Iraq closes airspace to stop Israeli strikes on pro-Iranian militia sites ...........
August 18, 2019
Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi has issued an unprecedented order placing Iraqi air space off limits to all aircraft without his personal authorization. The decree issued on Friday, August 16 was one of three steps Baghdad has taken to put a stop to Israeli air strikes on pro-Iranian Shiite militia targets, whether by jets, drones or missiles.
The three steps are:
The three steps are:
1. An investigation to get to the bottom of the explosions on August 12 that destroyed the ammunition depot at Al Saqr (or Camp Falcon as it is called by the Americans) in South Baghdad. Flying Katyusha ammo and mortar shell fragments killed at least one in the city and injured scores of others.
Al Saqr is the command centre of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU), the largest Shiite militia in Iraq, which is led by Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, a lieutenant of the Iranian Al Qods chief General Qassem Soleimani.
One source reported on Saturday that evidence had been found in the ruins of an attack by missiles fired from drones. Another source countered that the camp had not been attacked but was destroyed by a fire. The prime minister has given the investigators a week to submit their findings.
Before this event, the Israeli Air Force is known to have struck two Shiite militia sites in Iraq by multiple incoming aircraft or UAVS. The first, on July 19, targeted the Hash Haabi militia’s 52nd Brigade, a subsidiary of the Bader Brigades – both loyal to Iran – in Salahuddin province near the town of Amerli northeast of Baghdad. The second, on July 28, raided Camp Ashraf, in the Diyala Governorate near the Iranian border and 40km north of Baghdad.
Al Saqr is the command centre of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU), the largest Shiite militia in Iraq, which is led by Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, a lieutenant of the Iranian Al Qods chief General Qassem Soleimani.
One source reported on Saturday that evidence had been found in the ruins of an attack by missiles fired from drones. Another source countered that the camp had not been attacked but was destroyed by a fire. The prime minister has given the investigators a week to submit their findings.
Before this event, the Israeli Air Force is known to have struck two Shiite militia sites in Iraq by multiple incoming aircraft or UAVS. The first, on July 19, targeted the Hash Haabi militia’s 52nd Brigade, a subsidiary of the Bader Brigades – both loyal to Iran – in Salahuddin province near the town of Amerli northeast of Baghdad. The second, on July 28, raided Camp Ashraf, in the Diyala Governorate near the Iranian border and 40km north of Baghdad.
2. The Iraqi prime minister has given the pro-Iranian militias one month to remove their camps and ammunition stocks from the country’s main cities. By complying with this order, Iran’s armed Shiite pawns would lose their main strongholds in Baghdad and other important Iraqi cities. However, they have consistently flouted such orders in the past.
3. Abdul-Mahdi, who as prime minister officiates also as commander in chief of Iraq’s armed forces, stated explicitly that no aircraft of any kind may enter Iraqi air space without permission from him in person or an official appointed by him. “All special aviation permits to enter Iraqi air space granted to Iraqi or non-Iraqi entities are hereby cancelled, including “reconnaissance, armed reconnaissance, fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones of all kinds.” The decree went on to specify: “Any air traffic lacking this permission will be considered hostile and targeted by Iraqi air defences immediately.”
The US forces command, which maintains several large air bases in Iraq with thousands of military personnel, responded: “We are guests within Iraq’s sovereign borders,” and therefore, “The US-led coalition has immediately complied with all the directives received from our Iraqi partners as they implement the prime minister’s order.”
Reliable military sources report that Abdul-Mahdi’s actions are far from being plain sailing. In the first place, Iraq is not armed with the advanced air defence systems capable of identifying or downing Israel’s F-35 stealth aircraft. In the second, how can he stop Turkish Air Force intrusions of Iraqi air space for ongoing raids of Kurdish PKK bases in northern Iraq, a region in which Baghdad maintains no air defence units?
This predicament has an unexpected twist: The Turks have recently began using Israel-made Heron UAV’s in those raids. The Iraqi air force is not up to identifying whether an incoming drone belongs to the Turkish or the Israeli air force.
Interesting and challenging times ahead?
Israel strikes Hamas underground facilities after rocket attack ........
August 18, 2019
Israeli jets and other aircraft struck two Hamas’ underground terrorist structures in northern and central Gaza overnight Friday in response to an incoming Palestinian rocket that was intercepted by Iron Dome.
Friday afternoon, several thousand Palestinians rampaged on the Gaza border. They hurled rocks and explosive devices at Israeli troops before being driven back.
Three fires were also ignited on the Israeli side of the border by Palestinian incendiary balloons from the Gaza Strip.
US issues warrant to seize Iranian oil tanker released by Gibraltar ............
August 18, 2019
Defying the US, a Gibraltar court on Thursday ordered the release of the Iranian tanker seized two weeks ago with oil bound for Syria – against Iran’s assurances that Grace 1 would not sail to countries “subject to European Union sanctions” – that is, Syria.
Gibraltar will allow the vessel to leave “as soon as the logistics are figured out: – today or tomorrow.”
The US warrant orders the Grace 1 and the oil aboard to be seized along with $995,000 from an account at an unnamed US bank linked to Paradise Global Trading LLC, an Iranian company. “A network of front companies allegedly laundered millions of dollars in support of such shipments,” Federal prosecutor Jessie Liu said.
She added the parties involved were linked with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the US regards as a foreign terrorist organization.
Satanic Temple in Ottawa to Hold First Public Black Mass in Canada.......
17 August 2019
The Satanic Temple in Ottawa plans to hold what apparently will be the first public Black Massin Canada's history on August 17.
A Black Mass is an inversion and mockery of the Roman Catholic Mass, where the ritual is performed in reverse, from the end to the beginning, and symbolizes the undoing of Christ's sacrifice on the Cross and the undoing of Satan's defeat.
"Essentially, it involves using traditional symbols and inverting them to create a ritual that is meant to be the opposite of the traditional Mass," Nicolas Marc, the national coordinator of the Satanic Temple, told Global News.
In a real Black Mass, a consecrated Communion host is used but Marc told LifeSiteNews that in this ritual a consecrated host would not be used.
(Screenshot, Facebook)
The event takes place at The Koven, a heavy metal restaurant/bar with a Satanic atmosphere. Admission is $20, or $15 "with a donation of clean socks" for a charity drive.
Pre-registration online is required, no photos or videos are allowed at the Black Mass, and the doors open at 10:00 p.m. (As this story was posted, tickets for the Black Mass reportedly were sold out. The ceremony is entitled Libertas in Tenebris, or Freedom in
Darkness.
"The Black Mass is a sacrilegious ceremony structured in imitation of the Catholic Mass," according to the National Catholic Register. "Invoking Satan, the ritual is centered around the desecration of the Eucharist, which is generally done by stealing a consecrated host from a Catholic church and using it in a profane sexual ritual or defecating and urinating on it."
Mind you, the Roman Catholic Mass is a blasphemy as well?
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