News Updates from CLG News
9 August 2014
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First, al-CIAduh. Now, I-CIA-SIS:U.S. trained militants who joined ISIS –Secret Jordan base was site of covert aid to ‘rebels’ targeting Assad 17 June 2014 Syrian rebels who would later join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, were trained in 2012 by U.S. instructors working at a secret base in Jordan, according to informed Jordanian officials. The officials said dozens of future ISIS members were trained at the time as part of covert aid to the insurgents targeting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria…Last March, the German weekly Der Spiegel reported Americans were training Syrian rebels in Jordan.
U.S. Jets and Drones Used to Attack in Iraq 8 Aug 2014 The United States launched a series of airstrikes against Sunni militants in northern Iraq on Friday, using Predator drones and Navy F-18 fighter jets to destroy rebel positions around the city of Erbil, the American military said Friday. The action marked the return of the United States to a direct combat role in a country it left in 2011. Warplanes dropped 500-pound laser-guided bombs on a number of targets: a mobile artillery piece that was being towed from a truck and had begun shelling Erbil, a stationary [?] convoy of seven vehicles, and a mortar position.
U.S. Drops Food and Water to Trapped Iraqis for Second Day 8 Aug 2014 U.S. military aircraft dropped a second air drop of humanitarian aid to Iraqis under threat from hardline militants in northern Iraq for the second straight night, the Pentagon said on Friday. Three planes dropped 72 bundles of supplies for the refugees, according to Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby, who spoke from New Delhi. Included in the aid were more than 28,000 meals and more than 1,500 gallons of water. [Yes, the US gets water to people ‘stranded and thirsty’ on an Iraq mountain, due to ISIL. Too bad Detroit isn’t in Iraq, as an ‘ISIL’ govt shut off Detroit’s water. –LRP]
FAA bans commercial airlines from flying over Iraq as U.S. bombing missions begin–Authorities announced the ban Friday morning only hours after the Pentagon confirmed two U.S. bombs were dropped over northern Iraq –Two 500-pound, laser-guided bombs were dropped on ‘enemy artillery equipment’ Friday morning near the Kurdish capital or Erdil – Pentagon 8 Aug 2014 Federal aviation authorities are prohibiting U.S. airlines and other commercial carriers from flying over Iraq as U.S. bombing missions begin. The FAA announced the ban Friday, citing the ‘potentially hazardous situation’ created by fighting between militants and Iraqi security forces and their allies as U.S. military planes begin strategic airstrikes against the Islamic State. The ban applies to all U.S.-registered planes except those operated by foreign carriers and to FAA-licensed pilots and comes only one day after President Obama authorized the attacks.
US military launches two new rounds of bombings in Iraq 8 Aug 2014 The United States launched a second round of airstrikes on targets near Irbil, Iraq Friday, taking out two Islamic militant mortar positions and a seven-vehicle convoy, a Pentagon official said. The new action came just hours after American fighter jets launched a first round of strikes and one day after President Obama authorized military action to protect U.S. personnel and Iraqi civilians. Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said the U.S. launched the second round of two airstrikes to help defend Irbil, where U.S. personnel are “assisting the government of Iraq.”
Car bomb in Iraq’s capital kills 17 7 Aug 2014 At least 17 people, including six Iraqi policemen, have been killed in a powerful car bomb attack on a police checkpoint in the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad. According to Iraqi security sources, the deadly incident took place in the holy town of Kadhimiya, located in a northern neighborhood of Baghdad, on Thursday. Thirty-one people also suffered injuries in the incident.
Rockets, Airstrikes After Gaza War Truce Collapses –More than 1,900 Gazans have been killed in the four-week war, roughly three-quarters of them civilians, according to Palestinian and United Nations officials. 9 Aug 2014 Israeli airstrikes struck more than 20 targets Saturday in the Gaza Strip as militant rocket fire continued toward Israel following the collapse of a three-day truce aimed at ending the war between Israel and Hamas…Hamas officials said the Israel airstrikes Saturday hit houses, mosques, its warehouses and training sites. A handful of rockets landed Saturday morning in Israel.
Israel detains over 1,000 anti-war Palestinians 8 Aug 2014 Latest figures show Israeli forces have arrested more than a thousand Palestinians protesting against Tel Aviv’s aerial and ground attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip. Sources said the activists were detained during the crackdown on towns of Palestinian Arab population across Israel. Israeli media outlets have cited a lawyer representing some of the arrested people as saying that dozens of them are being held without charge.
Russia ‘already turning away trucks at border’ –Afrucat says Russian importers started cancelling orders from EU suppliers this morning 7 Aug 2014 Catalan producer association Afrucat is urging its members not to send lorries to Russia until the situation regarding the ban on EU imports has been fully clarified, following reports that trucks laden with fruits and vegetables are already being refused entry at border crossings.
WHO declares Ebola an international health emergency 8 Aug 2014 The world’s worst outbreak of Ebola that has killed nearly 1,000 people in West Africa represents an international health emergency and could continue spreading for months, the World Health Organization said on Friday. “The outbreak is moving faster than we can control it,” WHO Director-General Margaret Chan told reporters on a telephone briefing from her Geneva headquarters. The U.N. agency said all states where Ebola had passed from one person to another should declare a national emergency.