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Syria’s former al-Qaeda affiliate claimed responsibility Saturday for the downing of a Russian warplane in northern Syria, apparently using a surface-to-air missile to target the aircraft. The pilot was killed after he ejected and exchanged gunfire with militants on the ground, the Russian Defense Ministry and a monitoring group said. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, a powerful rebel alliance that publicly split from al-Qaeda last year, said it had used a shoulder-fired weapon to down the Su-25 fighter jet as it flew low over the opposition-held town of Saraqeb.

A Russia-led initiative involving China and Pakistan that seeks a political settlement to Afghanistan’s civil war has the makings of a diplomatic alliance that could supplant the United States as the leading power in Central Asia. The grouping was unveiled after a third meeting in Moscow late last month and may be expanded to include regional powers Iran and Turkey, which formed a separate tripartite grouping on Syria with Russia in talks preceding the parleys on Afghanistan. The Afghan government reacted angrily to the Moscow meeting, to which it had not been invited, because the meeting proposed the relaxation of...

Donald Trump has come under fire for recommending US citizens accused of terrorism be prosecuted before military tribunals. But despite the criticism, Trump's concerns are not only merited -- they are, in fact, within the bounds of the law. In November of 2010, Ahmed Ghailani, an al Qaeda terrorist who bombed U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, received a "near-total acquittal," in the words of former Justice Department official John Yoo. Ghailani, in this case a non-citizen, was convicted of just one count of conspiracy, receiving an acquittal on 284 of 285 charges. The odd verdict was...

Cables Portray Expanded Reach of Drug Agency By GINGER THOMPSON and SCOTT SHANE WASHINGTON — The Drug Enforcement Administration has been transformed into a global intelligence organization with a reach that extends far beyond narcotics, and an eavesdropping operation so expansive it has to fend off foreign politicians who want to use it against their political enemies, according to secret diplomatic cables. In far greater detail than previously seen, the cables, from the cache obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to some news organizations, offer glimpses of drug agents balancing diplomacy and law enforcement in places where it can be...

Assad replaces top Syrian brass after losing military base to US- and al-Qaeda-backed fighters PUBLISHED : Monday, 01 January, 2018, 11:01pm UPDATED : Tuesday, 02 January, 2018, 4:20am President Bashar al-Assad reshuffled his government on Monday by replacing the ministers of defence, information and industry, while heavy fighting erupted between the military and insurgents near the capital of Damascus. State news agency SANA did not give a reason for the government reshuffle, which comes after two years of gaining ground with the help of Iran-backed fighters under the cover of Russian air strikes.

Syria: Deadly feud rips through Al Qaeda's leadership as terrorist group takes more 'moderate' line A deadly feud is ripping through Al Qaeda's leadership in Syria as the once-feared terror group looks to position itself as a "moderate" alternative to the disintegrating so-called Islamic State and President Bashar Al-Assad's regime forces A group of Al Qaeda-linked factions that hold the province of Idlib are on the brink of all-out war, with a series of assassinations and detentions of high-profile leaders. The bloody feud pits hardline foreign fighters loyal to Al Qaeda's leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, against more moderate Syrian members loyal...

For years, a clandestine U.S. intelligence team had tracked a man they knew was high in the leadership of al Qaeda — an operative some believed had a hand in plotting the gruesome 2009 suicide attack in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA officers. Their pursuit was personal, and by early 2014 the agency had the target under tight drone surveillance. “We literally had a bead on this guy’s head and just needed authorization from Washington to pull the trigger,” said the source. Then something unexpected happened. While agents waited for the green light, the al Qaeda operative’s name, as well...

They wanted him dead. For years, a clandestine U.S. intelligence team had tracked a man they knew was high in the leadership of al Qaeda — an operative some believed had a hand in plotting the gruesome 2009 suicide attack in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA officers. Their pursuit was personal, and by early 2014, according to a source directly involved in the operation, the agency had the target under tight drone surveillance. “We literally had a bead on this guy’s head and just needed authorization from Washington to pull the trigger,” said the source. Then something unexpected happened. While...

Iraq on Thursday hanged 38 jihadists belonging to the Islamic State (ISIS) group or Al-Qaeda for terrorism offenses, provincial authorities said, according to the AFP news agency. The executions took place the southern city of Nasiriyah. It was the largest number of executions in Iraq on a single day since September 25, when 42 people were put to death in the same prison. "The prison administration executed on Thursday in the presence of Justice Minister Haidar al-Zameli, in Nasiriyah prison, 38 death row prisoners belonging to Al-Qaeda or Daesh (ISIS) accused of terrorist activities," said Dakhel Kazem, a senior official...

...Jerusalem MoveLeave it to CAIR, who is one of 82 groups from around the world that was (designated) as a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates, placing it in the company of Al Qaeda and ISIS – to organize a protest against President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI agent who wrote a pre-Sept. 11 warning about Arab students at an Arizona flight school hoped his memo would lead to screenings of Middle Easterners who came to study U.S. airport operations, according to government officials familiar with his account. Agent Kenneth Williams testified behind closed doors Tuesday to lawmakers investigating what the government knew about terrorist threats before Sept. 11. Williams believed his information might provide a significant but prospective lead about Osama bin Laden's intentions, according to lawmakers and government officials familiar with his account. But Williams wrote his memo for terrorism experts...

A teenage daughter of Osama bin Laden has been released from Iran after living under house arrest there since her family fled Afghanistan in 2001, her brother says.Iman bin Laden, 18, is now living in Syria with her mother, according to the girl's brother, Omar, and his wife, Zaina Alsabah.The couple spoke to The Associated Press by telephone from Britain.Alsabah said she had spoken on the phone with Iman, who is "healthy and settling in."Many of Osama bin Laden's children escaped to Iran following the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. They lived in a compound under Iranian guard after authorities...

Among the documents related to former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, released by the CIA, is a letter reportedly sent by his daughter Eman to Iranian leader Ali Khamenei. (excerpt) Another document, sent by al-Haj Osman (as he called himself) to Maulawi Azmari, a prominent al-Qaeda leader, sheds light on Iran’s support for al-Qaeda operatives. This finds mention in Bin Laden’s correspondence and reveals his role as the link between Iranian intelligence and al-Qaeda. In the letter, Osman mentions the details of the return of some elements of the organization to Iran to collect funds and fighters and to communicate...

The third batch of documents published by the US intelligence agency Abbottabad, Wednesday, revealed more secrets of close ties between al-Qaeda and Al Jazeera Qatari network.In a letter from Haj Osman to the Media Committee of the organization, he called for coordinating with Al Jazeera correspondent to respond to “false information” about al-Qaeda, asking to clarify through Al Jazeera many accusations perpetuated.He advised that Al Jazeera correspondent in Pakistan, Ahmed Zidan, would highlight what Arab channels claim that al-Qaeda enjoy privileges in Iran and, and to refer to Iraqi documents linking the organization to Iran, as well as arrange for...

CIA Director Mike Pompeo has just released hundreds of thousands of documents, long withheld by the Obama administration, that were seized in the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden. There are no surprise revelations — but they more fully document the years-long extensive cooperation between al Qaeda and Iran that was still ongoing when bin Laden met his end. And that raises even more disturbing questions about the nuclear deal Team Obama cut — and the real reason these documents weren’t disclosed until now. Particularly a 19-page assessment by a senior jihadist of the Qaeda-Tehran ties: how Iran supplied...

The CIA released on Wednesday approximately 470,000 files of materials from the trove recovered during the May 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The materials include internal documents, practice reels for public speeches, audio correspondence, and imagery gathered or generated by al Qaeda for a variety of purposes. "Today’s release of recovered al-Qaeda letters, videos, audio files and other materials provides the opportunity for the American people to gain further insights into the plans and workings of this terrorist organization," said CIA Director Mike Pompeo. "CIA will continue to seek opportunities to share information with the...

Turn the game off and tune in. Your country is being set up for a revolution The violent left wing revolutionaries who identify themselves as AntiFa are announcing to the world that they plan on staging a major attack on American democracy beginning Saturday, November 4th. These brutish thugs have attempted to terrorize the American people since last year’s presidential campaign. They staged violent protests at many Trump campaign events. In Chicago one event had to be cancelledbecause the police could not guarantee Mr. Trump’s safety. If you noticed, none of Hillary’s campaign events were attacked by the supporters of...

The ruling CPI(M) in Kerala has come in for praise in an article in 'The Washington Post', one of the prominent American newspapers, for the "achievements" of the state under its rule. "A small state in India offers a place for a communist to dream," said the front page article titled "A communist success" in the newspaper's October 29 edition. It spoke of the communist party's journey in the southern state and devoted an entire central page to contributions of the Left party in Kerala. "In a small Indian state, the party of Marx may have done too well for...

These hard-Leftist groups, although they claim to be against fascism, are fascist to the core, wanting to shut down, violently if necessary, anyone who disagrees with them. They claim to be against hate, but are more hateful than anyone, and so they see natural allies in al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Both hate the West, both hate the U.S., both hate the Judeo-Christian tradition, so they see each other as kindred spirits. *snip* A secret FBI investigation of the violent ‘resistance’ movement on college campuses against President Trump has led to an alarming discovery—the collusion between American anarchists and foreign...

The Supreme Court is leaving in place a decision that the alleged mastermind of the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 U.S. sailors should face a trial by a military commission. The court on Monday declined to take up the case of Saudi national Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri. Al-Nashiri had sought to challenge the authority of a military commission in Guantánamo Bay hearing his case. But an appeals court ruled last year that al-Nashiri’s challenge would have to wait until after his trial. …