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Al Nusrah Front seizes Syrian base in joint operation with Free Syrian Army

By BILL ROGGIOOctober 12, 2012

The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, an al Qaeda-linked jihadist group that is fighting Bashir al Assad's regime in Syria, has seized control of an airbase near Aleppo in a joint operation with the supposedly secular Free Syrian Army. Video of the fighters at the airbase has appeared on the Internet.

The Al Nusrah Front and Free Syrian Army captured the airbase in al Ta'aneh near Aleppo yesterday after heavy fighting with the Syrian military. Scud tactical ballistic missiles as well as anti-aircraft missiles were housed at the airbase.

"A few hundred fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra, Fajr al-Islam and a few members of the FSA [Free Syrian Army] took part in the operation which lasted for more than five hours," according to a statement attributed to "Abu Firas of the Revolutionary Council in Aleppo" that accompanied the video posted on a YouTube site.

"The airbase was completely destroyed. The fighters were able to control the whole base after a long fight in which many Syrian soldiers killed, some fled, and others were captured," the statement continued. "The fighters have set up many checkpoints around the base and were able to confiscate 20 different rockets."

The Al Nusrah Front is known to conduct joint operations with the Free Syrian Army, the main group in Syria that is held up as the secular opposition to the Assad regime. In August, Al Nusrah said it attacked a police station outside of Damascus along with the Al Sahaba Battalion, a unit of the Free Syrian Army that operates in the capital. According to The Guardian, jihadist groups such as Al Nusrah have become more appealing to Syrian rebels as they are better organized and have expertise from waging jihad in Iraq and elsewhere, and have integrated their operations with the Free Syrian Army.

Background on Al Nusrah Front activity in Syria

The Al Nusrah Front has conducted numerous suicide attacks and complex military operations against the Syrian military over the past 10 months. Additionally, Al Nusrah has claimed credit for hundreds of conventional attacks.

The group has now claimed credit for 27 of the 34 suicide bombings in Syria that the The Long War Journal has tallied since December 2011. Since the end of August, Al Nusrah has claimed credit for launching nine suicide attacks. For more information on the suicide attacks in Syria, see LWJ reports,Suicide bombings become commonplace in Syria , and Al Nusrah Front claims 5 suicide attacks in Syria in past month.

The al Qaeda-linked group has conducted several sophisticated attacks in Syria since it announced its presence earlier this year. Al Nusrah has claimed it executed the June 1 suicide assault on the Syrian military at a camp in Idlib, as well as a complex attack at the airport at Abu Kamal on Sept. 4.

The last complex suicide attack occurred on Oct. 9, when Al Nusrah forces attacked the Air Force Intelligence branch in Harasta on the outskirts of Damascus. Two suicide bombers struck the base within 25 minutes of each other, then Al Nusrah fighters launched a mortar attack as recovery operations were underway. The previous complex attack took place on Sept. 26, when an assault team detonated a suicide car bomb outside the Army headquarters in central Damascus and a five-man team then entered the headquarters and battled with security guards. Also, on Oct. 3, Al Nusrah launched two suicide attacks and two car bomb attacks against different military targets in Aleppo.

Besides the Al Nusrah Front, other al Qaeda-affiliated groups, such as Al Qaeda in Iraq and the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, also operate in Syria. In addition, still other al Qaeda-style groups, such as the Al Baraa Ibn Malik Martyrdom Brigade, which has claimed that it will use suicide attacks, and theOmar al Farouq Brigade, have appeared in Syria as well.

Foreign jihadists have begun to pour into Syria to wage jihad against Assad's regime. Fighters from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and the Palestinian Territories are known to have been killed in Syria.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/10/al_nusrah_front_seiz.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LongWarJournalSiteWide+%28The+Long+War+Journal+%28Site-Wide%29%29#ixzz29DuW31Vh

Mullah Fazlullah ordered assassination of Pakistani schoolgirl

By BILL ROGGIOOctober 12, 2012 7:19 PM

Mullah Qari Fazlullah.

Mullah Fazlullah, the emir of the Swat branch of the Movement Taliban in Pakistan (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP), ordered the assassination of Malala Yousafzai, a young schoolgirl in Swat who has spoken out against the terror group. Malala and two other girls were shot while on a bus in Swat on Oct. 9. From Dawn:

The Swat Taliban militia, known to work under the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) umbrella, has a force of around 100 men specialised in targeted killing, fighters said. They chose two men, aged between 20 to 30, who were locals from Swat Valley, Reuters quoted the fighters as saying.

"We had no intentions to kill her but were forced when she would not stop (speaking against us)," said spokesman Sirajuddin Ahmad, now based in Afghanistan's Kunar province.

Ahmed said the Taliban held a meeting a few months ago at which they unanimously agreed to kill her. The task was then given to military commanders to carry out.

In another report, the Associated Press quoted the spokesman as saying that the meeting of the Taliban leadership was held two months ago.

AP further quotes Sirajuddin Ahmed as saying that Malala Yousufzai was warned three times to stop her activities promoting "Western thinking," but she did not. The last warning was conveyed a week ago, Ahmed told an AP reporter.

....

"Before the attack, the two fighters personally collected information about Malala's route to school, timing, the vehicle she used and her security," Reuters quoted Ahmed as saying.

They decided to shoot her near a military checkpoint to make the point they could strike anywhere, he said.

On Tuesday, the two men stopped the bus she was riding home in. They asked for Yousufzai by name. Although the frightened girls said she wasn't there, the men fired at her and also hit two other girls in the van. One of them remains in critical condition.

Now that they had failed to kill Yousufzai, they would target her father, Ahmad told Reuters.

Ziauddin Yousufzai, the headmaster of a girls' school, is on their hit list for speaking against them, his activities to promote peace in the region and for encouraging his daughter.

"We have a clear-cut stance. Anyone who takes side with the government against us will have to die at our hands," Ahmad warned. "You will see. Other important people will soon become victims."

Several hours later on the day of the attack, Ihsanullah Ihsan, the top spokesman for the Movement Taliban in Pakistan, took credit for the attempt to murder Malala, in an email received by The Long War Journal. The Oct. 9 email, titled "Important Clarification," is reproduced in full, and unedited, below [emphasis added]. Ihsan tries to justify the assassination by claiming that Malala opposed sharia, or Islamic law, and that accordingly her assassination was "obligatory" under Islamic law.

TTP successfully targeted Malala Yousafzai in Mingora, although she was young and a girl and TTP does not believe in attacking on women, but whom so ever leads campaign against Islam & Shariah is Ordered to be killed by Shariah.

When its a matter of Shariah, and someone tries to bring fitnah with his/her activities, and it involves in leading a campaign against shariah and tries to involve whole community in such campaign, and that personality become a symbol of anti shariah campaign, not just its allowed to kill such person but its Obligatory in Islam.

If anyone Argues about her so young age , then the Story of Hazrat Khizar in Quran that relates that Hazrat Khizar while Traveling with Prophet Musa (AS) killed a child, arguing about the reason of his killing he said that the parents of this child are Pious and in future he will cause bad name for them.

If anyone argues that she was female, then we can see the incident of killing of wife by a blind Companion of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.W) because she use to say insultive words for prophet.And prophet praised this act.

Its a clear command of shariah that any female, that by any means play role in war against mujahideen, should be killed. Malala Yousafzai was playing a vital role in bucking up the emotions of Murtad army and Government of Pakistan, and was inviting muslims to hate mujahideen.

Tehrik taliban's crime wasn't that they banned education for girls, instead our crime is that we tried to bring Education system for both boys and girls under shariah.We are deadly against co-education and secular education syestem, and shriah orders us to be against it.

If anyone thinks thinks that Malala is targeted because of education, that's absolutely wrong, and a propaganda of Media, Malala is targeted because of her pioneer role in preaching secularism and so called enlightened moderation. And whom so ever will commit so in future too will be targeted again by TTP.

After this incident Media pour out all of its smelly propaganda against Taliban mujahideen with their poisonous tounges, they are shouting that malala has suffered tyranny like there is no else in the country whom is facing same.Were our sister in lal masjid whom were bombed, gassed and burnt to death, were not humans?? and the sinless women and children of swat , bajour, mohmand, orakzai, & Wazeeristan whom suffered inhumane bombardments by Murtad army don't qualify to bestow mercy upon them?

Will the blind media pay any attention to Hundreds of Respectful sisters whom are in secret detention centers of ISI and MI and suffering by their captives? Will you like to put an eye on more then three thousand young men whom are killed in secret detention centers and their bodies are found in different areas of swat, claimed to be killed in encounters and died by Cardiac Arrest??

Gain Conscious, Otherwise............

From: Ihsan-ullah-Ihsan
Central Spokesman TTP

The Pakistani media and a good number of Pakistanis are outraged by the attempted murder of Malala, and many believe this incident may in fact be the tipping point against the Taliban. But don't count on it.

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan has conducted numerous atrocities in Pakistan (and in neighboring Afghanistan), including the public beatings and executions of women, mass-executions of policemen and soldiers, suicide bombings inside mosques and at markets and other public places, and other such attacks. These incidents sometimes spark temporary outrage, but often are responded to with indifference or even apathy. Like them, the Malala assassination attempt will very likely fade from the consciousness of Pakistanis, while the drone strikes, which are often directed against Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan leaders such as Fazlullah and his boss, Hakeemullah Mehsud, will remain a hot-button issue.

Aurora alert for night of October 13, 2012

Aurora alert for night of October 13, 2012

October 13, 2012 aurora via Colin Chatfield

Geomagnetic storm that spawned auroras in early morning hours today is still underway. Auroras or northern lights likely for those at northerly latitudes tonight!

Early this morning – October 13, 2012 – a flurry of aurora photos appeared on the EarthSky Facebook page from friends at northerly latitudes. A geomagnetic storm had began, which is still underway. There are bright auroras appearing around the Arctic Circle, and in Scandinavia, Greenland, Canada, and several northern states in the U.S., according to the website spaceweather.com, which also said:

NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of continued storms on October 14-15 in response to a high-speed stream of solar wind.

If you live at a northerly latitude, watch for auroras tonight!

EarthSky Facebook friend Colin Chatfield in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada took this photo of the aurora in the early morning hours of October 13, 2012. More images from Colin here.

Our friend Colin Chatfield, who captured the image of this morning’s aurora, said:

This is from my backyard around 5 a.m. this morning (October 13, 2012) in Saskatoon, SK, Canada. Never have I seen the aurora so bright, especially from within the city. They were astounding, with purple visible to the naked eye. Taken with a Canon 7D and Tokina 10-17mm f/3.5 fisheye at 10mm, ISO 800, 20 sec exp, f/3.5

Aurora of October 13, 2012 from our friend Joe Joe Prince in Bethal, Alaska.

Aurora of October 13, 2012 from our friend Ed Nephler in Bliss, Michigan.

Aurora of October 13, 2012 from our friend Steven Benbo in northern Minnesota.

Bottom line: The geomagnetic storm that produced dazzling auroras at northerly latitudes on the morning of October 13, 2012 is still going on. Expect auroras tonight as well, seen from northern parts of the globe.