German prosecutors charge 2 far-right extremists
in politician's murder
By Clyde Hughes
German Federal Police officers lead suspect Stephan Ernst to a helicopter after his arraignment at
the Federal Supreme Court July 2, 2019. German authorities charged Ernst with murder Wednesday.
Photo by Ronald Wittek/EPA-EFE
April 29 (UPI) -- German authorities Wednesday charged two people believed to be right-wing extremists in connection with the 2019 shooting death of a German politician.
Walter Luebcke, a district leader for the city of Kassel and member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats Party, was shot while he stood on his porch in Wolfhagen in June 2019. Stephan Ernst, 46, was charged with the murder, and a second man, identified in the German media as Markus H, 44, was charged with complicity in the murder.
Luebcke's support for refugees reportedly angered Ernst, and prosecutor's said his "racism and xenophobia founded on an ethnic-nationalist attitude were decisive in the act."
Ernst initially confessed to the murder but later recanted and accused Markus H of being the shooter. Prosecutors said that Markus H helped Ernst obtain weapons and training but that Ernst was alone at the crime scene.
Prosecutors accused Ernst of owning numerous weapons illegally, including a submachine gun, three revolvers, two automatic pistols, two rifles and 1,400 rounds of ammunition.
Ernst is expected to also be tried for a 2016 knife attack on an Iraqi refugee seeking asylum in Germany. The man was stabbed in the back in Lohfelden near Kassel, causing serious injury. Authorities believe one of the knives found on Ernst during his arrest was involved in the 2016 case.
Germany designates Hezbollah a 'terrorist organization'
By Darryl Coote
The German interior minister said police raids in several states targeted Hezbollah activities.
File Photo by Clemens Bilan/EPA-EFE
April 30 (UPI) -- Germany on Thursday banned activities by the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group and designated it a terrorist organization.
Spokesman Steve Alter said interior minister Horst Seehofer outlawed the Iran-backed militant group he called a "Shiite terrorist organization." He said police raids in several states early Thursday targeted group operations.
"The rule of law can also act in times of crisis," he said.
Jeremy Issacharoff, Israel's ambassador to Germany, said Jerusalem welcomed the ban as an "extremely significant and meaningful step by Germany" in fighting terrorism.
"This measure by Germany is also important given the ongoing attempts by Hezbollah to threaten Israel and undermine regional stability," Issacharoff said. "This decision, that is already being implemented on the ground by the German police, should be adopted by all members of the European Union."
The United States and Israel have long pushed Germany to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
During a visit to Germany last fall by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, German foreign minister Heiko Maas told reporters his government had discussed the issue with Israeli and American officials and was looking for "a European answer."
"We have been witnessing developments in the region and in Lebanon that gives us cause to be seriously concerned," Maas said. "And, as I said, we will be engaging with our European partners with an eye to a possible listing of Hezbollah, but this presupposes European unanimity."
German Parliament passed a motion in December urging Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to ban the militant group.
Britain barred Hezbollah last year and was the second European country to do so after the Netherlands. Canada added the group to its terror list in 2002. The United States designated it a foreign terrorist group in 1997 and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist four years later.
The European Union has designated Hezbollah's military wing as a terrorist organization but not its political arm. The American Jewish Committee urged the EU to label Hezbollah's political faction a terrorist organization.
"Permitting its 'political' wing to operate on European soil allows for active recruitment, fundraising and the poisonous spread of antisemitism, not to mention sending a European message of hesitation and indecisiveness," AJC CEO David Harris said in a statement.
Danish Police Arrest Terror Suspect in Copenhagen
By Morten ButtlerDanish police say they have arrested a suspect in Copenhagen in connection with a terrorist threat inspired by Islamic militancy.
Officials said the suspect had attempted to acquire a weapon and ammunition. The suspect was charged with intent to commit terror, police said without providing further details.
Swedish gangsters unload on McDonald’s with AK-47
in drive-by shooting
in drive-by shooting
90% of Sweden's shooting done by <10% demographic
Police in Sweden are investigating after a pair of thugs opened fire on a McDonald’s restaurant with an AK-47 rifle. The shooting is one of two violent incidents at a McDonald’s outlet in the country in as many days.
The shooting was captured in video footage shared on social media on Thursday. In it, the masked passenger of a BMW loads an AK-47-style assault rifle. When told to “shoot,” by another occupant of the car, he fires more than a dozen rounds at the empty restaurant and nearby shopping center, before the driver speeds off into the night.
According to Swedish newspaper Expressen, police combed the scene – located in a northern Stockholm suburb – for shell casings on Thursday. They identified multiple bullet holes in the McDonald’s sign, and found several shells.
Hours earlier, police in the western Swedish city of Trollhattan had to deal with a separate gang incident at a fast-food eatery. Shortly after 2am on Wednesday, two groups of hoodlums trashed a late-opening McDonald’s, attacking each other, upending furniture, and damaging several cars parked outside. By the time the police arrived, the mob had dispersed.
Such incidents are fast becoming the norm in Sweden, a country that was once a byword for peace and stability. According to government statistics, deadly violence in the criminal underworld has increased more than threefold since 2012. Homicide in general has nearly doubled in that time, while assault, sexual violence, threats and harassment have also all increased since 2015.
Sweden has also become the bombing capital of Europe, with 257 bomb attacks reported in 2019, up 60 percent from the year before. Its rising right wing places the blame on the waves of immigrants welcomed into the country in the past decade – and, in certain cases, the data backs them up. Around 180,000 immigrants came to Sweden in 2017, and a crime review by newspaper Dagens Nyheter said that first- or second-generation immigrants were behind 90 percent of the country’s shootings.
Muslims make up between 8 and 10% of the Swedish population. So, less than 10% of the population is responsible for 90% of the shootings. And yet, Swedes still have confidence in Stefan.
Sweden has 10 times the deaths of the other Nordic countries from COVID-19, and yet, Swedes still have confidence in Stefan.
Go figure!
Venezuela charges two Americans with terrorism and conspiracy over failed mercenary plot
Venezuela's chief prosecutor Tarek William Saab holds a news conference in Caracas on Friday.
© REUTERS/Manaure Quintero
Luke Alexander Denman and Airan Berry were among at least 17 people captured by the Venezuelan military following a foiled attempt by mercenaries to kidnap President Maduro in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab said the ex-soldiers had been charged with “terrorism, conspiracy, illicit trafficking of weapons of war and [criminal] association,” and could face up to 30 years in prison.
Saab’s office also requested the detention and extradition of US military veteran Jordan Goudreau and two Venezuelans accused of orchestrating the failed incursion.
Maduro said on Thursday that evidence will soon come to light that will show that US President Donald Trump himself ordered the plot. Trump later dismissed the idea, saying he would have done things differently, ordering a full “invasion.”
Suspected ‘ISIS-inspired’ terrorist cell members arrested in Poland over attack plot
File photo © Agencja Gazeta/Jedrzej Nowicki via REUTERS
According to the minister’s spokesman, Stanislaw Zaryn, Poland’s Internal Security Agency found evidence showing that the four suspects sympathized with, and supported, the activities of Islamic State, although they were not members.
The four were allegedly planning to recruit people to join their terrorist cell and were arrested on May 7. “They were inspired by ISIS,” Zaryn told Reuters, “but they were not a part of the organization."
According to the ministry, the individuals in question have been placed in a detention center and are awaiting extradition from Poland back to Tajikistan. They will also be included on a list of persons permanently banned from ever entering any countries within the Schengen Area.
Last month, four Tajik nationals were arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning to attack US military bases there.
Some 1,900 people are believed to have left Tajikistan – the poorest former Soviet republic – since 2015 to fight in ISIS’ ranks, according to figures released by Tajik national security officials in 2018.
3 U.N. peacekeepers killed by bomb in Mali
By Clyde Hughes
U.N. peacekeepers secure an area in Koygouma in the Timbuktu Region of Mali, on May 6, 2019.
File Photo by Nicolas Remene/EPA-EFE
The peacekeepers, from Chad, were part of a convoy connected with the U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali when the improvised explosive device went off. Four other peacekeepers were injured in the blast Sunday.
Mahamat Saleh Annadif, the head of the mission, condemned the attack and said it was intended to disturb Mali's peace process. Peacekeepers have been stationed there since 2013.
"We will have to combine all efforts to identify and apprehend those responsible for these terrorist acts so that they can answer for their crimes in front of justice," Annadif said.
The Kidal region, which contains Aguelhok, had been a stronghold for separatist rebels in Mali and several militant groups are active in the area. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, said in a statement the attacks equated to a war crime.
"[Guterres] calls on the Malian authorities to spare no effort in identifying the perpetrators of these attacks so that they can be brought to justice swiftly," Dujarric said. "The secretary-general reaffirms that such cowardly acts will not deter the United Nations from its resolve to continue supporting the people and government of Mali in their pursuit of peace and stability."
U.S. Aid to Lebanon Funds Hezbollah Terrorists—Time to Stop It
May 12, 2020
Members of UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, watch as Israeli construction equipment destroys Hezbollah tunnels dug under the noses of these U.N. troops in violation of two U.N. Security Council Resolutions. U.N. member states fund UNIFIL with $475 million dollars annually.
While the U.S.-designated terror group Hezbollah has denied any direct connection to the government of Lebanon, that flimsy charade is about to end if a group of U.S. lawmakers gets its way.
Likewise, while the 2006 U.N Security Council Resolution 1701 creates “a buffer zone free of ‘any armed personnel’” in southern Lebanon—and since Hezbollah now has more than a hundred thousand missiles aimed at Israel, stored in the southern part of Lebanon—that travesty should also end if Israel and the U.S. get their way.
In short, it’s time for world powers to increase sanctions on Hezbollah and any entities that do business with the group—starting with the United States and the European Union, both of which financially support the Lebanese government . . . and thus indirectly fund the terrorists of Hezbollah.
Here are some astonishing facts about the relationship of Shi’ite Hezbollah to Lebanon:
• Hezbollah maintains a huge standing army (a so-called militia) of some 40,000 men under arms in Lebanon.
• Hezbollah has created an arsenal of 130,000-150,000 rockets, mostly concentrated near Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.
• Hezbollah forces are extremely active in Syria, especially in trying to establish military installations along Israel’s border with Syria, especially near the Golan Heights.
• Iran is Hezbollah’s largest financial and strategic benefactor by far, qualifying the Lebanese group as a veritable arm of the Islamic Republic.
• Hezbollah controls two major Lebanese governmental ministries, and while Lebanon prohibits a Shi’ite Muslim prime minister, the current Sunni Lebanese PM was nominated by Hezbollah.
• The Lebanese Army has provided thousands of uniforms to Hezbollah forces, and the two groups conduct joint vehicle patrols. Photos on the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) website show Hezbollah fighters driving American-made armored vehicles bearing flags of both Hezbollah and the LAF.
Bear in mind that the United Nations maintains an international peacekeeping force of about 9,400 ground troops and 850 naval personnel to enforce U.N. strictures—at an annual cost of $474 million.
Since Hezbollah operates freely in southern Lebanon and prevents UNIFIL access to broad swaths of Lebanese territory, it’s clear that UNIFIL is not only useless, it’s a huge waste of money.
Indeed, just last year Israel discovered a series of Hezbollah military attack tunnels dug from southern Lebanon into northern Israel—right under the noses of the U.N.’s nearly half-billion-dollar-a-year “peacekeepers.”
No wonder Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, is demanding that UNIFIL stop playing games and do its job—which is to keep the U.N.-designated buffer zone free of weapons and armed forces. For starters, Danon is calling for “full freedom of movement” for the peacekeeping force. His efforts are supported by U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Kelly Craft.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a report recently saying the both Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias continue to operate outside of Lebanese governmental control in violation of a 2004 U.N. resolution prohibiting such activity.
Guterres, who obviously has no power in these matters, said he continues to urge the Lebanese government and the LAF “to take all measures necessary to prohibit Hezbollah and other armed groups from acquiring weapons and building paramilitary capacity outside the authority of the state.”
How about ordering UNIFIL to fulfill its responsibilities, Mr. Guterres?
Note also that the United States has dumped more than $1.82 billion in “security assistance” into the LAF in the last ten years. The U.S. currently gives Lebanon about $224 million a year in combined Department of State and Department of Defense military grants.
No wonder, too, that a group of four U.S. Representatives has sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanding that the U.S. re-evaluate and suspend security assistance to the state of Lebanon.
In their letter, the Congress members note that Hezbollah and the LAF “are no longer separate entities.” This fact establishes the logical conclusion that “by continuing to provide this assistance we are contravening U.S. law by funding a terrorist organization .”
Well, it's not like that has never happened before. How many terrorist organizations are they still supporting in Syria?
Germany delivered a major bit of good news last week, by banning activities of Hezbollah in its territory. Germany’s Supreme Court ruled that Hezbollah is an organization that “disrupted global peace. ”
Germany’s move shatters a long-held distinction among European nations, which against all evidence hold that Hezbollah’s military wing is a terrorist group, while its political wing is not, and is therefore permitted. Even Hezbollah denies that its two divisions are separate entities, but the E.U. so far clings to its excuse in order to maintain friendly relations with the terrorists.
Clearly it’s time for the U.S. State Department and Department of Defense to cut their ties—and funding—to the Lebanese government and the terrorists embedded in it. We should also put pressure on the U.N. to force UNIFIL to fulfill its mission . . . or disband (or defund) it completely. Obviously, U.S. taxpayer dollars sent to Lebanon are either directly or indirectly aiding Hezbollah.
Hezbollah’s toxic influence in Lebanon—and increasingly in Syria—is only growing. The U.S. administration should show leadership on this issue, as it has in cutting funding to Iran and other Middle East entities that work contrary to U.S. interests.
We can hope that Germany’s lead, followed by additional sanctions enacted by the U.S., might even bring E.U. nations to their senses, so that they, too, begin isolating Lebanon for its embrace of Iranian proxies.
I hope that as you discuss the U.S. relationship to Lebanon—and our quarter-billion-dollar contribution to its military—you’ll emphasize that every dollar we taxpayers send to Lebanon supports Hezbollah terrorists, Iranian imperialism, and military threats to Israel.
I hope you’ll also take a minute, while you have this material front and center, to visit FLAME’s lively new Facebook page and review the P.S. immediately below. It describes FLAME’s new hasbarah campaign—which argues for maintaining strong sanctions against our enemy, Iran.
Jim Sinkinson
President, Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)
US Aircraft Relocate Daesh Terrorists
from Syria to Iraq: Badr
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - US forces have transferred Daesh terrorists from Syria into Iraq amid Washington’s attempts to reinforce the American presence in the Arab country, a senior official with Iraq’s Badr Organization said.
“Eyewitnesses living along the border with Syria have informed security officials that American forces are conducting extensive airborne transfers of Daesh terrorists from Syria to Iraq,” Mohammed Mahdi al-Bayati told al-Maalomah news agency on Sunday, according to Press TV.
The terrorists entered Iraq via the borders near the Kurdistan region, Bayati said, adding that the new deployment is aimed at stepping up terrorist attacks in Iraq in order to justify the presence of American forces in the country.
US troops are required to leave Iraq per a parliamentary resolution approved in January following the American assassination of senior Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi comrade Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
The US has not only defied calls to withdraw from Iraq but has also reinforced its military presence by deploying more troops and military equipment.
The United States has recently started evacuating its occupation forces from a number of military bases in Iraq under a new redeployment plan.
Iraqis believe the move is a military tactic amid reports that Washington is drawing up plans to target members of Hashd al-Sha’abi or Popular Mobilization Forces.
On Saturday, Hashd al-Sha’abi thwarted an attempt by Daesh militants to infiltrate into the Iraqi province of Anbar from Syria.
The presence of US forces presents a serious quandary for new Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
On Saturday, he met US Ambassador Matthew Tueller in Baghdad, reiterating that Iraq would not be a ground for settling accounts and launching attacks on any neighboring or friendly country.
Around 5,000 US troops are in Iraq under the pretext of supporting Iraqi forces in the battle against Daesh even as Baghdad has declared the battle against the Takfiri terrorists over a long time ago.
Following a cabinet meeting, Kadhimi said a strategic agreement with the US will be reviewed. Iraq and the US signed the Strategic Framework Agreement in 2008 based on a relationship of friendship and cooperation between the two nations.
Not to mention, how many suitcases of American dollars flow eastward.
However, relations nosedived following the US assassination and airstrikes on popular counterterror forces which prompted the Iraqi parliament to vote for the withdrawal of American troops.
Speaking to Baghdad Today news website on Wednesday, Kadhimi said he was "serious” about ending any manifestation of the illegal presence of foreign forces in Iraq. He said Baghdad would discuss with Washington the nature of its presence on Iraqi soil in the near future.
Kurdistan Region
Tunisian Troops Thwart Terrorist Attack,
Locate Weapons Cache - Defense Ministry
Umer Jamshaid, Urdu Point
The Tunisian armed forces have prevented a terrorist attack by locating a stash with prepared weapons and ammunition in the northwestern region of Kasserine, the country's Defense Ministry said on Monday
CAIRO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th May, 2020)
The Tunisian armed forces have prevented a terrorist attack by locating a stash with prepared weapons and ammunition in the northwestern region of Kasserine, the country's Defense Ministry said on Monday.
"The military units based in the area of Kasserine heights have foiled preparations for a terror attack against the armed and security forces," the ministry said in a statement obtained by Sputnik.
The military is said to have registered suspicious movements in the area.
"Upon inspecting the area, they discovered a cache with a gas tank, electric batteries, electric wires, iron plates, aluminum, [and] materials for making bombs and land mines," the ministry added.
Engineering units have disarmed the ammunition and handed it over to the authorities.
In 2015, Tunisia declared a state of emergency following a terror attack in El Kantaoui resort that took the lives of 40 people.
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