Lightning Times

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gets his virgins.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/270632

Arutz Sheva:

President Donald Trump announced the death of ISIS chief Bakr al-Baghdadi from the White House Sunday, after the US reportedly killed the ISIS founder in northwestern Syria.

“Last night, the United States brought the world’s number one terrorist leader to justice. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. He was the founder and leader of ISIS, the most ruthless and violent terror organization anywhere in the world.”

“The United States has been searching for Baghdadi for many years. Capturing or killing Baghdadi has been thee top national security priority of my administration.”

Trump said the US suffered no casualties in the operation, while a large number of ISIS fighters were killed along with the terror group’s leader.

“US special operations forces executed a dangerous and daring nighttime raid in northwestern Syria and accomplished their mission in grand style. The US personnel were incredible. I got to watch much of it. No personnel were lost in the operation, while a large number of Baghdadi’s fighters and companions were killed with him.”

“He died after running into a dead-end tunnel, whimpering and crying and screaming all the way. The compound had been cleared by this time, with people either surrendering or being shot and killed. Eleven young children were moved out of the house and are uninjured. The only ones remaining were Baghdadi in the tunnel, and he had dragged three of his young children with him. They were led to certain death.”

“He reached the end of the tunnel, as our dogs chased him down. He ignited his vest, killing himself and the three children. His body was mutilated by the blast, the tunnel caved in on it in addition. But test results gave certain, immediate, and totally positive identification. It was him. The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others spent his last moments in utter fear, in total panic and dread, terrified of the American forces bearing down on him.” ...

Morning Report: 2015-01-02

USA: Former New York State Governor Mario Cuomo dies. Mario Cuomo died at his home in Manhattan on the day his son Andrew Cuomo was being sworn in for a second term as governor. He was 82.

Nigeria: Chibok parents look back in anguish. Parents of the abducted girls spoke at a demonstration in Abuja.

Middle East: Telegraph (UK) profiles Arab Christians fighting for Israel. And Amir Shalayan, profiled in the article, explains why he supports the Jewish State bill.

Berlinski on Turkey

A fed-up Claire Berlinski is tired of playing Cassandra for free.

Hey, what you're reading in the American news about this region, as far as I can see, is hogwash. And I don't know what the Israelis are thinking; they seem to be working themselves into a lather because Erdogan delivered some tub-thumping speech in Cairo (toward which the Muslim Brotherhood was distinctly cool: Welcome to the real world, Tayyip. Didn't do much good for Obama, either, and remember how I warned you: Turks aren't Arabs?) And Israelis, chill! That's just Tayyip. He flies in, makes a lot of noise, the ladies faint; he flies out, nothing changes. I promise. Just ask the Somalians. Or the Syrians. Or the Turks, for that matter.

The most astonishing thing of all is that everyone in the West--and Israel!--suddenly seems happy to accept two incompatible propositions simultaneously: 1) Erdogan defanged the military and 2) Turkey is a threat to Israel. No recognition that to the extent the former is true, the latter must be less true, so maybe it would be worth asking--which, exactly, is more true? ...

Go read the rest.

Middle East Protests

CNN: Algerians defy protest ban.

Algiers, Algeria (CNN) -- Baton-wielding Algerian security forces clashed Saturday with protesters who defied a ban and took to the streets of the capital demanding political reform.

Eleven individuals and eight policemen were injured, two seriously, the official Algerie Presse Service reported.

Police arrested nine protesters, the news service said.

Algeria's largest opposition party, Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), last week called the demonstration to demand the release of detainees, the lifting of a state of emergency that has been in place for almost two decades, and the restoration of individual and collective freedoms. ...

Full story and video at the link.

"Tunisia-style" protests in Yemen. Arutz Sheva reports that 'thousands of Yemenis fed up with their president's 32-year rule demanded his ouster Saturday in a noisy demonstration'. Article at the link.

Jordanians protest in Amman. CNN video at the link, and yes, those are islamist flags in the background in the first part. The police here are doing their best to play "good cop" and mollify the protesters.

Morning Report: 2008-05-12

The latest from Lebanon.

Lebanon update. Walid Phares, CTB:

While the West is busy living its daily life, a beast is busy killing the freedom of a small community on the East Mediterranean: Lebanon. Indeed, as of last week, the mighty Hezbollah, armed to the teeth with 30,000 rockets and missiles and aligning thousands of self described “Divine soldiers” has been marching across the capital, terrorizing its population, shutting down media, taking its politicians and the Prime Minister as hostages, and looting at will. The hordes of Lebanon’s “Khomeinist Janjaweeds” have conquered already half of the Middle East’s cultural capital, Beirut. As I have reported before, Hezbollah has occupied West Beirut and has since sent its storm troops in multiple directions to resume the blitz. ...

For everything Lebanon-related, you need to be reading Michael Totten's site. Michael, writing at Commentary, states that Lebanon's third civil war has begun:

The third civil war has begun in Lebanon.

The first war was a short one. Sunni Arab Nationalists in thrall to Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser wanted to attach Lebanon to the United Arab Republic – a brief union of Egypt and Syria. An even larger bloc of Maronite Christians resisted. A nation cannot hold itself together when a large percentage of its population – roughly a third – wish to be annexed by foreign powers.

The second war was a long one. This time, Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Liberation Organization formed a state-within-a-state in West Beirut and South Lebanon and used it as a launching pad for terrorist attacks against Israel. Again, Lebanon’s Christians resisted, as did Lebanon’s Shias. The second civil war was actually a series of wars that were merely triggered by that first fatal schism.

The third civil war resembles both the first and the second. With Iranian money and weapons, Hezbollah has built its own state-within-a-state in South Lebanon and South Beirut which is used as a base to wage war against Israel. Hezbollah also wishes to violently yank Lebanon from its current pro-Western alignment into the Syrian-Iranian axis. Roughly one-fourth of the population supports this agenda. No country on earth can withstand that kind of geopolitical tectonic pressure. For more than a year members of Hezbollah have tried unsuccessfully to topple the elected government with a minimal use of force, but their patience is at an end and they have turned to war.

My old liberal Sunni neighborhood of Hamra near the American University of Beirut – the best in the Middle East – is now occupied by the private army of a foreign police state. ...

Meanwhile, Lee Smith writes:

Our friend and colleague in Lebanon Elie Fawaz writes in to remind us that The War for Lebanon has not even begun yet in earnest and Hezbollah's “victory” in Beirut is not all it seems:

“So, we know that Hezbollah's well-trained fighters are in control of most of west Beirut. The decision taken by Walid Jumblat and Saad al-Hariri not to fight back in Beirut, but rather hand most of their positions to the army ended any illusion regarding the sanctity of the “resistance” – that it would never turn its weapons inward, for now its hands are dripping with the blood of innocent Lebanese. But it's different in the Chouf where Jumblatt's forces bloodied Hezbollah.

“The Chouf is calm now after fighting over the weekend in which forces belonging to Talal Arslan, part of the Hezbollah-led opposition, jumped sides and joined alongside Jumblatt's men. As the Progressive Socialist Party website reports: 'The free people of the Shouf roll back an attack by the Iranian militias causing severe casualties in lives and equipment.'

“Hence, Jumblatt sounded more assertive last night on LBC news because he knows he got the upper-hand in the Chouf battles (Reuters is reporting at least 14 Hezbollah gunmen killed. Meanwhile, the PSP website is claiming 32 Hezbollah fighters killed and 250 wounded.). He was willing to hand his offices over to the army to deflect some of the tension and because he wants to avoid a civil war.”

Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo

When last seen alive by civilized human beings, 33-year-old Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo was wearing a white wedding dress.

Di Marineo's naked and decomposing body was found in bushes near the city of Gebze, which is located on the eastern edges of Istanbul, on Friday night, according to di Marineo's Web site.

Arutz Sheva reports:

An Italian artist who planned to hitchhike from Italy to Israel in a white wedding dress in order to bring a message of peace to the Middle East was raped and murdered in Turkey two weeks ago, police announced Saturday. Her body was found over the weekend two weeks after she went missing near the town of Gebze.

The artist has been identified as 33-year-old Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo, also known as Pippa Bacca. Police arrested a local 38-year-old man who admitted to the murder. ...

More information here: Pippa Bacca - Wikipedia.

Now I want to say something about the tone of certain blogs on the right-hand end of the blogosphere in reacting to this event. Quite simply, it is disgusting.

A young woman died a brutal and humiliating death at the hands of a depraved maniac. This deserves something better than a chorus of snide I-told-you-so's.

Readers of Dreams Into Lightning are well aware that I have scant sympathy for dead terrorists. But Giuseppina wasn't a terrorist, and as far as I can tell wasn't aiding terrorists or fascist dictators. Her only crime was criminal stupidity.

No doubt, a woman traveling unarmed and alone (hitchhiking, no less) in one of the world's toughest neighborhoods - and a region where women simply do not travel alone - this was certainly foolish beyond belief. And she's already paid the price; she does not need to be taunted and mocked after her death.

Is there a lesson to be learned here? I think it is obvious enough, and would have been sufficiently obvious without the death of one more innocent woman. Those who encouraged this naive young lady to go on her suicidal trip should carefully ponder their actions, and the role they may have played in her death.

Enough moralizing then. I will leave the last words for Giuseppina's sister, Maria:

"Her travels were for an artistic performance and to give a message of peace and of trust, but not everyone deserves trust ... "

"The Jericho 3 can drop a nuke anywhere in the Middle East."

Strategy Page:

January 20, 2008: Israel conducted another test of its Jericho 3 ballistic missile on January 17th. This missile went into production last year, after three years, of reports that it was close to entering service. With a range of nearly 5,000 kilometers, the Jericho 3 can drop a nuke anywhere in the Middle East. The Jericho 3 is apparently a variant of the Shavit satellite launcher. The Jericho is a 30 ton, solid fuel, two stage missile, with a half ton payload. Israel is believed to have 50-100 of the shorter range Jericho 2. This is a 26 ton missile with a max range of about 1,500 kilometers. The Jericho 2 was the basis for the Shavit satellite launcher, which has put several satellites in orbit since 1995. The Jericho 1, developed with French assistance, entered service in 1973. This 500 kilometers range missile was replaced by the 1,400 kilometers range Jericho 2, which entered service in 1989.

Stillwell: Against Annapolis "Charade"

Cinnamon Stillwell:

As Daniel Pipes (for whom I work) has pointed out on many occasions, peace cannot be achieved until one side defeats the other, either militarily or ideologically. In this case, the latter would entail the Palestinians being forced to accept the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. And let's just say, it's highly doubtful that will be the outcome of next week's talks, no matter the company line being spouted by Bush, Condi, Abbas, Olmert, and the ever-delusional mainstream American Jewish community (with the notable exception of the Zionist Organization of America). Instead, it's more than likely that the entire process, replete as it's sure to be with further concessions on Israel's part, will simply embolden those bent on her destruction.

Read the rest at the link. Cinnamon speaks for me.

"It was a slightly creepy environment."

Michael Totten has a gift for understatement. He's back from Lebanon - go read his post.