ISIS/ISIL conflict in Syria/Iraq (No OpEd, No Politics)

janjak desalin said:

I do remember old, Dick Dastardly and Mutley!
rasssa frassa, Dick Dastardly!
I did, not however, remember Mutley's obsession with medals!
You're kicks, SampanViking!
Nevertheless, both Mutley and I have a lot of catching up to do, see!

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Would you like medal or a leg to pin it on?​

Best of luck in taking on the "meat world"!
When you're done, maybe you'll get a ...

My apologies to thread participants for this humorous aside!

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PARIS — France launched massive retaliatory airstrikes against the Islamic State on Sunday as a manhunt intensified for at least one fugitive linked to the extremist group who vanished following the murderous mayhem that left 132 people dead, hundreds injured and residents anxious that terrorists remained among them.

French warplanes targeted the Islamic State’s de-facto capital in Syria, destroying a training camp and a munitions dump in Raqqa, where Friday's terrorist attacks on Paris likely were planned.

Twelve aircraft including 10 fighter jets dropped a total of 20 bombs in the biggest airstrikes since France extended its bombing campaign against the extremist group to Syria in September, a Defense Ministry statement said. The jets launched from sites in Jordan and the Persian Gulf, in coordination with U.S. forces.

In Paris, a wanted alert and photo was issued for Abdeslam Salah, 26, a Brussels native and brother of one of seven terrorists who died in Friday's wave of deadly assaults. Another brother was arrested in Belgium after the attacks, authorities said. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the attack was planned in Belgium and aided by supporters in France.

Police warned Salah "is dangerous, do not approach him yourself."

Security concerns were well-founded. Earlier Sunday, several Kalashnikov rifles believed to have been used by the attackers were found in an abandoned car in the Montreuil neighborhood in eastern Paris, police said. The discovery fueled unease that one or more of the attackers remained loose in the vast city.Paris was on edge despite a strong police and military presence. A crowd that had gathered at Republique Plaza near a large, impromptu memorial Sunday evening scattered in panic after firecrackers apparently were ignited nearby, police said.

Also Sunday, a French judicial official said the father, brother and other family members of suicide bomber Omar Ismael Mostefai — the only dead terrorist to be publicly identified by authorities — were detained and were being questioned, French media reported.

[AppelàTémoin] La

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recherche 1 individu susceptible d'être impliqué ds les attentats du 13/11/2015

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— Police Nationale (@PNationale)

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Mostefai, 29, was identified after part of his finger was found at the Bataclan concert hall, where most of the victims were found, according to local media. Salah is suspected of renting the car that delivered Mostefai and others to the concert hall.

Mostefai, who has Algerian roots, was born in the town of Courcouronnes, 15 miles south of Paris. He had eight convictions for petty crimes between 2004 and 2010, but did not serve jail time,

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Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Mostefai was on authorities' radar for radicalization in 2010, but had not previously been implicated in a terrorism investigation. Investigators were looking into whether he traveled to Syria last year, AFP said, citing police sources.

Jean-Pierre Gorges, the mayor of Chartres, a city about 60 miles southwest of Paris, said in a Facebook post that Mostefai lived there until at least 2012.

The magazine

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was among French publications reporting that a passport found outside Stade de France, or National Stadium, had belonged to a suicide bomber. . Egypt's

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news outlet, however, quoted Egyptian officials as saying Egyptian national Waled Abdel-Razzak was critically injured when a bomb went off while he was in line to buy a ticket to the game. The news outlet said he has not been named as a suspect in the attacks.

CNN said a bomber who blew himself up at the Stade de France was issued a Syrian emergency passport under the name Ahmad al-Mohammad after landing on the Greek island of Leros. CNN, citing an unnamed French senator, said the fingerprints on the passport matched the bomber’s prints.

The connection to Syrian migrants fleeing to northern Europe did not sit well with some people here.

"The open door policy of having migrants come to Europe leaves the door wide open to attacks by terrorists," said retiree Jack Parker, 65, a long-time British resident of Paris. "Any smart terrorist would have used the open door policy. Hundreds of terrorists have probably entered Europe in the last few months posing as Syrian refugees."
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, and French President Francois Hollande angrily accused ISIL of "an act of war." The Associated Press, citing Iraqi officials, said senior Iraqi intelligence officials had warned members of the U.S. coalition battling the Islamic State that attacks against the West were imminent. French officials said the information was vague and similar to warnings it receives "every day."

"The skies are darkened by the horrific attacks that took place in Paris,” said President Obama on Sunday following a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Antalya, Turkey, ahead of a summit of leaders of the world's top 20 economies. Obama said he and Erdogan discussed fortifying the borders between Syria and Turkey and eliminating the Islamic State.

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The last briefing in Vienna regarding Syrian conflict took place among the members of the coalition, Russia and Iran.

An agreement was finally arranged about political situation in Syria. Elections should take place within 18 months, in 2017, but first, talks between members of the opposition and Assad’s government should start on January 1st.

A transitional government should be implemented in 6 months.

Also, it was agreed that both, ISIL and Al-Nusra Front wouldn’t be part of the talks alongside with the opposition since they are qualified as terrorist organizations. Nevertheless, Russia claimed the need of reconsidering the terrorist group list since there are still more organizations that should be qualified as such.

An immediate ceasefire was also the general appeal of the officials briefing in the Austrian capital. That truce would not be considered with the terrorist groups cited before.

US Secretary of State, John Kerry stated that even if significant agreements have been reached in Vienna, there is still not a decision about Bashar Al Assad’s fate since it’s considered that Russia and Iran are boosting the Syrian leader’s government.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slammed Saudi Arabia position over the fate of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad as a ruler of the war-torn country.

During a fresh round of peace talks in Vienna aimed at finding a solution to the five-year crisis in Syria, Lavrov stressed that the Syrians are the only side who decides Assad’s fate, al-Manar reported in Vienna said.

“Is Audi authorized to decide who will represent the Syrian people?” Lavrov addressed Saudi FM, Adel al-Jubeir who is attending the talks in the Austrian capital.

“You can refer to the text of the last meeting…. Syrians are who decide the fate of their country, including Assad’s fate,” Lavrov added, according to our correspondent.

United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has told reporters that the meeting is important but that he does not expect breakthroughs.

“Breakthrough is a big word. What we are definitely looking forward to keeping the momentum and progress,” he has said.

The Syrian conflict, which started in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people and left over one million injured, according to the UN.

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Bloomberg said:

President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian naval forces in the Mediterranean to work as allies with French warships in attacking Islamic State targets in Syria as his military stepped up its offensive against the terrorist group.

France has a naval group led by an aircraft carrier heading to the area where Russian vessels are operating, Putin told a naval commander of a warship in the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday in a live video link shown on Russian state TV. “You need to establish direct contact with the French and work with them as allies,” Putin ordered.

Russia’s military doubled its attacks in Syria on Tuesday, carrying out 34 cruise missile strikes and deploying long-range Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers from Russian bases to hit Islamic State’s heartland in the Syrian province of Raqqa and other targets, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the same meeting. The bombardment is continuing and Russia planned 127 sorties on 206 targets in the first 24 hours of the new stage of the campaign, he said.


Putin earlier on Tuesday blamed terrorists for the Oct. 31 air crash in Egypt that killed 224 people and vowed to step up military strikes in Syria to punish those who carried out “one of the bloodiest crimes” against Russians. An Islamic State affiliate in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula has claimed it blew up the plane in retaliation for Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria against the organization and other militants fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Putin and French President Francois Hollande agreed on greater military cooperation in Syria in a phone call Tuesday, the Kremlin said in an e-mail. Hollande will travel to Moscow Nov. 26 after talks in Washington, D.C. with U.S. President Barack Obama to try to build up a coalition against Islamic State following Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people.

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dtulsa said:

Thanks posted on another thread that I think think this is the first time the Russians have used all three of their bombers in operations could someone tell if they remember another time

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