number of ways. After targeting a community for takeover, the Islamic State will typically kill the men, enslave the women and girl and take the young boys to be trained killers for the caliphate.

In addition, Islamic State supporters from Arab countries as well as Europe have been encouraged to bring their young boys to Islamic State territory (a call which they have heeded) to receive training.

Boys as young as five learn how to shoot and slaughter through a variety of methods — lynching, beheading and suicide bombings.

Somalia

Al-Shabaab, the brutal Islamist terror organization responsible for the Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya, recruits children for use as soldiers. Children are lured to join the group through the use of extremist propaganda and material rewards. Religious events in mosques provide fertile ground for recruitment as well. Mosques in the United States, in areas with a heavy Somali immigrant population, such as Minnesota, have also played roles in recruiting older boys, even those born and raised in the U.S. Al-Shabaab has also proven remarkably sophisticated in its use of the Internet to post recruitment appeals aimed directly at young Somali-Americans that feature glorified battle scenes and personal testimonials from Somali-Americans already among its ranks.

Pakistan

Although Pakistan was conceived as a homeland for Muslims whose founder envisioned equal rights for all citizens (including minorities), a study of the country’s text books shows children in Pakistani schools are being taught prejudice and intolerance of all religions except Islam. In addition, the study found that most teachers were found to view non-Muslims as “enemies of Islam.”

The finding of the study, conducted by the U.S. government, “indicate how deeply ingrained hard-line Islam is in Pakistan and help explain why militancy is often supported, tolerated or excused in the country.”

A 2011 Pew Reseach Center study found Pakistan to be the third most intolerant country in the world.

”Teaching discrimination increases the likelihood that violent religious extremism in Pakistan will continue to grow, weakening religious freedom, national and regional stability, and global security,” said Leonard Leo, the chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

A separate study by the National Commission for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Church of Pakistan also surveyed found that Pakistani textbooks for children “inculcated hatred.” The organization has called for their removal.

“Teaching hatred or harm to students is illegal,” said Peter Jacob, executive director of the Centre for Social Justice. Yet, “There are no checks on independent publishers and the material they publish. Either the government carefully monitors these publishers or it bans some of the textbooks they publish.”

UK

Britain has been rocked by the “Trojan Horse” scandal in Birmingham and other locations where Islamist extremists have managed to take control of a number of publicly-funded schools and use them as a platform to disseminate their discriminatory views.

A report by the former head of the Metropolitan police force’s counter-terrorism division found there was a “co-ordinated, deliberate and sustained action to introduce an intolerant and aggressive Islamic ethos” into a few schools in Birmingham.”

“This has been achieved in a number of schools through gaining influence on the governing bodies, installing sympathetic head teachers or senior members of staff, appointing like-minded people to key positions, and seeking to remove head teachers who they do not feel to be sufficiently compliant with their agenda,” the report said.

Children at these schools are being encouraged to accept unquestioningly a hardline version of Sunni Islamism, leaving them vulnerable to radicalization later on, according to the report.

British Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said, “Teachers have said they fear children are learning to be intolerant of difference and diversity. Instead of enjoying a broadening and enriching experience in school, young people are having their horizons narrowed and are being denied the opportunity to flourish in a modern multicultural Britain.”

Islam, social justice warriors and the cry-bully

November 7, 2015

Islam, social justice warriors and the cry-bully, Front Page Magazine, Daniel Greenfield, November 7, 2015

sjw2

This phenomenon of the abuser-victim is ridiculously widespread these days. Every Social Justice Warrior that organizes a hate campaign quickly rushes to friendly media outlets to whine about harassment and their heroic stand against people doing to them what they do to others. I’m not sure if Cry-Bully is the best name for it, but I haven’t come up with anything better for it.

That’s Julie Burchill’s label at the Spectator. I’ve stripped out most of the UK pop culture references to focus on the point.

This is the age of the Cry-Bully, a hideous hybrid of victim and victor, weeper and walloper. They are everywhere, these duplicit Pushmi-Pullyus of the personal and the political…

In the 1970s, there was a big difference between bullies and cry-babies.

Islamism is the ultimate Cry-Bully cause; on one hand stamping around murdering anyone who doesn’ t agree with you, on the other hand yelling ‘ISLAMOPHOBIA’ in lieu of having a real adult debate about the merits of your case. Their ‘helpline’ is even called Tell Mama – bless. The British-born Islamist recently sentenced to twelve years had no problem posing with severed heads (‘Heads, kaffirs, disgusting’) and asking friends back home to send him condoms which he planned to use raping women captured as ‘war booty’ but then claimed to be having nightmares and suffering from depression in order to escape jail.

I would argue that the same brand of selfishness and dehumanization that leads to abusive behavior also leads to victimhood.

We’ve known this about criminals for some time now. They’re all victims. No matter what horrible things they did, someone else always drove them to it. They’re self-centered enough not to care about anyone else while being exquisitely attuned to their own feelings. As I wrote a few weeks ago

The one thing that Muslim murderers excel at is playing the victim. Someone always “made” Mohammed do it. Someone got him so frustrated and upset that he had no choice but to rape and kill.

There’s a term for the kind of people who think like this; criminals. There’s a term for the kind of people who defend them; leftists.

The Muslim case for justice can be found in the books of a million police departments where all the stories begin with the criminal feeling sorry for himself and end in hospitals and morgues. The story always begins with, “I wanted what was coming to me” or “She shouldn’t have made me angry.”

But this isn’t limited to Muslims. You can see it in the Black Lives Matter tantrums. Or the anti-Gamergate crowd. They’re the victims and it’s always someone else’s fault.

The entire passive aggressive narrative of safe spaces (if you don’t censor people who disagree with us, we’re the victims) turns abusers into victims, censors into heroes defending their mental health from dissenting views and the victim-victor paradigm is constantly flipping from one to the other.

One moment the SJW hero is doing an end zone dance over having defeated the latest cultural enemy. The next moment they’re crying over mean stuff said to them on Twitter. They’re narcissistic and insecure. They want to be treated as helpless heroes, victims of some terrible social disease (not that kind) that leaves them always out of power and yet always winning. Their sensitivities have to be accommodated and censorship is their trophy. They’re all about inclusiveness for special people like them, while driving out and shutting up anyone who disagrees with them.

I don’t know if Cry-Bullies is the perfect word, but it captures the dynamic perfectly.

US boosts security at Mideast airports, Russia suspends Egypt air travel

November 7, 2015

US boosts security at Mideast airports, Russia suspends Egypt air travel White House: New measures are ‘prudent response,’ as intelligence points to bomb in Saturday’s Sinai plane crash; 50,000 Russian tourists in Egypt

By Times of Israel staff and AFP

November 7, 2015, 1:24 am

Source: US boosts security at Mideast airports, Russia suspends Egypt air travel | The Times of Israel

Tourists queue at the airport in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on November 6, 2015. (AFP/ MOHAMED EL-SHAHED)

Tourists queue at the airport in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on November 6, 2015. (AFP/ MOHAMED EL-SHAHED)

The US Department of Homeland Security announced new security measures on Friday at some foreign airports for flights into the US, and Russia suspended all air travel to Egypt, amid mounting intelligence that a bomb brought down the Russian passenger plane that crashed last Saturday in the Sinai, killing all 224 people aboard.

A day earlier, the United Kingdom suspended all flights over the restive Sinai Peninsula, following French carrier Air France and Germany’s Lufthansa, both of which banned flights to the area last week.

The Islamic State terror group in Egypt, also known as Wilayat Sinai, has claimed responsibility for bringing down the plane, claiming that it was an act of retribution for Russian air strikes against the group in Syria.

The White House said the US would ask for increased security for less than 10 airports, all in the Middle East, according to a Reuters report.

White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, said the new measures were a “prudent response” to the incident.

An investigation into the crash has been ongoing, with Egypt and Russia initially dismissing the Islamic State’s claims of responsibility. But US and UK officials, including President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron have said that there were strong indications an explosive device brought down the aircraft.

Sources close to the probe said Friday that an analysis of black boxes from the plane which took off from Sharm el-Sheik en route to St.Peteresburg pointed to a “violent end” in the form of bomb attack.

The flight data and voice recorders showed “everything was normal” until both failed at 24 minutes after takeoff, pointing to “a very sudden explosive decompression,” one source said.

The data “strongly favors” the theory a bomb on board had brought down the plane, he added.

Another source said the plane had gone down suddenly and violently.

The Times newspaper reported Friday that electronic communications intercepted by British and US intelligence suggested a bomb may have been carried onto the plane.

Satellites uncovered chatter between militants in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Syria, it said.

“The tone and content of the messages convinced analysts that a bomb had been carried on board by a passenger or a member of the airport ground staff,” the newspaper reported, without giving a source.

Meanwhile, British airlines were scrambling to evacuate passengers in Sharm el-Sheikh after cancelling flights to the Red Sea resort from which the doomed Airbus had taken off Saturday.

One of the black boxes recovered from the crash site showed that the plane suffered “a violent, sudden” end, a source close to the case in Paris told AFP.

The flight data recorder showed that “everything was normal during the flight, absolutely normal, and suddenly there was nothing.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered flights halted on the recommendation of his security chief, the Kremlin said, although Moscow had previously downplayed reports that a bomb caused the crash.

At an emergency meeting, the head of Russia’s FSB security service, Alexander Bortnikov, said it would be prudent to halt flights for now.

“Until we have determined the true reasons for what happened, I consider it expedient to stop flights by Russian aviation to Egypt,” he said.

According to Reuters, which cites the Russian Travel Industry Union, there are an estimated 50,000 Russian tourists currently in Egypt.

Debris of the A321 Russian airliner a day after the plane crashed in Wadi al-Zolomat, a mountainous area in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, on November 1, 2015. (AFP/Khaled Desouki)

With international concerns mounting, European airlines prepared to bring home thousands of tourists from the Red Sea resort, which has been a jewel in Egypt’s tourism crown.

A first flight landed at London’s Gatwick airport Friday afternoon, after a lengthy delay to its departure. Another plane was also headed for Britain.

There were angry scenes at the airport as thousands of anxious Britons, who had also hoped to fly home, were sent back to their hotels after Egypt blocked several other repatriation flights.

British Ambassador John Casson was heckled as he announced the news.

Egyptian Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal said only eight of 29 flights would take off because the airport could not cope with all the luggage left behind.

In a sign of mounting fears about the security of baggage handling in Egypt, Dutch carrier KLM announced that it had banned check-in luggage on an early flight from Cairo, mirroring moves taken by several European airlines.

Obama Deepening Syria War as Prelude to More War, Based on Lies

November 6, 2015

Obama Deepening Syria War as Prelude to More War, Based on Lies

Friday, 06 November 2015

Written by 

Source: Obama Deepening Syria War as Prelude to More War, Based on Lies

Obama Deepening Syria War as Prelude to More War, Based on Lies

Photo of President Obama: AP Images

Outrage and criticism are growing across the political spectrum after Obama, contradicting his repeated past pledges not to put U.S. troops in Syria, decided without congressional or constitutional authority to deploy some 50 Special Forces operatives to aid Syrian jihadists. At least one U.S. soldier has already been killed, dying last month in what Obama officials claimed was a raid to free prisoners held by the Islamic State (ISIS). More deaths are likely, as are more troop deployments, according to lawmakers and analysts, potentially setting up a broader war in which the United States could become further ensnared in Syria and beyond. Thanks in large part to the administration’s deceit and machinations in recent years, the whole region is likely to end up in flames — a kind of post-Obama Libya on a much larger scale. And Obama’s Republican and Democrat enablers in Congress, despite voicing some complaints and concerns, have done practically nothing to stop it.

The official excuse for sending American forces to Syria is to help various jihadist “rebels” battle ISIS. Yet, based on the statements of Obama’s own top officials, including Vice President Joe Biden and Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, members of Obama’s “anti-ISIS” coalition have been arming, funding, and training ISIS from the start. In fact, in a public speech at Harvard, Biden said the anti-ISIS coalition had essentially created ISIS in the first place — on purpose. Official U.S. intelligence documents later confirmed that. The notion that Obama is sending U.S. troops to battle the Frankenstein creation of its own “anti-ISIS” coalition, then, sounds far-fetched at best. Far more likely is that the real agenda is not being publicly discussed, with ISIS merely serving as the excuse du jour to wage more illegal war.

The administration, of course, also claims that the U.S. military deployment will remain small, supposedly in a mostly advisory capacity along the lines of what got the U.S. government embroiled in Vietnam. Chief White House mouthpiece Josh Earnest even claimed Obama would “not allow the U.S. to be drawn into a sectarian quagmire in Syria.” As he was speaking, though, Obama was in the process of sinking America deeper into the sectarian quagmire that Obama himself helped create and fuel in Syria. “The president believes that by committing a relatively small number of forces, fewer than 50, that they can serve as a force multiplier and further enhance the efforts of these local forces on the ground,” Earnest continued. The “force” that would be “multiplied” by U.S. forces, of course, is a jihadist force, as Obama’s own top officials have already acknowledged publicly and as U.S. military documents show conclusively.

Either way, there is no reason to believe anything Earnest or anyone else in the administration has to say about the deployment, the purpose of it, or anything else, really — and there are plenty of reasons not to believe it. As The New American reported this week, Obama decided to lawlessly commit U.S. troops into Syria’s civil war after years of repeated promises to not deploy U.S. troops in Syria. Indeed, reporter C. Mitchell Shaw compiled a list of 18 separate instances in which the Obama administration publicly pledged not to deploy U.S. troops in Syria. Instead of keeping its promise and U.S. boots off the ground in Syria, though, the administration announced last week that a contingent of American Special Forces personnel were on the way to help various jihadist groups battle other jihadist groups.

It appears, however, that the administration and its war-mongering allies are having trouble keeping their lies straight on all fronts. For instance, the White House claims it has the authority to deploy U.S. forces in Syria based on an “Authorization for Use of Military Force” (AUMF) passed by Congress in 2001 authorizing military strikes on “al Qaeda and associated forces.” Yet, the Obama administration and various warmongers demanding military action in Syria also claim that al-Qaeda and ISIS are at odds with each other. Indeed, disgraced former General David Petraeus, who oversaw the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even called for a U.S. government alliance with al-Qaeda to fight ISIS. Seriously. Official U.S. documents also show that Washington, D.C., has known from the beginning that the Syrian “opposition” was being led by al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other Islamist organizations.

Meanwhile, Obama’s unconstitutional “regime-change” plot against Libya also discredits the administration’s false claim that the AUMF against al-Qaeda authorizes U.S. government support for jihad in Syria. In Libya, retired U.S. military generals and others even concluded that Obama had “switched sides” in the terror war when he backed self-declared al-Qaeda leaders against former U.S. terror-war ally Moammar Gadhafi. In that war, which turned what remains of war-torn Libya into a jihadist paradise mired in ongoing civil war, Obama did not cite the AUMF, instead pointing to an illegitimate United Nations Security Council “resolution” as the source of authority. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even promised to ignore Congress if it tried to stop the illegal war. The U.S. Constitution, of course, requires a declaration of war before the president is authorized to wage war.

Even some congressional Democrats, though, are speaking out against Obama. “It’s hard not to be concerned when the president very clearly ruled out putting troops on the ground in Syria and now they’re on their way into the battle,” explained U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), adding that he expected Obama to deploy even more U.S. troops in Syria going forward. “We’ve crossed a line here that’s hard to understand.” Another Senate Democrat, Tim Kaine of Virginia, echoed those concerns, saying lawmakers were not convinced. The White House’s efforts “to say, ‘Don’t worry, this is not ground troops,’ people don’t think that’s credible,” he said. Various Republicans have also slammed Obama’s decision. The public, too, is catching on, with a recent Associated Press poll showing that more than 6 in 10 Americans reject Obama’s “anti-ISIS” machinations in Syria.

Unsurprisingly, the warmongering Republican neoconservatives in Congress who supported the disastrous U.S. government invasion, “regime change,” and occupation of Iraq were standing fully behind Obama. Some even demanded that Obama deepen his involvement in Syria’s civil war even further. “Democrats and a few Republicans have absolutely no clue as to the threat we face,” complained Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who supports sending even more U.S. troops to the region. “We’re going to get attacked from Syria. That is where the next 9/11 is coming from.” He may be right.

What Graham and his fellow warmongers in Congress failed to mention, though, is that creating a fundamentalist Islamist principality in Syria — known today as ISIS — was official U.S. government policy as far back as 2012, according to a U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report. Top U.S. officials said they warned against such an absurd and deadly policy, but were overruled by Obama and his cohorts desperate for more war. Graham and his neocon sidekick Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), though, have been cheerleading for Obama’s military support to Middle Eastern jihadists for years. McCain even posed for pictures with them. So if it is true that the next terror attack on U.S. soil comes from Syria, the Republican neocon enablers in Congress and the Obama administration will bear a major part of the blame.

But what is the real purpose of Obama’s latest scheming in Syria? According to Kremlin-backed media voices, it is about using U.S. troops as “human shields” to protect Obama’s anti-government jihadist “rebels” from Vladimir Putin’s air power. “The troop dispatch signals that the U.S. [is] trying to forestall Russian successes in wiping out Washington’s regime-change assets in Syria,” wrote analyst Finian Cunningham in a piece published by the Moscow-controlled RT. “In short, the US Special Forces are being used as ‘human shields’ to curb Russian air strikes against anti-government mercenaries, many of whom are instrumental in Washington’s regime-change objective in Syria.”

Despite Moscow’s ostensible support for Assad, however, it appears that the globalist goals in Syria still include deposing the autocratic dictator, eventually — but not before the nation is reduced to rubble, Libya-style, and the genocide of Syria’s ancient Christian communities by Western-backed jihadist “rebels” is complete. Also apparently on the globalist agenda: exploiting the Syrian war to flood the West with millions of refugees, empowering the UN and its kangaroo “court,” and imposing a European Union-style “Middle-East Union” pushed by the global-government-promoting Council on Foreign Relations.

Hundreds of thousands of innocents are now dead. More are dying every single day. Christians are  where they have lived continuously for almost 2000 years. Millions of Syrians have been forced to flee their homes. And much of the responsibility for the tragedy can be traced straight back to the deadly machinations of Obama and his allies.

Congress must take immediate action to rein in the White House, or the growing rivers of blood drenching the Middle East will be on their hands, too.

Israeli teen seriously hurt in day’s second Hebron shooting

November 6, 2015

Israeli teen seriously hurt in day’s second Hebron shooting 19-year-old suffers wounds to upper body in Friday’s fourth terror attack; large number of troops searching area

By Times of Israel staff

November 6, 2015, 6:47 pm

Source: Israeli teen seriously hurt in day’s second Hebron shooting | The Times of Israel

A wounded Jewish teen arrives at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem on November 6, 2015, after unknown assailants shot and wounded him and another teen in the West Bank city of Hebron. (AFP PHOTO/AHMAD GHARABLI)

A wounded Jewish teen arrives at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem on November 6, 2015, after unknown assailants shot and wounded him and another teen in the West Bank city of Hebron. (AFP PHOTO/AHMAD GHARABLI)

An Israeli youth was seriously wounded Friday evening in a shooting attack at the Beit Anun junction north of the West Bank city of Hebron.

The victim was a 19-year-old Israeli who had been shot in the upper body

Medics and emergency personnel rushed to the scene of the attack, where they administered first aid treatment before evacuating the victim to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem.

This was the fourth terror attack on Israelis in the West Bank in one day. A short time earlier, two Israeli teenagers were wounded, one seriously, in a separate shooting attack in the Hebron area.

The security forces were looking into the possibility that one cell had carried out both the Beit Anun attack and the shooting at the Tomb of the Patriarchs a short time earlier, Channel 10 said.

Large numbers of forces from the IDF and Shin Bet security service were conducting searches in the Beit Anun area, Maariv reported.

The shootings come hours after a Palestinian woman in her 70s tried to drive her car into a group of soldiers in the Hebron area. She was shot and wounded by troops.

Also Friday, an Israeli man was badly hurt when he was stabbed outside a West Bank supermarket north of Jerusalem. A Palestinian from the Jerusalem area later posted a video clip on Facebook claiming responsibility for the stabbing.

Russia sends anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria

November 6, 2015

Russia sends anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria Russia has sent missile systems to Syria to avert aircraft attacking Russian planes, said a top commander. The “Islamic State” has reiterated claims it downed a Russian civilian plane as retribution for airstrikes.

Source: Russia sends anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria | News | DW.COM | 05.11.2015

The Russian Air Force’s commander-in-chief said in an interview with Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda that Russia sent “anti-aircraft missile systems” to Syria to better protect its fighter planes engaged in daily airstrikes in the Middle East country.

“We have calculated all possible threats. We have sent not only fighter jets, bombers and helicopters, but also anti-aircraft missile systems,” Colonel General Viktor Bondarev told the Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Bondarev said there were many reasons for the decision, including the possibility of Russian combat aircraft being hijacked or attacked.

“There may be different kinds of force majeure. For example, the hijacking of combat aircraft in the territory of Syria’s neighboring states to strike at us. And for this, we must be prepared,” Bondarev added.

War on terrorism?

The statement comes after more than a month of Russian airstrikes in Syria, which the Kremlin says are aimed at destroying the Islamic State militant group.

 Huge NATO exercise to send signal to Russia

Moscow has been accused by Western governments of propping up the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which ignited a civil war when it cracked down on pro-democracy protesters in 2011.

Syrian rebels and activists claim that the strikes specifically target anti-Assad fighters, and rarely hit the militant group’s sites.

However, Russia’s defense ministry said on Tuesday that it reached out to opposition leaders in a bid to bolster cooperation in the fight against “terrorism,” although it was unclear which rebel groups established contact.

Islamic State claims retribution

Meanwhile, the Islamic State on Wednesday reiterated claims that it downed a Russian civilian aircraft last week; a statement that the British foreign minister says could prove likely.

“If you think you can destroy our state by sending your planes, vehicles and soldiers, you are wrong and you will regret that,” a Russian “Islamic State” militant said in a video, reported news site Vocativ.

“The plane we downed is the best proof. We will not be satisfied with downing your planes, but will storm your houses and will slaughter you.”

Russia to suspend flights to Egypt until causes of Sinai crash are clear

November 6, 2015

Russia to suspend flights to Egypt until causes of Sinai crash are clear

Published time: 6 Nov, 2015 13:32 Edited time: 6 Nov, 2015 15:04

Source: Russia to suspend flights to Egypt until causes of Sinai crash are clear — RT News

© Maksim Blinov
President Vladimir Putin has agreed with the Federal Security Service to halt all Russian flights to Egypt following an October 31 passenger plane crash in Sinai that killed all 224 people on board.

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As long as we haven’t established the causes of the incident, I consider it appropriate to suspend the flights of Russian aircraft to Egypt. This primarily applies to the tourist flow,” FSB director Aleksandr Bortnikov told a meeting of the Russian Anti-Terror Committee on Friday.

Egypt has provided Russian investigators with access to all the fragments of the crashed plane as well as the baggage, he said. There is need for “absolute objectivity” and “confirmed data” to establish the causes of the disaster, he added.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin agreed with the recommendations of the Federal Security Service (FSB). He added that Putin had instructed the government to ensure the safe return of Russian citizens from Egypt and to cooperate with the Egyptian authorities on establishing air traffic security.

Peskov said that the decision to suspend flights was “solely connected with security” reasons, and doesn’t suggest that Moscow considers the A321 crash to be a terrorist attack.

Russia’s civil aviation regulator has started drawing up plans to suspend flights between Russia and Egypt, the agency’s chief, Alexander Neradko, said Friday.

Around 45,000 Russians are currently on holiday in Egypt, TASS cited figures provided by Russia’s tourism agency.

Swabs and scrapings from all fragments of the [crashed] plane, baggage and soil have been taken by Russian experts,” said the head of the Russian Emergencies Service, Vladimir Puchkov, during the meeting.

I underline once more that the necessary samples have been taken from all the elements that can contain traces of explosives,” he added. “If there were explosives on the plane, we will be able to determine it.”

READ MORE: Cherry-picking facts may lead Sinai crash probe down MH17 lane – Russian aviation agency chief

The Airbus A321 belonging to Russian Kogalymavia, which uses the brand name Metrojet, crashed in Egypt 20 minutes after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh airport on October 31. All 217 passengers and seven crewmembers on board died in the disaster, making it the deadliest incident of this kind in Russian aviation history. There was no distress call prior to the crash.

Following the disaster, the head of Russian aviation agency Rosaviatsia, Aleksandr Neradko, said that all the signs suggested that the destruction of the plane occurred “in the air and at a great altitude.” The evidence for that was the remains of the plane and the bodies, which have been scattered over an area measuring about 8 km by 4 km, he said.

The airline of the ill-fated passenger jet said on Monday that the plane must have been damaged by a force in flight and couldn’t have just broken apart.

On Tuesday, US media cited sources in the intelligence community saying that that a US infrared satellite had detected a heat flash in the same vicinity, indicating that an explosion may have occurred on board.

On Thursday, UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced that it was “more likely than not” that a bomb caused the crash. His comments were met with doubts from Moscow. During a telephone conversation between Cameron and Putin on Thursday, the PM was accused of “acting before he knows the facts,” according to tabloid paper the Sun.

On Wednesday, Britain halted flights from and to the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh over concerns that the Russian passenger jet was downed by a bomb on board.

Earlier in the week, a militant group associated with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) claimed to have shot down the Russian plane, but this claim has been deemed unreliable.

16-year-old seriously hurt in Hebron shooting attack

November 6, 2015

16-year-old seriously hurt in Hebron shooting attack 18-year-old also lightly hurt in attack near the Cave of the Patriarchs

November 6, 2015, 5:05 pm

Source: 16-year-old seriously hurt in Hebron shooting attack | The Times of Israel

Israeli security forces fire tear gas canisters to disperse Palestinian protesters during a demonstration in the West Bank city of Hebron, on October 27, 2015. (AFP Photo/Hazem Bader)

Israeli security forces fire tear gas canisters to disperse Palestinian protesters during a demonstration in the West Bank city of Hebron, on October 27, 2015. (AFP Photo/Hazem Bader)

Two Israeli teens were hurt Friday evening in a shooting attack at the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron.

One of the two, a 16-year-old, was seriously hurt and the other, aged 18, sustained light injuries.

The two were hit by sniper fire, Maariv reported. Both of the victims were said to be conscious at the scene of the attack.