Daily Commentary – Monday, November 16, 2015 – Another Terrorist Attack By ISIS Last Friday in France

• They are claiming at least one was a Syrian refugee. What is the USA and Canada going to do now about their plan to take in Syrian refugees in the light of this attack?

Daily Commentary – Monday, November 16, 2015 Download

Putin & Russia Launches Airstrikes in northern Syria Against ISIS (Update: Looks Like Russia Attacking Rebel Alliance, Not ISIS)

ARE YOU KIDDING … OBAMA FURTHER MAKES THE UNITED STATES A SECOND CLASS WORLD POWER.

According to news reports,  Vladimir Putin and the Russians are launching airstrikes in Northern Syria against ISIS. As per accounts the Russians demanded that the US keep their war planes out. Seriously, is Obama going to show his true colors and cower to Putin? Could Barack Obama be any more of a failure? The dude is Jimmy Carter on steroids. Also, how sad is it that Putin has a plan to defeat ISIS and Obama does not.

This is what happens when you have an apologist as a leader and one that you even wonder if he even likes America. And we are not talking about Putin.

What the caption should read from Putin is, I have tanks, helicopters, planes and balls … your move”

Russian warplanes have begun bombarding Syrian opposition targets in the war torn nation’s north, working on behalf of dictator Bashar al Assad, according to a senior military official.

The official said airstrikes targeted fighters in the vicinity of Homs, located roughly 60 miles east of a Russian naval facility in Tartus, and were carried out by a “couple” of Russian bombers. It was not clear if the strikes targeted ISIS, Al Qaeda or other forces opposed to Assad, who Moscow is aiding.  According to a Twitter handle belonging to the Syrian government, the Russian strikes were initiated at the request of Assad.

The development came after Pentagon officials brushed aside an official request from Russia to clear air space over northern Syria, where Moscow intends to conduct airstrikes against ISIS on behalf of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, according to sources who spoke to Fox News.

The request was made by a Russian three-star general who spoke with U.S. officials at the American embassy in Baghdad, sources said. The general, who was not identified, used the word “please” when delivering the verbal request, known as a “demarche,” according to the written transcript of the exchange.

ABC News: US Confirms Russian Airstrikes in Syria.

A U.S. official confirmed that Russian military aircraft conducted airstrikes today in the vicinity of the city of Homs, Syria. The Russians gave the U.S. only an hour’s advance notification that the airstrikes were about to occur through a message conveyed to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, a U.S. official said.

The official did not have details on what types of Russian aircraft conducted the airstrike in the vicinity of Homs or what the Russians were targeting. The Russian Defense Ministry has so far not confirmed any airstrikes in Syria by Russian military aircraft.

However, the U.S. official noted that there is no major ISIS presence in Homs, which is located in western Syria. Over the past three weeks, Russia has moved 32 fighter and bomber aircraft to the airport in Latakia, a city on the Mediterranean. That airport been developed by Russia into a military operations hub, according to U.S. officials.

“There doesn’t seem to be any operational effect on ISIL where they are flying,” said the official, who used the acronym used by the U.S. government to describe ISIS.

UPDATE I: Russia ‘launches air strikes again’, targeting rebel alliance in Syria.

Russian jets bomb rebel positions in Syria including rural areas near the north-western town of Jisr al-Shughour, a day after launching air strikes.

Despite reports to the contrary, Russia’s defence ministry is claiming that a new round of air strikes overnight on Thursday did target Isil and “strictly avoiding populated areas”

News agencies reported that the ministry confirmed that Sukhoi-24M and Sukhoi-25 aircraft flew eight sorties. They hit an ammunition depot near Idlib as well as a three-storey Isil command centre near Hama.

It said a pinpoint strike had destroyed a facility located in the north of Homs aimed at rigging cars with explosives for suicide attacks, Reuters writes.

UPDATE II: Russia vehemently defends Syrian airstrikes and denies targeting U.S. -backed rebels.

Russian officials vehemently defended the country’s airstrike campaign in Syria Thursday, denying reports of civilian deaths and Western accusations that the country was targeting U.S.-backed rebels instead of the Islamic State.

Gennady Zyuganov, a member of parliament and leader of Russia’s Communist party, called the accusations “total rubbish.”

Vasily Likhachov, from Russia’s lower house of parliament, described the claims as“the latest anti-Russian attack” after “the pendulum of public international opinion had swung back in the direction of Russia,” the Interfax news service reported.

The Russian ambassador to France, Alexander Orlov, said Moscow’s intervention came after a year of airstrikes by the U.S. and its partners had failed to dislodge Islamic State extremists in Syria, the Associated Press reported from Paris.

Orlov said the accusations formed part of a “war of disinformation,” saying Russian officials had warned the U.S. “via confidential channels” of where they planned to strike, the AP reported. U.S. officials say they were only given notice Wednesday.

US Delta Force Commandos Kill ISIS Commander Abu Sayyaf in Syrian Raid

ISIS commander killed by DELTA FORCE …

The AP is reporting that US Army commandos from Delta Force have killed ISIS commander, Abu Sayyaf, in a Syrian raid. During the raid, deep into Syria, the commandos not only killed Abu Sayyaf, but also captuared his wife, Umm Sayyaf, who is being questioned in U.S. custody.  As stated at Hot Air, “Sayyaf was a top money guy for the terrorists, in charge of trafficking their oil and gas on the black market along with who knows what other revenue sources they rely on to fund their fighters and keep their operation running.”

Isn’t it amazing what happens when the US military is allowed to act like the elite fighting force that it is and is allowed to take the terrorist out.

In a rare ground attack deep into Syria, U.S. Army commandos killed a man described as the Islamic State’s head of oil operations, captured his wife and rescued a woman whom American officials said was enslaved.

A team of Delta Force commandos slipped across the border from Iraq under cover of darkness Saturday aboard Black Hawk helicopters and V-22 Osprey aircraft, according to a U.S. defense official knowledgeable about details of the raid. The official was not authorized to discuss the operation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Americans intended to capture a militant identified by U.S. officials as Abu Sayyaf. When they arrived at his location, a multi-story building, they met stiff resistance, the U.S. official said, and a firefight ensued, resulting in bullet-hole damage to the U.S. aircraft.

Abu Sayyaf was killed, along with an estimated dozen IS fighters, U.S. officials said. No American was killed or wounded.

Before the sun had risen, the commandos flew back to Iraq where Abu Sayyaf’s wife, Umm Sayyaf, was being questioned in U.S. custody, officials said.

CNN: Abu Sayyaf, key ISIS figure in Syria, killed in U.S. raid.

The ISIS commander, Abu Sayyaf, was killed in a heavy firefight after he resisted capture in the raid at al-Omar, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said in a statement.

Sayyaf’s wife, an Iraqi named Umm Sayyaf, was caught and is being held in Iraq.

The ground operation was led by the Army’s Delta Force, sources familiar with the mission told CNN. There were about two dozen members of Delta Force involved, sources said. They were part of a multi-branch force of about 100, the sources told CNN’s Barbara Starr.

“Abu Sayyaf was a senior ISIL leader who, among other things, had a senior role in overseeing ISIL’s illicit oil and gas operations — a key source of revenue that enables the terrorist organization to carry out their brutal tactics and oppress thousands of innocent civilians,” she said in a statement.

“He was also involved with the group’s military operations.”

Abu Sayyaf was a Tunisian citizen, a senior administration official said.

A U.S. official with direct knowledge of the intelligence and the ground operation described Sayyaf as “CFO of all of ISIS with expertise in oil and gas” who played a increasing role in operations, planning and communications.

Pope Francis’ Easter Message: End Violence & Oppression … Pope Called for an End to “the Present Absurd Bloodshed and all Barbarous Acts of Violence” of Radical Islam

Pope Francis Easter Message: “Oh God, who on this day through your only begotten son have conquered death and unmarked for us the path to eternity. [...] We ask peace above all for beloved Syria and Iraq. That the roar of arms cease and that peaceful relations be restored”.

During Pope Francis’ message this Easter Sunday, he called for an end to the bloodshed in Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria and in Africa and called for the international community not stand by before the immense humanitarian tragedy unfolding in these countries. Francis  prayed for an end to the violence and persecution of Christians, specifically mentioning the recent slaughter of students massacred by Islamist militants at Garissa University in Kenya.

Pope Francis prayed for an end to the persecution of Christians in his Easter Sunday address, commemorating the students massacred by Islamist militants at Garissa University in Kenya.

Calling for peace in Libya, where last February Islamic State militants beheaded 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians, the pope called for an end to “the present absurd bloodshed and all barbarous acts of violence”.

He prayed for peace in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria, where Boko Haram Islamist militants have also targeted Christian churches.

“We ask for peace and freedom for the many men and women subject to old and new forms of enslavement on the part of criminal individuals and groups,” he said.

CNN

Pope Francis reminded the world of the Vatican’s status as a state and his role as a moral diplomat in his traditional speech given at the end of Easter Mass.

The Pontiff lamented the suffering of people in the conflicts currently making headlines and called for violence everywhere to end.

Foremost, he asked that bloodshed end in Iraq and Syria and that humanitarian aid get to those in need.

“May the international community not stand by before the immense humanitarian tragedy unfolding in these countries and the drama of the numerous refugees,” he said in his “urbi et orbi” address, Latin for “to the city (Rome) and to the world.”

Then he turned to the Holy Land, expressing the wish that the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians resume.

Francis mentioned Libya; the nuclear talks with Iran in Lausanne, Switzerland; Yemen; Nigeria; South Sudan; and the shooting at the Garissa University College in Kenya.

The Full Easter Mass can be seen below

Official Vatican Text of Pope Francis’ Easter Message:

“Jesus Christ is risen! Love has triumphed over hatred, life has conquered death, light has dispelled the darkness!

Out of love for us, Jesus Christ stripped himself of his divine glory, emptied himself, took on the form of a slave and humbled himself even to death, death on a cross. For this reason God exalted him and made him Lord of the universe. Jesus is Lord! By his death and resurrection, Jesus shows everyone the way to life and happiness: this way is humility, which involves humiliation. This is the path which leads to glory. Only those who humble themselves can go towards the “things that are above”, towards God (cf. Col 3:1-4). The proud look “down from above”; the humble look “up from below”.

On Easter morning, alerted by the women, Peter and John ran to the tomb. They found it open and empty. Then they drew near and “bent down” in order to enter it. To enter into the mystery, we need to “bend down”, to abase ourselves. Only those who abase themselves understand the glorification of Jesus and are able to follow him on his way.

The world proposes that we put ourselves forward at all costs, that we compete, that we prevail. But Christians, by the grace of Christ, dead and risen, are the seeds of another humanity, in which we seek to live in service to one another, not to be arrogant, but rather respectful and ready to help.

This is not weakness, but true strength! Those who bear within them God’s power, his love and his justice, do not need to employ violence; they speak and act with the power of truth, beauty and love.

From the risen Lord we ask the grace not to succumb to the pride which fuels violence and war, but to have the humble courage of pardon and peace. We ask Jesus, the Victor over death, to lighten the sufferings of our many brothers and sisters who are persecuted for his name, and of all those who suffer injustice as a result of ongoing conflicts and violence.

We ask for peace, above all, for Syria and Iraq, that the roar of arms may cease and that peaceful relations may be restored among the various groups which make up those beloved countries. May the international community not stand by before the immense humanitarian tragedy unfolding in these countries and the drama of the numerous refugees.

We pray for peace for all the peoples of the Holy Land. May the culture of encounter grow between Israelis and Palestinians and the peace process be resumed, in order to end years of suffering and division.

We implore peace for Libya, that the present absurd bloodshed and all barbarous acts of violence may cease, and that all concerned for the future of the country may work to favor reconciliation and to build a fraternal society respectful of the dignity of the person. For Yemen too we express our hope for the growth of a common desire for peace, for the good of the entire people. (the rest of the message)

ISIS Terrorists Claims They Have Beheaded American Hostage Peter Kassig

ISIS BEHEADS AMERICAN HOSTAGE PETER KASSIG.

ISIS appears to have done it again. In a VIDEO, ISIS terrorists claim to have beheaded American hostage Peter Kassig. That now makes the 5th Westerner that ISIS has brutally murdered. The 26 year old Peter Kassig, also known as Abdul-Rahman Kassig, as he converted to Islam, was an aid worker in Syria prior to his capture. Kassig was a U.S. soldier and returned to the Middle East  as a medical worker, feeling compelled to help victims of war. Kassig’s parents had previously asked for mercy for their some; however, as we all know … ISIS has no mercy.

Kassig was an Army veteran who served in the Iraq war before he was honorably discharged for medical reasons in 2007.

Kassig later became an emergency medical technician and volunteered as a medical assistant in border hospitals in Lebanon in 2012, treating Palestinian refugees and those fleeing from the Syrian conflict.

In the fall of 2012, Kassig founded an NGO called SERA, Special Emergency Response and Assistance, eventually moving its base of operations to Turkey, according to a family spokesman. From there Kassig “sourced and delivered food and medical supplies to the growing [refugee] camps on both sides of the Syrian border.” He also gave primary trauma care to children caught in the crossfire.

CNN:

Militants claim to have beheaded American hostage Peter Kassig in a video published to the Internet on Sunday, purportedly from terror group ISIS.
ISIS reportedly beheads Peter Kassig.

The video shows the aftermath of a beheading, in which the victim is not clearly recognizable. CNN has not been able to confirm the authenticity of the video nor the identity of the victim.

Kassig, 26, who converted to Islam in captivity, also went by the name Abdul-Rahman Kassig.

He went to the Middle East as a U.S. soldier and returned as a medical worker, feeling compelled to help victims of war.

He did aid work in Syria, where he was captured. He was held hostage for over a year.

Kassig’s parents, Ed and Paula Kassig, acknowledged the reports of their son’s death in a statement and said they would wait for government confirmation of their authenticity. They asked for privacy.

UPDATE I: Western Leaders React To Peter Kassig Beheading Video Posted By Islamic State.

Leaders of Australia and the U.K., as well as a representative of the U.S. National Security Council, have publicly denounced the contents of a video that allegedly shows members of the Islamic State militant group in Syria beheading Abdul-Rahman Kassig, an American aid worker who was born Peter Kassig. The militant group formerly known as either ISIL or ISIS purportedly posted the video online Sunday: It appears to show so-called Jihadi John, a militant responsible for previous hostage beheadings, holding Kassig’s head.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott denounced the footage at a press conference covered by the Guardian. Abbott would not comment on the video’s authenticity or whether he had seen any additional footage, saying only that the Islamic State group should be called a death cult.

British Prime Minister David Cameron posted on Twitter earlier Sunday, saying  he was horrified by what he called Kassig’s “cold-blooded murder”