Beirut (AFP) - Islamist rebels captured four crew members of a regime helicopter which crashed in Idlib province of northwest Syria on Sunday, while a fifth serviceman was killed, a monitor said.

"A regime helicopter was forced to land in the region of Jabal al-Zawiya in the northwest, which is a bastion of (Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate) Al-Nusra Front," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.

"Four of the crew were captured and a fifth man was killed by armed men in a neighbouring village," he said.

Abdel Rahman said the Al-Nusra Front held two of the servicemen, including the helicopter's pilot.

Official Al-Nusra Front accounts on Twitter published photos and videos with the caption "Helicopter pilot in the hands of jihadists."

The images depict the bandaged pilot sitting in front of Al-Nusra Front's official flag.

"To the Muslim children, to their mothers, who died two days ago because of their chlorine attack," a bearded fighter says in the video, pointing to the pilot.

On March 17, a family of six died in Idlib province after a regime gas attack on the village of Sarmin. Opposition forces accused the regime of using chlorine, a toxic agent that can be considered a chemical weapon.

Two other servicemen from the helicopter crash were captured by another Islamist group, and at least one more crew member was believed to be on the run, Abdel Rahman said.

Regime helicopters are often used to drop crudely constructed barrel bombs on rebel-held areas.

Pictures provided by the Observatory showed groups of men gathering around a damaged helicopter lying on its side on a rocky hilltop.

Syrian state television confirmed a military helicopter had crashed in Idlib, saying it was due to a technical failure and that search efforts were underway to locate the crew.

In the southern province of Daraa, opposition fighters and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad clashed in the ancient town of Busra al-Sham, the Observatory said.

At least nine opposition fighters were killed, but the casualty toll on the regime side was not immediately known.

The town has both Sunni and Shiite Muslim residents, with control divided between regime and rebel forces.

Abdel Rahman said opposition groups shelled the Shiite neighbourhoods heavily on Sunday, a day after regime forces had shelled rebel-held areas.

A regime helicopter also dropped at least one barrel bomb on the town Sunday, but Abdel Rahman had no immediate report on civilian casualties.

Being under 24hr attack…is a bit stressful

[ Editor’s Note: Iran and Iraq have been mistakenly or purposefully underplaying the effectiveness of US air attacks against ISIL. In the beginning it was different, as we had declared war on ISIL and the massive bombing campaign to do with that never materialized.

We are further down the road now and the story has changed, which Gordon’s details below will clearly show.

Avoiding civilian casualties is something that has to be avoided. There were instant claims of them with the initial Syria attacks, but with no photo proof to back them up…that old game.

But ISIL long supply line soon became the target of choice as the most dependable brake on ISIL making major moves which require a very dependable logistics train. Traveling the open desert roads, or even manning an easy to see checkpoint is a much more dangerous.

The US also did not want to give the impression for domestic politics that “we were going back into Iraq”. And the Iraqis had a similar political issue, which is why they stated over and over, “we do not want US military bases here”.

ISIL failed early attack on Baghdad was a turning point

The 3000 US advisers there now have help beef up combined operations on the ground to assist Iraqi and Kurdish success on the ground and let them have all the credit to build back some military pride after their criminal military had looted the country’s defensive capability.

One incident that never made the public news is a major ISIL armor advance on Baghdad which was wiped out from the air. Iran, who certainly knows this, is wanting to take all the credit for being the swing player that stopped the ISIL momentum. They do deserve credit, but not all.

Iran has done things in places where it was best suited for them to do, the coalition has done the same, and they have stayed out of each others areas.

This of course requires air traffic controller cooperation to avoid unpleasant incidents, but neither Iran, the US or Iraq would ever mention such things publicly. They never do… Jim W. Dean ]

_________________________________

- First published … January 27, 2014 -

If ever there were a man of contradictions, it is Netanyahu.

This week President Obama pulled out the stops and began a relentless bombing campaign against ISIL, paralyzing their ability to move, isolating Mosul and wiping out entire units.

From a Combined Joint Task ForceNews Release:

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Jan. 26, 2015 – U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of the latest strikes, which took place between 8 a.m. yesterday and 8 a.m. today, local time, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Airstrikes in Syria

Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 21 airstrikes in Syria:

– Near Qaim, an airstrike destroyed three ISIL armored vehicles.

– Near Raqqah, two airstrikes destroyed six ISIL armored vehicles and an ISIL vehicle.

– Near Dayr az Zawr, an airstrike destroyed an ISIL armored vehicle.

– Near Kobani, 17 airstrikes struck 14 ISIL tactical units, a large ISIL unit and two ISIL fighting positions and destroyed six ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL vehicle and an ISIL staging area.

Airstrikes in Iraq

Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 13 airstrikes in Iraq:

– Near Fallujah, an airstrike destroyed an ISIL excavator.

– Near Haditha, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

– Near Mosul, four airstrikes struck two ISIL tactical units and destroyed three ISIL bunkers, two ISIL vehicles and an ISIL armored vehicle.

– Near Tal Afar, seven airstrikes struck a large ISIL unit and destroyed three ISIL mortar firing positions, three ISIL vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, eight ISIL armored vehicles, an ISIL checkpoint, 15 ISIL vehicles and three ISIL fighting positions.

The US is doing the job, paying for it, and has had no casualties so far.

The battle for Kobani has pushed back ISIL units from the city while an isolation perimeter is beginning to take shape around Mosul. Street fighting inside Mosul accounted for 20 ISIL deaths last week.

There is a reason for this, American politics. By now “America watchers” around the world, even Russia and a rare few in Iran, are cognizant of Israel’s backing of ISIL and, moreover, the ties between ISIL, Israel, the Kiev junta and America’s “Taliban,” the Republican party.

Republican or “GOP” politicians and military figures, mostly rear echelon “chickenhawk” types, as opposed to “chicken****,” Netanyahu’s new nickname in America, have openly supported ISIL and al-Qaeda.

Their love affair with “simulated Islamic extremism” was stimulated by promises of kickbacks from profits tied to stolen Syrian and Iraqi crude oil and the promise of a share in the spoils of looted Syrian factories and stolen antiquities.

The methodology of payment is simple. American law now allows offshore corporations, “no questions asked,” to transfer unlimited cash to any American politician.

The flood of money bought the last election, a torrent of drug and human trafficking cash, with the lion’s share of “donations” channeled through Vegas gambling boss Sheldon Adelson.

Mitt Romney and mistress in Cuba…where Bain Capital has facilities

The same channels that buy elections now launder a share of ISIL spoils into the coffers of Christian evangelist “family values” politicians who pass it on to pimps who supply them with children to sexually abuse while the rest is moved offshore via Bain Capital’s Cuban based operations.

What is believed, however, is that Netanyahu, who sees himself as a modern day Genghis Khan (Hitler’s aims were far too narrow for Netanyahu), may well have over-reached himself. Typical Pentagon chatter jokingly talks of shooting Netanyahu’s plane down.

French sources, however, have acknowledged assassination threats against Netanyahu, whose immoderate positions have threatened both Israeli security and “Jewish interests,” the specific terminology used in the threat analysis document received today.

Domestic Divide

The photo is a good representation of what the Zionists have done to Palestine

There is no longer any doubt that Israel is actively involved in full operational support of ISIL.

Recent attacks inside Syria on Hezbollah units and their Iranian advisors, fighting against Al Qaeda and ISIL units outside Damascus, are seen as direct “fire support” on behalf of ISIL.

From the standpoint of international law, Syria can legally ask for military aid from any group willing to fight.

Conversely, Israel’s intervention on behalf of ISIL and Al Qaeda, not for the first time, violates Syrian sovereignty and, in actuality, represents a “clear and present danger” to US and NATO security as well.

The ISIL presence near and now inside Lebanon gives them access to Europe and adds credence to their threats of terrorist activity, threats turned into a form of reality with the timely and convenient events in Paris, events fewer and fewer accept as face value as facts become known.

As with Israeli support for ISIL or Kiev, America’s GOP follows suit, broadly supporting both ISIL and Kiev and bringing with them rogue sectors within the US government and military organizations.

It is these groups Netanyahu hopes to court for support, groups Obama is taking down inside the US as ISIL is under increasing attack by Syria and Iraq, finally with the promised US support.

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… from Russia Today, Moscow

The seven golden domes of St. Petersburg

[ Editor’s Note: The US Supreme Court Citizens United case paved the way for international crime syndicates to funnel unlimited ill-gotten gains into America’s political campaigns to the cheers of all those on the receiving end.

But that set the stage for another back door purchase of American influence, where similar types of funny money sources are flowing into prestigious foundations — and yes, including those of a past president, the Clinton Foundation.

This is even more incestuous, where such foundations are being used as regime-change Intel fronts for both the real and/or the shadow government to indulge in offensive regime-change operations at the behest of God-knows-who.

Is there public oversight of this? Are you kidding? That is the whole point of using an AAA front to ward off any investigators to mind their own business or their careers may hit an elevator shaft, or worse.

The diplomatic immunity of choice for all international crime orgs is to get involved in Intel operations for a major foreign Intel agency and to come under its mother hen wings.

Once they are involved in such secret operations, they have a lot of protection from being prosecuted in their other criminal activities through which their espionage moonlighting might be revealed. Obstruction of justice becomes a national security issue, the ultimate boomerang.

Prosecutions are stopped here in the US whenever needed, using this well worn duck and dodge — which has included virtually all of Israeli espionage operations. They are deemed unprosecutable, as Israel could then release nasty things they have been involved in doing with US support, or had done simply as a favor.

There are many in the US Intel community who have always thought this was actually undermining our security by putting Israel in a position to compromise the US. It was generally done because some higher up wanted a short term benefit, knowing they would not be around for any subsequent fallout.

America’s military and security orgs threw us all off the roof on 9-11… by doing NOTHING

The other view is that we can also drop the hammer on Israel. Oh yeah, sure… It that’s true, then why is the Sandia Labs 2003 report on 9-11 still classified, when it showed irrefutable involvement by the Israelis and a tremendous penetration of America’s nuclear security?

“They” don’t want to discuss that, of course, and guess why? You got it… “a national security issue”.

But when you have someone like the Clintons, with power egos on steroids, who know that grabbing a presidential slot for Hillary, and eventually the daughter, will require gathering every dime possible — then the influence pedaling is as important to them as breathing.

The conflicts of interest are immense. You have national security issues, tax law, money laundering, political compromise, rogue intelligence operations and potential business scandals that can be used to blackmail related political figures.

For example Ukrainian Jewish Oligarch billionaire Viktor Pinchuk’s donated millions to the Clinton Foundation might have come from Israeli Intel futures trading scams — with funneling them through Viktor to get their hooks deeper into the Clintons… do you get the drift?

The Israelis are masters at the long-term compromise. The Mossad had moved its “honey pot” hooker and her “husband” to a ranch next door to Lyndon Johnson’s place, so she could take the helicopter over to visit on the weekends when Lady Bird was away. She was “very near him” during the USS Liberty incident… just a coincidence probably.

The list of such incidents is long, like the British sex scandals, and the blackmail penetrations that went along with that. We have had a similar problem in the US, with our media and law enforcement being waived off. Only the Catholic Church was censured in public on the sex abuse scandals… to remind all the other blackmail targets how unpleasant and expensive exposure could be.

I am against ex-presidents getting involved in influence peddling, as it cheapens the office, and America is looking cheap enough through its current disasters, like Syria and Ukraine, which were done under official sanction. We don’t need moonlighters jumping in for a piece of the action to polish up their foreign policy “street cred”… Jim W. Dean ]

_________________________

- First published … March 22, 2015 -

Knowing how to use all the ropes

From 2009 up to 2013, the year the Ukrainian crisis erupted, the Clinton Foundation received at least $8.6 million from the Foundation, which is headquartered in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, a new report claims.

In 2008, Viktor Pinchuk, who made a fortune in the pipe-building business, pledged a five-year, $29-million commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative, a program that works to train future Ukrainian leaders “to modernize Ukraine.”

The Wall Street Journal revealed the donations the fund received from foreigners abroad between 2009-2014 in their report published earlier this week.

Several alumni of the program have already graduated into the ranks of Ukraine’s parliament, while a former Clinton pollster went to work as a lobbyist for Pinchuk at the same time Clinton was working in government.

Between 2009 and 2013, the very period when Hillary Clinton was serving as US secretary of state, the Clinton Foundation appears to have received at least $8.6 million from the Victor Pinchuk Foundation. That places Ukraine as the leading contributor among foreign donators to the Clinton Foundation.

After being introduced to former US President Bill Clinton by Doug Schoen, a political analyst and pollster who has worked for both Clintons, Pinchuk and his wife began making donations to Clinton-family charities, WSJ reported.

During Hillary Clinton’s time at the State Department, Schoen began work as a congressional lobbyist for the Ukrainian oligarch. Schoen defended his lobbying activities, saying there was no connection to Pinchuk’s hefty donations.

“We were not seeking to use any leverage or any connections or anything of the sort relating to the foundation,” he said. Schoen said he and Viktor Pinchuk met on several occasions with Clinton aides including Melanne Verveer, a Ukrainian-American who holds membership in the influential Council on Foreign Relations, as well as the Trilateral Commission.

Ivana Trump wearing Viktor as her jewelry

The purpose of these meetings,according to Schoen, was to encourage the US government to pressure Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovich to release his jailed predecessor, Yulia Tymoshenko.

Whatever the case may be, Ukraine entered a period of severe crisis on November 21, 2013, when Yanukovich suspended plans for the implementation of an association agreement with the European Union.

The announcement triggered mass protests that led to Yanukovich fleeing Kiev on February 22, 2014.

Social unrest eventually consumed the country, as the eastern part of the country attempted to gain more independence from Kiev. Recently, both sides have agreed to a tense ceasefire, hammered out last month in Minsk, Belarus by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany.

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Paris (AFP) - The threat of a jihadist attack in France has reached a level "without precedent" and new attacks are inevitable, according to top counter-terrorism officials.

"The threat is permanent," said one high-level official in the defence ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Not one day goes by without an alert, the discovery of a network trying to send people to Syria or Iraq, or an intervention (by the security services).

"The number of targets has exploded. There are two or three thousand, maybe four thousand, people identified or suspected of evil intentions."

Nor are they all amateurs, the source added -- many are highly educated. "They are pros, not drop-outs," he said.

Defence ministry specialists say the jihadists "use the best encryption and concealment techniques" and that security services are "playing catch-up".

"Every time we get our hands on a network, we see they are each using seven or eight SIM cards, changing them constantly. And the most cunning don't go near phones at all -- they use messengers."

The biggest concerns relate to the estimated 200 individuals who have returned from training or fighting in areas held by the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

"They have lost all inhibitions about violence," said another top counter-terrorism official, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

Security services place them under the tightest possible surveillance, but resources are limited and the authorities are also painfully aware that militants may wait years before acting.

That was the case with the Kouachi brothers who carried out the attack on Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in January.

They had long-standing links to jihadist networks in Paris, and one had travelled to Yemen for training back in 2011, but they had gradually fallen off the radar of security services after laying low for several years.

- Deadly competition -

Officials also fear that competition between militant groups may drive them to ever-more brutal acts.

"Al-Qaeda needs to restore its prestige and will try to compete with IS with complex and major actions," said the official.

He highlighted the threat from an Al-Qaeda sub-group known as Khorasan, which is still thought to be planning a major airline attack.

One of Khorasan's key members is a French explosives expert, David Drugeon, who is thought to have survived an attempted assassination by a US drone strike last year.

That compares with the more conventional military threat posed by IS, the official said, "which is in the process of training commandos and sending them onto our territory with high-quality equipment".

Since the attacks in Paris in January that left 17 dead, France has been on the highest possible alert with thousands of police and troops deployed at sensitive sites, such as media headquarters and synagogues.

But counter-terrorism officials say this will do little to prevent an attack.

Unveiling new surveillance laws on Thursday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the jihadist threat was "constantly evolving," emanating as much from groups based abroad as from individuals present on French soil.

"The problem is not to know if there will be a new attack," said Valls. "It is to know when and where."

Related Video:

142 dead in Yemen mosque bombings claimed by IS (video)

Anti-Houthi protesters run as pro-Houthi police troopers open fire in the air to disperse them in Yemen's southwestern city of Taiz March 23, 2015. REUTERS/Anees Mahyoub

By Angus McDowall and Noah Browning

RIYADH/DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemen's top factions are squaring off for battle after months of skirmishes, turning respectively to neighboring Saudi Arabia and its regional rival Iran for help in what may become all-out war.

With President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi seeking a comeback from the port city of Aden while the Shi'ite Houthi movement controls the capital Sanaa, rival administrations are trading bellicose rhetoric as fighting intensifies and factions commandeer airfields for the next stage of the struggle.

Somewhat on the sidelines, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Islamic State are waiting to exploit what some fear could become Yemen's worst conflict since a 1994 civil war.

"For years Yemen has defied all the odds and proved wrong those who said it was on the brink of civil war and about to collapse," Farea al-Muslimi, a researcher with the Carnegie Middle East Center said. "But we may have run out of miracles."

Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyadh Yaseen called on Monday for Gulf Arab help to prevent the Houthis' getting air control.

View gallery

Anti-Houthi protesters demonstrate in Yemen's southwestern city of Taiz March 23, 2015. REUTERS …

"We have expressed to the Gulf Cooperation Council, the United Nations as well as the international community that there should be a no-fly zone, and the use of military aircraft should be prevented at the airports controlled by the Houthis," he told the newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat.

United Nations mediator Jamal Benomar said on Sunday that Yemen had been pushed "towards the edge of civil war" that he believed neither the Houthis nor Hadi could win.

"Any side that would want to push the country in either direction would be inviting a protracted conflict in the vein of an Iraq-Libya-Syria combined scenario," he told the Security Council.

Violence has spread across the Arabian peninsula country since last year, when Houthi militia seized Sanaa and effectively removed Hadi, a U.S. ally. This angered the Sunni-ruled Gulf states led by Riyadh, which regards the once obscure group from the northern highlands as terrorists.

TEST OF STRENGTH

View gallery

Southern People's Resistance militants loyal to Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi gat …

The turmoil has made Yemen a front in Saudi Arabia's region-wide rivalry with Iran, mainly contested on sectarian lines, by creating an ally for Tehran in its backyard.

Riyadh hosted top-level talks with Gulf Arab neighbors on Saturday that backed Hadi as Yemen's legitimate president and offered "all efforts" to preserve the country's stability. It was not clear if that included military aid.

The Houthis, who share a Shi'ite ideology with Iran, have denied taking material and financial support from Tehran. But last year Yemeni, Western and Iranian sources gave Reuters details of Iranian military and financial support to the Houthis before and after their takeover of Sanaa on Sept. 21.

The Houthis adhere to the Zaydi sect of Shi'ite Islam, and despite Yemen's tradition of religious tolerance, their advance has alarmed many Sunnis, some of whom have allied with AQAP.

In a blow to U.S. counter-terrorism operations, Washington said on Saturday it had evacuated its remaining personnel, including about 100 special operations forces, because of the deteriorating security situation.

View gallery

Southern People's Resistance militants loyal to Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi man …

With both Hadi and the Houthis indulging in chest-beating propaganda and staking rival claims to be the rightful rulers, the stage now appears set for a military test of strength.

Both have support in the factionalized military. In the past week the Houthis, backed by troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, have advanced on Hadi's forces in the south and clashed with tribes in central provinces.

Fighting has focused on gaining strategic positions and air bases but analysts fear the consequences should Saudi Arabia and Iran join in more openly.

"So far in the crisis there has not been that tipping point towards war, partly because there has been no external backer to provide enough munitions," said Fernando Carvajal of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at Britain's Exeter University, warning of the risks of more outside involvement.

External help could prove decisive.

View gallery

Pro-Houthi police troopers use tear gas to disperse anti-Houthi protesters in Yemen's southweste …

Hadi's control of Aden's sea and air ports would allow his Gulf Arab allies to supply his now meager military forces with ease. Houthi control of the Red Sea port of Hodeida and the onset of direct Tehran-Sanaa flights last month means Iran could offer its allies similar assistance.

RESISTANCE

For now the Houthis and Saleh, a critic of Hadi, appear to hold the upper hand, but this may not last. Their forces, reckoned by analysts to represent around two thirds of the old Yemeni army, face three main enemies: units loyal to Hadi in Aden, Sunni tribes in Marib province and tribes fighting alongside AQAP in al-Bayda province.

"The Houthis and Saleh might be able to win the initial battle but they'll lose the war, because they will be faced with a lot of resistance. They're already drowning in Bayda," said Nadwa Dawsari, a researcher on Yemen's tribes.

Much of the past week's fighting has been over air power. Hadi built a power base in the air force when in Sanaa, replacing its commander and purging officers seen as disloyal.

But last week the Houthis installed a new air force chief and unidentified jets bombed Hadi's Aden residence. Hadi's men then seized Aden's airport and radar station at al-Anad airbase.

More immediate ground fighting may come in Marib, a big prize because of its oil facilities, where 12 people were killed on Saturday in clashes between the Houthis and Sunni tribes.

Another fear of Arab and Western states is that either the Houthis or Sunni jihadi groups may gain the space to threaten regional energy facilities and the Bab al-Mandeb shipping route, a vital energy gateway for Europe, Asia and the United States.

(Editing by William Maclean and David Stamp)