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Iraq
Sunnis eye reckoning with head Iraq Shia
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Somalia
The Somali Government and Ethiopian Army prepare to assault Ras Kamboni (also see our post from yesterday.) Three were killed when militias battled in Gandarshe, south of Mogadishu. The US has announced a $16 million humanitarian aide package for Somalia.
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Iraq
Turning Iraq’s Tribes Against al Qaeda
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Syria
Three Entities Targeted by Treasury for Supporting Syria’s WMD Proliferation
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Iraq
Arrested Iranians ‘were trying to influence Iraqi government’: BBC
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Myths About the US Military
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Afghanistan
The Afghan Army killed 18 Taliban in Helmand, including Mullah Azizullah, a regional commander. Pashtuns on both sides of the border oppose the Pakistani plan to mine and fence the border.
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Iraq
Army readying 10,000 troops for Iraq duty if requested, DOD official says
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United Kingdom
(UK) Navy to cut its fleet by half
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Somalia
Interim Somali Government Tries to Stabilize Capital
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Afghanistan
Afghan Leader Cites ‘Crisis Of Confidence’ With Pakistan
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Australia
AFP probe reports of Aussie training with Al Qaeda
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Iraq
Iranians ‘up to no good’ in Iraq
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Al Qaeda
In his latest tape called “Set Out and Support Your Brothers in Somalia,” Zawahiri calls for Muslims “in Yemen, the Arab Peninsula, Egypt, North Africa and Sudan” to “use ambushes and mines, and raids and suicidal attacks until you rend and eat your prey as the lion does with his prey.” He specifically encourages Egyptian Islamic Jihad to battle Ethiopia. Full transcript from CENTCOM. Also see January 6 post.
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Pakistan
The Taliban have taken over the “Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Kohat districts” in the NWFP. During PM Aziz’s visit to Afghanistan, Karzai accused Pakistan of helping the Taliban. Syed Saleem Shahzad said the mining of the border will fail as long as the Taliban have safe haven and can operate openly inside Pakistan.
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Talibanistan Expands further into the NWFP
Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas The Waziristan Accord gives the Taliban the power to influence territory within Pakistan The Pakistani government’s decision to negotiate with the Taliban and al Qaeda in North and South Waziristan during 2006 has serious consequences for the internal security of Pakistan as well as the international community. Not only do the Taliban use North and South Waziristan to train and launch attacks into Afghanistan, but these bases are used to extend the Taliban’s influence in Western Pakistan. In May, we noted the Taliban extended their influence and established safe havens in…
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Somalia
(Somalia) By dawn the Islamists were gone
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Do Bloggers Owe the AP an Apology?
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Algeria
Tunisian security forces killed 12 Algerians terrorists and captured 15 after a battle north of Tunis. The terrorists, likely GSPC / al Qaeda in North Africa, “were part of a larger group of militants who had crossed the border from Algeria.”
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Morocco
Morocco broke up a recruiting cell for al Qaeda in Iraq. Sixty-two Islamists were arrested. Those detained include “al Qaeda, the Algeria-based Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) and other international terrorist organisations…”
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Engaging the Islamic Courts at Ras Kamboni
Satelitte view (clouded) of the southeast corner of the Kenyan-Somali border. Click image to view. Ethiopian and Somali forces battling Islamic Courts remnants on the Kenyan border The Ethiopian armored column and Somali forces pushing southward since the fall of Mogadishu last week appear to have finally reached Ras Kamboni and are engaging a significant element of the remnants of the Islamic Courts. “Government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers were fighting about 600 Islamic militiamen in the southern tip of Somalia,” reports The Associated Press. “The Somali forces have surrounded the Islamic militiamen ‘from every direction’ in the [sic] southwestern…
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Afghanistan
Mullah Omar, in an email to Reuters, said he has not seen Osama bin Laden since late 2001. A Taliban roadside bomb in Uruzgan killed 5 Afghan soldiers. Some US politicians suggest legalizing poppy growth in Afghanistan for medicinal use.
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Iraq
The government has postponed the executions of Saddam’s half-brother and the head of the Baath Revolutionary Court. The Anbar Salvation Council announced 5 al Qaeda were killed, including a Yemeni leader, by tribal militias. Iraqi soldiers detain three bomb makers and find IED materials in Albu Farris.
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Palestinian Territories
An Israeli armored force raided Ramallah in Gaza. Four Palestinians have been reported killed and 30 wounded. Five were killed and 9 wounded in clashes between Fatah and Hamas. A smuggling tunnel between Gaza and Egypt collapsed.
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The Rise & Fall of Somalia’s Islamic Courts: An Online History
The Somalia Battlefield December 25, 2006 to January 3, 2007. Light blue – Ethiopian & TFG advances. Green – ICU territory. Orange – recent clashes. Click image to view. Click the map for an animated view of the TFG and Ethiopian operations against the Islamic Courts from December 25 to January 3 The Islamic Courts Courts rise to power mirrored that of Afghanistan’s Taliban in the 1990s, as was their fall. Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is wanted by the U.S. government for involvement of al Qaeda, and his allies shrewdly co-opted indigenous Islamist movements under the guise of restoring order…
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Second US carrier group to deploy to Persian Gulf
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Pakistan
Taliban walk right in, sit right down …
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Russian military officer warns of US missile defense plans
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Palestinian Territories
Gaza infighting leaves five dead
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North Korea
How Kim Jong Il controls a nation
