Open Source Daily INTSUM: Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2005

[Airbornelawyer]

Middle East

• Security incidents in Iraq, Nov 23 (Source: Reuters)

• Ongoing operations – Miscellaneous releases from MNF-I.

• Ongoing operations – Miscellaneous releases from USCENTCOM.

• Operation Lion begins in southern Ramadi "Approximately 200 Iraqi Army Soldiers and 250 Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team (2-BCT) attached to the 2nd Marine Division, kicked off Operation Asad (Lions) Nov. 22, in the Tammim area of southern ar Ramadi. Operation Lions follows Operations Panthers and Bruins, both of which were conducted in different parts of Ramadi. These operations involved Iraqi Army and Coalition Forces clearing sections of the city in order to disrupt the insurgency and set conditions for successful elections on Dec 15.…" (Source: Multi-National Force Iraq)

• Iraqi Authorities: Gunmen Kill Sunni Tribal Chief, 4 Others "Authorities in Iraq say unidentified gunmen have killed a Sunni Arab tribal chief, three of his sons and a close relative. Officials say they suspect insurgents, dressed in Iraqi army uniforms and driving army-type vehicles, broke into the home of the Batta tribal chief, Sheikh Khadim Sarhid, on the outskirts of Baghdad early Wednesday.…" (Source: VOA)

• US says 700 insurgents killed in Iraq since Sept "U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed more than 700 suspected insurgents in less than two months during operations in western Iraq, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, calling the result "very successful". MG Rick Lynch, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said that as well as those killed, 1,500 suspects had been detained, including an undisclosed number of foreign fighters, and more than 200 weapons caches discovered.…" (Source: Reuters)

• IRAQ: Locals report being forced into insurgency "Mahmoud Kaduri, 29, recalled bitterly how he was forced to work with the insurgency currently fighting US and Iraqi government troops. "They told me to work with them or my son would be killed," he recalled. "I had no option, I had to save my child," he added. After sending his son to neigbouring Jordan for safety, he told his tormentors that he would no longer work with them. "They wanted me to attack a police car with a mortar," he recounted. "But when I saw there were children nearby, I refused." They responded by shooting him in the stomach. "It was my lucky day," Kaduri recalled,…" (Source: Reuters)

• 14 wounded in Jenin gun battles "One Palestinian was killed and twelve were wounded, while three Israeli soldiers were also wounded in gunfights on Wednesday after troops entered the West Bank town of Jenin in pursuit of suspected terrorists, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.…" (Source: Jerusalem Post)

• Israeli troops battle Hizbollah to save paraglider "Israeli troops exchanged fire with Hizbollah guerrillas across the Lebanese border on Wednesday, to provide cover for an Israeli paraglider pilot who drifted into Lebanon by accident.…" (Source: Reuters)

South & Central Asia

• Sri Lanka: Security Situation Report. (Source: Sri Lanka Army)

• South Asia Terrorism Update (Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal)

• Afghans find body of kidnapped Indian engineer "Afghan police on Wednesday found the decapitated body of an Indian man whom Taliban insurgents said they had kidnapped and executed, a provincial official said.…" (Source: Reuters)

• Five killed in attack in Indian Kashmir city "Three policemen were killed and three wounded on Wednesday when suspected Islamic guerrillas stormed a barracks in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, police said. Two rebels were also killed in the hour-long battle.…" (Source: Reuters)

East Asia & the Pacific

• Military Ties to Indonesia Resume Too Soon for Some "Acting swiftly with new congressional authority, the Bush administration said yesterday that it has restored military ties with Indonesia, formally ending the last of the restrictions imposed after violence in East Timor in 1999. The Bush administration has taken a number of steps this year to reward Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, for its cooperation in the battle against Islamic extremists. The United States resumed military training in February and sales of "nonlethal" equipment in May. President Bush also issued a statement with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in May that "normal military relations would be in the interest of both countries." But lawmakers and congressional aides said yesterday they were surprised the State Department eliminated the remaining restrictions barely a week after Congress approved an appropriations bill that gave Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the authority to waive them. One Senate staff member said lawmakers had anticipated a six-to-nine-month deliberative process, during which the administration would use the possibility of a waiver as leverage to extract concessions from Indonesia. The State Department cited the "national security interests" of the United States as the reason for waiver, noting that Indonesia plays a strategic role in Southeast Asia and is a "voice of moderation in the Islamic world."…" (Source: Washington Post)

• Thai official decapitated, Moslem separatists blamed "The decapitated body of a local government official was found in southern Thailand Wednesday after he was murdered by suspected Islamic militants, police said.…" (Source: Bangkok Post)

The Americas

• USSOUTHCOM Headline News (Microsoft Word format)

Africa

• Congo army attacks militia to help 50,000 displaced "Government forces have launched an offensive to end militia raids and clashes with troops which have displaced 50,000 people in Congo's remote eastern province of Katanga, military and U.N. sources said on Wednesday. Diplomats said the army had killed several hundred Mai Mai militia men in operations launched this month to end pillaging by around 2,000 former government-backed fighters in an area known as the "Triangle of Death".…" (Source: Reuters)

• Ugandan army says Sudan extends LRA rebel deal "Sudan has renewed a deal letting Ugandan troops pursue leaders of the notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels deep into its territory, the two countries said on Wednesday. The agreement extends until Jan. 19 a protocol signed last month that scrapped a 100 km (62 mile) limit on Ugandan incursions into Sudan, after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for top LRA commanders.…" (Source: Reuters)

• SUDAN: 15,000 displaced by recent clashes in South Darfur - ICRC "About 15,000 newly displaced people have sought refuge in Gereida town after recent clashes in the conflict-torn western Sudanese state of South Darfur forced them to flee their villages, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.…" (Source: Reuters)

• Nigerian troops deployed to crisis-hit oil state "Nigerian troops have entered the oil producing state of Bayelsa in 10 boats, a state government spokesman said on Wednesday, amid an escalating feud over the impeachment of the state's governor.…" (Source: Reuters)