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Iraq continues investigating attack on Saudi Arabia from Iraqi territory
Iraq is investigating September 11 drone strikes on Saudi Arabia’s East-West Crude Oil Pipeline after confirming the attack originated from its territory. The incident comes as Baghdad faces pressure over militia activity and continued Iranian strikes on Kurdish Iranian opposition groups based in northern Iraq.
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FBI arrests Pennsylvania man accused of plotting Islamic State-inspired attack
Federal authorities arrested Jonathan Hunter Kramer in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, on September 12 after he allegedly acquired a semiautomatic rifle and ammunition while preparing to conduct an attack inspired by the Islamic State.
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Israeli elections stall Board of Peace plans, IDF reports 14 Gaza ceasefire violations Sept. 4–15
United States officials have expressed frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for resisting parts of their Gaza strategy. The US-backed Board of Peace, tasked with overseeing Gaza’s political transition, has seen Netanyahu stall several initiatives as he campaigns in a closely contested election. Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported 14 ceasefire violations in…
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Houthis take Yemen’s Red Sea coast and key Bab al Mandeb islands
After launching a significant campaign against forces of the internationally recognized government of Yemen on August 6, the Houthis seized the entirety of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and a strategic island in the Bab al Mandeb Strait by September 11. A counteroperation by the Yemeni Armed Forces is contesting key territory along the strait.
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Saudi Arabia closes its East-West pipeline after attacks from Iraq
Riyadh announced the closure of its East-West Crude Oil Pipeline following drone attacks emanating from Iraq. The pipeline served as a critical oil export alternative to the Persian Gulf after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
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IDF destroys Hezbollah underground command complex at Ali al Taher, withdraws from ridge
The IDF says it destroyed more than two kilometers of Hezbollah underground infrastructure beneath Ali al Taher Ridge in southern Lebanon and identified the facility as a central command complex for Hezbollah’s Badr Unit. Israeli Army Radio reported that troops subsequently withdrew from the ridge and redeployed toward Beaufort, and Israel says it will retain…
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Board of Peace focuses on International Stabilization Force for Gaza
The Board of Peace continues efforts to assemble the International Stabilization Force for Gaza, securing commitments from Kosovo and Albania as preparations advance to implement the US-backed peace plan. While progress on the ground remains tied to Hamas’s disarmament and Israel’s political timetable, international planning for Gaza’s future governance and security continues to move forward.
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Lebanese Army details pilot zone arms seizures, claims operational control
The Lebanese Armed Forces said its operations in three southern Lebanon pilot areas have produced “operational control.” The military’s first detailed official accounting of arms seizures there shows that roughly 86 percent of its 1,818-item weapons-and-ammunition tally consists of “light ammunition.”
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The truth about America’s munitions crisis
What is the true nature of America’s munitions crisis? What are the consequences of the current challenges? How did we get into this position? And what must we do to build the defense industrial base production capacity and munitions arsenals that the US needs? Generation Jihad guest host Bradley Bowman is joined by Colonel (Ret.)…
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Former US ambassador Khalilzad visits Kabul, attends Taliban oil deal signing
Former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad met with senior Taliban officials and attended the signing of a major oil and gas agreement with a Saudi company, despite the US State Department insisting that he was acting solely “in a personal capacity.” Whatever his intentions, Khalilzad gave the Taliban something it has sought since returning…
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Lebanese Army intensifies Nabatieh deployment as report says mission excludes Hezbollah disarmament
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is intensifying its presence in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon while reinforcing nearby Zawtar al Gharbiyeh, one of the pilot zones of the June 26 Trilateral Framework Between the United States of America, the State of Israel, and the Republic of Lebanon. Lebanese reporting says the Nabatieh mission is intended to…
All Articles
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The Blitz
The recent wave of violent attacks, which killed over a hundred Iraqi Shiites, has inspired fear in a segment of the Iraqi population. It isn’t the Shiites shaking in fear, however. Reality is beginning to dawn on the Iraqi Sunnis, and it is a reality they were not prepared to face: As the Shiite majority prepared to take control of the country’s first freely elected government, tribal chiefs representing Sunni Arabs in six provinces issued a list of demands – including participation in the government and drafting a new constitution – after previously refusing to acknowledge the vote’s legitimacy. “We…
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The Grip on the Levant
Lebanese politics gets interesting in the wake of the assassination of former Primer Minister Harari. Mr. Harari was a wealthy and influential Lebanese politician and businessman who positioned himself as an opposition leader to the existing pro-Syrian Lebanese government. While a previously unknown terrorist group (“The Organization for Victory and Jihad in the Levant”) has claimed credit for the murder, Syria is strongly suspected to have murdered Mr. Harari. But the Arab and European media refuses to rule out the usual suspect: let’s blame the Jews! The Lebanese government refuses to sanction an international investigation, even though it is believed…
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Courting Indian Country
Russia has indicated that it will continue with assisting Iran’s nuclear program, increasing the likelihood of a nuclear-armed Iran. Between the soft efforts of the European Union 3 (EU-3) to stop the Iranian nuclear program and Russia’s encouragement and support, the Mullahs of Iran are sure to continue their quest to become a nuclear power. The impact of Russia’s support of Iran’s nuclear program is both far-reaching and short sighted. Russia is indicating that it is separating itself from the West by co-opting the theocratic regime of Iran. Russia’s myopia is clear: they do not recognize the interrelated threat from…
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Motivations
Please accept my apologies for not living up to my promise of posting here regularly while working at Easongate. I have written a post over at Easongate to explain why I have devoted so much time to such a seemingly insignificant topic many would not understand to be related to the war. It is titled “Motivations”, and I expound further on the “information war”, which I mentioned the other day, and how we can fight it. Justin will be filling in for me when he can (I greatly appreciate this) and I will attempt to post as well if time…
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Stalling for Time
The Islamic Republic of Iran has indicated it has no intentions of halting or dismantling its nuclear program. In fact, the negotiations with the European Union 3 (EU-3) are merely designed to ensure that Iran retains its nuclear program. Ali Agha Mohammadi, the spokesman of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has stated as such: “Iran will never scrap its nuclear program, and talks with Europeans are intended to protect the country’s nuclear achievements, not negotiate an end to them, an Iranian official said Wednesday.” Despite a recent agreement with the EU-3 to suspend its enrichment programs, Iran is testing crucial…
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The Nature of the Beast
One of the most appalling reported acts of exploitative terrorism was perpetrated during last Sunday’s election in Iraq. Stymied by the Coalition and Iraqi security restrictions in place to reduce violence at the polls, the Iraqi “resistance” used a wheelchair bound child with Down’s Syndrome as a suicide bomber to murder Iraqis hoping to vote (hattip Free Will Blog via Chester): The official, Falah al-Naqib, said a handicapped child was used to carry out one of more than three dozen suicide attacks on election day. “A handicapped child was used to carry out a suicide attack on a polling site,”…
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No Delay
Election Day in Iraq is a little over a month away, and the violence against the Iraqi people and interim government increases. Last week, two election workers were gunned down in cold blood. Today, Muhammad Abd al-Hussein, a secular Iraqi politician critical of Syria was murdered, and Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the most influential Shiite party narrowly missed an assassination attempt which killed over a dozen people. Critics of the upcoming election on January 30 state that more time is needed to establish security in the Sunni regions, give the Sunni political parties time to enter the election…
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Cutting Costs
Belmont Club looks at the mortar attack on the mess hall in Mosul, and the media and European inclination to misrepresent, and in some cases ignore wholesale the nature of the Islamofascist enemy and the deeds of Saddam’s regime. The goal of the enemy in Iraq is to reduce our will to fight and push for the withdrawal of American troops, and the media’s portrayal of the Islamofascists as a legitimate ‘resistance’ only helps their cause by weakening support for the Iraqi people both domestically and internationally. The price American would pay for abandoning Iraq would be steep; however the…
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Terror TV
Charles Johnson of little green footballs links to an article on the banning of Al-Manar (The Beacon), the satellite television station of Hezbollah. The United States government has officially designated Al-Manar a terrorist organization, and the broadcast of Al-Manar will not be allowed to be carried on American satellites. Any persons or companies collaborating with Al-Manar would be subject to American laws and sanctions. The designation of Al-Manar as Foreign Terrorist Organization/Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity was a long time coming, as the network has a history terrorist activities. Samples of Al-Manar’s “programming” include hatred towards America and Israel, the…
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The Chain Gang
As the Iraqi elections approach, the interim government has decided to press forward with the trial of members of Saddam’s former Ba’athist regime. Twelve senior leaders will be the first to be tried, including Ali Hassan al-Majid (AKA Chemical Ali) and Tareq Aziz. These men wielded great power in Saddam’s Iraq. Tareq Aziz was Saddam’s Foreign Minister who circled the globe meeting with foreign leaders, and was accustomed to the finest comforts the world had to offer. Chemical Ali was Saddam’s cousin and hatchetman, the secretary of the Ba’ath party who was responsible for the gassing of the Kurds and…
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The Persian Approach
Dr. Kaveh Afrasiabi, professor of political science at the University of Tehran has published an article outlining Iran’s strategy against a possible confrontation with the United States. As Colt stated in Thursday’s Winds of War Briefing, the article is a “rather optimistic (from the mullahs’ perspective) look at how Iran would fight back” , but if this is the best face Iran can put on its ability to fight the American military, it should not be very comforting to the mullahs. Dr. Afrasiabi begins the article by discussing a recent Iranian military exercise that ‘mesmeriz[ed] foreign observers, who have described…
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Osama Speaks to Saudi Arabia
(This post will be updated with a link to the full transcript when it is available.) Osama bin Laden has released a new videotape where he praises the attacks in Jeddah, calls for the overthrow of the Saudi government and exhorts his followers to attack the lifeblood of the Middle East – oil and the infrastructure used to extract, refine and deliver it. The full transcript is not yet available, however the excerpted portions are quite revealing. On the attack on the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Al Qaeda has already claimed credit for this attack, bin Laden merely…
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The Philadelphi Warren
Last November Belmont Club reported on the scope of the Palestinian’s subterranean war along the “Philadelphi Route”, the border between Gaza and Egypt controlled by the Israeli Defense Force. While tunnels are typically used for smuggling of weapons, ammunition, drugs and terrorists, the IDF believed a tunnel pointed at one of their outposts in Rafah collapsed before it could be used in an attack. This Sunday, Palestinian terrorists succeeded in using a tunnel to strike at Israeli soldiers. Five Israeli-Arab Bedouin soldiers were killed and six wounded after two suicide bombers (a curious waste of manpower, why no remote detonation?)…
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Assyrian Problem
Iraqi Interim President Ghazi al-Yawer, Jordan’s King Abdullah and United States intelligence officials have accused Syria of funding and supporting the Iraqi insurgency. President al-Yawer is blunt in his accusation against Syria,”there are people in Syria who are bad guys, who are fugitives of the law and who are Saddam remnants who are trying to bring the vicious dictatorship of Saddam back.” Syria is said to be harboring Saddam’s Ba’athist allies, freeing up funds for insurgency, providing material support such as weapons, as well as facilitating the movement of jihadis into Iraq. Syria’s actions should come as no surprise, as…
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The Credibility Gap
The Democratic Leadership Council, the purportedly moderate wing of the Democratic Party which includes members such as Evan Bayh, Joe Lieberman, Blanche Lincoln and former President Bill Clinton, recently published an article that seemingly called for the resignation of United Nations Secretary General Koffi Annan due to his complicity in the Oil for Food scandal. It is interesting that the DLC has weighed in on the Oil for Food debacle at this point in time. What took them so long to recognize the corruption in the UN? This story has been public knowledge for quite some time; the Wall Street…
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The Keystone State
A common misconception about the Global War on Terror is that Iraq is completely unrelated to the war effort, that it is a distraction. This could be seen in polling questions during the presidential election. When pollsters asked about the issues most important to voters, the “War on Terror” and “Iraq” was listed as two separate issues. Despite the vast resources available to the mainstream media, they have failed to properly analyze the situation in the Middle East and grasp the strategic significance of Iraq in relation to the Global War on Terror. Part of this problem is the liberal…
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A New Containment
After a long spring and summer filled with bombings, beheadings and clashes between Saudi security forces and al Qaeda, Saudi Arabia has enjoyed a quite period, marked by minor events such as arrests and roundups of suspected terrorists. Today the relative calm has ended. The American consulate in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah was attacked by terrorists, who breached the primary security ring by ramming the gates with a suicide bomb, then attempted to enter the main compound. All attackers were killed or captured, along with four Saudi guards and several non-American consular employees. As discussed in With…
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Splitsville
The Washington Times, in two separate articles, disclosed some interesting developments on the status of the Iraqi insurgency. In the first article, Pamela Hess reports that the insurgency is considering forming a political front and purging itself of its violent and extremist elements: the foreign terrorists, criminals and radical sheikhs. Intelligence shows that the insurgency and its excessive violence has grown unpopular with the local populations. Hess reports that the insurgency is currently a “foco insurgency” , an insurgency designed to destroy the credibility of the government by using force, of the model that Che Guevara unsuccessfully tried to implement…
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Winter in Hell
Elections in Iraq are less than two months away, and despite calls from Sunni groups to postpone them, Iraq’s Sunni President Ghazi al-Yawer has thrown his support behind the scheduled date of January 30th. Media negativity and spin continues to be presented with regards to Iraq and Afghanistan, including the increase in American troop strength during upcoming elections, the likelihood of failure of the upcoming election in Iraq, comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam, and the rise in opium production in Afghanistan. The successes in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere are glossed over as they do not adhere to the mainstream media’s…
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Shirking Jihad
In a recent interview, CENTCOM Commanding General John Abizaid calls for action against the dangerous Wahhabi and Salafi ideologies espoused by Osama bin Laden and other Islamist terrorists. General John Abizaid notes that al Qaeda has suffered a string of military failures on the battlefield against American forces but still remains a threat as a political and ideological movement. “Militarily, Al Qaeda is under pressure but it is still dangerous, he said, likening it to the Bolshevism of the 1890s or fascism in the 1920s. “They don’t seek to win any military battles. As a matter of fact, in three…
