Employee Of Bombed Research Site In Syria Says No Chemicals Released Is Proof None Exist

An employee of the chemical research center which was bombed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France says that no chemicals were released during the strike that leveled the building.  That’s incredibly important proof that no chemical weapons we actually there, he said.

Said Said, an engineer at the Scientific Research Center facility, told RT Arabic that the very fact that no chemicals were released during the strike should serve as evidence that no chemical weapons program was run at the site. “You can see for yourself that nothing has happened. I’ve been here since 5:00 a.m. No signs of weapons-grade chemicals,“ he said. The researcher said he had worked at the facility for decades, and it used to develop medicine and household chemicals.

The West is alleging Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s leader used chemical weapons on civilians to justify military attacks on Damascus and Homs.  But interestingly enough, those strikes occurred the day before international investigators were scheduled to arrive to conduct a thorough inspection of the site. 

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had visited the site several times and never found any traces of banned chemicals. Since Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention under a deal brokered by Russia and the US in 2013, the UN chemical watchdog repeatedly confirmed its full compliance with its obligations to dismantle and remove its chemical stockpiles. In June 2014, the OPCW declared Syria free of chemical weapons.

On April 12, even US Secretary of Defense James Mattis told the House Armed Services Committee that the US government does not have any evidence that sarin or chlorine was used, that he was still looking for evidence. Yet the bombing happened anyway.

“We even provided them [OPCW] with a special place where they could collect and pack test samples taken during the inspection,” Said told RT. The inspectors would stay in the rooms on the upper floor and use the laboratory equipment, and the staff was “cooperating with them completely.”

Being a civilian research center, the staff did not believe it would be identified as the primary target for an attack. “As we work in civilian pharmaceutical and chemical research, we did not expect that we would be hit,“ Said told AFP. The allegations that that Barzeh was an integral part of Syria’s chemical program were “totally incorrect,” he stressed, speaking to CBS News.

Reports by the UN’s chemical watchdog, the latest of which was filed just a month ago, suggest Said is correct, and there are no chemical weapons at the facility.  The report on the first inspection that was conducted between February 26  and March 5, 2017, says that “the inspection team did not observe any activities inconsistent with obligations under the Convention,“ noting that Damascus had provided unimpeded access to the inspectors “to all selected areas.”

The follow-up inspection, carried out in November, did not find any incriminating evidence either. The March 2018 report reiterates: “As stated in previous reports, all of the chemicals declared by the Syrian Arab Republic that were removed from its territory in 2014 have now been destroyed.”

DHS Emergency Protocols in Place After a Bomb Exploded at a Texas FedEx Facility

Last night, a bomb meant for Austin, Texas exploded at a FedEx facility in Schertz, Texas. This is the fifth in a series of deadly bombs that have targeted Austin, the capital of the state.

The first three bombs were in packages delivered to people’s homes, resulting in two deaths and injuries to two more people. The fourth bomb was detonated by a tripwire and seriously injured two men.

The first package exploded March 2, killing Anthony Stephan House, 39, when he picked up a package on the front porch of his northeast Austin home. The second bomb went off March 12 inside a home in east Austin. Draylen Mason, 17, was killed and his mother was hospitalized. The third blast came a short time later in a neighborhood south of downtown. A 75-year-old woman picked up a package on her front porch when it exploded, seriously injuring her. The last Austin blast occurred late Sunday, when a blast, possibly set off by a tripwire, injured two men in southwest Austin.

The first three attacks involved suspicious packages left on doorsteps in Austin. The package Sunday apparently was left on the side of a road in the city. The latest explosion took place at a FedEx facility about 65 miles from Austin.  (source)

Each bomb has been somewhat different, and increasingly sophisticated.  The Washington Post reports:

Police have declined to describe the bombs in detail, saying only that they appear to be the sophisticated work of a person or people who know what they are doing — and noting that the bombmaker has been able to assemble and deliver the devices without setting them off. After telling residents to remain wary of unexpected or suspicious packages, authorities are urging broader caution.

“We’re even more concerned now that if people see something suspicious, they just stay away from it altogether and contact law enforcement,” said Fred Milanowski, special agent in charge of the Houston division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “Because if they move that package or if they step on that tripwire, it’s likely to detonate.”

Milanowski said bombs using tripwires are activated when any pressure is applied to the wires, and he said that can include people “tripping over it or picking up the package.” (source)

After the tripwire bomb, residents were cautioned to stay indoors.

Dan Defenbaugh, a former FBI official who spent decades investigating bomb cases, said the use of a tripwire Sunday “dramatically changes the tactics involved.”

The shift in method — from a bomb targeting an individual or their family to a device that could kill a random passerby — evokes past attacks that created climates of fear, such as the Washington-area sniper shootings that gripped the D.C. region for weeks in 2002 as victims were shot at random. And, as during the Unabomber’s campaign of sending explosives through the mail, the Austin attacks thus far defy explanation and have come without any threat or warning.

“Once a bomb builder makes a device, they usually make it the same way each and every time,” said Defenbaugh, who managed the Oklahoma City bombing investigation. “That’s not happening here. I’m also troubled by the fact that there hasn’t been an extortion demand or communication.” (source)

The attacks have taken place in various neighborhoods around the city, as shown by this map from WaPo.

Officials haven’t identified a pattern to the bombings, at least not publicly.

At this point, there is no clear motive for the bombings. Initially, it was thought that the motivation could be racial, as the first victims were black and Hispanic. But the tripwire victims were both white males, which has caused investigators to reconsider their original supposition.

The bomb at the FedEx facility has triggered DHS protocols

Last night, a fifth bomb exploded just northeast of San Antonio, Texas. The package was reportedly bound for Austin. One person was injured and treated at the scene.

According to AlertsUSA, this most recent event has triggered the implementation of Department of Homeland Security emergency protocols across the postal and shipping sectors.

The Postal and Shipping Sector is one of 18 critical infrastructure sectors established under the authority of Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7 (HSPD-7).

Several government departments and agencies have formed the Postal and Shipping Government Coordinating Council (GCC) which works closely with sector stakeholders to enable assessment of national, cross-sector critical infrastructure protection and resilience programs.

Sector-specific assets include: over 400 high-volume automated processing facilities; over 40,000 local delivery units; many and varied collection, acceptance, and retail operations; over 50,000 transport vehicles including vans, trucks, tractor trailers, and aircraft; and information and communications networks.

This morning’s explosion at a Schertz, TX FedEx facility has triggered a variety of emergency protocols (some seen, most not) for acceptance, processing & delivery locally, as well as on a regional and national level.

The intensity of the emergency protocols will vary from location to location, but the entire sector is now on high alert.

Given the unknowns and the ongoing nature of the threat, these emergency protocols are likely to be observed by other carriers beyond FedEx. (source)

Here are more details about the sector-specific plans of the DHS, USPS, and other relevant shippers.

How do you keep yourself safe from random attacks like this?

As is true with most acts of terror, situational awareness is the key to keeping yourself and your family safe. You should stop and think before touching or opening any package:

• Is this package expected?


• Do you recognize who the package is from?


• Is there anything at all suspicious about the package?

If you have any doubt that the package is safe, you should call 911 and let them know of your concerns. Be on your toes and caution children not to touch any packages without your permission. Obviously, those in the Austin area should be particularly careful.

The post DHS Emergency Protocols in Place After a Bomb Exploded at a Texas FedEx Facility appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Russian Airbase Bombed By 13 Homemade Drones

In the early morning hours of January 6, a Russian airbase in Syria was bombed by homemade drones. Russian forces came under attack by a “massive application of unmanned aerial vehicles”, says the Russian Ministry of Defence.

According to reports, 13 small drones descended on Russian forces, but none of them did any significant damage. Seven were destroyed by anti-aircraft defenses and the others were brought down using electronic countermeasures to hijack or jam the drone’s controls and land them intact. The captured aircraft seem “crudely made,” with a wooden undercarriage and plastic sheeting, and powered by a small liquid-fuel engine.  The drones carried several locally made bombs fitted with 3D printed plastic fins under their wings.

The Russian Defense Ministry has reported that the swarm of GPS-guided drones carrying improvised explosives were very high-tech. Ten of the 13 drones aimed themselves at Russia’s Hmeymim air base and three more headed for a logistics and supply base near the Syrian city of Tartus.

One of the homemade drones the Russians alleged attacked their airbase

According to the Russians, six of the drones were owned by an electronic warfare specialist and diverted from the attack. Of that six, three were successfully collected for examination but the remainder detonated after landing. The Russians report the other seven were blown up midair by a Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile system.

“Currently, the Russian military experts are analyzing the construction, technical filling and improvised explosives of the captured UAVs,” said the statement. “Having decoded the data recorded on the UAVs, the specialists found out the launch site. It was the first time when terrorists applied a massed drone aircraft attack launched at a range of more than 50 km using modern GPS guidance system.”

While the home-made bombs look authentic, the drones themselves look cobbled together and low-tech.

Bombs carried but not detonated by the homemade drones

The drones appear to be powered by a single propeller that will be familiar to anyone who has flown a model aircraft. They also contained a control package and presumably, a fuel tank built into the body of the drone. However, they appear to have few metal parts (are composed mostly of wood and plastic) and lack even landing wheels. Russia has not shown details of the GPS control system, but insist they were highly advanced machines.

“Attacks on the Russian objects in Syria could be received from one of [the] countries with high-technological capabilities of satellite navigation and remote dropping control of professionally assembled improvised explosive devices in assigned coordinates,” Russia’s military said.

24,000 Homicides: Mexico On Pace For Most Violent Year In History As Drug Wars Spiral Out Of Control

As our elected officials in Washington D.C. continue to debate whether or not Trump"s proposed border wall would be an effective deterrent to those looking to come to the U.S. illegally, the one thing that is becoming increasingly clear is that Mexico"s drug wars are spiraling out of control...a fact that the Trump administration will almost certainly leverage as it seeks additional funding for border security.  As PanAmPost notes, Mexico has recorded a staggering 24,000 homicides in 2017 through September with 73% of those murders being tied to organized crime.

2017 might be the most violent year in Mexican history, one NGO claims. Semáforo Delictivo said that, due to the 24,000 homicides between January and September, the year is proving even worse than 2011, when President Felipe Calderón’s war on drugs led to 22,000 homicides.

 

President of the organization, Santiago Roel, said that 73 percent of murders committed in the first eight months of the year were related to organized crime. He said that in 2007, there were 2,828 executions. Now, a decade later, 18,017 have been reported.

 

All high-impact crimes have increased during the current year, including abductions, homicides and grand theft auto at gunpoint. According to Roel, the main cause of violence and corruption is the “Mérida Plan,” which focuses on eradicating drug cartels.

Califica Semáforo Delictivo al 2017 como el peor año en inseguridad en el país pic.twitter.com/64AsbqNKZt

— Marco A.Tlatelpa (@LicMarcoATR) October 24, 2017

Moreover, some 85,000 insured vehicles have been stolen over the past 12 months, with 60% being considered "violent".

According to the Mexican Association of Insurance Institutions, violent car robberies are at their highest point in the country’s history. Between October 2016 and September 2017, 85,943 insured cars have been stolen. Sixty percent of the robberies were violent.

 

Recaredo Arias, the association’s Director General, said that elements of organized crime have been identified in these cases, and that more urgent measures are needed to combat the problem.

 

The states of Guerrero, Sinaloa, Mexico City, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Michoacán, Zacatecas, Morelos, Tabasco and Tamaulipas, have the highest numbers of violent car thefts, he said.

Meanwhile, as Fox News pointed out earlier this week, the drug wars south of the border are seemingly on the precipice of becoming way more sophisticated after 4 men were arrested by federal police carrying a drone equipped with an improvised explosive device wired for remote detonation.

The recent arrest in Mexico of four men carrying a drone equipped with an improvised explosive device "ready to be detonated" has stoked fears drug cartels could soon target the U.S. with bombs from above.

 

Mexican Federal Police arrested four men Oct. 20 in Guanajuanto who were driving a stolen vehicle equipped with a 3DR Solo Quadcopter drone attached to an IED, Small Wars Journal reported. The drone had a range of about half a mile, but modifications would have allowed it to fly farther.

 

State Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa Aguirre confirmed the arrests and the IED attached to the drone.

 

Aguirre said authorities investigated the drone, which contained a “significant amount of explosive and was ready to be detonated from a distance,” AM reported.

 

"It is a drone," he said. "I have just confirmed that it is an explosive device, with a remote detonator and a large explosive charge."

En #Salamanca #Guanajuato la policía asegura a4 sujetos con arma larga, cargadores y un drone con explosivos adheridos. @Eloy_Arellano pic.twitter.com/QR9GUnhbY2

— TalaJalisco Noticias (@TalaNoticias) October 20, 2017

But, it"s probably nothing...certainly nothing that would rise to the level of requiring increased border security measures...

Vault Containing $70 Billion In German Gold To Be Evacuated As Frankfurt Defuses Massive Bomb

Approximately 60,000 residents of Germany’s financial capital, Frankfurt, will be ordered to evacuate their homes on Sunday as the city"s emergency service staff will attempt to defuse a massive World War Two bomb, discovered recently at a local building site. The 1.4-tonne HC 4000 bomb dropped by the British air force during World War Two was uncovered on a building site on Wismarer Strasse in Frankfurt’s leafy Westend where many wealthy bankers live.

“We have never defused a bomb of this size,” bomb disposal expert Rene Bennert told Reuters, adding that it had been damaged on impact when it was dropped between 1943 and 1945.

Bomb disposal experts who examined it said the massive evacuation could wait until the weekend. “We are still working on the modalities of the evacuation plan,” a spokeswoman for Frankfurt police said on Wednesday.

As a result, ahead of Sunday"s planned evacuation, more than 100 hospital patients, including premature infants and those in intensive care, were evacuated from two Frankfurt hospitals on Saturday, city councillor Markus Frank told Reuters television. 

Every year more than 2,000 tonnes of live bombs and munitions are still found in Germany, even under buildings. In July, a kindergarten was evacuated after teachers discovered an unexploded World War Two bomb on a shelf among some toys. During World War II, Germany was pummeled by 1.5 million tonnes of bombs from British and American warplanes that killed 600,000 people. German officials estimate 15% of the bombs failed to explode, some burrowing six meters (yards) deep.

And while local residents have been eager to comply with the unprecedented evacuation, the biggest since the war, Frankfurt fire and police chiefs said they would use force and incarceration if necessary to clear the area of residents, warning that an uncontrolled explosion of the bomb would be big enough to flatten a city block.

Frankfurt’s residents have to clear the area by 8 a.m. on Sunday and police will ring every doorbell and use helicopters with heat-sensing cameras to make sure nobody is left behind before they start diffusing the bomb.

Where this otherwise trivial evacuation takes on a more sinister, "Die Harder" spin, is when looking at what other structures are impacted by the 1.5 km evacuation radius: these include Frankfurt’s Goethe University, police headquarters, two hospitals, transport systems... oh and the Bundesbank headquarters, which as a reminder ten days ago completed the accelerated repatriation of 674 tonnes of gold - some three years ahead of schedule - from New York and Paris to its vault deep underground.

According to Reuters, the Bundesbank vault which stores 1,710 tonnes of gold deep underground - approximately half the country’s reserves - is located less than 600 meters from the location of the bomb. Well, that particular vault which now holds $70 billion in gold (including $28 billion in freshly repatriated physical) and everything around it, is about to be evacuated. All that"s missing are several dozen dump trucks to take advantage of the massive evacuation that will leave thousands of gold bars without security for 1.5 kilometers in any direction.

While airspace for 1.5 kilometers around the bomb site will be closed, we doubt that will prove a major hurdle to anyone eager to take a stab at a real-life reincarnation of the second Die Hard movie.

Still, to prevent anyone from getting any ideas of following in Simon Gruber"s footsteps, a spokesman for the German Bundesbank said, that "the usual security arrangements" would remain in place while experts worked to disarm the bomb.

The fate of half of Germany"s gold aside, bomb disposal experts said they will make use of a “Rocket Wrench” to try and unscrew the fuses attached to the HC 4,000 bomb. If that fails, a water jet will be used to cut the fuses away from the bomb, Bennert told Reuters. The most dangerous part of the exercise will be applying the wrench, Bennert said.

Roads and transport systems, including the underground, will be closed during the work and for at least two hours after the bomb is defused, to allow patients to be transported back to hospitals without traffic. It is not unusual for unexploded bombs from World War Two air raids to be found in German cities, but rarely are they so large and in such a sensitive position.

Meanwhile, Frankfurters can spend the day at shelters set up at the trade fair and the Jahrhunderthalle convention center. Most museums are offering residents free entry on Sunday, and a few of them will open their doors earlier in the morning than usual.

"Don't Open It" - 9 Mexican States On Alert After Radioactive Material Stolen

In light of the recent spate of emergency drills and nuclear attack
preparedness plans across the United States, it seemed notable that an unknown amount of stolen radioactive material has prompted the head of national emergency services to issue an alert today in nine Mexican states.

A vehicle carrying mobile industrial radiography equipment filled with Iridium-192 was stolen in the city of Tlaquepaque in the state of Jalisco, and as Reuters reports, the alert and search for the stolen material covers the states of Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Michoacan San Luis Potosi, Durango and Zacatecas, according to a post on Luis Felipe Puente"s Twitter account.

??Alerta en #Jal, #Col, #Nay, #Ags, #Gto, #Mich, #SLP, #Dgo y #Zac, por fuente radiactiva robada . Si la ves repórtala al 911 y no la abras. pic.twitter.com/Z9L93BG1Bo

— Luis Felipe Puente (@LUISFELIPE_P) April 24, 2017

Puente encouraged people with information about the stolen material to report it but added: "don"t open it."

Somewhat shockingly, theft of radioactive material in Mexico is a somewhat of a common occurrence. Last year a container of radioactive substance used for industrial X-rays was also taken along with a car. Similar occurrences also happened in April 2015 and in July 2014. In December 2013, thieves – apparently unaware of the contents of their heist – stole a vehicle containing medical equipment with highly radioactive cobalt-60, a material that could be used to produce a “dirty bomb,” according to the IAEA, the UN’s nuclear watchdog.

The U.S. Dropped an Average of 3 Bombs per Hour Last Year

January 11, 2017   |   Darius Shahtahmasebi

(ANTIMEDIA) According to an estimate recently released by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), in 2016 alone, the Obama administration dropped at least 26,171 bombs in seven different countries.

As even the most pro-administration publications have noted, that amounts to 72 bombs per day – three bombs per hour – every day for the entire year. Unfortunately, this didn’t classify as “violence” worthy of criticism by Meryl Streep and her colleagues in Hollywood.

As noted by the CFR estimate, however, the figures are relatively conservative, meaning the number of bombs dropped by the Obama administration in 2016 may be much higher:

“In President Obama’s last year in office, the United States dropped 26,171 bombs in seven countries. This estimate is undoubtedly low, considering reliable data is only available for airstrikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya, and a single ‘strike,’ according to the Pentagon’s definition, can involve multiple bombs or munitions. In 2016, the United States dropped 3,027 more bombs—and in one more country, Libya—than in 2015.”

Syria, the country bombed most heavily by Obama in 2016, is actually not officially at war with the United States. Sure, the U.S. is there to fight the terror group ISIS (the evidence for this purported goal is questionable at times, including when the U.S. targeted government troops that were battling ISIS). But this does not absolve the U.S. of its obligation to provide legal justification for bombing Syrian territory. Though the corporate media rarely focuses on the details of Obama’s bombing campaigns, the outgoing president is targeting countries without any legal justification other than the unjustifiably broad scope of the Authorization of Military Force, which was enacted after September 11, 2001.

The other countries on Obama’s hit list for 2016 include Pakistan, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Yemen – which is currently facing a humanitarian catastrophe.

As astutely argued by the Guardian, a regularly pro-administration outlet:

“Most Americans would probably be astounded to realize that the president who has been painted by Washington pundits as a reluctant warrior has actually been a hawk…While candidate Obama came to office pledging to end George W Bush’s wars, he leaves office having been at war longer than any president in US history. He is also the only president to serve two complete terms with the nation at war.” [emphasis added]

Some Americans are getting ready to defend the Obama administration’s trigger-happy use of bombs in the Middle East and Africa (my personal favorite rationalizations are “But he inherited the wars from Bush,” and/or “But he downsized the military a little bit and did what he had to do to fight terrorism!”). But they should bear in mind that Donald J. Trump, the wildly racist billionaire reality TV star who has vowed to “bomb the shit” out of ISIS’ oil fields, is about to inherit all seven bombing campaigns.

#ThanksObama.

---

This article (3 bombs an hour) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Darius Shahtahmasebi and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article to edits@theantimedia.org.

Peace Prize-Winning Obama Gets DoD’s Highest Honor for Dropping 50K Bombs on Muslims in 2 Years

U.S. President Barack Obama was given the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service “as a token of appreciation for his service as commander in chief” at a farewell ceremony on January 4. The medal is the highest honorary award at the Department of Defense and is presented by the Secretary of Defense. However, critics have said the award is similar to an employee giving his boss a “participation trophy” for supervising.

The award comes days before a new report revealed President Obama authorized the United States military to drop more than 26,000 bombs in 7 countries during the 2016 calendar year, according to an estimate by the Council on Foreign Relations. More than 24,000 of those bombs were dropped in Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, which is the U.S. led coalition against the Islamic State. The report itself says the actual number of bombs dropped is signficantly higher because does not release complete info about the number of munitions used for each mission.

The total number of bombs dropped was at least 3,000 higher than 2015, and at least 22,000 of those were in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State as well. The estimated total for the two years is almost 47,000 bombs dropped, which means the real total is likely over 50,000.

The U.S. coalition has been questioned by many for its execution of the campaign because the U.S. allowed Islamic State to continue oil smuggling operations for over one year after the bombing campaign started in September 2014, until a change of policy in November 2015. U.S. officials said they would not attack much of the oil trade infrastructure because of the threat to civilians, who the US claimed played a significant part in the smuggling. This policy changed without credible public explanation, and during the same week that Russia began targeting ISIS oil. The strikes became part of a race with the Russians who began bombing operations in Syria less than 2 months before that in September 2015.

The first reported strike by the U.S. on Islamic State oil trucks happened on November 16, which is at virtually the same time that the Russian airstrikes on ISIS oil were beginning. On November 18, Russia released video of the airstrikes from multiple days before, which likely means the U.S. airstrikes were after Russia began targeting ISIS oil. It is not proven which strikes were first, however Pentagon officials admit watching ISIS oil for over a year before they started bombing, but the first U.S. strike was likely within hours of the first Russian strike.

U.S. officials have also been criticized by aid groups and western news media for not admitting to a credible number of civilian deaths caused by U.S. airstrikes in Syria. The official total civilian deaths admitted by U.S. officials was raised to 188 in the operation which is over 2 years old. Humanitarian groups and local sources say the number is much higher, with multiple estimates in the thousands.

In July 2016, over 100 civilians were killed in multiple U.S. airstrikes in the town of Manbij, inlcuding 77 in one attack. One of the U.S. airstrikes hit a children’s hospital.

Dozens of civilians were killed by U.S. bombs in Daquq, Iraq while attending a funeral in an area where there was said to be no ISIS presence.

The U.S. bombed two hospitals in the same month, in the same city during operations in Mosul, Iraq. Both attacks caused an unknown number of civilian deaths.

U.S. officials revealed in November 2016 that the military investigated 257 allegations of civilian casualties and deemed only 31 of them credible, just over 10 percent of the total.

More than 60 Syrian soldiers were killed and over 100 injured in U.S. airstrikes on Syrian military positions near Deir Ezzor in September 2016. The Syrian soldiers were fighting a critical battle against ISIS when the attacks happened, which the U.S. called a mistake. The attack lasted for almost one hour, involved multiple planes, and warnings from Russian officials were ignored.

The incident was part of a chain of events which led to the U.S. and Russia ending joint negotiations for a ceasefire in the Syrian proxy war in September. Russia accused U.S. officials of aiding the Islamic State in a United Nations Security Council meeting.

It has become common knowledge that U.S. officials watched Islamic State grow for 2 years before taking action, based on leaked intelligence reports. Audio of a conversation between Secretary of State John Kerry and Syrian oppposition groups shows that the U.S. was allowing Islamic State to grow as part of a strategy to weaken the Syrian government. Hillary Clinton and others also knew that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were funding Islamic State, according to leaked emails published by WikiLeaks.

The CFR report also showed that the U.S. dropped about at least 1,337 bombs in Afghanistan, where the U.S. is still fighting the Taliban after 15 years of war. Nearly 500 bombs were dropped in Libya as Islamic State fighters have moved into the country while other Al Qaeda groups have been fighting for control of the country since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

There were 34 American bombs dropped in Yemen, where the U.S. is supporting Saudi Arabia’s bombing campaign, despite continuous civilian deaths. Somalia was listed at 14, which is likely too low given the extended U.S. campaign against Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda affiliated group.

Meanwhile, In Greece...

Following the inauguration of Golden Dawn offices in Xanthi overnight, an anti-fascist rally marched through the streets of the North-Eastern Greek town to protest the right-wing extremists. However, once the rally was over the situation rapidly got out of control as a 300-strong group wearing gas masks and helmets broke police cordons and police and rioters exchanged tear gas and molotov cocktails.

Via KeepTalkingGreece.com,

The situation got out of control and they started to hurl molotov cocktail bombs at the policemen. They answered with teargas.

The group moved through the streets of center of the town hurling fire bombs.

Eurobank ATM, damaged bank branch

They set garbage bins and chairs and tables of cafes on fire.

They clashed with riot police.

According to local media, the group members are from Xanthi, Thessaloniki and surrounding areas who plan protest actions all through the weekend due to the presence of 5 GD MPs at the office inauguration.

According to local media xanthi2.gr, there were hardly any locals present the GD inauguration but some 1000 people protesting. Unions, political parties, student organizations and other groups had appealed to people to refrain from attending the inauguration.

A reporter of Xanthi2 was reportedly threatened by GD members who also attempted to shoot a picture of him. The reporter was rescued by several riot policemen who were watching the incident and rushed to his aid when things got serious.