Category Archives: Department of Defense

Iran Backs Up, Russia Wants Terror List

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The talks for a resolution in Syria are on going in Vienna. John Kerry to date has sided with Iran against the positions of the Gulf States and Turkey while mostly playing mediator. Russia continues without consequence to support Basher al Assad of Syria. In summary, there is no progress except that no one from the West is challenging the new status quo and the hegemony in the region.

Iran came prepared for all possibilities on the table in Vienna and would walk away from the talks fundamentally if they did not get their way.

Tehran has warned it would quit the talks if it found them unconstructive and has complained about what it says is a negative role in Syria by its regional rival, Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, the factions of Western backed Syrian rebels along with countless factions of pro-Assad/pro-Iranian groups along with ISIS and al Nusra make up the real conditions on the ground and no one has full management of the situation. Now, Russia once again is taking the lead where Lavrov is making some key demands which would likely result Russian/Assad full control.

VoA: Moscow wants a second round of talks on Syria to come to an agreement on a list of terrorist groups operating in the country.

Speaking Tuesday in Sochi, Russia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called such a list necessary “so that no one has any doubt in regard to the orientation of one or another armed group” in Syria.

Russia’s Tass state news agency reported Lavrov added it would be “impossible” to move forward without “full clarity on this issue.”

He said when a cease-fire is declared with the start of a political process “the cease-fire agreement will not apply to terrorist organizations, which continue to be considered legitimate targets.”

The second round of talks is scheduled for Saturday in Vienna.

The United States and other Western countries have been conducting airstrikes targeting the Islamic State (IS) group in Syrian and Iraq. While Moscow claims its own air campaign in Syria is directed against IS, Washington says 85-90 percent of Russian airstrikes in Syria since last month have hit the moderate Syrian opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.

France’s Defense Ministry said French fighter jets struck IS oil facilities Tuesday in eastern Syria.

Diplomats from 17 countries, plus the United Nations and European Union, met in Vienna on October 30 for a first round of talks on Syria. They agreed to a U.N.-led process involving talks between the Syrian government and opposition, and also to explore a cease-fire that would still allow strikes against terrorist groups.

At least 22 people were killed Tuesday in a rebel attack in the coastal city of Latakia, a Syrian government bastion. Russian combat aircraft operate out of a base outside the city.

Meanwhile, Syrian state media reported government forces had broken a two-year IS siege of a military airport near the northern city of Aleppo.

The pressure on the White House is coming from a bi-partisan group in Congress calling on a tangible and viable strategy. So far the Obama administration has ignored the fight in Syria and Iraq where recently dispatched 50 special forces as a mere gesture.

Some members of Congress are calling for the United States and some of its allies to change the way they are waging war against ISIS.

A bipartisan slate of senators and representatives want Congress to pass an updated authorization for President Obama to conduct the war against ISIS in light of his decision to send fifty special operations ground troops to Syria.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va) and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz) brought up their draft Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which they originally proposed as an amendment in June, during a business meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday.

This measure would define the conflict as one to protect American lives and provide military support to regional partners in their fight against ISIS. It would also repeal a 2002 authorization of the Iraq war, which the White House has used as the legal basis for its airstrikes against ISIS. The administration has also cited a 2001 AUMF that authorized use of military force against the perpetrators of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, but the Kaine/Flake amendment does not repeal that measure.

The senators argue that Congress’s passage of an AUMF represents the fulfillment of its Constitutional duty under Article I to “declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water.”

During the committee meeting, Kaine also presented a letter, signed by 35 House Democrats and Republicans, urging House Speaker Paul Ryan to take up an AUMF vote in the House.

“Given the recent announcement by President Obama of a deepening entanglement in Syria and Iraq, it is critical that the House schedule and debate an Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) as quickly as possible,” the letter reads in part.

Pentagon: Taliban is Now a U.S. Partner

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Really? Tell it to those warriors who fought them in Afghanistan. Yet this is not a new standard especially as the Obama White House released 5 of their top commanders back to the ranks of the Taliban.

Shameful…

WASHINGTON: The US Department of Defence has said that it’s no longer conducting counter-terrorism operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan because it views the group as an important partner in its efforts for restoring peace in the war-ravaged country.

“What we’re not doing (is) counter-terrorism operations against the Taliban,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis told a Wednesday evening news briefing in Washington.

“We actually view the Taliban as being an important partner in a peaceful Afghan-led reconciliation process. We are not actively targeting the Taliban,” he added.

‘No institutional presence of IS in Pak-Afghan region’

The briefing, however, focused on US efforts to defeat the Middle East-based terrorist group IS (the self-styled Islamic State) which also has some presence in the Pak-Afghan region.

Capt Davis said that some “lone wolves” in Pakistan and Afghanistan were using the IS brand to raise their stature but the group did not have an institutional presence in the region.

He said the IS had a “pretty good” command and control system in Iraq and Syria but those claiming to represent the group in Afghanistan and Pakistan did not have the command and control relationship with the main IS.

The Pentagon official said the United States was working “very extensively” with the Pakistani government in the fight against terrorists.

Capt Davis explained that while the Coalition Support Fund was aimed to enhance Pakistan’s ability to fight the Haqqani Network, it also helped develop other broader spectrum counter-terrorism capabilities.

In Afghanistan, the US ended its combat operations last year and its role there now was simply to advise and assist the Afghan forces, he said.

Capt Davis said the US also had “unilateral role” of being able to conduct counter-terrorism missions in Afghanistan primarily against Al Qaeda and its remnants.

“But IS would be fair game as well,” he added.

(CNN) Here’s a look at the Taliban, a Sunni Islamist organization operating primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Facts:
Reclusive leader Mullah Mohammed Omar led the Taliban from the mid-1990s until his death in 2013.

Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was announced in July 2015 as the new leader.

Taliban, in Pashto, is the plural of Talib, which means student.

Most members are Pashtun, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan.

 

The exact number of Taliban forces is unknown.

The group’s aim is to impose its interpretation of Islamic law on Afghanistan and remove foreign influence from the country.

Timeline:
1979-1989 – The Soviet Union invades and occupies Afghanistan. Afghan resistance fighters, known collectively as mujahedeen, fight back.

1989-1993 – After the Soviet Union withdraws, fighting among the mujahedeen leads to chaos.

1994 – The Taliban is formed, comprised mostly of students and led by mujahedeen veteran Mullah Omar.

November 1994 – The Taliban seizes the city of Kandahar.

September 1996 – The capital, Kabul, falls to the Taliban.

1997 – The Taliban issue an edict renaming Afghanistan the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The country is only officially recognized by three countries: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

1996-2001 – The group imposes strict Islamic laws on the Afghan people. Women must wear head-to-toe coverings, are not allowed to attend school or work outside the home and are forbidden to travel alone. Television, music and non-Islamic holidays are also banned.

1997 – Mullah Omar forges a relationship with Osama bin Laden, who then moves his base of operations to Kandahar.

August 1998 – The Taliban captures Mazar-e-Sharif, gaining control of about 90% of Afghanistan.

March 2001 – The Taliban destroys two 1,500 year old Buddha figures in the town of Bamiyan, saying they are idols that violate Islam.

October-November 2001 – After massive U.S. bombardment as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom, the Taliban lose Afghanistan to U.S. and Northern Alliance forces.

December 2006 – Senior Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani is killed in an airstrike by the U.S.

February 2007 – Mullah Manan, a senior Taliban commander, is killed in an air strike in southern Afghanistan.

May 2007 – Mullah Dadullah Lang, a senior Taliban leader, is killed in a U.S.-led coalition operation supported by NATO.

August 2007 – During a visit to Afghanistan, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denies his country is providing the Taliban weapons.

December 11, 2007 – Afghan troops backed by NATO recapture the provincial town of Musa Qala from Taliban control.

February 2008 – Taliban operative Mullah Bakht Mohammed is captured by Pakistani forces.

October 21, 2008 – Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal confirms that Saudi Arabia hosted talks between Afghan officials and the Taliban in September. It is reported that no agreements were made.

April 25, 2011 – Hundreds of prisoners escape from a prison in Kandahar by crawling through a tunnel. The Taliban takes responsibility for the escape and claims that 541 prisoners escaped, while ISAF says the number is 470.

September 10, 2011 – Two Afghan civilians are killed and 77 U.S. troops are wounded during a vehicle borne improvised explosive device (SVBIED) attack at the entrance of Combat Outpost Sayed Abad, an ISAF base in Afghanistan’s Wardak province. The Taliban claims responsibility.

September 13, 2011 – Taliban militants open fire on the U.S. embassy and NATO’s International Security Assistance Force headquarters in central Kabul. Three police officers and one civilian are killed. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid tells CNN their target is the U.S. embassy, governmental organizations and other foreign organizations.

February 27, 2012 – The Taliban claims responsibility for a suicide bombing near the front gate of the International Security Assistance Force base at Jalalabad airport in Afghanistan. At least nine people are killed and 12 wounded in the explosion. The Taliban says the bombing is in retaliation for the burning of Qurans at a U.S. base last week.

August 8, 2012 – According to senior U.S. officials, in an effort to revive peace talks with the Taliban, President Barack Obama‘s administration has proposed a prisoner swap under which it would transfer five Taliban prisoners to Qatar in exchange for a U.S. soldier held by the Taliban. The new proposal involves sending all five Taliban prisoners to Qatar first, before the Taliban release Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a member of the U.S. army captured in 2009. The original offer proposed transferring the Taliban prisoners in two groups, with Bergdahl being released in between.

June 18, 2013 – An official political office of the Taliban opens in Doha, Qatar’s capital city. The Taliban announces that they hope to improve relations with other countries, head toward a peaceful solution to the Afghanistan occupation and establish an independent Islamic system in the country.

September 21, 2013 – Pakistan announces that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the founding members of the Taliban, has been released from prison. Baradar had been captured in Karachi, Pakistan in 2010.

May 31, 2014 – The United States transfers five Guantanamo Bay detainees to Qatar in exchange for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl: Khair Ulla Said Wali Khairkhwa, Mullah Mohammad Fazl, Mullah Norullah Nori, Abdul Haq Wasiq and Mohammad Nabi Omari. It is believed Bergdahl was being held by the Taliban and al Qaeda-aligned Haqqani network in Pakistan.

September 26, 2014 – A Taliban offensive in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, leaves an estimated 100 civilians dead or wounded, including some women and children who were beheaded, according to a provincial deputy governor.

July 29, 2015 – The Afghan government says in a news release that Taliban leader Mullah Omar died in April 2013 in Pakistan, citing “credible information,” and a spokesman for Afghanistan’s intelligence service tells CNN that Omar died in a hospital in Karachi at that time.

September 28, 2015 – Taliban insurgents seize the main roundabout in the Afghan provincial capital of Kunduz, then free more than 500 inmates at the prison. This is the first time the Taliban have taken over a provincial capital since 2001.

Guidelines For Lone Wolf Mujahideen

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Safety & Security Guidelines For Lone Wolf Mujahideen’ Distributed On Twitter

on October 20 | in Latest Reports, Tracking Jihadis/Terrorists On Social Media And Online

On October 18, 2015 a top ISIS disseminator on Twitter named Abu Naseeha circulated an instructional manual for lone wolf attackers. He tweeted: “BREAKING: ‘safety & security guidelines for lone wolf mujahideen’ by IS supporters”. He included a link to the manual, which is hosted on Dump.to, a site which allows users to anonymously share text and images. The work is a summarized and updated English translation of part of a longer series by Al-Fajr Media Center titled Sina’at Al-Irhab (“Terror Industry”), which was first published in 2010. The guide contains 12 chapters: “Definition of security, its importance and its obligation to Islam”;” general security guidelines”; “Homeland Security-Cell Security”; Online Security-Encryption”; “The Safehouse”; “Conferences & Meetings”; “Travel & Transport Security”; “Money & Weapons Security”; “Surveillance”; “The Cover”; “Social Engineering”; and “Special Operations & Inspection”. At the time of this writing, the guide has been online for 14 hours and received around 1,000 views.  The cover image of the manual features a graphic of a burning NYC skyline (the image is taken from the promo poster for the 2008 Hollywood film Cloverfield). The following is a summary of the guide.

Despite being circulated by a top ISIS account, it should be mentioned that members of Jabhat Al-Nusra are also circulating the work on Twitter.

On October 19, an Australian Jabhat Al-Nusra fighter tweeted a link to the guide, and wrote, “Much needed piece of work for the new and often reckless generation of jihadis.”

Translator’s Foreword

The opening section explains the contents of the guide: “We present you this modest work for lone wolf mujahideen and small cells of brothers who want to bring victory to this religion. This is originally a series of lectures in 30 parts about safety & security in Jihadi work, entitled ‘Dawrat al-Amn wa Al-Mujhabaraat‘ [Security and Intelligence Course]. It was initially meant for mujahideen groups and not lone wolves, but we have tried to adapt it and pick what’s important and leave what’s not relevant for an individual mujahid and small groups. No doubt that today, at the era of the lone wolves, brothers in the West need to know some important things about safety in order to ensure success in their operations. We have also adapted some parts, taking into account the latest technological advances, for example in the field of encryption and safety of documents. We highly recommend the reader to also read Inspire and Dabiqmagazines for all the valuable info they contain on the topic of lone wolf operations. The series was released by al-Fajr media Centre a few years ago, in Arabic. We thought a lot of non-Arabic speaking brothers would find it interesting and may apply it in their blessed operations.”

***  ‘Wear a Christian Cross’: Al-Qaeda Jihad Rules Adapted Into Handbook for Lone Wolves

PJMedia in part: The booklet goes into encryption techniques that U.S. officials acknowledge have put many online jihadis in dark, unreachable corners of the Internet. “Your mobile phone is a government spy with you on your pocket,” the guide advises. “Make sure to read enough about Android ways to protect your privacy. Never use iOS, as it’s compromised.”

Tips are also included for finding an appropriate safehouse, whether for living and planning or storing weapons: “make that apartment look un-Islamic” and devise secret knock-knock codes to alert others in the safehouse if you’re being followed or if everyone needs to flee, the guide states.  If jihadis decide to go beardless to not attract attention, they’re advised to allow a 2-week beardless window to allow their skin to get some sun. The guide says it’s “permissible” for jihadists trying to blend in “to wear a necklace showing a Christian cross.” They’re encouraged to make the smartphone, tablet or music players they’re carrying “entirely un-Islamic” with “songs, music clips, funny videos, etc. No Quran app, no hadith app.”  More here.

Why is Rocket Kitten Important?

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Security firm says it shut down extensive Iranian cyber spy program

A security firm with headquarters in Israel and the United States says it detected and neutralized an extensive cyber espionage program with direct ties to the government of Iran. The firm, called Check Point Software, which has offices in Tel Aviv and California, says it dubbed the cyber espionage program ROCKET KITTEN. In a media statement published on its website on Monday, Check Point claims that the hacker group maintained a high-profile target list of 1,600 individuals. The list reportedly includes members of the Saudi royal family and government, American and European officials, North Atlantic Treaty Organization officers and nuclear scientists working for the government of Israel. The list is said to include even the names of spouses of senior military officials from numerous nations.

News agency Reuters quoted Check Point Software’s research group manager Shahar Tal, who said that his team was able to compromise the ROCKET KITTEN databases and acquire the list of espionage targets maintained by the group. Most targets were from Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United States, he said, although countries like Turkey and Venezuela were also on the list. Tal told Reuters that the hackers had compromised servers in the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands, and that they were using these and other facilities in Europe to launch attacks on their unsuspecting targets. According to Check Point, the hacker group was under the command of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, a branch of the Iranian military that is ideologically committed to the defense of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Reuters said it contacted the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Europol, but that both agencies refused comment, as did the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, an unnamed official representing the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, said that ROCKET KITTEN “is familiar to us and is being attended to”. The official declined to provide further details. Meanwhile, Check Point said it would issue a detailed report on the subject late on Monday.

*** In part from SCMagazine:

The researchers uncovered more thorough indicators of compromise, along with new malware strains, including a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) the group apparently favored.

Further down the Rocket Kitten rabbit hole, the researchers appeared to identify the mastermind behind the operation, who goes by “Wool3n.H4t,” as Yaser Balaghi.

The company found references to his alias and real name on various developer forums, within the server itself, and eventually, in an online tutorial he posted on SQL injection.

Additionally, a reported resume for Balaghi has listed “designing a phishing system” as ordered by a “cyber-organization.”

Saying technical evidence can be forged, or information be planted, Tal said he backs his company’s findings because of “overwhelming evidence.”

“All evidence fits the same story and same narrative,” he said. “The probability that this is a false lead is extremely nonexistent in my opinion.”

Given that Balaghi resides in Iran, there will likely not be any repercussions or extradition. However, Tal said the findings have been passed along to European and U.S. search bodies, as well as service providers who hosted the malicious servers.

Most infrastructure has been taken down since then, Tal said, and continued, “don’t expect to see them attacking any time soon.”

Report: Christianity will be Extinct in Ten Years

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On the brink: Christianity facing Middle East purge within decade, says group

FNC: By  The dwindling Christian population of the Middle East could vanish completely within a decade unless the global community intervenes, say alarmed aid groups who say followers of the Bible are being killed, driven from their land or forced to renounce their faith at an unprecedented pace.

christian mideast (2).jpg

The world has largely stood by as a dangerous tide of intolerance has washed over the region, according to a new study by the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. The study includes disturbing data about the plunging numbers of Christians in the part of the world that gave birth to the faith, and makes a dire prediction of what could happen.

“It’s an answer that depends on the response of the world,” Edward Clancy, director of outreach for the United Kingdom-based Aid to the Church in Need, told FoxNews.com. “What response is there going to be toward us if we act?”

 “Last Christmas was the first time that bells did not ring out in the city of Mosul in 2000 years. I think that speaks to the reality that hundreds of thousands of Christian families are living on the edge of extinction.”

– Elijah Brown, 21st Century Wilberforce

While Christians are under siege from Islamic State radicals in war-torn Syria and Iraq, the report notes that the religion is being targeted throughout the region. Christians who have managed to escape ISIS have fled to places like Europe and Lebanon, while members of the faith also are under increasing pressure in Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations.

The Christian population in Iraq has plummeted from 1.5 million in 2003 to current estimates of 275,000 and could be gone for good within five years, according to the report. The dwindling numbers are due to genocide, refugees fleeing to other countries, those who are internally displaced, and others hiding in plain sight and not allowing their faith to be publicly known. A dozen Christian families flee Iraq each day, according to 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, a Falls Church, Va., nonprofit dedicated to promoting religious freedom in the Middle East.

 

“Unless the global community gets involved, we will witness the loss of Christian witnesses in a land that is biblically significant,” Elijah Brown, executive vice president for 21st Century Wilberforce, told FoxNews.com.

He noted that Iraq’s second-largest city, once home to a thriving Christian community as old as the faith itself, has now been overrun by ISIS and purged of Christians.

“Last Christmas was the first time that bells did not ring out in the city of Mosul in 2,000 years,” Brown said. “I think that speaks to the reality that hundreds of thousands of Christian families are living on the edge of extinction.”

In Syria, where Aid to the Church in Need has sent $9 million in aid to help Christians driven from small villages north of Damascus, an estimated 15,000 Christians have left their villages to seek refuge in Homs, Zaidal and Fairouzeh in recent days, according to Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh. He told the charity Christians are terrified that ISIS, in a constant see-saw battle for territory with government forces, will capture their villages and kill all non-Muslims. They are particularly fearful for the key city of Sadad, where Christians lived peacefully with Muslims for centuries.

“We are afraid that ISIS — which God will hopefully prevent — will conquer the town. We would lose the center of Christianity in our diocese,” Archbishop Selwanos said, adding that two years ago, jihadists held the town briefly and killed at least 45 Christians, and destroyed churches and homes.

The report names Egypt as the one nation in the Middle East that has reversed the trend under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, following the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist agenda. El-Sisi, himself a Muslim, has vowed to protect Egypt’s Coptic Christians, and last Christmas attended church services with them in an unprecedented show of tolerance and solidarity.

“Such a development holds out a potential beacon of hope for Christians and others in the Middle East against a backdrop of growing Islamism,” the report stated.

While the situation is most dire in the Middle East, Christianity is under assault in Africa and Asia, too, according to the Aid to the Church in Need study. It cited persecution at the hands of Islamist terror groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria and other extremists in Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania and other parts of the continent. Asia’s Christians have been targeted by nationalist religious movements — Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist — in such countries as Pakistan, Hindu and Myanmar. Many of these groups increasingly view Christianity as a foreign, “colonial” import, and believe its practitioners are doing the bidding of the West, said Clancy.

Persecution has been allowed to spread in many of these countries because of the complacency of its citizens and inaction of the international community, said Brown.

“On average, in many of the Muslim majority countries, an average of 73 percent believe that they already have religious freedom,” he said, referring to a Pew research poll. “So we often see a passive public that is resistant to change.

“Unfortunately, there are also many who are hesitating to use the proper label for what is occurring in many of these countries, which is genocide.”

 

Both 21st Century Wilberforce and Aid for The Church in Need agree that preventing further genocide requires an international undertaking.

“It’s going to have to be a multi-tiered effort,” Clancy said. “We can definitely start with restrictions on the borders of some of these countries. There are definitely weapons flowing into the region. These channels need to be squeezed.

“We need to start putting on the pressure and if and when there is some sort of peace, we need to ensure that minority religious groups are represented in newly forming governments.”