Hundreds Dead in Egypt Mosque Massacre (VIDEO)

Well, that's not going to be good for those Thanksgiving memories.

At the Telegraph U.K., "Egypt mosque attack: At least 235 killed as militants shoot at fleeing worshippers after detonating bomb":

Egypt was last night reeling from the bloodiest terror attack in its history after suspected Isil fighters slaughtered at least 235 people during prayers by detonating explosives inside a Sinai mosque and then killing the worshippers in a hail of gunfire.

The terrorists struck a mosque in the remote town of Bir al-Abed in northern Sinai where hundreds of people had gathered for traditional Islamic prayers on Friday afternoon.

The attack began with a powerful explosion at the al-Rawdah mosque and gunmen leapt out of four off-road vehicles to kill people as they fled. Security officials and witnesses said the attackers used their vehicles to cut off escape routes and opened fire on ambulances as they reached the scene. More than 100 were wounded.

The gunmen appear to have escaped from the scene after the massacre before Egyptian security forces could arrive.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion fell on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (Isil) affiliate in the Sinai desert, which has waged a bloody insurgency against the Egyptian military and the country’s Christian minority.

The worshippers at the al-Rawdah were mainly Sufis, who adhere to a mystic form of Islam. Isil considers Sufis to be heretics and has threatened them in the past.

The town of Bir al-Abed is home to around 2,500 people, all members of the Sawarka tribe. In conservative rural areas of Egypt it is usually only men who attend Friday prayers. With an attack so large it is believed that a significant portion of all the men in the village were either killed or wounded on Friday.

Abdel Qader Mubarak, a man originally from the village, said his entire family had been killed in the slaughter. "I can't talk, all my family are gone," he told The Telegraph.

The massacre is the worst terrorist attack on civilians in modern Egyptian history, and its death toll outstripped the 224 deaths caused when suspected Isil militants blew up a Russian airliner shortly after it took off from Sharm el-Sheikh in 2015.

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt’s president, promised to respond with “brutal force” against the attackers.

“We will remain steadfast and will fight back with an iron fist. This attack will only add to our persistence on overcoming the tragedy and we will win the battle against the forces of evil,” Mr Sisi said.

"The army and police will avenge our martyrs and return security and stability with force in the coming short period.”

Despite Mr Sisi’s pledge, the security forces have struggled to contain the jihadist insurgency in Sinai and suffered heavy casualties...

More.

Wilber Smith, River God

At Amazon, Wilber Smith, River God: A Novel of Ancient Egypt (Novels of Ancient Egypt).

Donald Trump Blames Terrorism for Downing of EgyptAir MS804, Gets Attacked for Lack of 'Evidence' by New York Times, Then French and Egyptian Governments Warn of Terrorism as Likely Cause

Via Instapundit, "Journalism."







And see the Guardian UK, "EgyptAir flight MS804 crash: debris 'not our aircraft' airline says – live":

Egypt’s aviation minister Sherif Fathy said terrorism was more likely than technical failure to be the cause of the crash. “The possibility of having a terror attack is higher than the possibility of having a technical [problem],” he told reporters. French president François Holland, Egyptian prime minister Sherif Ismail and the White House said that terrorism could not be ruled out.

More.

U.S. Officials Suspect Islamic State Planted Bomb Aboard Russian Jetliner in Egypt (VIDEO)

Following-up from earlier, "Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Downed Russian Passenger Jet in Egypt (VIDEO)."

There were lots of doubts initially, but not so much now.

At Telegraph UK, "Russian plane crash: US intelligence suggests bomb was planted by Islamic State as Britain suspends Sharm el-Sheikh flights - latest news."

And here's Lester Holt, at NBC Nightly News:

Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Downed Russian Passenger Jet in Egypt (VIDEO)

Well, I warned about conspiracy theories, although I was thinking of the Russian variety, suggesting for example that the U.S. and its "Zionist allies" brought down the plane.

Of course, we could see ISIS conspiracies, except that I don't doubt the Islamic State could bring down a jet liner. If pro-Russian rebels could bring down MH-17, there's no reason to belief ISIS couldn't do the same with Flight 7K9268.

Zero Hedge has the video, "ISIS Releases Video of Alleged Russian Airplane Mid-Air Exposion After It Claims Responsibility For Disaster."

And at the Times of Israel, "Islamic State in Egypt claims it brought down Russian plane; 224 dead: Terror group hails success, although Sinai officials say technical failure led to crash; Russia rejects claim."

A YouTube of the ISIS video is here.

Plus, lots of doubts about the theory, at the Guardian, "Russian plane crash: investigation into cause begins – as it happened."

And at Tornoto's National Post, "Russian Metrojet plane carrying 224 people crashed in Sinai province, Egypt says. There were no survivors."

Air France, Lufthansa Suspend Flights Over Sinai Pending Crash Probe

You think?

At the Times of Israel, "2 European carriers take safety precautions after IS claims responsibility for downing Russian plane with loss of 224 lives."

PREVIOUSLY: "Russian Jet Crashes in Egypt, Killing 224 People (VIDEO)."

Russian Jet Crashes in Egypt, Killing 224 People (VIDEO)

Boy, you can bet there's going to be monstrous conspiracy theories.

At WSJ, "Russian Passenger Jet Crashes in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Killing 224 People":

A Russian passenger jet crashed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board, after losing contact with aviation authorities on Saturday.

Egyptian officials said the Airbus A321 jetliner, which was operated by Russian carrier Kogalymavia, was flying to St. Petersburg from Sharm El Sheikh, a resort town popular with Russian tourists, when it disappeared from radar screens.

Egypt’s flagship state-run newspaper, Al Ahram, quoted an Egyptian aviation official as saying the plane’s pilot had requested to land at the nearest airport after an unspecified mechanical problem shortly after taking off at 5:50 a.m. local time. The newspaper later cited another Egyptian aviation official as saying the pilot hadn’t made any distress calls or requests to land.

Egypt’s chief prosecutor said the cause of the crash was being investigated. He didn’t say whether terrorism was suspected.

Sinai Province, the Egyptian branch of Islamic State, claimed responsibility for downing the plane, but officials have cast doubt over whether the group has the capabilities to carry out such an attack. Islamic State and its affiliated groups have frequently made exaggerated claims.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to form a state commission to investigate the crash, the Kremlin said Saturday.

The Russian Embassy in Cairo said on its official Twitter account that all those on board were killed.

Mr. Putin “expressed his deepest sympathies to the families of those who died in the crash.”

The wreckage was located south of the city of Al Arish in the sparsely populated, mountainous north Sinai, according to the aviation authority. As many as 50 ambulances were dispatched, it said.

A spokesman for Egypt’s prime minister said 15 bodies had been recovered and sent to a morgue in Cairo, while investigators continued to search the crash site for evidence and victims. One of the black boxes, which record flight data and audio, was located and taken into the custody of the prosecutor general’s office, he said.

According to the spokesman, the passengers comprised 214 Russians and three Ukrainians, of which 138 were women, 62 men and 17 children. The count didn’t include the seven crew members.

According to the Kremlin, Vladimir Puchkov, Russia’s minister of civil defense, emergencies and disaster relief, was ordered to send aircraft to Egypt to aid in the recovery of the wreckage of the aircraft. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said five aircraft were flying to Egypt with first responders and forensic investigators on board. The ministry also set up a hot line to aid families of the victims.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in March warned U.S. airlines to avoid flying over the Sinai Peninsula below 26,000 feet. Airline routes traversing the region “are at risk from potential extremist attacks involving antiaircraft weapons,” the FAA said, including shorter-range, shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles. “Some of these weapons have the capability to target aircraft at high altitudes,” or when approaching or departing airports, the U.S. aviation regulator said, noting that an Egyptian military helicopter flying at lower altitudes had been downed by extremists using a missile...

More.

Also at Russia Today, "Bodies of 224 7K9268 crash victims delivered to Cairo morgue," and "Russian A321 fell 'almost vertically', technical fault behind crash."

Egyptian Court Sentences Mohammed Morsi to Death

Let the fucker burn, for all I care.

At Bare Naked Islam, "Barack Hussein Obama’s BFF, former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and more than 100 other Muslim Brotherhood operatives, sentenced to death."

And at London's Daily Mail:

Mohamed Morsi sentenced to DEATH over jail breaks. http://t.co/9DZdlXTJkf Now get the rest of the Muslim Brotherhood.

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) May 16, 2015

Islamic State Murders Egyptian Soldier and Another Captive

I don't consider these "executions." An execution implies the victim is a criminal suspect, charged by a court of law, and tried according to some basic principles of due process. That's obviously not the case with the murders by Islamic State.

At the Jerusalem Post, "ISIS affiliate in Sinai claims execution of Egyptian solider, beheading of captive."

And watch, at Bare Naked Islam, "Islamic State (ISIS) in Sinai Peninsula executes Egyptian soldier and beheads a civilian in latest video."

Egypt's Abdel Fattah al-Sisi Calls for 'Urgent' Talks After Islamic State Beheads 17 Copts

Well, Jordan wasn't dithering after Islamic State torched Moaz al-Kasasbeh.

And now here comes Egypt with freakin' righteous indignation. The terror threat is hitting too close to home in Arab states across the Middle East.

At Al-Arabia, "Sisi calls for urgent security talks after ISIS beheading video."

Sisi bans Egyptians from going to #Libya. pic.twitter.com/vy0ZyNof8G

— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) February 15, 2015

#Sisi: I'm sending foreign minister to New York "#Libya situation is s threat to global security" pic.twitter.com/UsDfZn13JC

— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) February 15, 2015

Sisi: The time is not for "selectivity and double standards" when it comes with dealing with terrorism. pic.twitter.com/PnQubDY80L

— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) February 15, 2015

Shaima al-Sabbagh

I was thumbing through my hard-copy of Time and saw a photo of this woman seconds after being shot in the head. A beautiful woman.

So I Googled her.

See the Mirror UK, "Shaima al-Sabbagh: Heartbreaking picture shows moments of panic after leading Egyptian female protester dies after being 'shot by police'."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Mourners gather to bury mother, 32, gunned down by Cairo police during demonstration as death toll rises to 11 on anniversary of Arab Spring."

Egyptian Bomb Disposal Officer Killed in Giza

Looks like the bomb blew the poor f-ker's head off.

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Video - Bomb disposal officer killed in explosion in Giza Egypt" (GRAPHIC).

Jihadists in Egypt Pledge Loyalty to #ISIS

Lovely.

At the New York Times, "Militant Group in Egypt Vows Loyalty to ISIS."

Video of Journalists' Arrest in Egypt Seen as Threat to Media

At NYT:

CAIRO — A leaked video of the arrest of two journalists offered a cinematic close-up on Monday of the new military-backed government’s crackdown on dissent: slow-moving footage of a hotel room full of telecommunications equipment set to the thumping, sinister score of the recent superhero movie “Thor: The Dark World.”

The video, broadcast Sunday night on a private channel that supports the government and circulated widely over the Internet since then, is the latest salvo in a propaganda campaign by the state-run and pro-military news media. The goal is to paint the arrested journalists — known here as “the Marriott Cell,” for the hotel they were arrested in — as part of a terrorist conspiracy. One journalist, an Arabic speaker, is interrogated on camera for several minutes and repeatedly refuses to give up the names of his colleagues.

Both journalists shown in the video are established correspondents who were working for the English language affiliate of Al Jazeera, the Qatari-owned pan-Arab news network. The two, Mohamed Fahmy, an Egyptian-Canadian television producer who previously worked for CNN, and Peter Greste, an Australian correspondent who previously worked for the BBC, have been detained since their arrest on Dec. 29...

Bizarre.

More at that top link.

Washington Post on Lockdown Amid Protest Against Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood

Tweeted out a few minutes ago:

Wash Post lobby on lockdown with giant pro-Sissi/anti-Morsi protest out front. pic.twitter.com/qsV8Rp4DBJ

— Max Fisher (@Max_Fisher) August 22, 2013

And here's the background, "US Egyptians plan rally at White House against 'Brotherhood terrorism'."

Egypt Violence Continues

At London's Daily Mail, "Islamist mob parades nuns in Cairo as prisoners of war after six hours looting church school and replacing cross with banner resembling Al Qaeda flag."

And Atlas Shrugs, "VIDEO: EGYPT: MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD SUPPORTERS TORCH A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL, PARADE NUNS THROUGH STREETS AS "PRISONERS OF WAR"."

Plus, at Twitchy, "‘Animals’: More attacks on Christians and churches in Egypt [pics]."

Also a Lisa Daftari analysis:



More at LAT, "n Egypt, more than 35 Muslim Brotherhood prisoners reported killed," and at USA Today, "Militants execute 25 Egyptian police in Sinai ambush."

Expect updates...

Oh My! Judge Jeanine Slams Obama's 'Indecisive, Unclear, and Feckless Foreign Policy...'

This lady's got more moral authority on the tip of her pinky than the president does with the entirety of his being.

Wow, what a hammering smack down of this dolt Barack Hussein and his cluster-k foreign policy.

At RCP, "Jeanine Pirro: 'Mr. President, It Looks Like You're Supporting Fanatical Muslims'."

Do you remember right after he was elected, President Obama ran to Cairo to give his first foreign policy speech, where he proclaimed that he wanted to seek common ground with the Muslim world - that his was a new presidency and that he was no George Bush.

Mr. President, with all due respect, I have news for you. George Bush was more popular in the Arab world than you are right now. The truth: your indecisive, unclear, and feckless foreign policy has literally run our relationship with that region into the ground.

And here's the rub - you have been giving billions of our dollars to countries who not only give us nothing in return, but who literally hate our guts.

Remember these scenes from last year and that Arab Spring where you predicted good things were happening in the Arab world? The “dawn of democracy is coming." But how long are we supposed to wait for that dawn? And how many sleepless nights do we have to go through to get to it?

Egypt Troops Clear Cairo Mosque

At WSJ, "Egypt Mosque Standoff Ends Amid Gunfire":

CAIRO—A 24-hour standoff between Egyptian security forces and antigovernment protesters holed up in a Cairo mosque ended amid gunfire and explosions late Saturday afternoon, with clashes leaving at least 173 dead across the country.

Antigovernment protesters erected barricades inside the al Fatah Mosque in Cairo's Ramses Square after deadly clashes Friday afternoon had turned the mosque into a makeshift morgue and medical center and a refuge for some 400 protesters later that evening.

But the competing narratives over what happened at the mosque Saturday reflects the deepening polarization between the Muslim Brotherhood and the government, and their vastly different versions of events.

The Brotherhood says it is fighting to preserve democracy, while the government claims it is cracking down on the movement as it conducts terrorist acts. Egypt's Brotherhood-led government was overthrown in a military coup last month.

On Saturday morning, security forces in armored personnel carriers surrounded the al Fatah Mosque with tanks and snipers on the roofs of nearby buildings. They appeared to fire the opening shots at about 1:30 p.m., although state TV reported that there were gunmen in the minaret that fired first.

Reporters inside the mosque, however, said they didn't see any arms there, where supporters of the Brotherhood-led Anti-Coup Alliance were holed up.

"No one inside has any guns, so why are they shooting them?" said Ahmed Atef, 32 years old, an onlooker.

Well, state forces obviously aren't taking any sh*t.

Continue reading.

More video here, "Egypt: tear gas fired into besieged mosque."

And Russia's sending a diplomatic mission to Cairo?

That's sourced to Breitbart so we'll see how it plays out. But if true, what a monstrous slap in the face to  Barack Hussein's administration.

U.S. Should Forget Democracy Promotion for Now

Argues Professor Charles Kupchan, at the New York Times, "Democracy in Egypt Can Wait":

Ever since the Egyptian military seized power last month, the United States government, backed by much of the country’s foreign policy elite, has demanded the restoration of democratic rule. President Obama instructed Egypt’s generals “to move quickly and responsibly to return full authority back to a democratically elected civilian government.” The Republican senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina visited Cairo to press the new government to restore democratic rule and have called for cutting off aid if it doesn’t.

But while Washington must unequivocally condemn the violence unleashed by the Egyptian military, clamoring for a rapid return to democracy is misguided.

Excellent piece, informed by the political science canon. (Via Memeorandum.)

In Egypt, Civilians Oppose Protesters

Well it's not like the Muslim Brotherhood terrorists are a majority or anything.

At WSJ, "In Egypt Clashes, Civilians Oppose Protesters: At Least 31 Seen Dead After Marchers Come Under Fire; Cairo Ends Day on Lockdown, Patrolled by Neighborhood Committees."