Shamima Begum who fled UK to join Isis (and now wants to come back) has given birth, says family

"Shamima Begum, 19, who left the UK with two school friends in 2015, spoke to the Times earlier this week from the al-Hawl refugee camp in north-eastern Syria."

Tasnime Akunjee (the family lawyer) said the family had been told Begum gave birth on Saturday to a boy and that mother and son were doing well.

He said the news of the birth had changed the dynamics of the situation and added pressure on the government to let Begum, and now her child, back.

Her family have called on the British government to allow her to return to the UK so her child can be cared for in “peace and security”. But the home secretary, Sajid Javid, said he would not hesitate to block her return.

“My message is clear: if you have supported terrorist organisations abroad I will not hesitate to prevent your return,” he said. “If you do manage to return you should be ready to be questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted.”

Writing in the Sunday Times, Javid said: “As a father I feel compassion for anyone born or brought into a conflict zone. But in considering what actions need to be taken now, I have to think about the safety and security of children living in our country.”

In a statement issued on Friday, the family said her apparent lack of regret for joining Isis should be seen as the “words of a girl who was groomed at the age of 15”.

What do you think? Should the UK let her back in, now that she has a child?

For what?

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

(John McCrae May 3. 1915)

The plan starts to take shape.

Report: McMaster pushing for “tens of thousands” of U.S. ground troops for Syria and Iraq to finish off ISIS?

Bloomberg Dot Com by Eli Lake

Senior White House and administration officials tell me Trump's national security adviser, General H.R. McMaster, has been quietly pressing his colleagues to question the underlying assumptions of a draft war plan against the Islamic State that would maintain only a light U.S. ground troop presence in Syria. McMaster's critics inside the administration say he wants to send tens of thousands of ground troops to the Euphrates River Valley. His supporters insist he is only trying to facilitate a better interagency process to develop Trump's new strategy to defeat the self-described caliphate that controls territory in Iraq and Syria........Jack Keane, a retired four-star Army general close to McMaster  who said he was not speaking for McMaster, told me he favored a plan to begin a military operation along the Euphrates River Valley. "A better option is to start the operation in the southeast along the Euphrates River Valley, establish a U.S. base of operations, work with our Sunni Arab coalition partners, who have made repeated offers to help us against the regime and also ISIS. We have turned those down during the Obama administration." Keane added that U.S. conventional forces would be the anchor of that initial push, which he said would most likely require around 10,000 U.S. conventional forces, with an expectation that Arab allies in the region would provide more troops to the U.S.-led effort.

President Trump is making a horrible mistake.

Daily Mail By Franseca Chambers April 5,  2017

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that it is now his responsibility to resolve the humanitarian and political crisis in Syria as he opened the door to military action in the country.  

Trump upped the ante in a Rose Garden press conference after having said earlier in the day that the the chemical weapons attack is a 'terrible affront to humanity.' 

'My attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much,' Trump declared, suggesting with the statement that he may be reconsidering his directive to US diplomats to take their focus off removing Bashar al-Assad from power. 

The 'horrible, horrible' sarin gas attack that killed small children and 'beautiful babies' had a 'big impact' on the president, who declared Wednesday that the attack 'crossed a lot of lines.'

'When you kill innocent children, innocent babies...with a chemical gas that is so lethal...that crosses many, many lines. Beyond a red line,' Trump said, making reference to Barack Obama's infamous 2012 threat to Assad.

This is a horrible, horrible mistake. It is indulging in the neocon delusion that worlds problems are our problems. It is a shame about the dead kids but kids are getting shot in Chicago every day. Now they have to wear bullet proof vests to go to school. We are not responsible for the ragheads killing each other. We don't need their oil anymore. When they are killing each other they are not killing Jews. We need to step back and let them get to it. If Russia wants to stick their dick in that zipper let them go right ahead. It is not any of our business.

I hope he comes to his senses and ignores this crap. Go back to tormenting CNN and talking about the babes they have banged with Bill O'Reilly. 

A good analysis here by Vox Day.

ISIS fighters try to flee battlefield dressed as women

Daily Mail:  This is the moment a group of ISIS fighters were caught red-handed trying to escape from a fierce battle - dressed as women.

The terrorists, all wearing full black veils, were captured as they attempted to run from the besieged town of Manbij in northern Syria.

But members of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is trying to liberate the town from ISIS, saw through the disguise and arrested them.

"ISIS fighter executes his own MOTHER"

DailyMail: Activists inside Syria have revealed that an ISIS fighter has executed his own mother in Raqqa after he reported her for trying to persuade him to leave the jihadi group.

The sickening act was witnessed by a large crowd in front of the postal building inside the ISIS stronghold in Syria, according to activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have revealed that Ms al-Qasem was also accused of trying to persuade her son to abandon ISIS and flee Syria with her.

Fearing for his own safety within the brutal organisation, it appears Ali reported his mother, leading to her arrest. It is unclear why Ali was given the task of executing his own mother. However it is possible he may requested to carry out the harrowing act or more likely he was ordered to do it as a test of loyalty.

There appears no shortage of gumption, chutzpah to commit atrocity by these people. That it is detrimental to civilized peoples everywhere, if allowed to stand, goes without saying.

WSJ: Paris Stadium Attacker Got to Europe Using Fake Syrian Passport

Mystery deepened over a Paris attacker who traveled to Europe via Greece and the Balkans, after French officials said Monday that the Syrian passport he had used was indeed a fake.

Authorities in France and Greece have said that fingerprints taken from the remains of a suicide bomber outside France’s national sports stadium, the Stade de France, match the prints of a man who entered Europe via the Aegean island of Leros on Oct. 3.

Police on Leros registered the man under the identity in the passport he showed them: Ahmad AlMohammad, 25, from Syria. The same passport was found near the man’s body outside the stadium on Friday night.

Whoever the man was, he posed as one of the many refugees fleeing Syria’s war—including the violence of Islamic State—to enter Europe through its lightly controlled frontier in the Aegean Sea. (read more)

Obama moved to 'increase and accelerate' admission of Syrian refugees

"The Obama administration is moving to increase and accelerate the number of Syrian refugees who might be admitted into the United States by opening new screening outposts in Iraq and Lebanon, administration officials told Reuters on Friday."

The move comes after President Barack Obama pledged in September to admit an additional 10,000 Syrian refugees in 2016, torn by four years of civil war and disorder.

We are going in the wrong direction. Hope and pray is not too late.

These tweets are saying Rome, London, DC are next. pic.twitter.com/UffdSm8m5Q

— olliander (@ollieblog) November 14, 2015

Reddit: Video of Russian Naval and Helicopter Attacks on Syria

It suddenly occurs to me how approximately close the Russians are to Syria... compared to the USA.

Link to video

Link to video

Via Reddit

"Russia demands US to remove warplanes from Syria’s airspace"

"Russian warplanes have begun bombarding Syrian opposition targets in the war-torn nation's north, working on behalf of dictator Bashar al-Assad, according to a senior military official."

The official said airstrikes targeted fighters in the vicinity of Homs, located roughly 60 miles east of a Russian naval facility in Tartus, and were carried out by a "couple" of Russian bombers. The strikes hit targets in Homs and Hama, but there are no presence of ISIS in those areas, a senior U.S. defense official said. These planes are hitting areas where Free Syrian Army and other anti-Assad groups are located, the official said.

The development came after Pentagon officials brushed aside an official request from Russia to clear air space over northern Syria, where Moscow intends to conduct airstrikes against ISIS on behalf of Assad, according to sources who spoke to Fox News.

"It's me or it's him."

Link to video

"US monitoring reports Russia has stepped up Syria presence"

"The White House and State Department said Thursday that it was monitoring reports that Russia is carrying out military operations in Syria's civil war on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad, with both warning that such actions would further destabilize Syria's perilous situation."

We are aware of reports that Russia may have deployed military personnel and aircraft to Syria, and we are monitoring those reports quite closely," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Thursday

State Department spokesman Mark Toner echoed Earnest's message, saying "we have seen various reports that Russia may be deploying military personnel ... we're unclear what these might be used for." Toner added that he was "not sure that we have contacted [Moscow] about this yet."

"Russia has asked for clearances for military flight to Syria," a U.S. official was quoted as telling Britain's Daily Telegraph, "[but] we don't know what their goals are ... Evidence has been inconclusive so far as to what this activity is."

Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal reports "Chinese Navy Ships Came Within 12 Nautical Miles of U.S. Coast"

"US military pilots complain hands tied in ‘frustrating’ fight against ISIS"

Making the world safe for ISIS...

U.S. military pilots carrying out the air war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria are voicing growing discontent over what they say are heavy-handed rules of engagement hindering them from striking targets.

They blame a bureaucracy that does not allow for quick decision-making. One Navy F-18 pilot who has flown missions against ISIS voiced his frustration to Fox News, saying: "There were times I had groups of ISIS fighters in my sights, but couldn't get clearance to engage.”

He added, “They probably killed innocent people and spread evil because of my inability to kill them. It was frustrating." (read more)

Meanwhile, The Free Beacon reports Al Qaeda in Syria is "Tweeting Jihad to Over 200,000 Followers"

Though al Qaeda’s ongoing operations have taken a backseat to the exploits of IS, the group founded by Osama bin Laden is thriving on Twitter, according to MEMRI.

“It should be noted that as Twitter’s removal of accounts on its platform linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) has gotten a lot of attention, accounts belonging to many other Designated Terrorist Organizations, notably to Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN), Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria that was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department in December 2012, have not received any attention, and its many accounts, which have a total of over 200,000 followers, are thriving,” MEMRI wrote in a recent report.

“This is another reminder of Twitter’s failure to effectively address this issue and its lack of a true strategy for doing so,” the group concluded.

"ISIS threatens to kill 2 Japanese hostages"

"A masked man in the latest video gives the Japanese government a choice to pay $200 million -- the same amount of money Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently pledged for those "contending" with ISIS -- to free the Japanese men. That deal holds for 72 hours, which would seem to mean sometime Friday since the video appeared on social media Tuesday."

"Although you are more than 8,500 kilometers away from the Islamic State, you willingly volunteered to take part in this crusade," the masked man on the video posted Tuesday says, addressing his comments to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (read more)

Video: ISIS Hostages were tortured.

"White House exempts Syria airstrikes from tight standards on civilian deaths"

"The White House has acknowledged for the first time that strict standards President Obama imposed last year to prevent civilian deaths from U.S. drone strikes will not apply to U.S. military operations in Syria and Iraq."

A White House statement to Yahoo News confirming the looser policy came in response to questions about reports that as many as a dozen civilians, including women and young children, were killed when a Tomahawk missile struck the village of Kafr Daryan in Syria's Idlib province on the morning of Sept. 23.

“They were carrying bodies out of the rubble. … I saw seven or eight ambulances coming out of there,” said Abu Abdo Salabman, a political member of one of the Free Syria Army factions, who attended the briefing for Foreign Affairs Committee members and staff. “We believe this was a big mistake.”

Obama was for protecting civilians until he was against it.

"U.K. votes to approve air strikes as more allies join Islamic State fight"

"The coalition of nations participating in military action against Islamic State continues to grow – but so do worries about whether the campaign of air strikes has any hope of succeeding."

"Britain became the latest country to commit military resources to the fight, as its Parliament voted overwhelmingly on Friday to authorize air strikes against Islamic State targets inside Iraq. Prime Minister David Cameron told the House of Commons before the vote that the extremist group presented a genuine threat to the United Kingdom, and warned the fight against the self-declared caliphate would take “years” to win."




As to the efficacy of an air campaign alone strategy...

I guess I'm just going to have to trust that Obama and the Progressives know what they're doing here killing anything that moves.
— Dennis Miller Show (@DennisDMZ) September 25, 2014

Obama Bombs Syria

"The Pentagon said warplanes, drones and Tomahawk missiles were used in the attacks, which targeted several areas including IS stronghold Raqqa."

"Syria's foreign ministry said its UN envoy was informed about the strikes against IS (ISIS, ISIL), which controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq. Activists say at least 70 IS militants were killed in the strikes."

"The militants said the US drone came down
after crashing into a communications tower in Raqqa"

"Activists: Syrian jihadis mistakenly behead ally"

"Syrian activists say al-Qaida-linked jihadists have mistakenly beheaded a wounded fellow fighter."

Rami Abdurrahman of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and another activist in the northern province of Aleppo say fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant found the wounded rebel in a hospital after a battle with government forces on Wednesday.

The fighters later displayed the man's head before a crowd in Aleppo city. But residents identified it as belonging to a leader of another hard-line rebel group, Ahrar al-Sham.

AP

FSA to protect CW dismantlers

"The OPCW team had to drive from Beirut into Syria because of clashes on the airport road in Damascus

A team of international disarmament experts has arrived in Syria to begin work on dismantling the country's stockpile of chemical weapons.

...Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has said that seven out of the 19 chemical weapons sites declared by the government last month are in combat zones.

...A spokesman for the opposition Syrian National Coalition, Monzer Akbik, told the BBC that the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) would ensure that inspectors "will be protected, and granted access to all locations".

However, the FSA is only one of several rebel factions operating in Syria, and its local commanders have often displayed a high degree of autonomy."

BBC

I feel cautiously optimistic. Is this a step toward world peace? I wonder how much leeway will be given for the inevitable uncontrolled-rebel strike? 

That was fast

"The United States, Russia, France, China and Britain have agreed on the core of a U.N Security Council resolution to rid Syria of its chemical weapons, two diplomats said on Wednesday."

The agreement came after the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the council met U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier in the day, the diplomats said on condition of anonymity."

They said a draft resolution could be presented to the full 15-nation council soon and the five permanent members would also meet on Friday to discuss a proposed Syria peace conference in Geneva."

Reuters

Obama Talked out of Threat of Force

"Obama’s playing checkers. Putin’s playing Phizbin."

President Obama will not insist on a United Nations resolution threatening the use of force against Syria if Damascus does not turn over its stockpile of chemical weapons, according to reports.

The White House telegraphed the president’s strategy Friday amid ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and Russia over a proposal to disarm Syria strongman Bashar Assad’s chemical arsenal to avert a threatened American military strike.

According to the reports from the Associated Press and New York Times, Obama is not ruling out a military strike. The president though believes that any resolution including such language would be vetoed by Russia on the Security Council. The president will reserve the right to strike Assad without UN support if Syria fails to follow through and hand over its chemical weapons.

Administration officials would not directly confirm the reports to the Washington Examiner.

Instapundit , Washington Examiner