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22 Shawwal 1436 A.H.- August 8, 2015 Issue # 84, Newsletter #1614



Hadith of the Week

The prophet, pbuh, supplicated Allah:

"O Allah, I seek Your forgiveness and Your protection in this world and the next. O Allah, I seek Your forgiveness and Your protection in my religion, in my worldly affairs, in my family and in my wealth. O Allah, conceal my secrets and preserve me from anguish. O Allah, guard me from what is in front of me and behind me, from my left, and from my right, and from above me. I seek refuge in Your Greatness from being struck down from beneath me."

Sahih Ibn Majah 2/332 and Abu Dawud.




 Guidance

Scholarly Rebuttal of Shia Claims Against Islam.
(With thanks to a brother in Pakistan).

Two of the most abusive claims against Islam by Shi'ites which they keep repeating on the Internet are:
  1. Abu Bakr, r.a., was a usurper [astaghfirullah] and Ali, r.a., did not give him baiya [oath of allegiance].

  2. Abu Bakr, r.a., did not give Fatima, r.a. her rightful inheritance from her father, [pbuh]. [Do not be angry.]


Put this powerful but scholarly rebuttal in your browser and listen to the abusers being destroyed. Brief but worth watching.

Intended for educational purposes only. Not for political issues concerning US foreign policy.
- NT Editor




 Outreach

Jamaat al-Muslimeen Activity near Burtonsville, Maryland. 100 Muslims reached with sensitive info on Palestine.

August 7: ISWA [Islamic Society of the Washington Area] is a beautiful little mosque 22 miles south of Baltimore, on the outskirts of Washington, DC. The congregation is well educated, mostly from Guyana [South America], and various African and Arab countries. The imam is a man of patience and understanding. The khutba was good, teaching Muslim men to be good to their wives, and to all Muslims to shun profanities and harsh language.

A beautifully patterned 4-page document compiled by Sis. Kristi was given to 100 Muslims. Here is a review.
  1. Imam Badi Ali mourns the burning of the Palestinian child, Ali, by Israeli gangsters and urges Muslims to unite to liberate Palestine.

  2. Br. Kaukab Siddique urges Muslims to realize that Israel is the problem. Focus not on settler atrocities but on the removal of Israel from Palestine. The children of Gaza have been slaughtered in three invasions by the Zionists.

  3. Outreach: Our Jamaat documents are breaking all records in distribution. We need help to reach more people.

  4. The passing of Mullah Umar, the Islamic leader of Afghanistan who stood against US and NATO militaries and won.

  5. Ferocious fighting in Syria as Hizbullah forces try to save the tyrant Assad from the mujahideen.





 Outreach

Jaamaat al-Muslimeen activity in Brooklyn, New York. & Manhattan, New York

August 5. Masjid Taqwa, Brooklyn. Articles on Br. Kaukab's rebuttal of the Daily Beast and. Sis. Nadrat's critique of a million dollar mosque and petition for Masaud Khan [in prison fot life] given selectively to 15 Muslims after evening prayers.

August 4. Masjid Khalifa, Brooklyn. Selective distribution to 15 people on Chattanooga shootings & Yasir Qadhi sell out, plus Lesbianism vs Bakery case [Sis. Aishs], Military in Pakistan & disappearing opponents.

August 3. At the Metropolitan Correctional Center [big prison in Manhattan], a rally for release of political prisoners was held at the call of committee supporting Bangladeshi brother Shifa Sadequee. More than 40 people attended, among them the famous ex-attorney LYNNE STEWART. She talked about the suffering of Dr. AFIA SIDDIQUI, the political prisoner from Pakistan sentenced to 83 years who was imprisoned in Ft. Worth, Texas, where at one time Sis. Lynne was also imprisoned.

New Trend issues were presented to Sis. Lynne by Jamaat al-Muslimeen representative Br. Abu Talib.




 Outreach

Surprise! Surprise! First Time Ever Jamaat al-Muslimeen Activity in Green Bay, Wisconsin

 Green Bay masjid

Aug 7, 2015: There is a cute little masjid in the beautiful surroundings of Green Bay. Most of the people are Somali Muslims though the organizers are Pakistanis.

An 8-page document was given to 60 people. It was raining but the parking was so close to the masjid that people got into their cars without wetting the document. Here is a summary of the eight pages:
  1. Comparing Chattanooga shooting with Marathon bombing. [Sis. Karin

  2. The history of the confederate flag vis a vis the American flag. [Sis. Aisha]

  3. A definitive study of the Baltimore uprising against police brutality. [Sis. Nadrat]

  4. Speaking against homo movement & oppression of the poor. [Khutba by Imam Khalil.]

  5. One year after the Caliphate, ISIS launches new offensive.

  6. Pakistani air force attacking Islamic people in Waziristan once again.





Threat to our Local Masjid

Security Alert at Masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen, Baltimore, MD

A specific threat was received that an attempt would be made to shut down the masjid in Baltimore on York road.

It came from a person who has been abusing Br. Kaukab and his daughter on the Internet. When no action was taken against him, he apparently took it as a sign of weakness and decided to try and shut down the masjid itself.

Fortunately steps were taken in time and he did not succeed. Thanks go to the brothers who handled this situation.




Correction to our Aug 2 Issue

 Oops

The first line of our August 2nd Outreach Section should have read as follows:
Also on July 31, Jamaat al-Muslimeen literature was given to Muslims after juma in Philadelphia at a mosque near the University of Pennsylvania.

In the same item, the last line should have read as follows: Chuck Carlson leads critique of Jewish groups pretending to be friends of Palestine.

We apologize for the mistake.




War News

 Snippets

IRAQ - For another week, US backed Baghdad troops and Shi'ite militia ledy by Iranians failed in their attempts to advance on Fallujah and Ramadi.

In the north, Turkish bombing raids have decimated some units of Kurdish forces, PKK and even some Pesh Marga.

SYRIA - Breaking News
Assad's forces and Hizbullah suffered heavy losses in western Ghouta-Deraya city area near Damascus. Among those killed were Assad's elite guards.

August 6: US bombing of ISIS caliphate center al-Raqqa killed 51 civilian supporters of ISIS, including 12 women and 8 children [known as "cubs of the Caliphate."}

Al-Nusra attempts to advance into Lattakia province continue slowly but steadily. Division 30 Syrian troops trained by the US complained that the US air force came too late to help them when al-Nusra attacked them and killed and captured their advance guard.

AFGHANISTAN - August 7: Mujahideen broke through Kabul's defenses to inflict heavy casualties on the US installed regime. The first was a martyrdom operation which killed 20 Kabul troops and wounded 25, as they were returning to duty.

The second was a huge truck bomb which was heard for miles as it struck a military compound killing 10 people and wounding 124.
The regime is hiding its losses.
Explosions and gunfire were also heard from near the airport. Reports not made available.

MALI [northwest Africa] August 7. A mujahideen attack in the city of Sevare killed several government soldiers and a French elite soldier. A Russian and a Ukrainian have been captured. Two of the fighters were also killed. [BBC ongoing situation.]




Research and Analysis

 Dr Kaukab Siddique

Does Islam Teach the Wife to Obey the Husband? What About Travelling Alone in Hazardous Situations? Restrictions only on Women?

Q & A
Does Islam say that the Wife Should Obey the Husband? Why are Marriages under Stress?

Several readers have pointed to Saudi-linked lists which are propagating the claim that according to Islam, the wife should Obey the husband. The Saudi-influenced scholars are saying that if a wife leaves the house for any reason, she must ask her husband's permission. They say that even the woman's voice is "awrah" and should not be heard. If she travels, she must be accampanied by her husband or a male relative. What do the Qur'an and the Hadith really say?

Answer by Br. Kaukab Siddique: We must realize that according to the Qur'an, authority belongs to ALLAH ALONE. [1]

Any attempt to give authority to any human being is SHIRK, which is the only sin Allah does not forgive.

The Qur'an is a progressive revelation which went through stages of development of the Muslim woman and the Muslim male. In the final analysis, male-female relations in Islam are based on TAQWA [Fear of Allah, God-conscious behavior], not on gender. [2]

In the FINAL revelation about men and women, the Qur'an proclaimed without ambiguity that the believing men and women are EACH OTHER'S protecting friends and guardians, not the woman under the domain of the male. [3]

The Qur'an proclaimed the EQUALITY of men and women even in such an advanced, complex and cooperative venture as jihad.[4]

Allah Almighty categorically places women TOGETHER in ALL aspects of Islamic endeavor, without the slightest shade of inferiority for women. [5]

The Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, took an oath of allegiance from women which covered their entire existence but does not include obedience to the husband. [6]

In the earliest stage of the Muslim community in Madinah, Muslim men were given the authority to discipline their wives in cases of sexual misconduct [without causing any significant hurt], but this was taken away at the next stage when in cases of alleged sexual misconduct, all that a man could do was to swear that he was telling the truth. If the wife took a similar oath, the marriage would be dissolved. [7]

Most apologist Muslims focus on this early development in Islam and ignore the rest of the Qur'an.

In times of insecurity and war, in long journeys, the Prophet, pbuh, ordained that a woman should travel with her husband or a male relative. This was meant to help the woman and to provide security, not to put the woman under the control of her husband. The issue of travel is used by some scholars to argue that the wife must obey the husband. There is a whole series of omissions, either dishonest or out of ignorance, carried out to use this issue. The following Hadith is quoted:

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said, "It is not permissible for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to travel except with a Mahram." [Bukhari]

However, that is not the complete Hadith. Here it is with the key words in bold type: The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said, "It is not permissible for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to travel for one day and night except with a Mahram." [Bukhari]

One day and night connotes a long journey. Nowadays, one can travel halfway around the world in a day and a night. This is certainly not about a woman going shopping or to meet her friends down in the city. In those days, it was dangerous and one could lose life, goods and honor to bandits on the way. There were no highways or electric lights on the sandy desert.

However, the misuse of Hadith does not end there. These scholars do not note the context and do not let anyone know that restrictions were put on males too. Here are the relevant Hadith:

The Prophet, pbuh, said: "Travel is a kind of punishment. It limits food, drink and sleep. When you have completed the requirements of travel, return quickly to your family." [Bukhari and Muslim.]

The Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, spent much of his life in Madinah in jihad. He traveled extensively for jihad and hence there are numerous hadith about travel and its rules. It's a shame for modern Muslims [such as the Saudi elites] who have never even spoken against the oppressors, let alone gone for jihad, that they should be using the words of the greatest liberator of women, Muhammad Mustafa, pbuh, to try and subjugate women.

When a man went out for a journey, his life was often in danger. Here is another Hadith on the subject which stops men from going forth alone:

The messenger of Allh, pbuh, said: "A horseman going alone is satanic. If there are two going by themselves, they are two satans. and three is the proper [recommended] caravan." [Sunan of Abu Dawood and Sunan of Nasa'i]

The messenger of Allah, pbuh, said; "If people knew what I know about the bad aspects of traveling alone, no one would travel alone at night." [Sahih Bukhari]

The Islamic solution, the Prophet, pbuh, gave was excellent but we Muslims have forgotten it. Where possible, especially where satanic forces are at work, Muslims should travel in groups, even if these are very small groups, and the traveling should be well organized:

The messenger of Allah, pbuh, said: "When three of you travel, make one of your companions the ameer." [Sunan of Abu Dawood]

We are living in times where travel conditions are being affected by the antagonistic activities of our enemies. So go forth prepared:

Someone asked the messenger of Allah: "O messenger of Allah, I have the intention of travel. Please advise me. He [the messenger, pbuh,} replied: "The fear and awareness of Allah [taqwa] should always be with you, and at every high point [in the journey] say takbeer!" [Sunan of Tirmidhi]. [8]

So, if obedience to the husband is not a part of Islam, how should the family be organized? Wouldn't there be chaos if there is no "captain" of the team? This argument ignores the Islamic principle of organization which is called SHOORA or mutual consultation leading to decision making based on discussion, consent and consensus. There is a chapter of the Qur'an titled Shoora. Allah ordains in this chapter that ALL matters of Muslim activity must be carried out by mutual consultation and consent. [9]

Even the Prophet, pbuh, divinely inspired as he was, received the command to consult with the believers. [10]

Maulana Maudoodi's tafsir [commentary] on the verse of Shoora is the best among all tafsirs. Here is the key excerpt:

"...Mutual consultation [ shoora] is an essential requirement of the moral character Islam wants to teach the human being. Evasion of shoora is a major immorality which islam can never permit. The Islamic way of life requires that the principle of shoora should be used in all social relationships, big or small. In domestic life, the husband and the wife should do mutual shoora and when children grow up, they too should be included in the family shoora. When matters of the entire extended family are involved, all the sane and adult family members should be involved. If an entire tribe or clan is to be affected and all of them cannot be in the shoora process, by an agreed upon method their representatives should be included in a tribal majlis. If an entire nation is involved, the leader of the nation should be chosen by the will of the people and should manage national affairs with the help of the shoora members whom the nation considers trustworthy...." [ Tafhimul Qur'an, vol.4, p.509]

In Islam, the husband and the wife are each others' friends and comrades. It's not a relationship of dominance and submission. Communication and discussion are the keys to successful Islamic marriage. Attempts at dominance and control are bound to create stress and the slow deterioration of the relationship, however well it might have started.

Men often do not listen to the nuances of what the wife says. Muhammad, pbuh, did. Women communicate differently from men. The Prophet, pbuh, knew that. Let's follow his example. One won't find him , in ALL of Hadith literature, trying to suppress and subordinate 'Ayesha, r.a., or any other woman.

Textual notes: [Emphasis added.]
  1. "Say: For me, I have an obvious sign from my Lord, but you reject it. What you would see hastened is not in my power. Authority belongs to Allah alone. He declares the Truth, and He is the best of Judges." [The Qur'an 6:57.]

    "Men are then returned to Allah, their Protector, the Reality. Authority belongs to Him Alone. and He is the swiftest in taking account." [6:62]

    [Yusuf, pbuh, said] "If not Him, ye worship nothing but names which ye have named - ye and your fathers - for which Allah has sent you no ruling: Authority is for None but Allah; He has commanded that ye worship none but Him; that is the right religion but most people understand not." [12:40]

    [Jacob, pbuh, said] "O my sons! enter not all by one gate: enter ye by different gates. Not that I can benefit you against Allah! None has authority other than Allah. On Him do I put my trust, and let all that trust put their trust on Him." [12:67.]

    "And He is Allah: there is no god but He! To Him be praise at the first and at the last! To Him belongs Authority and to Him shall ye all be brought back." [28:70]

    [Notice that even Prophets like Jacob and Yusuf have no authority. There is no question of an ordinary person like the husband having authority.]

    [Some translators use the word "command' for hukm or Authority but that is an incorrect translation. Command is 'Amr. However hukm has other uses too depending on the Qur'anic context.]

  2. "O mankind! We created you from male and female and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other. Surely the noblest of you with Allah are the ones among you who are best in conduct [ taqwa]. Surely Allah is All Knowing, Aware." [49:13]

  3. "The believers, men and women are protectors and guardians [ awliyya ] of each other. They enjoin what is just and forbid what is evil: they establish prayer , give zakat regularly, and they obey Allah and His messenger. On them will Allah pour His mercy, for Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise. Allah has promised the believers, men and women, gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein, and beautiful mansions, in Gardens of everlasting bliss. But the greatest Bliss is the Pleasure of [acceptance by] Allah. That is the supreme felicity." [9:71-72]

    [Commentators agree that these were the final verses revealed on this subject.]

  4. "And their Lord has accepted of them and answered them: 'Never will I allow to be lost the efforts of any of you, be ye male or female: Ye are from each other. Those [men and women] who left their homes, or have been driven out from there or suffered injuries in My cause, or fought or been slain, - surely I will blot out from their sins and admit them into Gardens with rivers flowing beneath, - a reward from the presence of Allah, and from His Presence is the best of rewards.' " [3:195]

  5. The Qur'an 33:35

  6. 60:12

  7. 4:34. Modernists have expended much energy on this verse, in trying to change its meaning. They forgot that the Qur'an was revealed progressively over two decades. If this progression is not taken into account, one can be involved in tahrif [distortion] of the Qur'an, a deadly sin. For instance, see the next development of the husband-wife relationship in 24:6-9, where the husband is no longer called on to discipline his wife. [Islam followed a similar progression in dealing with intoxicants, interest and jihad.]

  8. For the sake of Islam, women often traveled alone, as in the first hijra to Ethiopia and the great hijra to Yathrib.

  9. The Qur'an, chapter 42, verse 38.

  10. 3: 159





Spotlights & Guidance

 Imam Badi Ali

A Call to Think about Palestine. It Could Unite Us.


-Imam Badi Ali leads a large Muslim Community in Greensboro, NC




Egypt

 Egypt

US Celebrating its relations and arms for Human Rights Violator General Sissi
By Glenn Greenwald [Via Global-rights-path yahoogroup]

The Egyptian regime run by the despotic General Abdelfattah al-Sisi is one of the world's most brutal and repressive. Last year, Human Rights Watchdocumented that that Egyptian "security forces have carried out mass arrests and torture that harken back to the darkest days of former President Hosni Mubarak's rule." Just two months ago, the group warned that the abuses have "escalated," and that Sisi, "governing by decree in the absence of an elected parliament, ha[s] provided near total impunity for security force abuses and issued a raft of laws that severely curtailed civil and political rights, effectively erasing the human rights gains of the 2011 uprising that ousted the longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak."

Despite those repression - or, more accurately, because of it - the Obama administration has lavished the regime with aid, money and weapons, just as the U.S. Government did for decades in order to prop up Hosni Mubarak. When Sisi took power in a coup, not only did the U.S. Government support him but it praised him for restoring "democracy." Since then, the U.S. has repeatedly sent arms and money to the regime as its abuses became more severe. As The New York Times delicately put it yesterday, "American officials . . . signaled that they would not let their concerns with human rights stand in the way of increased security cooperation with Egypt."

None of that is new: a staple of U.S. foreign policy has long been to support heinous regimes as long as they carry out U.S. dictates, all in order to keep domestic populations in check and prevent their views and beliefs (which are often averse to the U.S.) from having any effect on the actions of their own government. Just today, the American and Egyptian governments jointly issued a lengthy statement on a meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry which it said was "based on the shared belief that it is necessary to deepen the Egypt-U.S. bilateral relationship to advance our shared interest after almost four decades of close partnership and cooperation." While Kerry suggested in the meeting that severe repression may not be strategically shrewd, the official statement did not even reference, let alone condemn, the regime's human rights abuses: credit for not pretending to care, I suppose.

[The U.S. media pretended to be on the side of Tahrir Square democracy protesters despite decades of support from the American Government for Mubarak. Recall that in 2009 Hillary Clinton pronounced: "I really consider President and Mrs. Mubarak to be friends of my family." A WikiLeaks cable, anticipating the first meeting between Obama and Mubarak in 2009, emphasized that "the Administration wants to restore the sense of warmth that has traditionally characterized the U.S.-Egyptian partnership" and that "the Egyptians want the visit to demonstrate that Egypt remains America's 'indispensible [sic] Arab ally.'" The cable noted that "[intelligence] Chief Omar Soliman and Interior Minister al-Adly keep the domestic beasts at bay, and Mubarak is not one to lose sleep over their tactics."]

The Leader of the Free World's long and clear history of lavishing the world's most repressive regimes with money and weapons is usually carried out with a bit of stealth, so that its inspiring, self-flattering rhetoric about Supporting Freedom and Democracy - used to justify invasions and other forms of imperial domination - will be credible to its domestic media and population (even if to nobody else in the world). But this week, the U.S. Government not only proudly touted its sending of weapons to the Cairo regime, but published a video celebrating it.
YouTube.com/watch?v=3HyIShSxwtY




War News

 War News

Syria & Iraq

US Bombing of ISIS has killed Hundreds of Civilians including Women and Children
Cora Currier

A new report from a group of journalists and researchers says that hundreds of civilians have died during airstrikes by the U.S. and other nations fighting the Islamic State, a marked contrast to the Pentagon's official admission of just two civilian deaths.

The report, from the nonprofit group Airwars, which tracks coalition airstrikes on Iraq and Syria, says that it has documented between 459 and 591 civilian deaths in 52 credible incidents. In one of the worst cases, in Al Bab, Syria, a U.S. strike on a local Islamic State headquarters being used as a jail killed up to 58 non-combatants, including women and teenagers.

Next Saturday marks the first anniversary of the United States' bombing campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq. Over the past year, a U.S.-led coalition including Canada, France, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and other European and Gulf states has carried out over 5,800 airstrikes against the group in Iraq and Syria.

Airwars notes that the coalition officially estimates that between 10,000 and 13,000 Islamic State fighters have been killed, and more than 2,000 buildings destroyed.

Given those numbers, the report's author, journalist Chris Woods, notes "a worrying gulf" between the official accounting for the war and consensus among monitoring groups operating in Iraq and Syria, which estimate hundreds of civilian deaths. Airwars has published its research into instances of civilian casualties along with the report, including photographs and the names of more than 260 victims.

Centcom has only publicly admitted to two civilian deaths from the campaign: two girls "likely" killed in Syria last November.

Woods notes that although information in the warzone is fragmentary and can be difficult to verify, reports of innocents killed "emerge within 24 hours - with graphic images of reported victims often widely disseminated across media and social media."

The U.S.-led coalition's policy "of downplaying or denying all claims of non-combatant fatalities makes little sense, and risks handing Islamic State and other forces a powerful propaganda tool," Woods writes.

The report notes that the Islamic State and the regime of Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad have killed many thousands more civilians than the coalition.

The report is also a reminder of the extent to which the United States' air war in Syria and Iraq has rolled ahead with little public debate over its effectiveness. Congress has still not passed a specific legal authorization for the war. Lawmakers punted on President Obama's proposal this winter, which would have limited the campaign to three years and placed some limitations on sending in ground troops, and other measures introduced since then have also failed.

Much of the controversy about U.S. involvement has instead focused on training "moderate" rebel groups to fight the Islamic State in Syria. Fewer than 60 rebels have completed a Pentagon-funded training and actually gone to fight, according to the Wall Street Journal. Parallel efforts by the CIA - aimed at so-called moderate groups fighting Assad - have trained thousands of fighters over the past few years, but with little measurable success.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the White House has authorized airstrikes in support of Pentagon-trained rebels in Northern Syria, an expansion of the current air war that could put the United States in a position of bombing Assad's forces. So far, the coalition campaign has avoided direct confrontation with Assad.




Syria

Major Breakthrough by Islamic State {IS} forces in Central Syria

August 6, 2015. According to the Associated Press and BBC, Islamic State fighters captured the strategic city of Qaryatain, southwest of Palmyra [which is already in IS hands]. This links up Islamic state with its units in eastern Qalamoun mountains [Damascus province]. Apparently Assad-Hizbullah forces' offensive to re-capture Palmyra has failed.

The city's frontal defense lines were broken by three martyrdom operators. In the fierce fighting which followed, the Alawite troops and Hizbullah were routed.

 regime tank

AP has released this photo of a regime tank captured by ISIS. Note the flag of the Prophet, pbuh.

An Islamic State militant holds the group's flag as he stands on a tank reportedly captured from Syrian government forces, in the town of Qaryatain, Syria according to a picture posted on Aug. 5, 2015 by the Rased News Network, a Facebook page affiliated with Islamic State militants. | Credit: Rased News Network/Associated Press

In Western Qalamoun, Hizbullah and Assad's elite troops have been attacking a resort town defended by al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham and other groups for THREE WEEKS. The tenacious Islamic defenders have sustained the most sustained bombing and shelling of the war. They have driven back every attack by the Shi'ites elite forces.

On July 30, a small unit of ISIS fighters raided the town of Serrin , south of Kobani, and inflicted 10 killed and 15 wounded on the YPG Communist defenders, Eight mujahideen were killed in the fighting. Earlier on July 27 YPG captured Serrin after heavy fighting but now its southern area is back in ISIS hands.

US air strikes against ISIS continued on August 5, inflicting casualties [not known] and damage on Islamic troops.




Saudi Arabia

Serious Setback for Saudi war on Terror: Elite unit wiped out in ISIS attack.

August 6: A human bomber from ISIS hit an elite anti-terrorism force of Saudi Arabia in Abha, south western Arabia. Fifteen people were killed including 12 elite troops. They were trained by the US and were praying.

This is a serious setback for the Saudis because they had tried to wipe out all ISIS support by arresting 431 supporters of ISIS in July.




Afghanistan

New Attacks and Mullah Mansour's Statement Squash Pakistani-Kabul "rumors" about "divisions."

August 6: A huge car bomb rocked Kabul killing 8 and wounding 120 people at a military compound.

Another 6 people were killed, including 3 police,in a Taliban bombing in eastern Afghanistan.

A Kabul regime helicopter was brought down killing 12 police.

These are the first attacks after the passing of the legendary Mullah Umar and the appointment of Mullah Mansoor as the new leader.




Afghanistan

 Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour

New Taliban Leader Mansour Rejects Peace Talks

The Taliban's newly appointed leader, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, has denied that any peace talks have taken place between his group and the Afghan government, despite reports last month that he was involved in the widely covered negotiations outside Islamabad.

The denial of peace talks comes after reports circulated last week that the new Taliban leader, who was promoted after news of the death of the group's former leader Mullah Omar broke, is unpopular among many of the insurgency's leaders. As a whole, the peace process launched with the help of Pakistan and China last month, as well as the death of Mullah Omar, have exposed immense division within the Taliban's ranks.

"The movement will continue until the Islamic system rules," Mansour said at an allegiance ceremony this week. "This rumor among the enemies that a peace process is going on, it is the enemies' propaganda."

2015-08-09 Sun 17:15:06 ct

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