Category: Terror War

WTOP reports that this fellow Joseph Hassan Farrokh and Mahmoud Amin Mohamed Elhassan were arrested at the Richmond, Virginia Airport as Farrokh was planning to board a plane that would get him to Syria where he could join ISIS. The pair were from Woodbridge, Virginia, near the Metro DC area. Farrokh’s travel arrangements were made by an FBI informant, which is always helpful to the forces of good.

Farrokh, a U.S. citizen born in Pennsylvania, has been charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Elhassan, a legal permanent U.S. resident originally from Sudan, has been charged with helping Farrokh.

So, a US citizen being assisted by a refugee. Farrokh had no plans to return to the US, but, you know, his handlers in Syria could have persuaded him to return. As as a US citizen, he would have been more valuable to them here than just another gravedigger in Syria. DC area? WOuld have made him even more valuable to them. He told the FBI that he wanted to die a martyr.

Make no mistake, these fellow that have been released were nothing more than hostages. We paid the Iranian government $150 billion ransom for their release along with lifting the sanctions against the country. Otherwise, these completely innocent people would have released long ago not hours before the funds are released and sanctions are lifted. From Fox News;

Pastor Saeed Abedini, Washington Post reporter Jason Razaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati and Nosratollah Khosravi were freed in the dramatic exchange that comes as crippling sanctions on Iran are set to be lifted following years of negotiations to brig Iran’s nuclear program into UN compliance.

[…]

The release of prisoners does not appear to include Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent last seen in Iran but whose status is unknown. The 67-year-old disappeared in 2007 while working for the CIA on an unapproved intelligence mission. American officials are unsure if the former FBI agent is even still alive. Iranian officials deny knowing where he is. Levinson traveled to Kish island and checked into hotel, purportedly investigating cigarette smuggling. He met U.S. fugitive Dawud Salahuddin, the last man known to see him.

The CIA family paid Levinson’s family over $2 million and some staffers lost their jobs over his unauthorized work. A proof of life video surfaced in 2011, saying Levinson was held by a group. His family received photos that year, too, of Levinson bearded, shackled, wearing orange jumpsuit and holding signs in broken English.

As part of the deal announced Saturday, Iran also agreed to continue cooperating with the United States to determine the whereabouts of Levinson.

In exchange, the US is giving Iran back some agents of the Islamic Republic who were convicted of violating the sanctions we’re now lifting as part of a nuclear deal.

I’m sure that the Iranian government has sights set on their next American “prisoners” for their next blackmail attempt.

According to BBC, 27 people have been killed in Ouagadougou, the capitol of Burkino Faso, a central African nation. More than a hundred hostages were released after at least four terrorists were killed by American- and French-supported local national troops. Government officials disagree on whether or not two women were among the gunmen.

Militants attacked the Splendid [Hotel] and the nearby Cappuccino cafe on Friday evening, setting off several explosions. Both places are popular with UN staff and foreigners.

Survivors described how the militants went from person to person, touching their bodies to see if they moved.

“They started shooting, shooting, and everybody lay down on the ground,” said Mariette, who escaped from the hotel with her younger sister.

“As soon as you lifted your head they would shoot straightaway, so you had to pretend to be dead. And they even came to touch our feet to check if we were alive. As soon as you were alive, they would shoot at you.”

Interior Minister Simon Compaore said 10 bodies had been found on the cafe terrace alone. He added that at least 33 hostages had been injured.

CNN says that there a couple of dozen Americans stationed in Burkino Faso;

U.S. forces helped with logistical support. The United States has about 75 military personnel in Burkina Faso, including 15 assigned to the U.S. Embassy, according to a U.S. defense official. An additional 60 help train and advise the French military in the nation.

According to witness accounts, the terrorists would poke the bodies of people on the floor and if the bodies moved, they’d shoot their victims once again. Reports are that the 23 victims were of at least 18 different nationalities.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the assault, local media reported. CNN could not independently confirm that claim.

The al Qaeda-linked Al-Mourabitoun said it conducted the attack, which had similarities to the one in neighboring Mali in November.

The other day, a “Syrian refugee” detonated himself in a crowd of tourists in Istanbul killing ten Germans and injuring several more, so Turkey got serious about their war against ISIS yesterday, according to Reuters;

“After the incident on Tuesday … close to 500 artillery and tank shells were fired on Daesh positions in Syria and Iraq,” [Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu] told a conference of Turkish ambassadors in the capital Ankara, using an Arabic name for Islamic State.

“Close to 200 Daesh members including so-called regional leaders were neutralized in the last 48 hours. After this, every threat directed at Turkey will be punished in kind.”

Davutoglu said the Turkish strikes had targeted Islamic State positions around Bashiqa in northern Iraq, where Ankara recently deployed a force protection unit to defend Turkish soldiers who are training an Iraqi militia in the fight against the Sunni radicals.

Cross-border strikes into Syria targeted an area around the rebel-held town of Marea, 20 km (12 miles) from the Turkish border and near the edge of a “safe zone” Turkey wants to establish in northern Syria to keep Islamic State at bay.

Of course, if Turkey had taken the war against ISIS seriously in the first place, those German tourists might still be alive.

The Associated Press reports that the Europeans are starting to be more picky about which “refugees” thay allow into their countries, Austria has turned away 3000 in the last few weeks;

[Austrian] Police spokesman Rainer Dionisio said Wednesday the development is due to more intensive controls at border points with Slovenia, from where about 3,000 migrants a day cross into Austria.

Those claiming to come from Syria, Iraq, and other flashpoints in the Middle East are questioned and translators check their accents to establish whether they are telling the truth. Those who aren’t are turned back, including Moroccans, Algerians and other nationals making false claims.

Meanwhile, Austrian police say Germany has returned about 200 migrants trying to transit from Austria over the past few weeks for lack of valid documents or because they were seeking asylum in other EU countries.