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Updated 3. 07 pm
US SPECIAL FORCES killed a senior Islamic State group leader and captured his wife in a daring night raid in eastern Syria
In the course of the dramatic operation, a Yazidi woman believed to have been enslaved by the couple was rescued as well, the White House announced on Saturday.
The bold raid, with elite American commandos striking at the inner circle of the IS group in their eastern Syrian stronghold, was a rare use of “boots on the ground” by the US which has fought the jihadists almost entirely from the air.
On orders from President Barack Obama, the special operations forces based in Iraq sought to capture the IS militant, Abu Sayyaf, who oversaw oil smuggling and military operations for the jihadists. But the extremist was killed after firing on the US troops, the White House said.
It comes as the US is committed to sending “continued and expedited” weapons to Iraq amid a major advance by Islamic State militants.
US Vice President Joe Biden has assured Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of the support as Islamic State extremists seized a government compound in the city of Ramadi.
Taking control of Ramadi would constitute the group’s most important victory this year in Iraq, and would give the jihadists control of the capitals of two of its largest provinces.
Mosul, capital of Nineveh province, has been under IS control since it launched a lightning offensive in June 2014.
Anbar province, of which Ramadi is the capital, extends from the Syrian, Jordanian, and Saudi borders to the gates of Baghdad.
Most of the Iraqi government forces and Sunni tribesmen fighting alongside them are concentrated in a nearby military base and in the Anbar Operations Command across the Euphrates river.
But on Saturday, there was no sign of the Ramadi counter-offensive that had been announced by Iraqi authorities, although civilians were fleeing the city in droves.
In their phonecall, Biden thanked Abadi, ”for his steadfast leadership in Iraq and for promoting national unity at a time of significant security challenges, including today’s ISIL attack on Ramadi,” a White House statement said.
“The vice president assured the prime minister of continued and expedited US security assistance to confront ISIL,” the White House added, including heavy weaponry, ammunition and supplies for Iraqi forces.
Executions
In neighbouring Syria, Islamic State jihadists advanced towards Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra after executing dozens of civilians on the city’s outskirts.
Situated in central Homs province, Palmyra lies at the gateway to Syria’s vast desert extending to IS-controlled territory in neighbouring Iraq, making the ancient city a key strategic target for the extremist group.
If Palmyra falls, it would expand IS control from Syria’s east and north to the country’s heartland.
The city is also key to IS’s propaganda machine, as the group has destroyed numerous pre-Islamic archeological sites during its rampage across Iraq and Syria.
In its brutal advance towards the city, IS executed at least 49 civilians over the course of two days according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
This, they said, included 26 people on Thursday after accusing them of “collaborating with the regime.”
Ten people were beheaded, the monitor said.
IS executed another 23 civilians, among them nine children, on Friday northeast of Palmyra.
We have the other extreme here. Damned if do. Damned if you don’t. The fact is heroin destroys families. They should of thought of that when selling the horrible stuff.
You’ll find that the majority, if not all, these inmates have come from broken homes and deprived communities where they sold drugs to survive. It’s nasty and yes they were part of the cycle that they themselves were trapped in but Obama is acknowledging that solution involve them; much in the same way Mo Molam knew the peace process in NI had to involve inmates in British prisons.
Why is Obama doing this at the end of his term instead of at the beginning? The US prison population stands at over 2million. That’s more than China has incarcerated. It’s almost 2.5 times more than Russia has in prison.
the vast majority of prisons in the US are privately owned, run foe profit and care more about the bottom line than society. barry is an actor..reading off a script and being told what to do, as badly as drugs have messed up parts of society unpunished white collar crime and the burden it has put on society has damaged it a lot more.
in america there is a prison industrial complex,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,thats the problem.
here there are yobos with 17 previous convictions walking free and committing more serious crimes because the justice system is far to lenient on them. the legal system does not mind, its a big cash cow for them.
Obama is a good actor and that’s all. It is well established fact that since he took office his administration has refused more freedom of information requests than other other administration in US history. And if he gave two shits about ‘non-violent crimes’ then he’d have long arranged for Snowden to come home and would have intervened in the Bradley Manning case as he could have done at any time.
He’s a liar, and has done nothing but further liberalise US laws (which is why most of these guys are in prison in the first place).
Hilary Clinton is far worse than he and if she makes it in it’s bye bye US.
OK idiot. Restored pride to US after years of Bush’s wrath. A true statesman. Agree with you about Hillary though. I hope Sanders wins
Try making a point like an adult and I might respond to you. Other than that. Take a hike.
you just replied to him.
My heart is bleeding purple piss reading the sob stories.
If anything our Judiciary here could learn a thing or two from US Judges about sentencing and the whole US legal system.
Instead of having Solicitors and Barristers they have just one set Lawyers who deal with your case from start to finish. Where there is a dedicated Prosecution Service staffed by full time Prosecution Lawyers and a dedicated Public Defenders Office staffed with full time Defence Lawyers for those that would normally get free legal aid here. And then Private Legal Firms for those that can afford them.
Yes because there is so little crime in the US compared to Ireland.
Funny how you, a prison officer, propose following almost every part of the US save the mass privatization of prisons, wonder why that could be, oh right, self interest.
Wari.
Simply because Privatised Prisons have been shown time and time again to be an utter disaster in terms of security and staff safety. One only has to look at our nearest neighbour to see just how much of a bad idea they are and why the rest of Europe are not following suit. In reality they actually cost the state more than those under Government control in the long term.
I’m all for criminals doing time for their crimes especially violent or sexual crime but some of the sentences for carrying a small amount of drugs are ridiculous. Check out the segment John Oliver did on it, it’s a real eye opener. When I think of the idiot I was as a teenager, I would hate to go to jail for 15 years because of being on idiot.
I didn’t deal drugs! lol
If the sale of illegal substances was legalised and regulated then a lot of these places would see a massive reduction in crime as the people relying on the drug trade to make a living would be forced into tax-paying, gainful employment as they could not compete with a well regulated, safe industry. Also, not only would we gain the tax from the legal sale of drugs, it would be much easier to ensure the quality and safety of such substances as they could be tested in proper labs before being passed onto the public. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the head in the sand approach just doesn’t work. As long as there is a clear demand for drugs, there will always be people willing to risk everything to meet that demand for massive tax free profits.
In fact the Americans have the right idea here. Conspiracy to distribute heroin is no small crime. In my opinion 15 years is entirely appropriate. Crime must be punished harshly or we are all doomed.
They should do more about guns than 1000 year prison terms
How about maybe not dealing heroin. Heroin is a violent drug as is most other drugs. And yes that includes Weed. So just because the initial deal was violent… what we should let them away. The Americans have the right way. Full length senences for federal offences. If we could adopt there legal court room system this country would be a hell of a lot better off.
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Finding out you have HIV can be an incredibly shattering experience. And I think the reason for this is everyone is under the false assumption that the virus is not curable. Well, i totally disagree with this. I was diagnosed of HIV disease for the past 3 years, with the curiosity and search for a cure i came across a blog and i saw lot of testimony post from people making a reference to DOCTOR BOADI ABIODUN how he used his natural herbal medicine to cure them of their diseases Some testimonies was centered on;
*HIV (with a very low cd4 count)
*HEPATITIS B
*HERPES,
*ASTHMA,
*EPILEPSY,
*CANCER,
*INFERTILITY
*STAPHYLOCOCCUS…
I decided to give it a trial, though i never believed in herbal medicine but i was in a way convinced with the sort of amazing testimonies i saw online i decided to contact him, with the response he gave, He promised to prepare and send the “TATAHWE” Medicine to me. It was not up to a week after i placed an order, I got the medicine and he instructed me to drink the medicine for two weeks ( only evenings before bed) after which, I should go back to the hospital for a Re-Test. I followed his instructions and i discovered that my urine became yellowish for good two weeks so immediately i finished the medicine i went for the test the following week, it was very surprising i tested negative. I can’t thank dr Boadi enough, so I decided to promote him because he cured me from my disease, there’s no disease he can’t cure with his medicine. Please also spread the good news to others so that those with same illness can be cured.
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+2348071180211 (whatsapp connect)
+2347037373235 (mobile)
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thanks for your audience and i hope you find help like i did.
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