Meanwhile, In Libya...

[Corinthian]

Simon has been saying the Team Sunni split for a couple of years already in various threads in this board, sometimes in his very short one liners which can be easily missed in threads with lots of posts.

[Simon Tan]

Mainly because I feel regurgitation brings nothing to the table. I would however like to hear the analysis of JWB on whether there is/was Team Sunni and who the players are.

 

Edit...I don't quote and I prefer succinct posts. If you cannot make the necessary leaps, then you cannot.

Edited August 31, 2014 by Simon Tan

[JWB]

https://news.vice.com/article/a-field-guide-to-iraqs-fighting-factions-part-1-team-sunni

[Simon Tan]

A couple of years late. Probably lurking right here.

[Marcello]

Libyan militia takes over american embassy building.

[lucklucky]

Ambassador thinks the compound is being safeguarded.

 

http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/08/libyan-militia-now-controls-us-embassy-in-tripoli/379421/

[Chris Werb]

Simon has been saying the Team Sunni split for a couple of years already in various threads in this board, sometimes in his very short one liners which can be easily missed in threads with lots of posts.

 

I only come here to read Simon's one-liners.

[Colin]

I think he missed his calling as the straight man in a comedy duo.

[Simon Tan]

Nomnom...crow...nomnom....tastes like morgh.

[Marcello]

Ambassador thinks the compound is being safeguarded.

 

http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/08/libyan-militia-now-controls-us-embassy-in-tripoli/379421/

 

I see

[lucklucky]

Well changing language meaning at Orwell levels has been one of staples of this administration.

[Mr King]

Dat Arab Spring yo

 

 

Edited September 3, 2014 by Mr King

[Rod]

And the winner of all these revolutions and guerrilas in the Middle East is: Toyota Hilux pick-up. As battle proven in the Chad, it once again becomes the preferred move of rapid movement of fighters. Although ISIS did take some Humvees from Iraqi forces, they are easily identified by drones for plinking, but a Toyota Hilux...you never know. Drone operator may have to call JAG on the line to get shooting approval.

 

Want to stop ISIS and other Islamists in North Africa? Stop making Toyota Hilux and make it illegal to own one....

[Marcello]

Not a likely scenario but...

[Ivanhoe]

And the winner of all these revolutions and guerrilas in the Middle East is: Toyota Hilux pick-up. As battle proven in the Chad, it once again becomes the preferred move of rapid movement of fighters. Although ISIS did take some Humvees from Iraqi forces, they are easily identified by drones for plinking, but a Toyota Hilux...you never know. Drone operator may have to call JAG on the line to get shooting approval.

 

Want to stop ISIS and other Islamists in North Africa? Stop making Toyota Hilux and make it illegal to own one....

 

Trying to outlaw the Hi-Lux in the 3rd world would be like trying to outlaw the AK. Production would simply shift to black market shops. And unlike F-14s that fell into the wrong hands, we can't just cut off terrorist groups from the replacement part pipeline. There are surely hundreds of firms worldwide that make seals, gaskets, etc. for the Hi-Lux and its engines.

 

Amusing that Japan has 100-year plans for all sorts of industries, but their one export that seems most likely to last 100 years is the humble Hi-Lux.

[Rod]

Meanwhile in Benghazi, Libya a lucky motorist is not blown up when mortar fails to detonate. I wonder if he will call the local roadside assistance and tell them he has a flat tire that needs changing.

[Simon Tan]

Y'all know that Hilux isn't made in Japan...right?

[DKTanker]

ISIS flags now flying over government buildings in Derna, Libya. Since the US led to the breaking of Libya, is the US now obligated to fixing Libya to include ousting ISIS?

[Mr King]

ISIS flags now flying over government buildings in Derna, Libya. Since the US led to the breaking of Libya, is the US now obligated to fixing Libya to include ousting ISIS?

 

No, no, I am sure our "moderate" jihadi allies there will rise up any minute now to stomp ISIS presence from Libya.

[Marcello]

Wonderful

[Paul G.]

 

ISIS flags now flying over government buildings in Derna, Libya. Since the US led to the breaking of Libya, is the US now obligated to fixing Libya to include ousting ISIS?

 

No, no, I am sure our "moderate" jihadi allies there will rise up any minute now to stomp ISIS presence from Libya.

 

 

Huh? the moderates have beein in power since 2011.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/sep/13/libya-leader-moderate-islam

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/sep/13/interim-libyan-leader-calls-unity

 

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-07-17/libya-elections/56284168/1

 

but for how long?

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/18/world/isis-libya/

[Mr King]

Yes Shariah law as a basis for ones national laws is very progressive. I see a bright future ahead for Libya, especially the women.

[Simon Tan]

Another victory of the Obama administration for women.

[BansheeOne]

Egypt Conducts Airstrikes on Islamic State Targets in Libya

 

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK FEB. 16, 2015

CAIRO — The Egyptian military said on Monday that it carried out airstrikes in Libya in retaliation for the beheading of more than a dozen Egyptian Christians by a branch of the Islamic State extremist group there.

In a statement Monday morning, the Egyptian military said that it had conducted airstrikes against training camps and arms depots of the Islamic State group in Libya, but it did not provide details about the targets.

The airstrikes are a dramatic escalation of Egypt's role in the continuing battle between armed factions in Libya for control of the country. With the backing of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt has worked covertly to support a Libyan general who is fighting to take back the capital and much of the coast from a rival coalition of militias, some of them made up of Islamist extremists.

In a televised address late Sunday night, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt vowed that his country would choose the “necessary means and timing to avenge the criminal killings.”

At about 8:45 a.m. Monday, Egyptian state television announced the attacks with a short video montage showing jets taking off but also images of soldiers, tanks and warships, all set against a soaring musical score. It was narrated by a deep male voice, familiar to those who heard military announcements when the generals seized power from President Hosni Mubarak four years ago.

“Honor, nation,” the narrator intones. “This is the slogan of men who ask for death as a sacrifice for the nation. They are men who do not know the meaning of impossible. They penetrate rocks and mountains, and they challenge difficulties. They race each other for martyrdom, on land, sea and air. Their life is a heroic epic, and their martyrdom a sacrifice for dignity, and a pride for Egypt.”

Egypt’s air assault came less than 12 hours after the main Islamic State group released a video online that appeared to show fighters from the group’s self-proclaimed Tripolitania Province beheading more than a dozen Egyptian Christians.

The Christians were among the thousands of Egyptians who routinely travel across the border to Libya to find work in its oil-rich economy, forging a deep connection between the two neighboring states. About 20 Egyptian Christians had disappeared around the midcoastal city of Surt weeks ago, and last month the Tripolitania Province released a picture showing that it had captured them.

The video of their beheadings Sunday night aroused special horror in Egypt and beyond because it was filmed with the theatrical brutality that has become a trademark of the Islamic State.

Released under the logo of the Islamic State’s media arm and with the title “A Message Signed With Blood to the Nation of the Cross,” the video appeared to show a row of masked fighters dressed in black and with ceremonial knives at their chests parading more than a dozen captives in orange jumpsuits along a Mediterranean beach in western Libya.

Speaking in English, the lead executioner proclaimed in the video that the fighters were part of the larger Islamic State group fighting in Syria, warned that they would allow no safety to “crusaders,” invoked the American military’s burial at sea of Osama bin Laden, and alluded to apocalyptic prophecies about a coming battle for Rome. The fighters then forced their captives to the ground, sawed through their necks, and let the blood darken the waves.

The video appeared to show a great degree of communication and collaboration between the Islamic State and its Libyan satellite group than Western officials had previously known.

Egypt’s open engagement with airstrikes Monday threatens to draw it further into the Libyan conflict. Islamist fighters in Libya may now seek to stage attacks across the long, lightly patrolled desert border with Egypt, or to increase their support for allied Egyptian militants already attempting to foment an insurgency here.

The Egyptian military gave no indication on Monday of whether the airstrikes were a one-time punishment for the killing of its citizens or the beginning of a more prolonged military effort.

The leaders of Libya’s internationally recognized government are almost certain to welcome the Egyptian retaliation. That government has relocated to the Libyan cities of Tobruk and Bayda, not far from the Egyptian border, and allied itself with the general fighting against the Islamist factions.

At least three different groups of militants inside Libya have proclaimed themselves so-called provinces of the Islamic State, but mainly through online messages and videos. Their leaders and locations are unknown.

Supporters of anti-Islamist factions inside Libya have increasingly used the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State to refer to all of their opponents, whether extremists, more moderate groups, or less-ideological local and tribal militias who are merely allied with the Islamists.

The blurring of the terms for the purpose of propaganda against the Islamist-allied forces now increases the uncertainty about which positions Egypt might have sought to attack.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/17/world/middleeast/isis-egypt-libya-airstrikes.html?_r=0

[Simon Tan]

Only Christians. Workplace violence.