Coalition Forces Disrupt Secret Cell Terrorist Network

Coalition Forces Disrupt Secret Cell Terrorist Network

Coalition Forces killed at least 20 terrorists, wounded six suspected terrorists and detained one suspected terrorist during operations targeting Secret Cells operating in Amarah and Majjar al-Kabir.

The individuals detained during the raid is believed to be members of the secret cell terrorist network known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq, as well as bringing militants from Iraq to Iran for terrorist training.

In coordination with the Government of Iraq, Coalition Forces conducted coordinated raids in the Maysan province of eastern Iraq. During the morning’s operations, Coalition Forces came under heavy small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenade attacks in both Amarah and Majjar al-Kabir. Using appropriate escalation of force measures, ground forces were forced to use close air support to suppress the enemy fire. During the close air support, at least 20 terrorists were killed and six suspected terrorists were assessed to be wounded by the strafing. A vehicle being used by the terrorists as a fighting position was also destroyed by the close air support.

Intelligence reports indicate that both Amarah and Majjar al-Kabir are known safe havens and smuggling routes for Secret Cell terrorists who facilitate Iranian lethal aid. Reports further indicate that Iranian surrogates, or Iraqis that are liaisons for Iranian intelligence operatives into Iraq, use both Amarah and Majjar al-Kabir as safe haven locations.

“Terrorists learned this morning that there is no safe haven in Iraq,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, MNF-I spokesperson. “Coalition Forces will seek out and find terrorists anywhere and everywhere in Iraq.”

(Taken from press release #A070618a by MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ, COMBINED PRESS INFORMATION CENTER - BAGHDAD, Iraq)

>>> AllHeadlineNews.com has this take on the story...
Coalition Raids In Eastern Iraq Target Weapons Smuggled From Iran

>>> HotAir.com writes this...
Raids target Iranian aid to insurgents in Iraq

Photo for the Day - June 18, 2007

An Iraqi Army Soldier and U.S. Army Sgt. Vincent Passero, provide security together near the site of a weapons cache discovery Wednesday in the western Baghdad Yarmouk neighborhood.
Read the story HERE

USA photo by 1st Lt. Patrick Henson, 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment

Battle In Tripoli, Lebanon - Update Six

Battle In Tripoli, Lebanon
Update Six
Sunday, June 17, 2007

>>> YaLibnan.com has this report today... The Lebanese army has wrested control of over 90 percent of Fatah al-Islam strongholds in the northern Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, the Lebanese National News Agency said Sunday... According to the report, the southern and eastern parts of Nahr al-Bared were now under "full army control."
Read the rest at link below...
Lebanon's army now controls over 90% of Militants' strongholds

>>> YaLibnan.com also has this report...
Lebanon army expected to finish off militants within 48 hours

More to come...

AubreyJ.........

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

No. 755-07 June 17, 2007
DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Michael A. Bechert, 24, of New Castle, Ind., died on June 14th in San Antonio, Texas of wounds suffered when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device on May 30th in Baghdad, Iraq. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2d Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany.
For more information related to this release, the media may contact the Fort Riley public affairs office at (785) 239-3410 or (785) 239-2222.

Two Katyusha Rockets from Lebanon hit Israel, Lebanese army says it prevented an additional attack

According to Lebanese army, its forces discovered rocket set to be launched at Israel and prevented it from being fired. Meanwhile, IDF, defense officials contemplate response to strike Associated Press... The Lebanese army discovered a rocket that was set to be launched Sunday on Israel and prevented it from being fired, shortly after three were launched and two landed in the Israel, Lebanon’s military said in a statement... The army blamed the attack on “unknown elements”, the statement said...
Read the story in full HERE

>>> YaLibnan.com has this take on the story... Israel retaliated to the three rockets fired by unidentified militants from South Lebanon by firing five shells into Lebanese territory. Palestinian militants are suspected of instigating the attacks... The shelling came moments after two rockets slammed into northern Israel from Lebanon without causing any casualties, in the first such fire since last summer's conflict with Hezbollah...
Read the rest at link below...
Breaking News - Israel fires back on Lebanon

>>> DEBKAfile has this exclusive...
Damascus ordered Sunday's Katyusha attack on N. Israeli Kiryat Shemona, causing no casualties... But there is more to come

STS-117 Atlantis Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester and Steven Swanson go Spacewalking LIVE Today

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Fourth and Final
SPACEWALK LIVE This Afternoon
On NASA TELEVISION

About Photo: S117-E-07264 (13 June 2007) --- Astronauts Steven Swanson and Patrick Forrester (out of frame), both STS-117 mission specialists, participate in the mission's second planned session of extravehicular activity (EVA), as construction resumes on the International Space Station. Among other tasks, Forrester and Swanson removed all of the launch locks holding the 10-foot-wide solar alpha rotary joint in place and began the solar array retraction.
Image/Info Credit: NASA
**********************

Short Note on Today’s Spacewalk
STS-117 Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester and Steven Swanson will continue to activate the International Space Station’s new truss segment during STS-117's fourth and last spacewalk today. The spacewalk is scheduled to last around 6 hours...
(Info taken from the NASA.gov website)
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4th Spacewalk is slated to begin at: 12:53 pm EDT
And should conclude about 6:30 pm EDT
.
Note: The spacewalk officially began today at 12:25 pm EDT and the 6-hour, 29-minute excursion wrapped up at 6:54 pm EDT
.
Read the latest updates on Flight and Spacewalk HERE
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Watch the Spacewalk LIVE at NASA TELEVISION

Click HERE to find your preferred Video Player - It's under... “Watch NASA TV NOW” I’m watching it in Windows Media, (Best for Full Screen) right now... ENJOY!!!

* UPDATE: Spacewalk is over...

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Note: I’ll be posting on the scheduled landing of Atlantis at Cape Canaveral, Florida this coming Thursday, June 21, 2007... So Check Back!
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GOD SPEED to the Crew of STS-117 Atlantis...
AubreyJ.........

Sectarian Murders And Executions Down In Baghdad, Petraeus Says

Sectarian Murders And Executions Down In Baghdad, Petraeus Says

June 17, 2007
Sectarian murders and executions in Baghdad are declining, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said today on the "Fox News Sunday" television program.

Army Gen. David H. Petraeus told host Chris Wallace via satellite link from Baghdad that the U.S. troop surge has helped reduce sectarian murders and executions in Baghdad by one-third between January and April. And despite an uptick in violence in May, the levels of violence are again going down.

"The fact is, as we go on the offensive, the enemy is going to respond," Petraeus said.

Last week Petraeus received his full compliment of additional troops. He said surge operations are now truly just beginning, and he characterized what has been done thus far as "shaping operations." The general said the additional troops give him the combat power to launch operations in al Qaeda sanctuaries where there has been little permanent coalition force presence in the past.

Petraeus said about 30 percent of Baghdad is a major concern, because these areas have sharp fault lines between Shiia and Sunni Muslims. "We are focusing on them quite intently," he said. "And the additional forces will enable us to conduct additional operations in those areas."

U.S. troops are also moving in greater numbers to areas just north and south of Baghdad, and have seen marked success in Anbar province.

"We're ahead of where I thought we'd be at this point in time in some areas and behind in others," he said. "Anbar province is an area, as you'll recall, that was assessed to be lost less than a year or so ago by the military intelligence folks. There has been a stunning reversal out there as tribes have said, 'Whoever opposes al Qaeda is with us.'"

These tribes want to fight al Qaeda and have asked for coalition help, he said. Petraeus said this is a major step forward, because coalition forces have linked their help through the Iraqi Ministries of Interior and Defense, binding tribes with the Iraqi government.

The general said he bases his success assessment on personnel observations, such as walking, driving and flying around Baghdad. "The fact is that there are signs of normalcy throughout a good bit of Baghdad," he said. "There are tens of thousands of kids out tonight playing soccer."

He did not downplay the negative things now occurring in Iraq, like the threat al Qaeda and extremist militias pose in Baghdad. Sectarian violence is a cycle that U.S. troops must break, he said.

"Al Qaeda is the Sunni violence," he said. "Al Qaeda is the face of what is happening on the extremist Sunni side. They are carrying out the bulk of the sensational attacks.

"The central front of al Qaeda's terror war is focused on Iraq," he added. "So I think it is appropriate to emphasize the role that al Qaeda in Iraq is playing, and the role that they play in provoking extremist militias on the Shiia side, as a justification for what they are doing."

Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker are scheduled to give an assessment of the situation in Iraq in September. The general said the progress report would simply provide a "snapshot" of what is happening there. "It will be a forthright assessment of what we've achieved and what we haven't achieved," he said.

Petraeus said political progress has not met expectations thus far. "There certainly have not been substantial achievements in that regard so far," he said.

However, there are pieces of legislation on which Iraqi leaders are coming to grips, he added. "So it is time to see now if these important laws can go forward," he said.

The general said Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' meetings in Baghdad last week with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki went well. "In fact, he (Gates) started off by complimenting the prime minister and other leaders with whom he met on their response to the Samarra mosque bombing," Petraeus said. "They were united and decisive in that effort, and we think they're response in ordering rapid steps to be taken has in fact helped hold down the level of violence."

The Shiia Golden Mosque in Samarra was first bombed in February 2006, sparking massive sectarian violence.

It is premature to speculate how long the surge will last, Petraeus said. By late summer the U.S. will be better able to determine its length, he said. "Our first focus is on doing all that we can as we truly now launch the surge," he said.

The general said the U.S. could indeed win in Iraq and leave behind a stable democratic country.

"If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't be here," he said. "I wouldn't be leading the finest of young American men and women who are putting their lives on the line every day."

(Taken from a news article by DoD’s American Forces Press Service and was written by Steven Donald Smith - File Photo by MNF-I)

Hamas Wakes Up To Grim Reality Over Gaza Victory

NewsScotsman.com has this article today that goes in part like this... While Syria has played a major role in offering support to Hamas, it is Iran - with its supply of weapons and offers of training to Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza and the West Bank - that is the mastermind behind the military rise of these groups. "Just like Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, Israel will now have Iran-by-proxy ruling Gaza," said [Dr.] Ganor...
Read this article in full HERE